What not to say

My eye has been caught recently by the twitter hashtag #TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter 
triggered by Joanne Harris. 
Here follows a selection of the ones that I thought resonated most ...







Being a writer can expose you to an extraordinary range of personal questions people wouldn't dream of asking if you were doing a 'real job'. There's something of suddenly feeling like the weird exhibit at the circus, when you say you're a writer or an illustrator. Those 'on the outside' have an apparent and total awareness failure, and will come out with gems such as:

Can I look through your sketchbook?

You should draw me!

What are you writing? Can I see?

Are you published?

I thought about writing a book once.

What do you write about?


And so it was no small wonder to see what happened when Joanne Harris tweeted:


These then followed:
















If nothing else, the trend has purged writers of their frustrations, most wonderfully.



Don't forget to check out last week's incredible range of features on Words & Pictures:

Monday's comprehensive and wonderfully illustrated feature on how to use twitter, by Julie
Tuesday - as Nick rushed off to be a Troll Hell panelist, he delivered another rich pick of the blogs on our Ten Minute Blog Break
Wednesday's perfectly pitched interview of Kathryn Aalto's 'amiable field guide' of Winnie the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood, by Rowena House
Thursday's Event Report of the recent discussion of Troll Hell, by Candy Gourlay - and Network News saying farewell to Anita, and welcome to Karen and Tania as the two new London Network Organisers
Friday's introduction to this month's fabulous featured illustrator - Rebecca Gerlings
Saturday's Celebration of Miriam Craig's road to success, by Charlotte











Nancy Saunders is the Editor of W&P. You can find some of her short stories here, and on Twitter @nancyesaunders

No comments:

We love comments and really appreciate the time it takes to leave one.
Interesting and pithy reactions to a post are brilliant but we also LOVE it when people just say they've read and enjoyed.
We've made it easy to comment by losing the 'are you human?' test, which means we get a lot of spam. Fortunately, Blogger recognises these, so most, if not all, anonymous comments are deleted without reading.

Words & Pictures is the Online Magazine of SCBWI British Isles. Powered by Blogger.