This book will show you how your own personal experiences can provide you with an endless supply of ideas for your writing - whether fiction or non-fiction. You will learn how to write about what you know - and you certainly know a lot. The good news is that the older you are, and the older you get, the more experiences you have had - so you'll always have something to write about. The author, Lynne Hackles, will show you how to make your own 'Raking up your past' file - using memories, lists, diaries, newspapers, smells, family trees, etc. Plus how to turn your own anecdotes, recounted to friends and family, into useful prose; and how to fashion the passed-down history of your ancestors into a family saga. With this book you'll also learn how to: - Sell a snippet of conversation - Make money by sharing secrets - Take your boss and your best friend and come up with a new character - Sell one event in your life to several different markets - Impart knowledge you didn't think you had to people who didn't know they needed it - Use the emotions, traumas, joys and experiences of your own life to make your writing stronger and more saleable. With this book you'll never run out of ideas, and writer's block will be a thing of the past. REVIEWS: 'I suggest you take it with you when you travel to work ... You will begin thinking, and often times those are the moments to begin a new journey. This book will prod you onward. Highly recommended.' www.london-morning-paper.co.uk AUTHOR BIOG: The first words LYNNE HACKLES ever sold netted GBP2. Since then she has turned hundreds of personal experiences into stories which have sold in the UK and abroad. She leads writing workshops and runs tutorials for a leading correspondence school. CONTENTS: 1. Writing and your life PART ONE - NON-FICTION 2. Easy ways to start 3. And my specialist subject is... 4. Washing your dirty linen 5. Wholesome real life 6. Everyone has a book in them PART TWO - FICTION 7. What is fiction? 8. Short stories 9. Novels 10. Writing for children Index.