Hello? Anybody home, anyone who remembers me?

I've been trying to do some writing recently, but I've hit a problem:

I can't decide whether to stick with first person, or use third person to avoid confusing narrator switches.

Any advice? Comments on the different points of view?

There is no reason why vanity publishing should be a risky thing to undertake.

Some of our most famous authors have set out by writing what they felt were important works, but thought might not sell terribly well. Some of those works have ended up selling very well.

Other authors have ended up lumbered with hundreds of books. Thanks to latest technology, any book can be printed on demand, as they are bought by the reader.

Any author would be well-advised to obtain an ISBN (International Standard Book Number), as this will increase the chance of sales by quite a large factor.

All publications must be made available to The British Library as a matter of course and several others, on demand. The author will want a copy too. That makes a total of 6 copies to get you going. After that, as each reader buys a book, Catseye Private Press prints it and despatches it to the buyer. We then send Royalties direct to the author.

See http://www.catseyepress.co.uk/vanity.asp

The 2009 BLUECAT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION is now open for submission of feature length screenplays!


*Winner receives $10,000

*Four finalists receive $1500


*Every writer who submits to BlueCat receives a written script analysis of their screenplay
Entry fee $50


EARLY BIRD SCRIPT ANALYSIS:
EARLY DEADLINE: December 1, 2008
*Screenplays submitted by Dec 1 will receive their analysis by Jan 5


SUBMIT YOUR SCREENPLAY: http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/submissio...for_entries.php


BlueCat Screenplay Competition
www.bluecatscreenplay.com
www.myspace.com/bluecatscreenplay

Dark Tales Winter Short Story Competition

Due to popular demand, stories of up to 5000 words can now be entered, giving you extra scope for development of your own Dark Tale.

Win £250, £50 or £25 - plus publication for all shortlisted stories (others receive £5 payment) in Dark Tales, publishers of some of the best new horror and speculative fiction over the past five years.

Deadline 31st January 2009, entry fee £3, or £5 with a tick-sheet critique.

Full details and rules here.

Enter online and upload your story here.

But if you can't wait, send a UK cheque or postal order, payable to 'Dark Tales', along with your entry(ies), to:

Dark Tales Winter Competition
7 Offley Street
Worcester
WR3 8BH
UK

Note that although we ask for First British Serial Rights, copyright is retained by you, the writer.

p.s. You can read an excerpt from the winning story in the Summer 08 contest here.

Can you Help?

We are looking for a writer, who can put together a brief crime and evaluation night(s). We are bringing the age old murder mystery concept into the 21st century.
We don’t want a book or script. But a short story with forensic and police reports, clues some would be false leads some not.

Please contact

adam.farley@livingitlovingit.com

For more information.

CALLING ALL TEENAGERS


TeenReport A special contest category for members aged 13 to 17. TeenReport writers compete for a $1000 qualifying prize each month. They also compete for the TeenReport Grand Prize, a $25,000 college scholarship awarded January 1, 2008. This category covers all subject areas appropriate for a teen audience.




Since launching in July, FieldReport.com, a unique web community based on true-life stories, has already given away $90,000 in prizes in the lead-up to January’s $250,000 grand prize contest. On January 5th, 2009 a single true-life story of 2,000 words or less will be selected as the overall winner by the site’s membership. In addition to the grand prize, a $25,000 scholarship will go to the best submission by a teen from 13 to 17 years old.



Entry is free, but time is running out - all submissions for the Grand Prize contest must be received by November 15th 2008.



Winners of our qualifying contests have included ordinary people like Murr Brewster, an unpublished mail carrier from Portland. Other winners include best-selling author Laura Fraser, essayist and anthology editor Shari MacDonald Strong, and New York Times “Habitat” columnist Stephen P. Williams.



Information on entering can be found at www.FieldReport.com. To enter, you need to rank five stories by other members and then upload one of your own.



For more information about FieldReport, see the following links:



UK Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/...ek-field-report



Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1848727,00.html



Murr Brewster on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FieldReportTrueLifea

CALL FOR WRITERS AND READERS



Since launching in July, FieldReport.com, a unique web community based on true-life stories, has already given away $90,000 in prizes in the lead-up to January’s $250,000 grand prize contest. On January 5th, 2009 a single true-life story of 2,000 words or less will be selected as the overall winner by the site’s membership. In addition to the grand prize, a $25,000 scholarship will go to the best submission by a teen from 13 to 17 years old.



Entry is free, but time is running out - all submissions for the Grand Prize contest must be received by November 15th 2008.



Winners of our qualifying contests have included ordinary people like Murr Brewster, an unpublished mail carrier from Portland. Other winners include best-selling author Laura Fraser, essayist and anthology editor Shari MacDonald Strong, and New York Times “Habitat” columnist Stephen P. Williams.



Information on entering can be found at www.FieldReport.com. To enter, you need to rank five stories by other members and then upload one of your own.



For more information about FieldReport, see the following links:



UK Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/...ek-field-report



Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1848727,00.html



Murr Brewster on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/FieldReportTrueLifea