How to build a writing career

A discount code for an in-person event. Plus: join me online this Sunday for the In Writing Creative Hour.

Paying subscribers can hear me read this newsletter aloud here or on your podcast app.

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I’m back from a visit to see friends in New York, and feeling much more clear-headed than I was last time I wrote. I don’t think the trip was great for my body (minimal sleep, maximal margaritas) – but that wide, jagged skyline, those brownstone stoops, the dirty bars, the neck tattoos, the rattling subway, the über-rats, the ambitious parks, the fully dressed dogs, the wild tips, the fighting neighbours, the sidewalk freebies, the hybrid pastries – all of that seems to have done wonders to restore my enthusiasm for life and creativity.

So now back to business, and today’s newsletter is a platter of writerly snacks.

Next Tuesday 18 April, if you’re in London, I’d love you to come down to Kindred in Hammersmith for a live recording of the London Writers’ Salon podcast, featuring me and the writer Natalie Lue. Tickets are £20, which includes a drink, but you can get a 50% discount with the code HATTIEFRIEND. What a bargain! Feel free to tell your pals.

The title of the discussion is ‘How to Build a Self-Directed Writing Career’, and while my own career has felt a lot less intentional or organised than that sounds, I hope it will offer useful insights into how to manage as a professional writer today. It’s the first time I’ve done an in-person, public event related to the podcast, and I’m a big fan of the London Writers’ Salon, so I can’t wait.

More imminently, I’m hosting another In Writing Creative Hour on Google Meet this Sunday 16 April, 5pm London time (a little more info about that can be found here). If you’re keen to get some writing done with me and others, just upgrade to a paid subscription if you haven’t already, and look out for the link to join, which I’ll send out several hours beforehand.

Meanwhile, the fifth season of the podcast continues, and since I last wrote I’ve released two great interviews. The first was with comic book and children’s book writer and artist Tor Freeman, who was brilliant on mysterious sources of inspiration, the melding of pictures and words, and why she’s no longer obsessed with finding an ‘original’ idea. Here it is on Apple Podcasts, but you can find it on any podcast app.

And the second was with Nigel Williamson, a journalist of 40 years and obituary writer for The Times here in the UK. I loved speaking to Nigel about how he sums up the essence of a person in a couple of newspaper pages; how bereaved loved ones contribute to his research; and where he draws the line between being sensitive and being truthful.

I hope some of the above works for you this week (let me know in the comments).

That’s all for now – hope to see you on Sunday or Tuesday. Good luck with your writing until we meet again!