Hello again. And thank you for being a valued subscriber to E-
Writer!

Well, I've finally more or less caught up with myself after my
holiday. For the moment I'm between big projects, so I'm simply
working on my regular article-writing commissions and getting a
few ideas and proposals off to publishers. I'm also taking the
opportunity to do a bit more reading, both for pleasure and to
brush up on my Internet skills and knowledge.

One thing I always enjoy is getting emails from people who have
bought my course 'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days' and want to
give me feedback. Much of this is positive, I'm pleased to
say. Even better, I'm now hearing from people who have written
their first book using the principles set out in the course, and
want me to provide a testimonial they can use to help market it.
This is a service I offer everyone who buys my course. I'm very
happy to do it, and it is pleasing (and indeed humbling) to see
the quality of material students have produced.

One such student recently sent me a chapter of his book 'Triple
Evil: My Fight Against Racism, HIV/AIDS and Poverty.' The book
is the autobiography of a black South African man, born into
poverty, and his struggle to make a living for himself in
England as a professional boxer. It may sound downbeat, but
judging from the sample chapter nothing is further from the
truth. The book brings the 'triple evil' of the title (which to
many of us may be little more than theoretical concepts) into
sharp and vivid focus, by showing their impact on real people
simply trying to make the best of the hand life has dealt them.

Anyway, I wrote a glowing testimonial for this student (I won't
mention his name now, to save his blushes, but I'll certainly
let readers of this newsletter know when his book is published).
I'd just like to reproduce the email he sent me in response...

Nick,
Thanks for the testimonial for my book.
I am quite pleased with myself that I have finally written my
book. But if it were not for your course, I wouldn't have even
come close. Truth is Nick, I didn't have a clue where to start
and what writing was all about. All I knew was that I wanted to
write a book.
I have contacted a couple of publishers and I will let you know
when the book will be published.
Thanks a million...

Sometimes I just love this job :)

I'd also like to mention the publishing successes of a couple of
other E-Writer readers. First of all, my old friend Steve
Jackson has just had his first children's book published by
Hutchinson. The book is called Mirrorworld. It's a beautifully
written and illustrated puzzle book, but the most original
feature is that every copy comes with a mirror, which is used to
discover the hidden clues and creatures within the multicoloured
pages. It's a fascinating concept that will grip both children
and adults, and I can testify that the publisher's claim it was
five years in development is perfectly true! If you're looking
for an unusual Christmas present for a child aged about 5 to 10,
Mirrorworld should fit the bill perfectly. The following link
should take you directly to the info page at Amazon.co.uk:
http://tinyurl.com/4ffks. 

Congratulations must also go to Dr Suzanne Harris, whose first
book called Writers' Wonderful Web is due to be published in the
next few months. Suzanne (Suzie to her friends) bought my '28
Days' course a while ago, and says it inspired her to produce
her first book. She now has a second book in development (for
which she has interviewed me, I'm flattered to say). She has
also taken my advice and produced her own writer's website -
check it out at http://www.suzanne-harris.com. 

Lastly, just a quick plug for the fact that my '28 Days' course
is now available in both audio and printed versions, as well as
the original CD-ROM. Personally, I still think that the CD-ROM
version is the best, but the other alternatives are available if
you prefer them. If you would like further info (e.g. on prices)
please go to my publisher's site at http://www.myhelphub.com and
click on 'Contact us for Support'. And you can, of course, see a
lengthy extract from the full course at
http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm. 

OK, then, on with the show...


2. Useful Resources: A9.com - Amazon's New Search Engine

Search engines are, of course, the number one research resource
for writers. Till now Google (www.google.com) has been my
undisputed favourite, but recently the world's leading online
bookstore Amazon launched a new search tool which could run them
close.

The new service is called A9.com, and you can see it for
yourself by entering http://www.a9.com in your browser. At first
glance A9.com doesn't look much different from other search
engines - but when you try performing a search, the extra
features immediately become apparent.

Enter a search term such as "San Francisco" or "fungi", and
you'll start to see why I'm so impressed with this tool. When
you enter your term and click on Go, the site displays the usual
web search results on the left. These are provided by Google, so
they are about as comprehensive as you can get.

In addition, however, there are other buttons you can click on
the right of the screen to view the results of other searches.
Click on Books, for example, and you will see a list of books at
Amazon.com relevant to your search term. Follow virtually any of
these links to the Amazon website, and you can literally browse
through the table of contents, first chapter and even the index
of most books.

Or click on Images, and you will see pictures from the web
relevant to your search term, with links to the web pages
concerned. Other searches include Movies (with search results
from the International Movie Database) and Reference (which
gives dictionary, encyclopedia and history information on the
search term you entered).

What is especially neat about all this is that the results of
the searches are displayed in columns. You can open and close
these columns to your heart's content, and even resize them by
dragging the column borders with your mouse.

So A9.com gives you access to all of Google's search resources
and more. If, say, you are researching fungi (and we have some
amazing ones growing in our garden at the moment), not only can
you find relevant websites from A9.com, you can also find books
about fungi available from Amazon.com, and pictures of fungi on
the web. You could even search for movies which refer to fungi
should you so wish - all from one single search page.

One of the many other features of A9.com is that they offer a
free downloadable toolbar you can use with Internet Explorer and
some other browsers. This allows you to search the web at any
time regardless of which page you are currently viewing. You can
also store a list of your favourite sites on the A9.com server
(the latter would be especially useful if you use different
computers at home and work, and want be able to access your
Favorites list from either of them).

The toolbar also has a pop-up blocker and other useful features.
The only reason I haven't installed it so far is that it doesn't
appear to include an automatic form filler, which I find
incredibly useful on the Google toolbar I use currently.

Overall, A9.com is a powerful research tool for writers
anywhere. Admittedly the book search results use Amazon.com, so
writers outside North America may not be able to obtain all of
the books listed here. This is a very small drawback, however,
and should not deter anyone from exploring this site and seeing
how it can help them with their writing.

Postscript - I'm sure you'd like to know - the Movies search on
"fungi" at A9.com came up with The Fungi Cellars (1923) and
Microscopic Fungi (1960). Now, how did I forget about them?


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3. Market Info - Miscellany

Here are a few more potential markets for you...

I'll start with an opportunity for playwrights in the UK.
Writernet, in association with Reading Borough Council, is
seeking four culturally diverse writers who are committed to a
career which involves writing for the theatre, to undertake a
playwriting development programme, as part of the 'Hydroponic'
initiative. The writers, to be drawn from across the UK, will
each receive a play commission and be supported to the first
draft stage. Between November 2004 and July 2005 they will have
access to a specially designed development programme based at
South Street Arts Centre in Reading, Berkshire. The programme
will culminate in showcase readings, with feedback from
producing companies. The closing date for applications is Monday
November 1, 2004, so don't wait too long if you are interested -
go to http://www.writernet.co.uk and click on the picture or
text to the right of the page for full application details.

Red Sage Publishing is seeking novella-length fiction from
female authors for their series of erotic fiction anthologies
'Secrets'. They say stories should be sensuous, bold, spicy,
untamed, hot, and sometimes politically incorrect. Stories
should be 20,000 to 35,000 words and may have any setting:
historical, contemporary, mainstream, science fiction, mystery,
adventure or fantasy. They say, 'We want to push the envelope
beyond the normal romance novel. Be kinky, be wild, go far
beyond spicy, but always write romance.' For full guidelines,
visit http://www.redsagepub.com/authors.html. 

Writers are invited to submit short stories or other creative
narratives (journal entries, songs, short scripts, etc) on all
aspects of being twenty-something for a new book to be called
'Bring on the 20s...Bring on the Funk'. The editors, twenty-
somethings Amy Yerkes and Laura Grosselfinger, are working with
Waterside Productions to publish this compilation book in the
upcoming year. You don't have to be in your twenties to submit
work, but contributions should be relevant to that phase of
life. For full details, see the website
http://www.generation20something.com. The closing date for
submissions is 1 December 2004.

A well-established American company (sorry, I don't know who
they are) is looking for research writers. They say candidates
must have excellent written English skills, a home computer with
a connection to the Internet, good research skills, and a
passion for writing. Your earnings will depend on the amount of
work you do, but they say that on average their employees earn
from $600 to $1200 a month. For more information, send your
résumé and samples of writing (reviews, compositions, reports,
etc.) to the e-mail address msnet_research-at-yahoo.co.uk in a
plain text (body of the message) with the subject title RESEARCH
WRITERS.

BBC Radio Three has announced a new competition called 'Broken
and Blue' for 'original, entertaining and diverse music dramas
for radio.' The competition requires entries in which music is
an integral part of the narrative. Writers can enter alone,
without an original score, in which case Radio 3 will source the
right composer if they win; in conjunction with a composer; or
by using existing music in a creative and interesting way. The
full script can be up to 90 minutes long, but to enter, send a
two-page proposal and a full script of the opening 10 to 15
minutes, your CV (résumé) and a covering letter. The closing
date is 1 December 2004. Entries should be sent to: Broken and
Blue, BBC Writers Room, 1 Mortimer Street, London, W1T 3JA, UK.
The full rules, and some tips on writing radio drama, can be
found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom. As far as I can tell,
this competition is also open to non-UK residents.

The BBC also has a vacancy for a writer in residence for its new
daily ten-minute radio soap Silver Street, which is broadcast on
its Asian Network. Writers should be based in the English
Midlands. The placement will be for six months from January
2005, or sooner if possible. The successful writer will be given
a bursary of up to £6,000, and will work in BBC Birmingham for
two days a week. To apply, you have to write a short (5-10
minute) family-centred radio drama with the title 'Rivals' (the
BBC say they are looking for an ability to write character and
dialogue, and to tell a good story). Include a covering letter
explaining why this post suits you at this stage in your writing
career, with your contact details and your CV. Apply to: Silver
Street Writer in Residence, BBC Writersroom, 1 Mortimer Street,
London, W1T 3JA. Deadline: 18 November 2004


4. Style File: The Subjunctive

In this feature I examine an aspect of English usage - words,
punctuation, grammar, and so on - which can cause problems for
writers and editors. In this issue I'm looking at the
subjunctive, as it is used in modern English.

Grammatically speaking, the subjunctive is one of the three
'moods' in which an English sentence may be written. By far the
most common is the indicative mood. As the name suggests, this
indicates that a particular statement is true (e.g. 'I went to
the shops this morning'). The third mood is imperative, used in
commands ('Put that down.' 'Run faster.').

The subjunctive mood is used to express a wish, a command, or a
condition contrary to fact. Old English is full of subjunctives,
as in 'Would that it were' and 'Thou shalt not.' In modern
English the subjunctive is most commonly used to express a
statement which is clearly contrary to fact.

If I were you, I'd look elsewhere.
If she were to say that, I'd leave.
If this job were in Greece, it would be perfect.

In these examples, 'were' is used instead of the indicative
'was' to signify the subjunctive. Another common subjunctive
construction uses the verb form 'be' instead of is, was, are or
were:

The director was determined that the film be authentic.
Far be it from me to complain, but...
It's not vital that he be here today.

Another common subjunctive construction involves dropping the
's' from the end of the third person singular verb:

It is urgent that Johnson attend Monday's meeting.
The parole board recommends Smith remain in jail for another six
months.
George Bush's campaign team are keen that he present himself in
a more caring light.

Use of the subjunctive today is generally regarded as optional,
though there are some who strongly believe that it enriches
writing when correctly used (see, for example, 'God Save the
Subjunctive!' at http://www.ceafinney.com/subjunctive). Such
voices argue that 'If I was you' is not merely a modern
alternative to 'If I were you', but clearly wrong.

If you are working as a proofreader or an editor, you do not
need to be an expert on the subjunctive, but you should be able
to recognise it, and not (heaven forbid!) 'correct' it when it
is being used appropriately. Writers should not be afraid to use
the subjunctive where appropriate - but if you prefer to avoid
it, only a very few grammarians today would say that you were
definitely wrong.


That's it for this issue. I hope you've enjoyed reading it and
found something that may be useful to you. E-Writer will be back
with you again in a few weeks' time.

Happy writing!

Nick

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Nick Daws' CD-based course 'Write Any Book In Under 28 Days'
takes you through every stage of writing a book, from getting
the original idea through to editing the completed manuscript,
all in the shortest possible time. Read a lengthy extract from
the course at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm, then click
through to the publisher's website to read some of the many
testimonials!


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Copyright Info

Except where specifically stated, material in E-Writer is
protected by copyright of Nick Daws, 2004. Material from the
newsletter may, however, be reproduced in other online or off-
line publications so long as (a) the text (including any URLs
and e-mail addresses) is not altered in any way, and
(b) the souce is acknowledged and a link or text reference is
provided to my website at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk. Notifying
me is not essential but would be appreciated - please use the e-
mail address above or the link on my site. Many thanks!

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