What Published Writers MUST do

If you are a published writer then there is something I strongly recommend you do that could absolutely alter - for the better - your experience of the writing life.

I believe it's a sad world we live in when those who create entire worlds for others are paid a pittance, but such is our reality. For those of us who are writers we must do what we can to get by comfortably so that we can continue creating new worlds of words.

Firstly, join The Society of Authors. I cannot recommend that enough. They help provide legal guidance, access to databases of agents and so many other things, too many to mention here, but they are all listed on their web site.

Secondly, join the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society. If you join the Society of Authors then your membership of ALCS is free. ALCS collects the royalties from your published work.

Each time your book, essay or photo is reprinted, photocopied, borrowed from a library it generates income. That tally of income is what the ALCS calculates and collects and repatriates to the writer...as long as they are registered.

The creative impulse which produced the work now in print accrues value. Writers rarely have a good business sense, although some do, and the advice they receive is lacking.

I know poets and authors who despite having been published many time have never registered with any society such as the two above. If you are amongst those who believe that you don't need to register with anyone, you're right: you don't have to.

But why not?

What do you lose?

For a few pounds each year you easily recoup the cost of membership and you can access excellent professional advice. Don't waste any more time: go and visit those web sites and decide for yourself whether you should join. I simply believe that you should continue to be rewarded for what you created which has now become become part of the world's inheritance.

ZHZ. 

A Writer's Life: 29th Feb 2008

A quick rundown of some stats on the running of my website www.zahidhussain.co.uk - as of today, I'm getting visits from 41 countries around the world which is absolutely amazing.

I have no idea how people from Iran, Japan and Washington State in the U.S. are hearing about my work. I am agog.

ZHZ. 

A Writer's Life: 28th Feb 2008

I write every day. I don't write from nine till five, simply because I can't - I work full-time and the little time that remains is all I have to offer my muse.

I wanted to share some of my world with you...few writers are willing to open the door and let would-be writers into their abode.

As I've said many times before, before I became a writer I was a reader. I want to see new writers emerge, like a leviathan from the deep, water spraying the air in all directions, passion and enlightenment, horror and discovery in its rippling serpentine flesh, the leviathan's teeth flashing without pity and gouging a mark into the fabric of our...

So, here I am, keyboard keys at fingertips, clackety clack, clackety clack.

This is how the storyscape looks today. I'm in the middle of the synopsisdraft of the next instalment of The Curry Mile. It's obsorbing work. I call it synopsisdraft, because it's both a synopsis and a draft. It's evolving. I'm discovering the layers of the story, identifying gaps, weaknesses. I'm meeting characters. I've established the story's "voice". The draft, currently named "T.S." has a distinctive tone...I've set a deadline for the completion of the draft. It's a challenge, but once I've got the synopsisdraft out of the way, then I'll really be writing!

I'm going to be out till quite late tonight, but I have a daily "numberofwords" target that I have to meet before I hit the sack. The number is very low. It's ONE. That's right. ONE word. The truth is, as soon as I start writing, I usually far exceed the target. It's all about getting the pen to touch the paper, my fingertips to touch the keyboard keys. That's it.

Rampant writing,

ZHZ. 

The Biggest Secret of Writing

I'm going to reveal a big secret, perhaps the biggest of all. It's as sharp and tingly as a slap in the face, it's simply this:

Writing is not writing.

"Eh?" You gasp, "Zahid's lost it this time. He's joined the Circus of the Lunatics".

Let me explain.

Writing is not about taking a pen in your hand and writing.
Writing is not about sitting in front of a PC and typing.
Writing is not about sitting with a Dictaphone and speaking out your thoughts.

Writing is the process by which you fling your imagination into the real world.
In fact, some of my friends would argue that it isn't even that - it's just your imagination codified. And some of my friends would argue that it isn't even the imagination - it's simply channeling what you see, hear, feel, think and touch.

A few days ago I was delivering a creative writing workshop to some young women. I told them to absorb what was around them. I asked to them to look and to keep looking. I asked them to seek patterns and ask questions and to never stop.

When you realise that writing is not simply the physical act of writing, but the fusion of imagination, observation and downright curiosity it's amazing what happens to you. When struggling to describe a scene, sit back and let yourself sink into the scene in your head and describe it. Voila, it writes itself.

Writing is simply daydreaming onto paper.

ZHZ. 

The W Spot

I am a firm believer that Writer's Block doesn't exist. Or rather, I choose to believe it doesn't. However, that's only partially true: it's true for me, but it might not be for you. Like many things, it's all about your state of mind.

If I could guarantee that with the click of your fingers you could hit that zone inside yourself, that prefect place where writing is born, unleashed all by itself you'd bite my right arm off.

And like the best things in life, you can have it absolutely for free.

"But what about me?" You cry. "I'm different. I can't do that! My mind goes blank".

Rubbish. You kick yourself in the shins and you say it smarts, of course it does. You slap yourself in the face - of course, it stings. You convince yourself you've got no imagination - of course, you won't have any! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"I've tried all that positive thinking," you insist, "it doesn't work!"

Who's talking about positive thinking? I'm not. I'm talking about a mindset not mind delusion. I'm not advocating talking yourself into believing something that isn't true. Give yourself a chance to succeed.

Here's what I advise:

1. Take some time out with yourself where you won't be disturbed for an hour.
2. Close your eyes and imagine a time when the writing flowed, all by itself, zen, effortless
3. Cherish that memory and look and hear and feel that moment
4. Now, heighten that memory: can you remember what was in the background? Was there music, was it the light, was it warm, was it cold?
5. Now open your eyes.
6. Take a pen or use your keyboard, whichever you feel is right for you and write down the memory of that moment
7. Now close your eyes again and remember that moment again: feel it, see it, hear it
8. Once you've identified the triggers, recreate them, the environment, the ritual or whatever it was that put you in the zone...

Does it sound too easy? Perhaps it is as easy as that. Know thyself. It isn't about copying what J K Rowling does or what Steven King does: it's about understanding what makes you tick. So go and tick tock, tick tock.

ZHZ.