First, thanks to Simon for last week’s brilliant post. I agree absolutely with what he has to say and I suspect that most of us have got better  at using  our phone  cameras to record daily life and keep those we love updated over the past few months.  I know that I certainly have!

In addition to the video calls, our family have been taking snaps on our daily exercise walks and sharing them with those we love. My son tends to send pics of the children; my daughter-in-law sends pics of the family, but because she’s a keen photographer, she also sends ‘artistic’ pics of frosty grasses, unusual fungi and stunning sunsets. I try to reciprocate and it’s certainly made me think more about how I use my phone as a tool. So, if you’ve been honing your skills, why not take it a stage further and have the confidence to use what you’ve learned to illustrate your articles and earn more money from them! Read the rest of this entry »

I sold a 1200-word article to an American magazine for £200. They also used six of my photographs, for which they paid me an additional £600. So, which would you rather be: the writer who gets £200 or the writer/photographer who gets £800?

I will always remember the day I met the editor of a local county magazine who told me that her biggest problem was finding photographs.

“My dream supplier is someone who can provide the words and pictures. Every page in my magazine needs a words-and-picture package because every page is illustrated with photos. If a writer sends me an article I want to use, but it doesn’t have any photos, I then have to spend time trying to find suitable images. At particularly busy times, if I have a page to fill and I have a choice between a well-written article without pictures or a good article that needs some editing but comes with photographs, I will always go with the good article with pictures. As an editor, my skill is editing text. I can edit a good article into a great article in a couple of minutes. Finding the right photographs can take two or three hours.” Read the rest of this entry »

A rather belated New Year to all our readers!  I’m sure many of you found your plans changing at the last minute and that, overall, it was a rather peculiar time. But, we’ve got through it and need to start looking to the future.

I’ve decided not to make any resolutions this year. I’m rather tired of listening to all the self-help gurus giving advice and suggesting we should be ‘mindful’ or that we think of three things to be thankful for before we go to bed each night.

Instead, I’m just going to try to get through this difficult time as best I can using my own inner resources (and the occasional glass of red wine!) I find I’m going to bed earlier at night (hibernation?) and that I’m reading a lot more. Plus, I’ve got to agree with those who advocate a dose of daily exercise, if it’s only to top-up your vitamin D levels. Read the rest of this entry »