Coming Soon (and In Case You Missed It)
Scandals, future news, and what kind of writer are you?
I’ll be publishing this week part one of a long read about allegations of misconduct against a Great Ormond Street clinician, when I worked there. The misconduct was outside our service. The grim story, a tragedy for everyone, ended up having implications for justice everywhere.
In preparation, here’s an older post about misconduct by an Italian clinician which Great Ormond Street got dragged into. I knew this gentleman was a bad’un.
Cadence of Autumn by Evelyn de Morgan via Artvee
The best public relations is based on truth. Yes, the communications person may seek to sell a particular line, but I always held that fibs are both unethical and in the long run, bound to sink you.
Current events have shaken that view.
Things I plan to write about soon
There was a fascinating discussion at BristolCon about whether literary writing and genre writing are ever on the same page. I’m prodded to do this because of Orbital (Samantha Harvey) winning the Booker. It’s set in space and has a robot and an alien in it, and everyone went to great lengths to say it wasn’t, gasp, science fiction. I’m perfectly happy for her to have written the book she wanted to write.
What this old Chief Press Officer can tell creatives about promoting their book.
What do my readers who are primarily readers want from me?
I’ve just reread the astonishing, funny, ghastly Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel. Alison is a genuine medium, and some of those who haunt her come from a terrible childhood. It combines satire, darkness and humour in an extraordinary way. CW for abuse, Mantel does not shy away from why Alison is as she is.
A question – what type of writer are you?
If you write, you are a writer.
For work and family reasons the last couple of years have been complicated for writing. I am reconsidering what kind of writer I am. Naively, I once expected to get published and then do a book a year, seeing sales and income rise annually. That’s what writers do, isn’t it?
Is it the day job? Do you want it to be? A ‘hobby’ can be life enhancing.
Do you want to get published as regularly as you can?
Do you choose what you write with any consideration of what people apparently want?
How far do you bend to other people’s challenges on your work? Is an editor an ally or an enemy to the vision?
Each year I move further away from my original belief. I still think work I am putting in will get some recognition or reward. If nothing else, the current novel has been liked or loved by so many of those who read it. It deserves an audience.
It is liberating for your goals to be things you can control – otherwise let the dice fall as they may.
LLM/AI discussion - This Be The Clause
Some publishers are rushing to ensure our work won’t be used to train AI. Some are asking what wording we want in contracts and copyright notices.
I think Simon Groth’s requested wording is interesting. It contains a rude word.
