Don’t think I haven’t been writing. I write for fun; poems, short stories, questions and observations on life; I post them on my blog. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had a few people contacting me recently about writing scams and how to avoid them. I also notice that this topic pops up in the forum on occasion, with students asking others if they’ve ever heard of such and such a publisher and what the general opinion of them is. And, I’m sure you’ve all seen those poetry ‘competitions’, I use the word loosely as what they really are is a scam. Entry is free so you send a poem. Then, low and behold, you find you’ve won! But instead of giving you a prize, they advise that they are putting together an anthology, a snip at £29.99, and your poem will be in it. How many copies would you like? Yeah, you know the one. Read the rest of this entry »

First, thanks to Jane for last week’s blog.  Finding a title for either a novel or an article can involve a great deal of soul-searching.  It’s important to try and find something that you feel will catch the publisher or reader’s eye and hook them in. Read the rest of this entry »