Deciding which route to attempt

If you're a writer then you've got a head start on some that's for sure.

The answers you'll get will probably vary considerably. I'd give the following advice.

List building is always important. Whatever you may do then if you are able to build a list then you should. List building and blogging go hand in hand anyway. If you're going to build a blog then it would be crazy not to build a list of people who come to read it. Same with affiliate marketing.

You can do affiliate marketing by buying traffic and diverting it to offers where you pick up commission, but the cost of the traffic needs to be less than your earnings to make it viable in the long term, so again the sooner you build your own list the better so you can send free traffic using email to your list. Of course you may pay for traffic to build a list knowing you make a loss initially, but with the knowledge that you will make much better sales in teh long term to make the loss leader worthwhile. So if you are going to run paid traffic then make sure you have a good funnel in place where you will capture the optin and send them to an offer on the Thankyou page that might be a low end offer, CPA offer etc to try to cover your traffic costs.

I'm in the UK too so always happy to natter on skype and offer help where I can.

One option also may be to offer your writing as a service. If you do that then you can get involved and maybe get a look behind the scenes as it were with people who have been marketing for a while but who outsource their sales pages etc.

By all means start with what you're already good at and enjoy. You can make good money writing, and I'd suggest that as a starting point.
An authority affiliate site could be the next logical step, using your writing skills to provide valuable content within the site.
As already mentioned, list building is key but don't get started on too many areas too fast. Quite easy to put a sign-up form on an affiliate site, and entice people to sign up in exchange for say a monthly newsletter.

HI
If you are a writer you could offer this as a service for others - fiverr is a great site for doing so(i have more info about it on my blog).
I would start a blog on a topic that really interessts me, as you need to write a lot about it. I started my IM carreer not long ago and started a blog where i share my experiences. My next goal which will be finished in the next 2 to 3 days is writing a compelling free offer for my subscribers and set up my autoresponder to build my list.
Whatever you chose: build a list. It is your best asset and you can email to your list whenever you want - for example: free offers - CPA - where you earn money, when someone enters his/her email adress and name!

Again: I would start with fiverr and my blog, list - This way you can make some money and then reinvest into growing your business!

I hope this helps - all the best,
Richard

If you're a writer then blogging is the obvious choice. I can't emphasize strongly enough the importance of building your own list. Start now.

Good advice here, and since you're a writer just start a blog about a topic you're passionate about and write away, and make sure to get a capture mechanism to get people to subscribe to your email list, because that's absolutely needed if you want to make good money.

For instant income you can offer writing services on various writing platforms, there's plenty to choose from. Good luck!

Email marketing. Whatever you do, put prospects on your list first.

authority blogging is quicker than list building. and both are great in the long term

As a writer no question... start a blog.

I would suggest your own domain and hosting as opposed to third party. You want your content to be yours on your domain first time every time and use third party sites to rank buyer keywords quickly.

Blogging takes some trial and error, studying, and perseverance.

Whatever you decide, make more and more use of this forum with deeper and more specific questions about the direction you pursue

-Mike