Posted by on Dec 8, 2006 in agents, novel writing, submissions | No Comments

What am I doing again? One of the biggest problems for any fiction writer is getting their head above the daily issues of making a living to fix on their long term ambitions. Most of us want to get a novel published. That desire has three concrete steps. Write novel Edit novel Send novel to […]

Posted by on Dec 7, 2006 in editing | No Comments

Reading as an editor One of the toughest things I have to do with students is tell them that, had I been reading as an editor, I wouldn’t have got past the third paragraph of their story. It’s a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? But without knowing how an editor works and thinks, too […]

Posted by on Dec 6, 2006 in Elastic Press, Jai Clare | 2 Comments

Good news Elastic Press, one of Britain’s most imaginative small publishers, has picked some winners in the past, as far as I’m concerned. Brian Howell’s collection The Sound of White Ants, and David Swann’s collection The Last Days of Johnny North are both on my bookshelf. Now they have listed Jai Clare’s The Cusp of […]

Bookplates It’s a truism that a writer does not get to choose his or her publisher. The publisher chooses the author, of course. But if I could choose, right now, I would choose William Morrow in the USA. Why? Because they have just sent my good friend Ellen Meister a stack of bookplates to give […]

Posted by on Dec 4, 2006 in essay, pushcart nominations | One Comment

Pushcart Nominations The Pushcart Prize confuses me. Here’s what they say about it: ‘Little magazine and small book press editors may make up to six nominations from their year’s publications by our December 1 deadline. The nominations may be any combination of poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot. Editors may nominate self-contained portions of […]

Posted by on Dec 1, 2006 in nanowrimo | No Comments

It’s all over … … bar the party. National Novel Writing Month has finished for another year, and for me this is a key year as I’m stepping down as Municipal Liaison for Brighton (and Hove actually). I’ve done the job for three years and reckon it’s time to give somebody else a chance to […]