Rob Goss's Blog, page 3

The business of being a freelance writer in Japan, part 2

And here is the second installment of notes from my presentation for the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators on the business side of being a freelance writer in Japan (the first is here: http://www.tokyofreelance.com/the-bus...). This time, it’s about vetting clients and assignments and some general thoughts on doing the job.

PART 4: VETTING CLIENTS AND ASSIGNMENTS & THOUGHTS ON DOING THE JOB

Are you interested? Does the assignment tick yo...

The business of being a freelance writer in Japan, part 1

Earlier this year, I was part of a panel discussion in Tokyo for the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators during which I gave a presentation on the business of writing about Japan as a freelancer – about finding work, choosing who to work with, and other aspects of the job.

From time to time, new writers and students get in touch to ask for advice about becoming a writer—I’m always happy to try and answer questions—and so I thought I’d put my notes from the SWET presentation into this...

Why I’m trying Twitter again.

A few years ago, I had a Twitter account. I had about 2,000 followers—maybe five of whom I actually communicated with in any meaningful way—and I tweeted about all sorts, from work and travel (they are connected in my case) to football and cricket. I’d rant from time to time, too, and crack the occasional bad joke.

Just as I had a haphazard approach to Twitter, my feed was also full of rubbish; people spamming their latest blog posts, fishing for retweets and follows with shallow compliments,...

Work update: Tokyo by Design

I thought I’d start adding the occasional work update here. I keep a portfolio of published work elsewhere on the site, but only a very small portion of my work ends up there. 

So, here’s the first work update; a recent piece in OMEGA Lifetime magazine that looks at design and style in Tokyo. 

It’s an unusual bit of work for me in that it’s 4,000 words (10pp). Books aside, most clients tend to want features that are 800 to 1,500 words (or shorter fillers), so it made a nice change to put tog...

Real Estate Hustle

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I took the first step to selling our flat by contacting half a dozen or so real estate agents in Tokyo to get an indication of how much our property is worth. For some very brief background, we aren’t leaving Tokyo. The aim is to move a few stations from where we are now so we can be within easy walking distance (or at least a safe cycle) of our son’s school, and so we can live in a neighbourhood that for a variety of other reasons we would much prefer to liv...

Micro fiction for kids – a workshop that worked

A few weeks ago I was invited to Hiroshima International School to give an author talk as part of their Reading Week program. That was the initial plan anyway, but rather than stand and waffle in front of a hall full of small kids, we instead came up with the idea of doing writing workshops with the students.

I make my living writing non-fiction books, features and travel pieces, but I also do a little short and micro fiction writing. So, I ended up doing a micro fiction workshop with a grou...

April 22nd event on travel writing in Tokyo with SWET

A quick update about an event I’ll be taking part in this April, a panel discussion run by the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators related to travel writing and producing tourism material. It’s free and open to non-SWET members, you just need to send an RSVP in advance so they can keep track of numbers.

Here’s the link with details: http://www.swet.jp/news/article/crafting_travel_writing_tourism_material_and_tours 

And here is a copy and paste of it all:

Crafting Travel Writing, Touri...