Fi Phillips

So we've a new royal baby on our hands (and in all the newspapers), a little, so far un-named prince. The best thing of all (beyond the gleeful smiles on his parents' faces as they presented him to the press for the first time) is the way this new arrival seems to have stopped the world for a short time and brought people together. I wonder what he'll see in his lifetime. Do you use beta readers to try out your writing? I found a wonderful article on just that subject in the Compose literary journal. Written by Jennie Nash, it's titled The Book Club Beta Test .

After a weekend away in the city where I grew up and meeting up with friends I haven't seen for decades, I'm full of life stories and realisations. I'm also hobbling around with an injured leg. It feels like I'm being told to slow down and reassess - not a bad thing to have to do in this heat. Is it too early for a white wine spritzer? In the opening issue of the new literary journal, Compose, I found this post by Barbara Abercrombie. It's an excerpt from her book, A Year of Writing Dangerously  - well worth a read. Donovan Building by Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre This wonderful image is taken from a selection of photos titled 'The Ruins of Detroit. They're well worth a look merely for their own sake but these atmospheric shots of civilisation halted and abandoned could well prove an inspiration for your writing. I've already chosen two or three as scenes for future novels.

Compose is a new, biannual, online, writing publication that features work by writers of fiction, poetry and non fiction. Their issues comes out in spring and in autumn. They accept fiction, poetry, creative non fiction, articles on writing, excerpts from published works, photography and artwork. There is an accompanying blog  which regularly features Q&As from contributors. The managing editor is Canadian writer, Suzannah Windsor of Write It Sideways. You can view their first edition here .