FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Hiya writer friends!
Exactly two weeks ago, on a Thursday morning, I received a call from the CS Monitor asking me to be their UK correspondent. I accepted. Two hours later, the Prime Minister resigned. Which is to say, my Diwali holiday was less of a break and more of a juggling act. I juggled well. (I think.)
The CSM is a great gig—I remain fully freelance, but I now have regular space in the publication for my UK reporting. I’ve long said that the way I understand an issue or a country—including my own—is by writing about it. Now I get to report on my adopted homeland, while still having the time and freedom to chase other stories and write the next novel.
This is also just good business. For years, I’ve been teaching and preaching the importance of regular clients who can assure you a base income while you chase more risky or personal work. I’ve spent the last few months solidifying the base client relationships that will keep my home heated this winter, and now I feel ready to push towards other interests, such as finishing a novel for NaNoWriMo or finding more untold stories.
Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I think it’s time I got my novel done. I’m not sure what my month will look like—I have six commissioned assignments already and I’m feeling more social than I have in years, but I suppose that’s what makes this such an interesting challenge.
Win or lose, I’ll have had a lot of fun.
It’s not just the motto I’ve adopted for NaNoWriMo, but for life.
Enjoy the issue!
Natasha Khullar Relph
Editor, The Wordling
Recent Bylines:
- Five ways to build resilient data centres (The Sunday Times, UK)
- Not just a matter of Truss: Britons want responsibility from next PM (CS Monitor)
- How can British Conservatives get on the same page with the public? (CS Monitor)
THE WORDLING RESOURCE
AUDIO TRAINING: Success Habits of Prolific Authors
The illusion is that writers who’re productive and prolific sit down at their desks at 9 in the morning and don’t move their ass out the chair until 5 pm. I mean, that’s the only way someone can write and publish regularly, right?
Not really.
Let’s break down what it actually takes to be prolific, and how easily you can get there, too.
ROMANTASY AT THE BOOK FAIR
The Frankfurt Book Fair, one of the biggest events in publishing, took place in October, with a total of 180,000 attendees. Here are some highlights:
- TikTok and Spotify were key sponsors to this year’s event, signaling a shift to digital promotion on social media.
- The word of the week at the 2022 Frankfurt Book Fair was romantasy, writes Publishers Weekly. “Fantasy with lots of romance in the YA category seems to be a thing,” Nicole Eisenbraun, agent and translation rights manager at Ginger Clark Literary told PW. And Claudia Galluzzi, a senior rights manager at Rights People who represents U.S. titles in Arabic, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish language markets, said that it’s practically all anyone is asking for in any of her markets.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an impassioned plea for authors to write about the terror unleashed by Russia’s invasion, the Kyiv Post reported. “So I ask you, please do everything to make people know about the terror that Russia brought to Ukraine… Knowledge is the answer. Books, documentary scripts, articles, reports—these are answers,” he said.
- Frankfurt Book Fair director Juergen Boos said the pandemic had given the fair an opportunity to put new emphasis on areas with the greatest impact, such as diversity and inclusion, as well as the promotion of publishing from more localized languages and cultures. “There are just so many books to discover, and while I and many others feel that book sales may have plateaued here in Germany and the other rich countries, in places where the middle class is on the rise, there is an opportunity to grow the business.”
ALSO SEE:
A few things that happened while I was away:
There’s a religious alliance of conservative Muslims and right-wing Christians coming together in support of one another’s bigotry. The goal? To ban gay and trans literature in public schools.
Salman Rushdie’s agent says he has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand. Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and torso at an event on August 12.
The overwhelming amount of gun crime in the US, as well as the polarizing nature of the subject, has led to CNN announcing an entire “guns in America” beat and team.
And finally, the Penguin Random House takeover of Simon & Schuster has been blocked by a US judge who found that the merger would hurt competition for authors and lead to lower payouts. Penguin Random House will file an appeal.
NEW ON THE WORDLING
In honor of NaNoWriMo, here are some articles to get you speeding your way through your novel in a way that’s productive, sustainable, and fun!
How to Write Faster: 3 Game-Changing Strategies For Finishing Your Book
That will change the way you write.
What I Learned From Writing 10k Words in a Single Day
It’s not worth doing if it’s not replicable.
PROFILE: HARUKI MURAKAMI
Over the last forty years, Murakami’s work has been published in more than 50 languages and sold millions of copies. He is the only author in translation who can pack midnight release parties and continues to remain a favorite to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Murakami was named of the 100 most influential people of 2015 by TIME magazine, and is unarguably the most well-known author from Japan.
In this profile, we uncover the risks, the discipline, and the focus that led Murakami to becoming the author we know him to be today.
WRITERS WANTED
We now have a total of 199 markets on our How to Pitch page, including writer’s guidelines for Wired, National Geographic, The New York Times, AARP, Financial Times, Writer’s Digest, and more.
WORDLING INSIGHT
Do it.
Do it again.
Keep doing it until it works.
That’s it. That’s the secret. That’s all you ever need to do to achieve any goal or dream in your life.
GLOBAL REPORT
NIGERIA: “Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood, is the world’s second biggest, churning out roughly 50 movies in English and Indigenous Nigerian languages every week. Already an outsized contributor to African cinema, it has the potential to create over 20 million jobs and contribute US$20 billion to the continent’s combined gross domestic product, according to a U.N. report. Media outlets that cover the industry fill a critical need, helping audiences understand the industry while facilitating important conversations around its growth and development.”
INDIA: Pulitzer Prize-winning Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo said Indian immigration authorities prevented her from flying to the United States to receive the award even though she had a valid visa and ticket. Mattoo was working on assignment for Reuters, which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for coverage of the COVID-19 crisis in India.
TURKEY: “As Syrian refugees have become a major topic for Turkish media, several events have also shaken press freedom in the country. While local and foreign journalists have attempted to fill gaps in the coverage of Syrian refugees in Turkey, displaced communities on the ground continue to suffer from a domestic news cycle that is at best patronizing, and at worst overtly racist towards refugees.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Find your best time of the day for writing and write. Don’t let anything else interfere. Afterwards it won’t matter to you that the kitchen is a mess.”
– Esther Freud
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