When we had our tutors’ annual meeting in October we took the opportunity to make short film clips of some of them talking about their writing – these are now available on our website.

There’s Simon Whaley talking about non-fiction writing; Alison Chisholm discussing poetry; Lorraine Mace explaining how to put humour into your writing and Stephanie Baudet giving tips on writing picture books for children.  They’re all different – but all equally interesting and informative.

I’ve decided that every few weeks I’m going to ask one of our tutors to do a guest blog – at least you’ll get a break from my witterings!  So, next week it’s the turn of Penny Legg.  Penny is also one of our tutors and fits this between her own writing and editing ‘The Woman Writer’ the magazine of The Society of Women Writers and Journalists.

So, all that remains is for me to wish you a very happy Christmas.  But before I leave you, bear in mind the results of a recent survey suggesting that the average time for the first row to start in homes around the country on Christmas Day is 9.58am.  So, be prepared!  Make sure you’ve put a few good books on our Christmas list. And as soon as the present opening is over – even before the wrapping paper has been disposed of – head for the smallest room in the house with your stash of books and lock yourself in.  By doing this there’s a chance you will still be speaking to your loved ones by the time Dr Who comes on the TV and you may even enjoy Christmas day.  Bah humbug to you all!

Next year it will be 21 years since the Writers Bureau was launched (no comment here about how old that makes me feel!) and we’ll be holding all kinds of exciting competitions and events to celebrate.

We’ll keep you posted on our website but when anything specific is imminent I’ll let you know so that you can join in.

Anyone who’s seriously considering a career as a writer should join the Society of Authors.  You do already need to have some success under your belt, although self-publishers are eligible.  But the good thing is that as soon as you are offered a contract you can join and the Society will then vet the contract for you and highlight any potential pitfalls.

The site has lots of useful information and has just introduced a new ‘rates and guidelines’ page giving some idea of what writers can realistically expect to earn.

Do you ever throw books away?  If you’re like me, you don’t – it’s a sin!  So, you end up sending them to charity shops or forcing them on friends.  So why not try BookCrossing.  It’s the practice of leaving a book you’ve read for someone else to find by following your online directions.  Apparently, over 800,000 people around the world are now doing it – so it could also give you the chance to make some new reading buddies.

And finally, if you‘re a Writers Bureau student, don’t forget our Writer of the Year Award with its £250 prize.  The closing date is 31^st December, so you’d better get your skates on.

Another week gone by and more shops being swamped by the tsunami of Christmas commercialism. I feel particularly sorry for all the staff on check-out tills and suspect that by December 24th they’d like to do the kind of things to Noddy Holder and Roy Wood that can only be accomplished with a blunt instrument or a chain saw!

OK, rant over. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we were getting our tutors together for the annual meeting. We had a good turnout and I think everyone enjoyed it. (I know I did!) Simon Whaley gives his impressions on his blogspot and one of the newer additions to our team – Penny Legg – also gives her take on the meeting.

As you may gather from reading Simon’s post, we took the opportunity of filming some of the tutors talking about interesting aspects of their writing. They’ll be appearing on YouTube and I’ll let you know as soon as the clips are there. And if you are already a WB student you can log in to the student area to see short biographies of many of our other tutors.

Before I go, don’t forget that entries to our annual Writer of the Year Award are now being accepted. If you’ve had some publishing successes it’s well worth looking into as the first prize is £250.

Until next time…