Many existing top 20 Scottish writers have flourished in part because of good turns done by institutions, arts community, libraries and bookshops.

The financial value put on the job of the writer and the misconceptions around that make it extremely difficult to enter the profession.

A good deed is a good deed.

Copywriters, journalists, mainstream authors, ghostwriters, bloggers and advertising creatives have as much right to think of themselves as good writers as academics, poets, or literary novelists.

Even a smile is a good deed.

A good deed here, a good deed there, a good thought here, a good comment there, all added up to my career in one way or another.