Tuesday, May 15, 2012


Do as I say, not and as I do

“Do as I say, not as I do.” That’s what my dad used to tell me when he talked to me… with his mouth full. I spend a large part of my waking life advising people how to write, giving them feedback on it, interviewing authors (and agents, editors, publishers etc) and blogging about writing, but when it comes to the actual doing, I don’t seem to have found the time.

Over the past six years I’ve written four and a bit novels, 100+ short stories, a few articles and some poetry so I have been prolific but I need a deadline to be so. Give me the November NaNoWriMos or May StoryADays and I’ll write (type) my wrists sore, but in between?

I run two writing groups, one of which is a workshop (the other is pure critique) and every other Monday night I set three or four exercises each with 10 or 15 minutes each and we all write like mad until I say “stop”. Until recently (or in between the write-loads-in-a-month projects) that’s pretty much the only writing I was doing.

Early 2012 however I was invited to join Tuesday Tales, an online writing group which produces a story per week per member from prompt keywords and my first story was Two backwards, one forwards. This now meant that I was writing every week and it felt great! Then came StoryADay again and another 31 stories in 31 days and I’ve loved it so much (and realised how easy it was to write c.500 words a day) that I’ll be keeping going come June and 5PM Fiction was born… so I still write every day, even if it’s 300 words, because 300 words every day for a year is a 100,000 novel, albeit made up of 365 short stories. :)

Competitions are a great inspiration and not only get me writing something new (certainly for the themed ones) but even if I don’t get anywhere I still have the story to do something else with, like submitting to women’s magazines here in the UK (although it’s more advisable to write specifically for their markets) or self-publishing to add to my collection of eBooks.

So, don’t do as I say, and put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard because if you don’t write anything you can’t submit it, but before you submit it you have to edit it and you can’t edit a blank page.

Morgen Bailey biography
Morgen Bailey (“Morgen with an E”) is a prolific blogger and freelance author of numerous short stories, novels, articles, has dabbled with poetry but admits that she doesn’t “get it”.
Host of the fortnightly Bailey’s Writing Tips audio podcast, she also belongs to three in-person writing groups (based in Northamptonshire, England) and is Chair of another which runs the annual HE Bates Short Story Competition.

Even her local British Red Cross volunteering is writing-related (she’s their ‘book lady’) and when walking her dog she’s often writing or editing. She also loves reading, though not as often as she’d like, but is spurred on by her new Kindle Touch.

Somewhere in between all that she writes a short story a week for online writing group Tuesday Tales and for the second time, a story a day during May for http://storyaday.org (last year’s becoming a 31-story eBook and will be doing so again with this new collection), although this year she plans to keep going and has created a new slot on her blog called 5PM Fiction.

Acutely aware of how important a writer’s online presence should be, she has recently set-up an inexpensive blog-creation service at http://icanbuildyourwritingblog.wordpress.com.

You can also read / download her eBooks (some free) at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with her novels to follow. Being an advocate of second-person viewpoint, she also recently had a quirky story published in the charity anthology Telling Tales.

She has a writing-related forum and you can follow her on Twitter, friend on Facebook, like her Facebook Author Page, connect on LinkedIn, find on Tumblr, look at her photos on Flickr and join her every Sunday (8pm UK time) on Radio Litopia where she is a regular contributor.

Her blog, which like her, is consumed by everything writing-related, is http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com and she loves hearing from other writers and readers, who can comment on any of the blog’s posts, contact her via any of the above methods, complete her website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email her.


Morgen Bailey

2 comments:

  1. Morgen's incredible proficiency inspired me to write my 300 words very day -for the last 2 days!Contact her, she does great interviews.Mine was her #278 (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/blog-interview-no-278-with-writer-siggy-buckley/). Good luck with your new endeavor!

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