Gemma Gladstone
35 years old
Female
Contact Details
Current Status
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY.Information
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Are you a ...?Unpublished writer (so far)What genre do you primarily write in?HorrorAre your reading habits ...?ScaryWho is your favourite author(s)?Stephen King, Carl Jung, Jean Rhys, Edgar Allan Poe, and Oliver Onions.And your all time favourite books? (You can change these at any time, by the way ...)Stephen King, 'N.', JUST AFTER SUNSET. Michelle Paver, DARK MATTER. Jean Rhys, 'Sleep It Off Lady', SLEEP IT OFF LADY. Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Fall of the House of Usher', TALES OF THE GROTESQUE AND ARABESQUE. Oliver Onions, THE BECKONING FAIR ONE.What are your working habits when you write?ProcastinatoryAre you the edit-every-sentence-ten-times type, or do you prefer to let rip?Prefer to let rip and edit afterwardsYour ultimate writing ambition?To have THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY (part of a trilogy or series) published with a photo of the tower on the front cover: the old water tower on the female side of the converted old City of Exeter Lunatic Asylum. I used to live there once!Your worst habit?Proofreading! I informed this website of the above "procrastinatory" Gremlin proofreading error and they are going to correct it. This error and the inconsistent end-of-sentence punctuation in my answers are due to some questions being multiple-choice.Your opinion on the books industry?It is a tough game, but everyone does their bestWhere do you write?Next to my Halloween present: Willard-the-Cat (a cat sculpture).What else do you want Word Clouders to know? eg: do you have 9 cats / like paragliding / eat nothing but tinned fish / work in the bath / live in Kettering?INTERESTS [NEW PARAGRAPH] Animal welfare - especially cats and cheetahs. The history and architecture of old lunatic asylums. Writing therapy - especially active imagination and freefall writing. Reading and writing supernatural fiction.
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About
Freelance Writer & Freelance Facilitator of Therapeutic Writing (OCD Specialist) & Facilitator of Exeter OCD Support Group
www.linkedin.com/in/gemmagladstone
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PUBLICATIONS
(1)
'Gemma Gladstone: Novel Info'
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) website
30 November 2011
Authors: Gemma Gladstone
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY. I wrote part of it for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011 - please see my webpage:
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
I have posted an extract from my synopsis and a novel excerpt on my webpage - the webpage states "All posted novel excerpts remain copyright their authors".
NaNoWriMo's method is "... to write without obsessing over quality" and not to edit until after the first draft is completed. This is similar in spirit to the approach of writing therapy (e.g. freefall writing). It is also a big challenge for my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) - one of my obsessions is perfectionism and one of my compulsions is checking, especially proofreading.
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SUMMARY
BA English Literature, PGCE, PgCert English Studies (Critical Theory).
An unpublished writer of supernatural fiction (psychological horror, ghost stories, psychogeography, psychological fiction, dark fantasy, and horror fiction). A member of the Ghost Story Society - a literary society.
A member of the Madness & Literature Network. I am giving myself writing therapy for my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY. I wrote part of it for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011 - please see my webpage:
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
A facilitator of therapeutic writing for people with OCD. Sessions for organisations and by email for private clients. A member of Lapidus: Creative Writing for Health & Wellbeing. I advertise my services in its website's directory:
• www.lapidus.org.uk/skillview.php?id=1&pn=1401
I am also a member of Arts & Health South West and appear in its website's directory (see below).
A facilitator of a user-led OCD support group. I have created and regularly write on the "Exeter OCD Support Group" Facebook page - please see my info, wall, and photos:
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=wall
A qualified proofreader with a Distinction from the Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC). I advertise my services in its website's freelance directory:
• www.train4publishing.co.uk/profile/userprofile/gemma-gladstone
Previously a Further Education lecturer (English specialist) with over 5 years' teaching experience, mainly one-to-one. This included supporting students with mental health problems.
Can offer potential clients some expertise in obsessive compulsive disorder / OCD, supernatural fiction, writing therapy, and related sub-specialisms as listed below.
An active member of the OCD, therapeutic writing, and yoga communities.
SPECIALISMS (SUB-SPECIALISMS IN PARENTHESES):
• Obsessive compulsive disorder / OCD (general, mindfulness meditation, OC spectrum disorders, purely obsessional OCD).
• Supernatural fiction (general, dark fantasy, ghost stories, horror fiction, psychogeography, psychological fiction, psychological horror).
• Writing therapy (general, active imagination, analytical/Jungian psychology, automatic writing, bibliotherapy, free writing / stream-of-consciousness writing, freefall writing, psychoanalytic literary criticism, therapeutic writing).
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FREELANCE WRITER
Self-employed
February 2009 – present
Exeter, United Kingdom
An unpublished writer of supernatural fiction (psychological horror, ghost stories, psychogeography, psychological fiction, dark fantasy, and horror fiction). A member of the Ghost Story Society - a literary society.
A member of the Madness & Literature Network.
I am giving myself writing therapy for my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY. I wrote part of it for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011 - please see my webpage:
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
I am giving myself writing therapy by writing about characters who have OCD. My writing is partly autobiographical, with me revisiting painful places and turning them into supernatural fiction!
My first novel is part of a trilogy or series, and I am currently writing the second novel too. I am also currently writing a psychogeographic supernatural novel; it is about my theory that Jean Rhys did not actually suffer from primary depression, but from a different primary mental illness.
I have been interviewed by a local newspaper (see below) and the Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC) (forthcoming) about my OCD and first novel. I also have contacts in the OCD and therapeutic writing communities.
I used to live in the converted old City of Exeter Lunatic Asylum where my trilogy/series is set - my lounge comprised the ground floor of the old water tower on the female side of the old hospital. I have a photocopy of the asylum architect's floor plan.
I have conducted historical research. I have also telephone interviewed a person who was treated for OCD in mental institutions from the 1960s (i.e. before deinstitutionalization and Care in the Community).
As an unpublished writer, my training with the PTC has enabled me to present my manuscripts in a professional manner, so that hopefully I will have a better chance of standing out in literary agents' slush piles!
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FREELANCE FACILITATOR OF THERAPEUTIC WRITING (OCD SPECIALIST)
Self-employed
October 2011 – present
• Sessions by email for private clients • 1:1/group sessions for organisations
A facilitator of therapeutic writing for people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I also have OCD.
Clients may feel freer to disclose OCD's embarrassing intrusive thoughts by email.
A member of Lapidus: Creative Writing for Health & Wellbeing. I advertise my services in its website's directory:
• www.lapidus.org.uk/skillview.php?id=1&pn=1401
I adhere to the Lapidus Ethical Code and meet the Lapidus Core Competencies.
A member of the Madness & Literature Network.
I have extensive experience of psychotherapy as a client for severe OCD. The Maudsley Hospital / Bethlem Royal Hospital assessed me as having "profound" OCD. The OCDCentre has supported and empowered me to be my own therapist.
I am not a writing therapist/psychotherapist. Writing is the only art form that does not have an established therapeutic wing or recognised creative therapy training yet. The closest thing to a writing therapy organisation is Lapidus.
My postgraduate teacher training included training (option modules) in counselling and psychology.
My BA degree and PgCert (uncompleted MA degree) both included training in psychoanalytic literary criticism, which I specialised in. I began the MA dissertation on Carl Jung and writing therapy. My degree-level 'Introduction to Psychotherapy and the Arts' course was Jungian - it included workshops at the Creative Therapy Unit and an essay on writing therapy. I am also receiving ongoing training in freefall writing.
My own self-directed writing therapy helps to control my OCD's intrusive thoughts and ruminations.
A person's creativity is often flattened by low self-esteem or depression, which are both common in OCD.
Jung's "active imagination" meditation method is the origin of the creative therapies - it can be expressed in writing or automatic writing (or other art forms).
Freefall writing means "writing without a parachute", i.e. without obsessing over grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, or spelling.
Please contact me to discuss.
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FACILITATOR OF EXETER OCD SUPPORT GROUP
Voluntary via OCD Action
April 2011 – present
Exeter venue
A facilitator of a user-led obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) support group.
I worked with OCD Action to start up the group.
I set up the group in 2011. I was interviewed about this for the 'Health' page lead story in Exeter's EXPRESS & ECHO (29 September 2011, p.65). The article also appears online, with extra comments written by me below it:
• www.thisisexeter.co.uk/Gemma-Gladstone-manages-secret-illness/story-13426973-detail/story.html
I have created and regularly write on the "Exeter OCD Support Group" Facebook page - please see my info, wall, and photos:
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=wall
I advertise the support group on the OCD Action website:
• www.ocdaction.org.uk/support-groups/south-west/exeter/
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Please see the weblink for my interview (above) where I talk about having had undiagnosed OCD at university. I wish to reach out to university students in particular as OCD is often triggered by stressful events, e.g. moving away from home, communal living at university. Self-medicating with alcohol can also be viewed as a type of compulsive behaviour.
OCD is sometimes called the "secret illness" because physical rituals are often hidden (not on purpose but subconsciously) and mental rituals obviously cannot be seen.
I have personal experience of OCD and know how disabling and frightening having OCD can be.
I really struggled at university. One of my obsessions is perfectionism and one of my compulsions is checking (especially proofreading), and this spiralled out of control so that I would re-read and re-write essays over and over again in fear of them not being perfect. I also found it difficult to read for pleasure - I felt compelled to just memorise and assimilate information. I tried to go on to do a part-time master's degree, but I was putting in so much effort to try to be perfect that it was more like full-time and it became too much. I was awarded a postgraduate certificate instead.
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MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS:
• The Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC)
• The Ghost Story Society (literary society)
• Lapidus: Creative Writing for Health & Wellbeing
• The Madness & Literature Network
• Arts & Health South West
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
• OCD Action
• Writers & Artists website community
• The Writers' Workshop website community (The Word Cloud)
WEBPAGES:
• www.linkedin.com/in/gemmagladstone
• www.train4publishing.co.uk/profile/userprofile/gemma-gladstone
• www.lapidus.org.uk/skillview.php?id=1&pn=1401
• www.thisisexeter.co.uk/Gemma-Gladstone-manages-secret-illness/story-13426973-detail/story.html
• www.madnessandliterature.org/membership.php?resultpage=5
• www.ahsw.org.uk/directory.aspx?id=9
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone
• www.ocdaction.org.uk/support-groups/south-west/exeter/
• www.ocdaction.org.uk/members/gemmagladstone/
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=wall
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=info
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=photos
• www.writersandartists.co.uk/profile/gemma-gladstone
• http://writing-community.writersworkshop.co.uk/members/profile/6475
www.linkedin.com/in/gemmagladstone
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PUBLICATIONS
(1)
'Gemma Gladstone: Novel Info'
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) website
30 November 2011
Authors: Gemma Gladstone
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY. I wrote part of it for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011 - please see my webpage:
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
I have posted an extract from my synopsis and a novel excerpt on my webpage - the webpage states "All posted novel excerpts remain copyright their authors".
NaNoWriMo's method is "... to write without obsessing over quality" and not to edit until after the first draft is completed. This is similar in spirit to the approach of writing therapy (e.g. freefall writing). It is also a big challenge for my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) - one of my obsessions is perfectionism and one of my compulsions is checking, especially proofreading.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY
BA English Literature, PGCE, PgCert English Studies (Critical Theory).
An unpublished writer of supernatural fiction (psychological horror, ghost stories, psychogeography, psychological fiction, dark fantasy, and horror fiction). A member of the Ghost Story Society - a literary society.
A member of the Madness & Literature Network. I am giving myself writing therapy for my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY. I wrote part of it for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011 - please see my webpage:
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
A facilitator of therapeutic writing for people with OCD. Sessions for organisations and by email for private clients. A member of Lapidus: Creative Writing for Health & Wellbeing. I advertise my services in its website's directory:
• www.lapidus.org.uk/skillview.php?id=1&pn=1401
I am also a member of Arts & Health South West and appear in its website's directory (see below).
A facilitator of a user-led OCD support group. I have created and regularly write on the "Exeter OCD Support Group" Facebook page - please see my info, wall, and photos:
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=wall
A qualified proofreader with a Distinction from the Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC). I advertise my services in its website's freelance directory:
• www.train4publishing.co.uk/profile/userprofile/gemma-gladstone
Previously a Further Education lecturer (English specialist) with over 5 years' teaching experience, mainly one-to-one. This included supporting students with mental health problems.
Can offer potential clients some expertise in obsessive compulsive disorder / OCD, supernatural fiction, writing therapy, and related sub-specialisms as listed below.
An active member of the OCD, therapeutic writing, and yoga communities.
SPECIALISMS (SUB-SPECIALISMS IN PARENTHESES):
• Obsessive compulsive disorder / OCD (general, mindfulness meditation, OC spectrum disorders, purely obsessional OCD).
• Supernatural fiction (general, dark fantasy, ghost stories, horror fiction, psychogeography, psychological fiction, psychological horror).
• Writing therapy (general, active imagination, analytical/Jungian psychology, automatic writing, bibliotherapy, free writing / stream-of-consciousness writing, freefall writing, psychoanalytic literary criticism, therapeutic writing).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FREELANCE WRITER
Self-employed
February 2009 – present
Exeter, United Kingdom
An unpublished writer of supernatural fiction (psychological horror, ghost stories, psychogeography, psychological fiction, dark fantasy, and horror fiction). A member of the Ghost Story Society - a literary society.
A member of the Madness & Literature Network.
I am giving myself writing therapy for my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
I am currently writing my first novel, THE TOWER I: AN OCD GHOST STORY. I wrote part of it for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011 - please see my webpage:
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
I am giving myself writing therapy by writing about characters who have OCD. My writing is partly autobiographical, with me revisiting painful places and turning them into supernatural fiction!
My first novel is part of a trilogy or series, and I am currently writing the second novel too. I am also currently writing a psychogeographic supernatural novel; it is about my theory that Jean Rhys did not actually suffer from primary depression, but from a different primary mental illness.
I have been interviewed by a local newspaper (see below) and the Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC) (forthcoming) about my OCD and first novel. I also have contacts in the OCD and therapeutic writing communities.
I used to live in the converted old City of Exeter Lunatic Asylum where my trilogy/series is set - my lounge comprised the ground floor of the old water tower on the female side of the old hospital. I have a photocopy of the asylum architect's floor plan.
I have conducted historical research. I have also telephone interviewed a person who was treated for OCD in mental institutions from the 1960s (i.e. before deinstitutionalization and Care in the Community).
As an unpublished writer, my training with the PTC has enabled me to present my manuscripts in a professional manner, so that hopefully I will have a better chance of standing out in literary agents' slush piles!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FREELANCE FACILITATOR OF THERAPEUTIC WRITING (OCD SPECIALIST)
Self-employed
October 2011 – present
• Sessions by email for private clients • 1:1/group sessions for organisations
A facilitator of therapeutic writing for people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). I also have OCD.
Clients may feel freer to disclose OCD's embarrassing intrusive thoughts by email.
A member of Lapidus: Creative Writing for Health & Wellbeing. I advertise my services in its website's directory:
• www.lapidus.org.uk/skillview.php?id=1&pn=1401
I adhere to the Lapidus Ethical Code and meet the Lapidus Core Competencies.
A member of the Madness & Literature Network.
I have extensive experience of psychotherapy as a client for severe OCD. The Maudsley Hospital / Bethlem Royal Hospital assessed me as having "profound" OCD. The OCDCentre has supported and empowered me to be my own therapist.
I am not a writing therapist/psychotherapist. Writing is the only art form that does not have an established therapeutic wing or recognised creative therapy training yet. The closest thing to a writing therapy organisation is Lapidus.
My postgraduate teacher training included training (option modules) in counselling and psychology.
My BA degree and PgCert (uncompleted MA degree) both included training in psychoanalytic literary criticism, which I specialised in. I began the MA dissertation on Carl Jung and writing therapy. My degree-level 'Introduction to Psychotherapy and the Arts' course was Jungian - it included workshops at the Creative Therapy Unit and an essay on writing therapy. I am also receiving ongoing training in freefall writing.
My own self-directed writing therapy helps to control my OCD's intrusive thoughts and ruminations.
A person's creativity is often flattened by low self-esteem or depression, which are both common in OCD.
Jung's "active imagination" meditation method is the origin of the creative therapies - it can be expressed in writing or automatic writing (or other art forms).
Freefall writing means "writing without a parachute", i.e. without obsessing over grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, or spelling.
Please contact me to discuss.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FACILITATOR OF EXETER OCD SUPPORT GROUP
Voluntary via OCD Action
April 2011 – present
Exeter venue
A facilitator of a user-led obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) support group.
I worked with OCD Action to start up the group.
I set up the group in 2011. I was interviewed about this for the 'Health' page lead story in Exeter's EXPRESS & ECHO (29 September 2011, p.65). The article also appears online, with extra comments written by me below it:
• www.thisisexeter.co.uk/Gemma-Gladstone-manages-secret-illness/story-13426973-detail/story.html
I have created and regularly write on the "Exeter OCD Support Group" Facebook page - please see my info, wall, and photos:
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=wall
I advertise the support group on the OCD Action website:
• www.ocdaction.org.uk/support-groups/south-west/exeter/
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Please see the weblink for my interview (above) where I talk about having had undiagnosed OCD at university. I wish to reach out to university students in particular as OCD is often triggered by stressful events, e.g. moving away from home, communal living at university. Self-medicating with alcohol can also be viewed as a type of compulsive behaviour.
OCD is sometimes called the "secret illness" because physical rituals are often hidden (not on purpose but subconsciously) and mental rituals obviously cannot be seen.
I have personal experience of OCD and know how disabling and frightening having OCD can be.
I really struggled at university. One of my obsessions is perfectionism and one of my compulsions is checking (especially proofreading), and this spiralled out of control so that I would re-read and re-write essays over and over again in fear of them not being perfect. I also found it difficult to read for pleasure - I felt compelled to just memorise and assimilate information. I tried to go on to do a part-time master's degree, but I was putting in so much effort to try to be perfect that it was more like full-time and it became too much. I was awarded a postgraduate certificate instead.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS:
• The Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC)
• The Ghost Story Society (literary society)
• Lapidus: Creative Writing for Health & Wellbeing
• The Madness & Literature Network
• Arts & Health South West
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
• OCD Action
• Writers & Artists website community
• The Writers' Workshop website community (The Word Cloud)
WEBPAGES:
• www.linkedin.com/in/gemmagladstone
• www.train4publishing.co.uk/profile/userprofile/gemma-gladstone
• www.lapidus.org.uk/skillview.php?id=1&pn=1401
• www.thisisexeter.co.uk/Gemma-Gladstone-manages-secret-illness/story-13426973-detail/story.html
• www.madnessandliterature.org/membership.php?resultpage=5
• www.ahsw.org.uk/directory.aspx?id=9
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone/novels/the-tower-i-an-ocd-ghost-story
• www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gemma-gladstone
• www.ocdaction.org.uk/support-groups/south-west/exeter/
• www.ocdaction.org.uk/members/gemmagladstone/
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=wall
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=info
• www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=photos
• www.writersandartists.co.uk/profile/gemma-gladstone
• http://writing-community.writersworkshop.co.uk/members/profile/6475
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29th January 2012
REGISTERING AS SELF-EMPLOYED BEFORE YOU GAIN AN INCOME FROM WRITING
unpublished writers, self-employed, tax, expenses
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by Tony 3 months agoHi Gemma, I've just come to your wall to read what you have to say aout becoming self-employed etc. Very interesting. You should relally copy it to a blog so that more people can access it easily and , more importantly, add their own thoughts.
Just click on the grey 'blog' button near the top. -
by Gemma Gladstone 3 months agoHi all,
REGISTERING AS SELF-EMPLOYED BEFORE YOU GAIN AN INCOME FROM WRITING
As I am currently an unpublished writer it might, at first, seem a little odd to have set myself up as a Freelance Writer, i.e. registering as self-employed in this role for tax purposes and completing the online income tax self-assessment each January! (In my case, I was already self-employed as a Freelance Proofreader and simply added the writing role to my job title in the next January self-assessment. I originally registered as self-employed when I enrolled on my first proofreading course.) If you are an unpublished writer or a trainee proofreader I would strongly advise you to register as self-employed - you can then claim expenses and carry them over to the following tax year until (think positive!) you gain a self-employed income.
I have simply followed the tax advice in the annual WRITERS' & ARTISTS' YEARBOOK. Expenses can include laptops and computer software, courses, relevant books and DVDs (which both count as research), subscriptions, and postage. I keep a simple Excel 'Receipts' spreadsheet that I update as soon as I purchase things each tax year, and a more complicated Excel 'Tax' spreadsheet which I update every January (using a template) with a page for each tax year. My maths and spreadsheet skills are not very sophisticated - and this is made worse because one of my obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) compulsions is counting (which began when I did A level maths, which I really struggled with). But I have managed to use Excel with the help of my partner.
The other reason I would advise unpublished writers and trainee proofreaders to register as self-employed is a psychological one. I subscribe to the Creativity Portal website's newsletter, which allows you to download a chapter from a book called 26 SIMPLE WAYS TO NURTURE YOUR CREATIVE LIFE (AN A TO Z LIST). Its top way is called "act as if":
[ITALICS:] What does "act as if" mean? Just what it says! Act as if you already are. It means trying a new role on for size, embracing a new mindset, and acting on your intention "to become" with reinforcing behaviors [...] And the payoff for this intentional role play comes when you realize your acting is no longer acting and you've rightly grown into the new role, becoming what you wanted to become.
Chris Dunmire, 26 SIMPLE WAYS TO NURTURE YOUR CREATIVE LIFE (AN A TO Z LIST)
In other words, if you take yourself seriously and act as a professional writer or proofreader then you are in the best mindset to actually become one. You can then approach literary agents, publishers, or potential clients with confidence in a professional manner.
Lastly, I would strongly recommend unpublished writers to read THE WRITERS' & ARTISTS' YEARBOOK GUIDE TO GETTING PUBLISHED: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE FOR AUTHORS, by Harry Bingham. He is the founder of the Writers' Workshop. This book covers the whole publication process, including teaching you how to professionally present a manuscript for submission, write a synopsis, and approach literary agents. It is also very funny!
I hope this helps!
Best wishes,
Gemma -
by Gemma Gladstone 4 months agoHi Shane,
I know via one of my best friends of someone "suffering" with OCD in North Devon - my support group is too far for him to come.
I would strongly recommend you to start up a support group - but I would advise you to make it informal, like my one. I have made at least two very good friends doing so and hope I have helped people too (and continue to do so).
I don't know your situation, but the first time I knowingly met someone with OCD was when I met my therapist, India Haylor, director and founder of the OCDCentre of London and New York - all their therapists have OCD and she is an inspirational role model! I had group therapy with her, and meeting other people battling OCD really changed my life!
Re using up valuable time that could be spent writing: most support groups are only once a month. I simply record current members' details in a regularly updated Word document.
Before I set my support group up, my partner and I went to the Plymouth OCD Support Group so that I could experience one - do contact me in advance if you would like to come to the Exeter one.
Also, do contact me if you decide to set one up and need any help or advice.
Thanks and best wishes,
Gemma -
by Shakey 4 months agoHello again Gemma,
I followed your link. You're certainly a very busy lady! You've got me wondering whether I should look into starting an OCD action group in North Devon as there doesn't appear to be one at present, but then again that would mean using up valuable time that could be spent writing. I don't know, just an idea.
Kind Regards, Shane -
by Gemma Gladstone 4 months agoHi Shane,
Thanks!
I am giving myself writing therapy by writing about characters who have OCD.
My writing is partly autobiographical, with me revisiting painful places and turning them into supernatural fiction!
You're brave to speak out about having OCD.
As you know, the more people who do so, the more we can raise awareness, combat embarrassment, and stop people living years of misery and possibly committing suicide!
I run a user-led support group for people with obsessive compulsive disorder.
I've created and written a Facebook page called "Exeter OCD Support Group".
It's available for the public to view, i.e. you don't have to be a Facebook member.
Here's a weblink to my "info":
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290?sk=info
Here's a weblink to my "wall", where I regularly write and "post" comments:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exeter-OCD-Support-Group/104152486361290
Your books sound interesting!
Thanks and best wishes,
Gemma -
by Shakey 4 months agoWelcome to the word cloud. I also suffer from OCD and include at least one character with the problem in each of my books (although only as an incidental thing). Certainly using OCD in a ghost story is an interesting twist! Good luck with it! Shane
