Choosing the write mag - Review 5: The Writing Magazine

Woooohoooo! See what I've just bought: the General Service Medal 1854-1894, with a Burma bar (1885-87). This was issued for gallantry in the Third Anglo Burma war, which resulted in the annexation of Burma in 1886, by the British. I've been lusting after this medal for a while now, but affordability met price negotiation only now. I spent $215 on it, which is not so bad.

The medal looks much better in...flesh...silver...than in those crappy pictures and weighs about 43gm (silver) and is about 36mm in diameter (the disc, that is). It was awarded to one Jai Singh, of the Bengal Sappers and Miners regiment, according to the inscription on the rim. Victory crowns a soldier on the reverse and QV graces the obverse. I now have 20 British Empire campaign medals (think there are about 55 in all).

Here is the final writing magazine review: The Writing Magazine.

My favourite writing magazine of them all. Now if you still want to read, feel free!

THE WRITING MAGAZINE

Publishers: Warner group publications, Leeds

Location: UK

As I had mentioned in the review of Writers' News (http://write-ideas14.blogspot.com/2009/05/choosing-write-mag-review-3-writers.html), the Writing Magazine comes along with Writers' News. This is a monthly, so each month, you get two good-quality magazines.

Very attractive cover design is the first thing you notice about Writing Magazine. Crisp editor's note, and the best letter gets a small prize. WHY can't all magazines introduce this? It makes yo

u feel that they really care about reader feedback when they give a little token, in this case, a copy of Writer's Market 2010. There's an interesting miscellany section, which includes controversies and quips, and a news section, which sometimes has a nice book quiz.

My favourite section is the Red Editing Pen. This comprises three editing exercises, and mind you, they don't involve add a comma here, or a full stop there. The errors are cryptic and everyday, and it helps all writing, whether novel, poetry or journalistic. Articles are nicely balanced; there is enough coverage on feature writing/other journo stuff, creative non-fiction, scriptwriting, haiku, even travel-writing and war-writing (HALLELUJAH!). The tone of the how-to's is not preachy, rather, light-hearted. And prose quality is top class. Very little (if any) similarity among issues, and I've been reading since last November.

The competition winners' entry is published along with judges' comments. The winning entries are of such a high standard that I've often wondered if I could ever write that well. Another advantage is that there is something, no, more than something, for the international reader and writer. The contributors (and interviewees) are from, or have been, across the globe. Of course, there are the author interviews, Q and A's and the how-to's, BUT, and I MEAN this, ad content is noticeably lower than that of any other magazine so far,

except maybe MSlexia. And no, that's NOT because advertisers think the mag is not worth it; the quality of Writing Magazine proves otherwise.

Cons? Meh...they could spice up that contents page a bit, maybe have a bit more colour. And remove the 'WIN £1000... IN WRITING PRIZES' circle from the cover.

Over to monetary matters. £44.90 for BOTH magazines if you're in the UK, £55 for Europe and £60 elsewhere. That's $97.59 for those across the Atlantic. Now don't scream. For 24 magazines, that's just $48 annually for each magazine; $4.00 per issue. And I am going to renew my subscription again and again!


Bottom line: Awesome, I'll recommend and renew. And re-recommend and re-renew. On and on and on and on.

That concludes the mag review series. Do let me know if it helped. Till my next post, happy writing and reading!