THE NEW WRITER

When you read this, I will be exhausting myself on the dreaded Deathwatch Dash - please remind me to shut up next time I have stupid idea. It's not helped by suddenly having an ill daughter at home so I'm full of extra angst and stress, with the pleasures of the weekend rapidly fading.

Anyway, I'm not going to be able to blog particularly usefully or deeply for at least another week, for one reason and another. However, I have a little snippet to draw quickly to your attention.

There's a great magazine for writers, The New Writer, which many of you will know about. If you don't, take a look and do consider subscribing. I used to, years ago when I was trying to get published, and once I'd got published I stopped. (Which I needn't have done, as there's lots of stuff for published writers too, and besides, publication does not guarantee continued success).

I came across it again recently, still with the same hugely expert hands at the helm - Merric Davidson, Suzanne Ruthven and Sarah Jackson. It's full of great advice, lots of outlets for short story writing and poetry, and is an important source of information.

On the website, you'll see that you can ask for a free back issue to see what sort of things it contains. Give it a go. Lots of published writers have been through its pages and gleaned useful tips.

You may detect lack of humour, spark and crabbitness in this post. Sorry about that - I am seriously stressed about the coming week. I have put a note above my desk, saying, "JUST SAY NO".