How to write a Writer's Bio

I'm going to be published!

Got some excellent news the other day, Writing Raw are going to publish my article 'Struggle' about new writers trying to get published in their April addition.  However, they'd like me to submit a Writers Bio.  

I know my writers bio is not great as I'm still struggling to get noticed.  I'm not sure what to put in it, so I did some research.

I found the following websites very useful in my quest:  

http://www.scribophile.com/blog/how-to-write-a-stellar-writers-bio/ 

http://www.absolutewrite.com/freelance_writing/bio.htm 

http://www.writing-world.com/basics/bio.shtml 

http://www.writers.com/feature_bio_blurb.html 

5 Rules to Writing a Writer's Bio

The general rules I learnt was:

Rule 1:  Write in third person

Rule 2:   Introduce your self and what you do. 

Rule 3:  Give the facts - nowhere in your bio should you mention your hopes and dreams:

• writing courses you've completed
• writers groups you're a member of (online and offline)
• any work you've had published (even if it was free) or competitions won.

Rule 4:  Conclusion.  Some of the sites suggest that you can use this an opportunity to say something personal about yourself or leave a hook about your current projects.

Rule 5:  Edit it.  Keep it concise - aim for less than 90 words.  Check spelling, grammar and punctuation is accurate. 

My Writer's Bio

Here is what I finally come up with...

Alison Aldridge is a blogger and writer of fiction novels.  Her short romance story was published in the Scribblers Anthology to raise money for the Children’s Hospice.  She maintains a website and blog on writing. Alison delivers courses to develop written English skills for students in work based learning.  She's a member of Scribblers, a local writers group in Felixstowe and several online communities.  Alison is currently working on Wipe-out, a sequel to Drift, a coming of age Young Adult novel about a mermaid and first love.  

I am going to save a copy and update it as and when required.

Mobile Blogger

Wow! How come nobody told me about mobile blogging. Just downloaded Blogger from the App Store. It's free and means I can blog anywhere, anytime.

There are so many other useful apps on my iPhone that I want to share with you that I've decided to make them a regular feature of my blog.

Coming soon Writer App Recommendations...

British Writers Award

I spent this morning editing Drift and my synopsis. Then I spent the afternoon checking the format was correct to meet BWA's guidelines. 


Synopsis 

• One to two pages long 
• The whole story revealed (including the ending)*Font must be Arial, 12pt, black 
• Top left must say "Synopsis - Drift" 
• Word or pdf format 

 Manuscript 

• Three consecutive chapters - ideally the first ones 
• Font must be Arial, 12pt, black 
• Must follow the synopsis in the same document 

As I was worried that they may not be able to open my Word document, I printed and saved it in pdf format. I then submitted it to both the Novel and Children's Story categories as you can make three submissions and the submission can be the same story to more than one category. If I want, I can submit another entry but I don't think I have anything else up to standard. I've got several stories in the making but nothing else polished and complete. 

Once this was done, I went to bake some butterfly cakes to celebrate.  I think my creative writing is better than my creative yum - icing sugar, white chocolate stars and smarties everywhere.


Good luck to everyone that has entered. I think this one will have a lot of competition as it is international and the fee is quite reasonable (about £10 for three entries).