What's new on the site?

The forum has new rules: one free critique in return for two critiques on others' texts on the forum.

All that you need do is scroll down the main list of postings and choose a potentially interesting text. Open the text and disconnect. Prepare your ideas off-line in MSWord or a similar programme and then copy the result. Return to the forum and open the text once more, you will find the reply button on the right of the screen. A form appears where you can give your name, email and url, though none of these are compulsory. Finally paste in your critique and click submit.

You can make your comments within the original text, using italics, or simply as a separate paragraph.

So, you can post texts for criticism, post criticism of texts that you find on site, but you can also post messages to other members, start discussions, or just ask for advice on any subject that comes into your heads. You'll find links to the Forum in various places throughout the site, for example, on the members page of the workgroup, on the links home page, and above.

We have a new homepage which I hope will make it easier for people to move around the site and understand what there is hidden amongst our pages. I would appreciate hearing any views you have on the layout as it'll start to appear throughout the site, unless, of course, some of you tell me that it isn't an improvement.

The Italian part of the site is up and running, if a little threadbare, and any contributions are welcome. I have put the forum on the Italian site, too, so we will see more and more postings in Italian. If it becomes a problem, or too confusing, then I will separate the two forums again.

The Review texts are all being changed, and my intention is to start changing them regularly. There is a new selection for biography, and this month you will find a piece by Peter Gregory-Jones. So, things are buzzing and it just depends on you giving me the texts and my finding the time to change the pages.

New Workshop texts are being added, so keep your eyes out for new stuff there. So far we have some new novel extracts, new poetry and a completely new section for biography.

The Links pages need your help. It is easy to post your favourite sites, just fill in the form and bob'syouruncle there they are. Go to the Links index page and click on friends if you have a web page or friends of yours have one. All you have to do is give a brief description and the address, any other information is optional. If you know of any sites showcasing texts of literary merit by published authors or works of true merit, then you can post these under Literary links by following the same procedure. Believe me, it only takes a few moments and you'll be able to share your discoveries with the rest of us.