wotiwrote

Finished the Mat Coward book this morning. I've already posted enough extracts to give you a flavour of both style and content but, at the risk of the publishers ranting at me for overstepping the 'fair use' mark, I'd like to leave you with one final selection. In keeping with the general anti-'How To' tenor of the book (and, as he freely admits, because lists are easy to write and take up lots of space), Coward is keen to offer his own bullet points of advice whenever appropriate. Even when it's not appropriate, too, but it's his book so he can do what he wants.

Here, then, is the first item in his list of things to consider when submitting a manuscript:

1. Write on one side of the paper only, rather than between the leaves of a fir cone.

It was worth actually having read too many 'HowToWrite' books simply to appreciate that one.

My wfe was not so happy, unfortunately, as she had to remove the coffee I'd jetstreamed from my nostrils and sprayed across the cover of one of her clients' inventories.