Patricia Purvis

Good heavens, Raine – what a compliment, especially in view of the strength of the rest; I certainly was torn between at least three to name as my favourite. Thank you, indeed. And you can most certainly read the rest, as soon as it’s done. (Currently ‘resting’ after finishing a first draft last week, and already knowing things need…[Read more]

Has to be “A Lyttle goes a long way.” Excellent title.

Saw John’s news, but congratulations to Mad Iguana too – what an achievement for you both.

Well done, Jules and thanks for the horse breed check list, correcting my belief that a destrier was a sort of fast carthorse. I’m a big fan of Dorothy Dunnett so this will be added to my list.

Well, congratulations and I hope the book does wonderfully well.

I guess not. Google “troubleshooting font problems in word”, you should find this:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/918791/overview-of-fonts-and-how-to-troubleshoot-font-problems-in-microsoft-w

You might find this useful, scroll down to the troubleshooting section:

Assuming this link works!

In general,Squidge, although I know exactly what you mean, I don’t. Partly because a lot of the time I am writing ‘badly’ to start with, so much needs to be improved (and the correct word substituted for the one I couldn’t remember – I’m grateful for Emma D’s suggestion of putting then in [ ] so as to later find.

At the moment, writing a…[Read more]

Excellent … your fame is spreading, and rightfully so.

‘Specific questions’? – yes indeed, particularly in the light of the current one – Raine’s saying “It’ll be judged purely on ‘how much do I want to read on’” (which strikes me as a genius note to strike when setting a competition.) Of those posted so far I would say there are those which I am unlikely to pursue, simply because they are not the g…[Read more]

Entirely agree with Knicks and Jane. If critique is wanted it should be specifically asked for; where someone believes it would be helpful, a pm is the best place to start. For myself, comp entries are often little more than the flexing of writing muscles.

I think you have to activate reply threading, but I don’t know for sure.

Guidelines suggest not posting on the thread with the entries, until after judging is complete, but you can make a general discussion comment tagging the appropriate person. I think I have that correct.

Glad you asked that Jane, I was also wondering.

Yes, Squidge – soon as I pressed ‘go’ I thought that myself!

At the risk of sounding ageist, is it not the case that a high(ish) percentage of those doing degrees/Masters are quite young, and are unlikely to yet have the confidence/experience to ignore publishers et al?

To some extent (not that I’ve done any really full-on writing courses, just SE, some reading and building on experience) I do notice that my very early writing has a freshness of approach that more recent, more self-conscious writing does not.

And I do cheer when I come across writers such as Eimear McBride and Eley Williams (both James Tait…[Read more]