There it is again, a heartwarming invitation direct from a high end publishing editor. After washing me in compliments about my writing, they make an invitation that looks golden. But there’s an AI sameness to these invitations and they always betray themselves as fake.

The first clue lies in their email address. One arrived last week purporting to come from ‘Hannah O’ Grady’ (sic) at St Martin’s Press. Great to be approached by such a prestigious editor… But that space in the surname, and the email address ends ‘yahoo.com’. By the time the writer introduces herself three paragraphs in, she’s misspelling her own name as Hannah Ograry. She even signs off proudly as Hannah Ograry. Do these spammers expect us to pay as little attention to detail as they do?

Another starts ‘I hope you’re doing well’. An unlikely business approach. Again, hints are in the email address: this time it’s supposed to be a Simon & Schuster ‘Executive Editor’, no less, except that in the email the company is spelt ‘simonsandschusters.com’. Too many letters s. The ‘compliments’ are dug from reviews on my website. Well done to them for bothering to look but there’s nothing personal in what they say.

Wouldn’t it be loverly, as Eliza sang in ‘My Fair Lady’, if this sort of thing really happened? But I’m afraid it doesn’t. What do the spammers hope to gain from it? I wouldn’t be surprised if, in no time, they’re asking for your bank details for something in advance of whatever it is they pretend to offer you.

In this writing game, we do sometimes find fairy godparents to help us, and what treasures they are. But they don’t arrive via unsolicited emails where they can’t spell their own name.

There will be more in my new book, scheduled by Colorful Crow Publishing for publication mid-next year. It’s what I’ve learned over thirty years – usually the hard way − about developing a robust writing process for life, with tricks and tips to keep us writing at every stage through to publication.