The best writers recognise that there's always a need to improve.
Attend workshops / writers groups, or take part in home-based or online writing workshops - now available through many universities.
Get feedback about your work. Remember that asking the opinion of family and friends will not always be completely objective. With Academi's Critical Service, for example, an experienced writer can assess your work. Try to take feedback on board and learn from it.
Funding - Academi offer various bursaries, including an Enabling Bursary for disabled writers of up to £2,000. It can pay for specialist equipment, travel costs, secretarial assistance, and training.
Submit your work to publishers, competitions, e-zines (online magazines)... just make sure that you send your best work, and be patient as there is usually a long wait for a response. Remember to keep a copy of what you send.
IMPORTANT: Never pay to get yourself published. There are bad people out there waiting to trick you into parting with your cash.
Copyright - Under UK law, your work is protected by copyright from the moment it is created. You don't need to do anything to claim that right. Note that copyright protects your writing but not the ideas contained in the work.
It may be interesting for you to read work by other disabled writers. Have you considered writing about your experiences as a disabled person?
You might want to start with Sue Napolitano's poetry, Lois Keith's anthology of writing by disabled women "Musn't Grumble", Rosaleen Moriarty-Simmonds' autobiography, "Four Fingers and Thirteen Toes", Maggie Hampton's interviews with disabled women in the arts "Living Where the Nights Jive", and Disability Arts Cymru's anthology "Hidden Dragons: New Writing by Disabled People in Wales".
Get in touch with Academi, the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Authors, for further advice. Their contact details are...
Academi
3rd Floor
Mount Stuart House
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff CF10 5FQ
Tel: 029 2047 2266
Fax: 029 2049 2930
Email: post@academi.org
Web: www.academi.org
Macmillan's annual "The Writer's Handbook" is packed full of extremely useful information.
Arts Council of Wales - includes an arts database of events and useful contacts.
Arvon Foundation - residential creative writing courses.
BBC Writers Room - writing for film, TV and radio.
Beyond the Border Festival - Wales' International Storytelling Festival.
Disability Arts Online - work by deaf and disabled artists.
Disability Writes - supporting disabled writers.
Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts.
Lapidus - creative words for health and well being
Literaturetraining - supporting the professional development of writers.
National Association of Writers Groups
Sherman Cymru - new writing for the stage
The Dylan Thomas Centre - centre in Swansea running literary events and workshops.
Ty Newydd - writers' residential centre near Cricieth in north Wales.
Welsh Books Council - national body for publishing in Wales.
Writernet - information for playwrights, which includes a guide for disabled writers.
