Layla Cummins's Blog

IT’S BEEN TOO LONG.

After a long spell of essay-writing and reading-for-study (which is still ongoing, until early June at least), there has been very little writing for fun.

Fortunately, I have a very hands-on assistant who we all know as the Great Beta Reader, i.e. I’ve mentioned her before. She’s a real person, not a voice, although in some circles she’s known as The Mouth.

Over a cup of tea and a ciggie (otherwise known as an informal meeting), and with both of us bored of my whining abou...

I’m writing this after a long hiatus of not writing. I feel like I’m always saying I’ve not written anything for a very long time but… and then very little happens. I blame this phenomena on studying and a sudden, inexplicable lack of confidence over the past year and a half.

So.

I’m writing this after a long hiatus, but, there have been movements, and I should celebrate them instead of focusing on the negatives.

Back in February, my short story ‘Automaton’ was accepted for the fourth issue [image error]o...

This blog post by Mark Manson takes a well-worn life question and turns it on its head. Instead of asking ‘What will make me happy?’ he suggests asking yourself ‘What am I willing to struggle for?’ The more I read the more I thought about my own struggles, the sacrifices I have made and the invitable struggles to come to devote myself to writing. I thought about it, and realised that although I’ve been struggl...

On Wednesday evening our internet cut out because the bill hadn’t been paid. We only got it back this morning (Sunday for anyone in a different time-zone).

After the initial shock of not being able to check Facebook 14 times in an hour, I got pretty bored. Bit my nails a lot.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly like this.

That night, I set myself a goal of writing 500 words of a work-in-progress. Small and achievable. When I hit the 500-word mark, I just kept going. And going.

On Thursday, I opened up a...

This blog post started life suffering from depression.

It opened with the sentence “Let me begin by saying that 2015 was, for me at least, like a silent fart in an elevator.”

There was a completely asinine title: “New Year, New Me (Or Something to That Effect)”

There were cliches: “picking up the broken pieces” and “dotting the i’s”.

There was evidence of failures taken to heart: “I made big plans at the start of the year…”

There was passive voice.

It wasn’t working. It read too much like som...

Layla Cummins:

I may have to try this technique…

Originally posted on theOffice:

“I feel so much that writing is like chopping wood. I’ll always say to aspiring writers, it’s time logged. Just sit down, ink out however many hours you can in the day. Turn the phone off. Just write. I usually have the script open in one window, and then in another window I have a Word document where I free write. So, as soon as those voices start to come up, like, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re an idi...

Where’s the year gone? I’ve been in a sort of reverse hibernation, staying inside for most of the summer and having an impromptu slowdown with anything work related. There was some rearranging of priorities, some shuffling, and I stepped down from reading submissions for Grimdark Magazine. The lovely and capable Cheresse Burke has taken over and has an exceptional eye for great stories, so look out for future issues from the best and bloodiest ezine this side of the known universe.

Here’s a p...

The inaugural issue of Empty Oaks is out now, helmed by my friend and colleague Ro McNulty. I was part of the behind-the-scenes madness and what a pleasure it was! It’s a non-profit e-zine with an eye to changing the world one story at a time, so grab your FREE copy from the website (PDF like a true indie) and get your read on folks.

In our very first brand spanking new issue (cover art is ‘Horizons’ by Tori Wyatt) we’ve got lined up:

The Play’s the Thing by Stephen Whitaker
Rustle-y by Rudy...

I’m a little behind with everything it would seem, including my own blog announcements for the latest editions of Grimdark Magazine. So! It’s been roughly one year since Grimdark Magazine began and the team is busy celebrating all over social media, coming up with new competitions and ideas to kickstart the second year.

Grab the latest issue (Issue #4) here or indulge in a special first year bundle pack with ALL FOUR issues for only $9.99!

Alongside some stellar cover art from Jason Deem enti...

Last night I found some excellent writing advice and tips for writers from author Rowena Wiseman. Her post was not only helpful in a practical sense, but provided a kind of a pick-me-up, a pep talk in the locker room if you will, so I wanted to share her words in the hope that others might find it as useful as I have. Check out the original post and Rowena’s blog here.

“The best piece of writing advice I received was in a rejection letter from a publisher seven years ago. The unnamed reader s...