Track your word count... everywhere

Plus how to build an author platform, bad first drafts and running a membership scheme.

Feb 18, 2021

Hello there

And a happy new year.

We're well into our third national lockdown in the UK. Schools are closed. Homeschooling three kids around self-employment is a ludicrous challenge. And we also have our now 15-month old keeping us on our toes too. There's a lot going on.

So, what I'm saying is, sorry I haven't sent you an email for several weeks. To try and make sure that doesn't happen again, I'm going to scale things back a touch. Shorter intro. Fewer links. But still the same golden balls of writerly goodness.

Enjoy!

Iain

Links of the week

Every issue I collect and share the best advice, apps and other shenanigans that I find on my internet travels. Find something useful? Subscribe for free.

WordCounter: track your daily word count across all your apps

I saw someone talking about this on Twitter and downloaded it on a whim. And you know what, I've actually found it rather fascinating. I currently write 1000+ words a day. Just in Slack.

Other online word count tools:

Bonus Google Doc tip: hit the SHIFT+CMD+C or SHIFT+CTRL+C if you’re on a PC to get all the stats on your document.

How To Build An Author Platform

There is some great advice in this post by author, David Gaughran. Basically, build a website and mailing list. Then be very selective about where your social media energy goes.

Jeanette Winterson’s 10 Tips on Writing

This is an incredibly concise list of not-especially-practical writing advice. Which I don't normally go for. But there is some stuff great in here about acceptance and what to ignore.

All first drafts are bad drafts (and that’s what makes them good)

Basically, give yourself permission to write a very rough first draft. I have not set any expectations for this year. But if I can get to rough-first-draft stage, I will be delighted.

Running a Successful Membership / Subscription Program

If you haven't read this by Craig Mod already, I encourage you to do so. His approach is exactly how I would want to do it. It reads like a new business model for art.

Tweets of the week

Tweets are but horrible hairs on the buttocks of some awful giant. But some of them are quite good. You can follow @iainbroome and @unslush on Twitter.

Nathan Filer @nathanfiler

Writing a novel? Be sure to make it *about* something. Here's some writing advice the inimitable Fay Weldon once gave me: "Novels are just essays to which you have attached names and characteristics to warring themes. Nothing special, just more work and a degree of chutzpah."

Sam McQueen @samuel_mcqueen

Margaret Atwood Margaret Atlake Margaret Atsea Margaret Athome

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