GUEST BLOG - THE DECISION

THE DECISION: LIZZIE’S STORY

A prochoice-orientated novel & transmedia series,"Lizzie's Diary" playing out in real time on Twitter & Facebook, COMING IN MARCH 2014!!

 

A 17 yo young woman with a bright academic future discovers she's pregnant and is faced with ALL of the possible outcomes of her decision: abortion; miscarriage; single parenthood, etc.

 

WHAT IF … you could play out everything that *could* happen next in your life?

 

The bright Lizzie, 17, has big plans, but can she have the life she wanted, with a baby in tow? What will her family and friends say? And what will the baby’s father choose to do: stay out of it, or stand by her? 

 

Working on the notion some moments in time are unchangeable, Lizzie will find herself pregnant, then have to choose what to do next. Lizzie will be presented with ALL of the possible scenarios and discover some are not as bad as they seem and others worse than she imagines.

 

It’s 2014, but the issue of teenage pregnancy is STILL stereotyped and oversimplified by the media and politicians: "On average, we think teenage pregnancy is 25 times higher than official estimates:  we think that 15% of girls under 16 get pregnant each year, when official figures suggest it is around 0.6%[i]." SOURCE: Ipsos Mori 

 

The novel will be available to buy at Amazon & all good bookshops. Find THE DECISION: LIZZIE'S STORY in the German Language,  BAUCHENTSCHEIDUNG (“Gut Decision”) & Hay’s previous books, here.

 

Don't miss out on this online event … Follow Lizzie: she is tweeting as @LizziesDecision. "Like" the official Facebook page for Lizzie's Diary, coming soon.

 

MORE INFORMATION: Contact Julian Friedmann on Julian@blakefriedmann.co.uk or Lucy Hay on Bang2write@aol.com

OPPORTUNITIES

It's not enough to just have a talent as a writer to get ahead, you also need to recognise and take your opportunities when they are presented to you. If you don't, several years from now, when you're sitting in your freezing cold bedsit, you'll still be wondering why your career hasn't gone anywhere.

Every opportunity has to be grabbed and made the most off, because if you don't take them then someone else will. There are tens of thousands of writers out there all trying to grow a career and you have to make yourself stand out from the crowd. You might overload yourself with work at first but as you grow as a writer and become more experienced, you'll get to know which opportunities are the ones to pursue and which are the ones to politely decline.

Of course opportunities very rarely appear out of thin air and the vast majority have to be worked for. Making connections, collaborations, occasionally working for free and making yourself invaluable to other media types will go a long way towards this. If you get a reputation for being helpful, polite and good to work with, the opportunities will soon flow your way. You don't need to go looking for them.

A successful writer grabs every opportunity and makes the most of it. An unsuccessful writer doesn't. Which are you?