FROM THE EDITOR

SPRING INTO MSLEXIA

Summer at Mslexia is a major celebration: the publication of the winning poems in our annual Women’s Poetry Competition. Thanks to all our entrants for your exciting submissions, and to our wonderful judges, U A Fanthorpe and R V Bailey for braving the paper blizzard and plucking 25 treasures from competitive multitudes. A big congratulations to all our winners.

With the global village buzzing about ether worlds like Second Life and online communities like MySpace, we explore outlets specific to ambitious writers: authors’ websites and blogging. Our Agenda assesses the marketing advantages of writers’ websites; Guidelines offers up the joy of blogging – then turn the page and find out from Diane Shipley how you can generate income from it. Sticking with the entrepreneurial angle, writer Yang-May Ooi explores the ins and outs of self-publishing.

With summer finally here (unless you live in the North East!) Helen Sandler looks at the summer literary festivals and reveals how to get yourself into the line-up. Chick lit phenom Sophie Kinsella (who really wanted to go into musical acting!) tells us how she found her written soulmate in shopaholic Becky, and national acting treasure Brenda Blethyn discusses what she’s reading when she’s not on stage, on television or on our movie screens. Chocolat-lover Joanne Harris digs into her Bottom Drawer for that novel she hasn’t yet published, and second-time author Helen Oyeyemi – her new novel The Opposite House is out now – explains the behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into developing a story’s compelling atmosphere.

Please join us in thanking Jenny Newman and Celia Hunt for their excellent, long-running features. Finally check out Shetland legend Christine De Luca’s lovely form poem. Open your doors and windows to the summer sun, grab a pen and start scribbling.

Daneet Steffens
Editor