Competitions for the New Year...

Now that I'm finally getting over the nasty chest infection, courtesy of an inhaler and another course of antibiotics, my head is finally clear enough to start considering a few possible competitions for next year.

Probably the biggest opportunity getting talked about is the Good Housekeeping magazine novel competition with a £25,000 advance, publication on completion of the novel and introduction to literary agent Luigi Bonomi. (Thanks to Stirling on the Talkback forum for details.)

Obviously the standard required of entries will be tough, especially when you see the judges: Kate Mosse, Bonomi, Orion fiction publishing director Kate Mills and Good Housekeeping editorial director Lindsay Nicholson.

You need to get a copy of the January issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, in newsagents from the 1st December, for the entry coupon. It has Lulu on the front cover.

Read the rules because it mentions it's open to writers who have never had a novel published before. As I haven't seen the magazine yet I don't know if they define this anywhere, so clarification may be needed.

Nor are you eligible to enter if you are already signed to an agent.

You'll need a full synopsis and 5,000 words as well as your entry form. And you'll need to include a 100 word mini bio of yourself.

You have time to work on your entry as the closing date is 31st March 2012. But do give yourself enough time for submission as your entry does have to go by post.

I don't know if the entry form will be available in future issues- I'd assume you will need to get the January issue or miss out.

But before you get too excited, no novels for children...

The good news is, entry is free.

I'm going to get to work on my Dorset novel as soon as I get my synopsis and first three chapters back with the comments from the club competition next week.

Good luck if you enter...

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Another competition you might be interested in is the annual Words with JAM Short Story Competition (2011) with a closing date of 27th January 2012. Your story can be up to 2,500 words- excluding the title. The entry fee is £6, or £10 for two. Entry details here.

The rules can be found here.

You can send by snail mail, but online submission is preferred, which is a plus for most writers as you can give yourself a closer deadline for submission- if needed.

1st Prize - £500
2nd Prize - £100
3rd Prize - £50

The Leveson Enquiry...

As I've been staying indoors due to the cold air making me cough so much, I've seen some on the Sky and BBC News coverage of the Leveson Enquiry in the afternoons.

As a writer, freedom of speech is important. We're all aware that there are writers in the world who are imprisoned, even tortured or killed for writing the truth, having an opinion or just disagreeing with those in power.

So I suppose you could say the fact that the Leveson enquiry is taking place and is broadcast on national tv, shows our country is reasonably healthy in the freedom issue.

Most writers- whatever their form of media- know the rules. Admittedly, one writer's personal red line won't necessarily be the same as the next man or woman. Individual moral codes can't be legislated...

I was speaking to a freelance journalist earlier this year, and our conversation moved to phone hacking as it was in the news at the time.

The view expressed was that it was not just the one newspaper, and that laziness was a contributing issue.

Today there are databases. Information can be gathered with a few clicks of the computer mouse. There's no longer any need or time for journalists to go out into the community and look for the news.

In fact many local newspapers have either closed down, or are satellites of the big newspaper groups.

Celebrity sells. Publishers wouldn't pay millions for the biography of an ex-politician, reality star, or high profile actor, if they couldn't guarantee sales in the hundred thousands... Nor would the shelves of  newsagents be littered with magazines, emblazoned with lurid celebrity related headlines, that keep being bought.

The people who have given evidence to the enquiry- both ordinary and well-known (including Harry Potter author JK Rowling) have clearly suffered from abuse by a minority.

When it is all over and the recommendations are made for the future, I hope it doesn't go too far in restricting what can be written. Investigative journalism is very important in uncovering misdeeds and bad practise.

But something must be done- good journalists should not be tarred with the same brush as the bad journalists.