This month we have expert advice from Esther Newton on researching markets, Ten Top Tips covers writing erotica, Useful websites is as useful as ever and there’s a healthy portion of student success too.

• Editor's News
• Successes
• Expert Advice
• Top Tips
• Useful Sites
• Inspiration

Hello Dear Readers,

Hope you had safe and happy Halloween and Guy Fawkes celebrations. This month’s introduction is a long one, but stick with it, it’s worth it! The clocks have changed and British summer time has officially ended. I think now it’s time to start to gathering the items I’ll need to make my Christmas tree decorations – ivy, cinnamon bark, cloves, star anise, oranges, lemons and limes. It’s going to be a fabulous, fragrant sensation, if I do say so myself. I suggest you try it – you’ll never go back to fake trees, plastic baubles and tinsel!

This Month!

We’ve expert advice from tutor and Writers Bureau graduate, Esther Newton, on how to carry out thorough market research. Most writing is rejected because it’s been sent to the wrong kind of publication, so it’s easy to see how important it is to get your research right. Ten Top Tips looks at the ever-so-naughty occupation of writing erotica – not for the easily offended. Student Stories are, as always, a great inspiration to carry on submitting work and Useful Websites has one to help you find markets, one to help you understand statistics and one for those who love literature – which should be all of you if you want to be writers!

Tutor News

One of our tutors, Sue Wilkes, has released a new book called 'Tracing Your Canal Ancestors’ . It’s a ‘comprehensive introduction to the history of canals and inland waterways workers. This practical guide shows how to trace canal boatmen and their families, explains the workings of the canal network and identifies key sources for family historians. Sue Wilkes concentrates on the people who lived and worked on the waterways – the canal boatmen, their families and way of life – and those dependent on the canal trade for a living – the lock-keepers, toll collectors, and canal company clerks. Her book is essential reading for anyone interested in this aspect of the industrial past'. It’s available from Amazon.

Competitions!

I’ve had a couple of emails asking me to mention competitions this week. One is from a student who’s running a competition on her website. She’s looking for submissions of poetry, recipes, cooking tips, short stories and novels that can be serialised, plus a whole host of other ideas for e-giftzim.com – “a special project designed to raise money for the aged and infirm in Zimbabwe. Artists and writers do get their royalties from it too, as well as having the privilege of participating in a good cause.” Entry is free until the end of November.

The second is from the World Student Drama Trust – they are running the 36th International Student Playscript Competition. Here’s the lowdown, “The free-to-enter ISPC is unique in several respects, being genuinely worldwide, having no restrictions on form, content, length, number of characters or locations and - above all - giving every entry a helpful, encouraging but honest appraisal. There is no limit to how many scripts any student can enter. The annual closing date for entries is 30th November. The winner receives a cash prize - currently £1,000 - and a highly rated, rehearsed reading at the next NSDF (9-15 April 2011).”

Previous winners include:

• Gloria Calderon Kellett – ‘How I Met Your Mother’
• Terri Wagener – ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’
• Rob Shearman – ‘Doctor Who’

And, don’t forget, if you are a student of The Writers Bureau and you’ve been published you can enter Writer of the Year and be in with a chance of winning £250! Closing date is 31st December 2011. Good Luck!

Free Illustrations

Do you have a children’s book that you’d like illustrating? I’ve been contacted by an illustration student, Iryna. She’s looking for a children’s book to illustrate for her Diploma project. If you are interested, please forward your details to me and I’ll pass them on to Iryna for you.

Happy writing

Shelley

P.S Don’t forget our Poetry Writing Competition is now accepting entries.