Helpline Diana Cambridge solves your writing problems
Email your queries to Diana (please include hometown details) at: diana@dianacambridge.co.uk or send them to: Helpline, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD. She will answer as many letters as she can on the page, but regrets that she cannot enter into individual correspondence. Publication of answers may take several months. Helpline cannot personally answer queries such as where to offer work, or comment on manuscripts, which you are asked not to send.
QThis may be difficult to answer: is there an easy way to impress a WI committee when you’re pitching to be a speaker for them? SINEAD KNOWLES, Odd Down, Bristol
AThe best advice I’ve read – from an article by Barbara Lorna Hudson in The Author – is to speak loudly and clearly, do not read from a script, and find a topic that relates to your book but don’t just advertise the book itself. You need to first pitch your idea to the County Federation, and if the idea appeals to them, they invite you to an ‘audition’. You’ll have a time slot of around 20 minutes. The invited audience of WI members marks you on a ratings list. Some writers pick up an extra income from giving talks to WIs and may be asked to do extra tasks, like judging competitions.