First, thanks to Natalie – it may be a cliché that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ but I can’t emphasise too strongly that it also makes a huge difference to whether you sell your work or not. Read the rest of this entry »

Competition adjudicator and frequent comps winner, Iain Pattison explains why he’s saddened by a dearth of mirth… Read the rest of this entry »

First, Happy New Year to everyone!  I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and, like me, you’re probably glad the snow has gone.   But I couldn’t resist including one of the pics that my daughter-in-law took of Kenilworth Castle over the festive season – whether you like snow or not, that kind of view takes some beating.

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Thanks to Rachel for last week’s blog and her very practical advice on how to find work as a freelance copywriter.

This week I’ve been interviewing to fill a vacancy in our Student Services department.  As you can imagine, we need someone with a good command of English, who is interested in writing and can empathise with students.  The six people that we chose to interview were all great and any one of them could have done the job to a high standard.  Choosing between them was far from easy but I think we’ve made the right decision.

What did worry – and depress – me was the fact that we had in the region of 350 applicants for the job!  Many were graduates leaving university this year with good degrees, or graduates who had left last year and been unable to find a job.  Others were highly qualified people who had been made redundant.  It’s being faced with such stark reality that makes you realise that times are still difficult in this country – and our young people are taking the brunt of it.

OK, onto a more cheerful topic.  Phaebus Media Group, who produced the videos on the Writers Bureau site, are in the process of producing a mini-drama aimed at introducing new learners, aged 16 to30, to the English language. They’ve asked The Writers Bureau to run a competition to come up with story outlines. The drama will consist of 12 episodes, each lasting five minutes. Your job is to write the story and character outlines and suggest the location or setting for the drama. If possible, the winning idea will be put into production, you’ll be credited on the final product and invited along to see the filming of some of the episodes. Full details of the competition are here . It’s a great way to break into TV, so why not give it a try?

Finally, don’t forget our latest 21^st Birthday Competition which gives you the opportunity to win an Article Writing course