List of resources

What would we do without the wonderful world wide web?  Here are some of my favourite sites for writers: 

Listings with jobs and opportunities:

NAWE fortnightly bulletin - Writing jobs, competitions (mostly UK)
Duotrope's Digest - submissions to American and UK anthologies
Saison Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre - regular poetry bulletin.

Journals and ezines that accept email submissions:

Words with Jam
Enigma
Smokelong Quarterly
Southword Online Journal
10 Flash quarterly
The Shine Journal
The Spilling Ink Review
Big Pulp
Inkspill
Plutonian Times
Underground Voices

Poetry:

British Haiku Society - Archive and regular competitions
http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk - Listing and back issues 
Poetry Archive - Huge online collection with both text and audio readings 
The Poetry Society - Events, local groups etc
http://www.poetrylibrary.org.uk - News and events
http://www.everydaypoets.com/ - Daily email of a poem by a contemporary writer

Short stories:

Campaign for the Short Story - Information, advice and link.

The Short Review - reviews of new and classic collections.

Some good blogs (see my profile for many more!):

howapoemhappens - poets explain how their work was inspired & edited
strictlywriting - a group of authors tackle all aspects of the craft
sixsentences - Publishing 6-sentence pieces of writing
buried in the slush pile - Author and editor with focus on children's fiction
agentinthemiddle - Useful agent advice
stroppyauthor - Detailed articles on book-related topics
notmuchmore - Diverse articles from a short-story writer
fictionbitch - Funny and insightful
awfullybigblogadventure - Topical articles by a range of authors
writerinthestorm - Lots on poetry and events
scribblecitycentral - YA fiction
writebadlywell - Funny parodies of creative writing 
vulpes libres - Literary articles and reviews

Scotland-specific:

Scottish Poetry Library
http://scottishwriterscentre.org.uk/
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/
Read Raw - Promoting creative writing.

Others:

WriteWords - Group for writers to share work etc
Backspace - Similar to the above
My Writer Circle - Similar, but more forum-based
National Novel Writing Month - 1-month write a novel challenge
http://www.book-in-a-week.com/about/ - Similar!
Noodle Tools - list of opportunities for young writers
Writers' Digest - Tips, prompts and publishing advice
BBC writer info - Archive interviews with big-name writers
Positivity Blog - Life, creativity, etc!

Please let me know any that I should have included.

Persuasive power of the post-it

Anyone sending things in to agents or competitions should consider the 2005 research by Randy Garner which found that people were more than twice as likely to respond to a survey if it had a hand-written post-it note on it.

This much exceeded the effect of a hand-written note on ordinary paper.  What is it about post-its?  Researchers found that not only did more surveys get returned, but they were more fully answered! 

And for the lazy, apparently even a blank post-it note has a slight beneficial effect.  Well, it's worth experimenting with.  Just don't use those cheap ones which fall off.

Garner, R. (2005). Post-It Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 15(3), 230-237.

Writing competitions

There are so many interesting writing competitions out there, it can be hard to choose (see the NAWE ebulletin for examples).  Naturally, most of them want an entry fee, which from what I have seen, typically ranges from £4-£10.  Some give the offer of feedback.

When I recently met the poet Rab Wilson after a reading he had done, he was very encouraging about my writing attempts, and advised me to send my stuff off to competitions.  It was great of him to be so positive, though I suppose a part of me thought that it's all very well if you're the sort of person who would win the competitions!  If I enter these, will I just be throwing my money into a bottomless pit?

I guess at some point, the time comes to take the plunge and start going for some of these, especially if I'm submitting things that peers have already looked at and liked.