Iain Broome - Trick yourself

Hello there

It's me Iain Broome again, all excited in your inbox to deliver another edition of the Draft Mode newsletter.

This is the last normal-looking newsletter I'll be sending this year. I'm planning to put together a round-up of some of my favourite stuff for next week or more likely, around new year. So look out for that.

Things are pretty bleak again, so I do hope you manage to spend some time with the right people doing the right things. And I also hope that you manage to squeeze some writing time in before the year is out too.

As for me, we have in theory got plans to meet family, but who the heck knows what's going to happen over the next couple of weeks. There is a good chance I might log out of all social media to try and retain some sanity.

Anyway! Have a smasher and enjoy the links below.

Iain

Two Christmas audio stories

In 2014, for some reason, I recorded and published an audio version of The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen.

And if you want your audio stories very Christmassy indeed, then you might prefer to hear Neil Gaiman dressed as Charles Dickens reading A Christmas Carol with Molly Oldfield.

While we're here, you might like to know that you can listen to 75 classic audiobooks for free on Spotify. Probably enough to keep you going.

Links of the week

Every issue I collect and share the best advice, apps and other shenanigans that I find on my internet travels. Find something useful? Subscribe for free.

The ultimate writing trick from Slavoj Žižek

This is a super example of the way we writers come up with our own little shortcuts to get us through the day. He's not writing! He's just having ideas and then editing! Ooh, by the way, I found this on Mason Currey's Subtle Maneuvers newsletter.

How to make 2022 the year you write your book

My initial scepticism at the title of this post was soon replaced by some polite nodding at chin scratching. Some good, practical advice here and plenty for you to chew on if you're hoping to write a book in 2022.

Can “Distraction-Free” Devices Change the Way We Write?

This is an in-depth article published in the New Yorker that looks at the rise of writing apps over the last decade or so. I was expecting fluff and found myself enjoying a trip down writing app-related memory lane. Reminder, I use the wonderful Ulysses for fiction and Google docs for freelance work.

The 6 best note taking apps of 2022

And while we're talking about apps, have yourself a look at this lovely list on the Zapier blog. For note-taking, I have recently started using the built-in Apple Notes app on all my devices. It's free. It's ace. And it's right there.

First Thohts on Reviision

First things first. The brilliant George Saunders has started a newsletter for writers and I'll be handing over my money sharpish. He is fantastic at talking about writing and this article on how he revises his stories is just magic.

How traditional publishing markets books

This piece by Jane Friedman is a great overview of how publishers and authors should work together to market a book. It's about messaging community and sharing a vision. I also like the section on taking readers with you and involving them in your journey. That's a little of what I tried to do with Pieces.

Tweets of the week

Tweets are but deadly bacteria circling the clouds of some faraway doom planet. But some of them are quite good. You can follow @iainbroome and @DraftModeHQ on Twitter.

Beverley Ward @beverleywrites Something just caused me to realise that I had the idea for my current novel 7 years ago. Sometimes ideas take a long time to percolate and we need to grow and change in real life before we can find the right direction. And sometimes life gets in the way. And it's all ok. 9:43 PM • Dec 19, 2021 18 likes • 0 retweets

Robin Hobb @robinhobb I believe that older writers, like me, have a duty to pass on the secrets and the tricks of the trade that have served us. So, here is the magic you can use to generate character names that are unique. 12:06 AM • Dec 11, 2021 3.4K likes • 822 retweets