To be honest, I didn’t think the piece would score that well, because I wasn’t really sure if I’d managed to say anything new. But what do I know? Anyway, that means that another of my poems has booked its place in this year’s anthology, which is cool. And I’ve just snuck into third place overall, too. Six more rounds to go, though, and there’s no way that I can keep up this level of consistency.

Oh, and if you’re feeling in need of some amusement, trot over to If Shakespeare …, where I blogged yesterday about some truly extraordinary film criticism.

What I didn’t expect was that when I mentioned the acceptance on the TWI forum, Donna Gagnon, who runs the Whittaker Prize, said that she was very keen to put the poem in this year’s Whittaker Anthology as one of her editor’s picks, and would I check that this wasn’t going to be compromised by its appearance in IS&T! I duly checked and there was no problem at all. So I think this counts as two hits for the price of one

The long-awaited inaugural Every Day Poets anthology is going to be published, and three of my poems have been selected to appear in it: School Uniform, Grey Goo and Tasty Teresa. They’re all a bit daft in their own way, but I am no longer apologising for daftness  More news as and when the anthology appears.

The introductory pieces by the editors are also well worth a read – particularly the one by Jordan Lapp on finding a business model for fiction on the web. Here’s a slightly scary quote:

It seems that, excluding patronage, no one has yet found a profitable business model for short fiction on the web.

And that comes from an editor at the most-read flash fiction magazine on the web. Interestingly, though, he does say that one of their goals for 2010 is to raise their pay rates to semi-pro level instead of token, by the expedient of running a paid-for competition. Good luck to him there, although to be honest I’m personally not that concerned about pay rates at EDF (but don’t tell him I said so). The fact that EDF is such a well-read magazine makes it a terrific – and fairly competitive – place to get published in if you want to raise your profile a bit. Every time I’ve got a piece there, the hit count for this place goes up quite significantly, and for me that’s what I’m after right now. The big question, of course, is how to turn that exposure into £££.

And the other thing that I really like about EDF is that their Managing Editor, Camille Gooderham Campbell, outed herself yesterday on the EDF forum as a fan of Mrs Darcy vs The Aliens. But then, who wouldn’t?

You can order copies of “The Best of Every Day Fiction Two” here.

Incidentally, as chance would have it, we were in Giza last November and it was interesting to see how little it has changed since my first visit there. Considering that it contains the only one of the seven wonders of the world still standing, it’s still a bit of a dump. Karnak, on the other hand …

As ever, Donna Gagnon Pugh has done a fantastic job overseeing production of the anthology. What really impresses me is that – as with “Scratching at Cardboard” and “Unforgettable Fire”, it looks like a proper, professional book. And that is a lot harder to achieve than you might think. Even better, I get my copy free because I came second overall in the short story comp!

Oh, and nearly forgot: Happy New Year, everyone! And a big welcome to new blogger Oscar Windsor-Smith (he’s in “The Rhinocerous …” too). His blog should definitely be worth keeping an eye on.