The Inland Magazine May edition

Is out now and carries my

- Lo Pagan Walk with my photos (including some well known faces!)

- Who Remembers 1966 and Pickles an article on the World Cup

- Shanghai Expo 2010

- Bibliomaniac Page

If you cannot get hold of a copy why not view online and or download

Back on Air

I have been invited back to Coolfm974 this Saturday to guest on the football chat show 'Countdown Cafe' with Ken Scott.

It be fun as the football season reaches its climax

If you want to tune in go here

between 1500 - 1900 Spanish time

Thanks for the Feedback

At this weeks Torrevieja Writers Circle meeting I read my entry for a 500 word competition for which you had to start with:

As I stepped from the ship the rain ceased

It went down well with most of the members - I even got a "Best you have ever written" from our chairman!


I just hope the judges think like him - we shall see.

The Writers Bureau Competition

Poetry and Short Story Writing Competition with £4000 worth of Prizes!

The Writers Bureau – Britain’s leading Creative Writing home study

college – has launched its annual Poetry and Short Story Competition

for 2010.  

Now in its 16th year, the competition will, once again, be judged by

Iain Pattison and Alison Chisholm.  Alison commented on last year’s

winners saying, “The wide-ranging subject matter and a host of

individual voices made this a fascinating competition to judge. Many

of the entries reached out and captivated the reader, who was drawn

into another world and invited to become a part of it. The winners

were spectacular.”

Last year’s winners can be viewed at http://www.wbcompetition.com.

Total prize money is £4000: First prize in each category is £1000,

second prize £400, third prize £200, fourth prize £100, plus six

runners-ups prizes of £50 each.

The theme is open so entrants can choose to write about any subject.

Poems should not exceed 40 lines and short stories should not exceed

2000 words.

The winners will be featured in Freelance Market News and on The

Writers Bureau competition website giving the winners a chance

to showcase their work and boost their profile.

The entry fee for each poem or short story is £5.00 and the closing

date for entries is 30th June 2010. Entry can be either online or

through the post.

For entry forms or further information contact:

The Competition Secretary,

Dept Comppr, The Writers Bureau,

Sevendale House, 7 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 1JB

Tel:  00 44 161 228 2362

Or Visit

http://www.wbcompetition.com

The Times They Are a Changing?

If you take a few minutes to reflect we are spoilt by the plethora of free services that we can use on the internet (after we have acquired our computers and paid the monthly phone line bill) Email, messaging, FaceBook, searching for information, translations, news, online shopping, forums, even making free 'phone' calls over Skype and the like - etc etc.

But is it starting to come to an end?

My Writers Abroad group have built a group web site using a system known as Ning. Today they have announced the probability of charging - no more free Ning!

Recently one of the news services was threatening to charge for the services currently available for free.

How has so much been available for free in the past? Well I read that many sites are paid for by the charges levied against the commercial users - in some cases only 2% of users are paying for the other 98%

The EU were discussing a tax on internet use which would have been totally outrageous and that has now been abandoned (for now?)

So make the most of the free services - while they last.

Writers Abroad are already making plans to move to an alternative free service.

Flash 500 competition

The winners have now been announced for the Flash 500 writing competition. The challenge was to write a story in less than 500 words.

Unfortunately my entry did not make it but 3 of my friends from Writers Abroad were short listed and another from Torrevieja Writers Circle was 'Highly Commended' (Well done Gerry!)

So it is back to the writing drawing board for me.


Perhaps I will have a better result in the Solbank Photography competition with my 'Home with the Catch' as it has been short listed and appeared in their last edition of Prestige magazine.

Wordplay

As regular readers will know a new local (to me) writing group, Wordplay, was formed a few months ago and is now really beginning to take off. They are publishing a monthly E-zine and my work, in various formats, has been published. The E-zine is available free upon request.

The group founders have asked me to contribute more articles for the E-zine on 'tecky/geeky stuff' and setup a blog for the group. So lots to do............

I would consider that their approach is a bit different to many other groups, if not maybe unique. The following is quoted from the Wordplay web site that is not officially launched yet but can be viewed here
Why not take a look and see if you want to get involved?


"Conceived by two published writers during the fourth quarter of   is the dynamic solution to the requirements of modern day writers.
With the primary aim of encouraging writers to write and to get them read, WordPlay caters for all levels from the novice to the professionally published author.
WordPlay’s philosophy encompasses all genres and forms of writing (be it long, short, factual, fictional, prose, poetry, serious, humorous, song…the list is never ending).New and different, WordPlay Writers' Forum immediately set itself apart from other writers groups. The unanimous positive response to WordPlay’s practical ideology made it evident the market place was waiting for this fresh author centric approach to be made available to all in the form of wordplaywriters.com.
WordPlay’s imaginative approach enables writers of all abilities to hone their skills and showcase their talent to a wider audience. Our ethos of being Interesting, Informative, Intelligent, and Inspirational will empower writers to reach their true potential.WordPlay also gives scouts, agents and publishers the opportunity to discover new and exciting writers."

 

The Inland Magazine April 2010

TIM is out now (the 65th edition) and carries my:

'State of the Nation' - A look at how Spain is recovering from the crisis (Pages 2-3)

The new book page - Bibliomaniac Page (Pg 10) Reviews, news, comment and win a free signed book competition.

also Spanish Freeview TDT TV - on page 14

Plus loads more great content for everyone. Pick up a FREE copy or click below

The Power of Love

Is the title of my latest short story published in the April/May edition of Platinum Page.

This from their web site:

"Platinum Page was created from a idea, with a specific goal in mind.

The idea is simple.  Build a friendly and approachable business which allows writers of all experience to use Platinum Page as a platform into having work published and showcased. A magazine focused on well written short stories. No features, no articles, just quality writing.  Poets are also included, and in each edition of Platinum Page, there are several poems sprinkled throughout."

You can subscribe for either hard copy or online version and they are looking for submissions.