Any writers in here

I've been reading People's Friend for a while now, since it was mentioned on this thread. I must say it is more to my taste than some of the others I tried. Not sure I'll ever be able to write to their standard but I am enjoying the read.

That's fantastic AussieGran. I'm in awe.
Wow, you too OldScallop. So much talent.

Sorry, I somehow lost the thread for a while.

I'm currently writing my fifth novel. I write in the mornings after I've done the usual chores. Four of my novels have been about the same characters although new ones do come along from time to time. I have loved writing since I was a child and have occasionally had something published in a magazine. I was also lucky in having a career where I could utilise my writing skills.

I have never sent my novels off to try their luck with publishers but I would like to try self publishing with Kindle if it did not seem so extremely complicated - or if I could get someone to do it for me. I agree with the poster who said writing is the easy bit and it is what comes after (publishing, generating publicity, marketing) that is difficult.

When my grandchildren were little I wrote books for them and in the lockdown I wrote them a serialised adventure story, sending them a chapter a week, which they said they enjoyed.

A few years ago I wrote a family history book (about our family). I had copies printed and presented it to family members at Christmas. It was well received and I loved writing it. I'm planning another one based on my father's diaries when I get round to it.

I have sent short stories and poems off to PF, having first read their guidelines, of course (they are very prescriptive). I was shocked that in the case of the short stories I received e-mailed rejections almost by return, ie on the same day as I submitted them. I heard later that they do this at times when they are inundated with submissions. They also kept a poem for eight months before rejecting it. We writers need to have thick skins!

Wow. That's fabulous NotTooOld.
I'm sure those writing gifts for your family will be treasured.
I haven't looked into the publishing on Amazon thing - haven't written anything long enough yet anyway - but I've seen people who have done really quite well that way.

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I’m currently reading a book based on letters sent to her mother from a young woman working on a farm in the early 1950s. She found her letters in her Mother’s possessions twenty years after she died and used them as an aide memoir to put together a book about her early working life on a farm in Herefordshire. I just stumbled across this book and I’m surprised by how fascinating it is. A wonderful first hand account of country life just after the war. I wish someone had kept all the letters I wrote in the 1970s although I doubt I could cobble together something as good as this book.

I went to a writing group at my local library which was run by an older man. The first few weeks were OK but then he started us to wanting us to write raunchy pieces which put me off. I love a clear, crisp style that evokes atmosphere, emotion and paints a colourful picture. I know within a page whether I am going to stick with the book. I can write and some of my articles have been accepted by local magazines as I usually write about botany, historical connections with the land or family history. However, it takes me about 9 edits before I am happy with the finished product. I go away, leave the article, return, change and I like my words to flow off the page. You always need to think of your audience and how they will read it. I know people who think they are amazing writers and if you pick up their work it reads as limp, bland and really quite beige. Writing is such a personal thing. It takes all sorts to both write and read.