Words Worth Reading Ltd.

Millionaire Bootcamp

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:25:36 PDT

A group of 12 millionaire authors and experts in book marketing are coming together to deliver a three-day Bootcamp for budding writers. The Bootcamp, titled Millionaire Bootcamp, will help those interested in building a career in writing by providing information and ideas on how to turn a manuscript into an international bestseller.

Bootcamp managing director, Stephanie Hale, states; 'Relatively unknown entrepreneurs are making six- and seven-figures from self-publishing. It's time for authors to wake to this new era and grasp the opportunities available!' (Writers' Forum, April 12).

For more information or to purchase a ticket, visit www.MillionaireAuthorsBootcamp.com

Need help with editing your manuscript? Check out the Words Worth Reading Ltd editorial services!

CQC inspector dismissed for gross misconduct

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:03:34 PDT

A CQC inspector has been dismissed for gross misconduct after an internal investigation revealed that the impartiality of their regulatory judgements had been seriously compromised. This came to light as a result of whistle-blowing information to the CQC.

No additional detail can be provided as CQC has now referred this matter to the police.
Louise Guss, Director of Governance and Legal Services, said:
"Our inspectors operate to extremely high standards of integrity and professionalism. Unfortunately, in any large workforce there is a risk that a tiny minority may act in a way that betrays the principles of their colleagues and of the organisation as a whole, which is what has happened here.

“Having investigated allegations made to us about this inspector and found these were substantiated, we terminated their employment with immediate effect and referred the matter to the police.

“This inspector has failed the organisation, failed the providers who rely on us to act fairly and impartially, and - most importantly - failed in their responsibility to protect people who use services through identification of poor care.

“CQC operates a zero tolerance policy in regard to fraudulent or dishonest behaviour. As this case makes clear, we take any credible allegations relating to this behaviour extremely seriously and, following a full investigation, will take the swiftest and most severe action possible against any member of staff found guilty."

For any CQC concerns contact a member of our Words Worth Reading Ltd team

Authors ask for payment for library ebooks loans

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:56:06 PDT

The Society of Authors has suggested that writers rely on the income generated from library loans and have called for all digital books to be included in the PLR scheme. Under the PLR (Public Lending Right) scheme authors are paid 6.05p every time their books are borrowed from libraries. However, ebooks and audiobooks are not included included in the scheme.

Nicola Solomon of the Society of Authors, said writers have a legal right to the payments, she said – and could even consider going to court to recover them. "Since 1992 'rental and lending right' has been a part of copyright protection. That means that authors have a legal right to equitable remuneration whenever their works are lent out," she said. "The failure to make the payments means that the government and libraries are actually infringing the author's copyright every time they make an ebook loan and authors would be entitled to sue for the losses caused by that infringement. We have no current plans to sue, and don't know of any authors who are planning to do so – we would hope that the Government would recognise its legal and moral responsibility to make payments to authors particularly as ebook lending from libraries is becoming significant."

Solomon has written to both culture secretary Ed Vaizey and Conservative MP Louise Mensch, who is sitting on the select committee inquiry into library closures, to highlight the issue. "Any ebook lending should result in a PLR payment to the author … PLR is designed to balance the social need for free public access to books against an author's right to be remunerated for the use of their work," she wrote to Vaizey on behalf of the Society of Authors, which includes Philip Gross, Anthony Horowitz and Sarah Waters on its management committee. "We also wish to remind you that section 43 of the Digital Economy Act 2010 extends PLR to audiobooks and ebooks 'lent out' from library premises for a limited time but these payments have never been implemented. This is patently unjust and we urge that this provision be brought into force and that extra funds be made available to cover PLR payments for such lending."

Chair of the society, historical novelist Lindsey Davis, said that authors would "certainly be pushing" for PLR to be extended to ebooks and audiobooks. "We have earned it. It's not a benefit, it's a right," she said. "I would expect to be paid. There is no difference between ebooks and print books – it is all work, produced for people to read ... It seems very obvious to me [that an ebook] is just another version of a title, in the same way that a paperback is."

If you think you have an idea for an exciting new novel, find out about Words Worth Reading Ltd's ghost writing service

Michael Gove's King James Bible plan rescued by millionaire Tory donors

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:25:19 PDT

Thanks to the Guardian online for this one...

Education secretary will send a copy of the Bible to every state school after donors club together to save £370,000 initiative

Michael Gove's Bible project is said to have run into trouble in January when the prime minister reportedly told him to avoid using taxpayers' money. Photograph: David Jones/PA

Millionaire Conservative party donors have clubbed together to rescue a plan by the education secretary, Michael Gove, to send a copy of the King James Bible to every state school in the country.

Gove hoped to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bible's completion by donating a leather-bound copy, written in 17th-century English, to all primary and secondary schools by Easter. However, his plans were said to have run into trouble in January when government sources reported that David Cameron had told Gove to avoid using taxpayers' money for the £370,000 initiative.

At the time, Gove had not found private philanthropists to sponsor the enterprise. It has now emerged that leading Tory donors – mostly former hedge fund and private equity bosses – are footing the bill. They include Lord Stanley Fink, the former co-treasurer of the Conservative party who was once chief executive of the listed hedge fund Man Group. Fink, a life peer, has donated more than £2.3m to Tory projects.

Lord Robert Edmiston, a motor trade entrepreneur who gave more than £3.2m to the Tory party between 2000 and 2010, has also sponsored the Bible project. The life peer is an evangelical Christian who set up the charity Christian Vision. Others who have funded the scheme include Ramez Sousou of the private equity firm TowerBrook, who has also given support to Cameron's party, Michael Farmer, the Conservative party co-treasurer and City financier who has donated more than £3m to the party, and Lord Harris, a regular donor to the Conservatives and the chairman of Carpetright.

The Liberal Democrat donor Paul Marshall, a hedge fund boss and committed Christian, and his wife have also donated funds for the scheme, as has Sir Peter Lampl, the founder of a private equity firm who is an education philanthropist. A spokeswoman from the Department for Education said no public funds would be needed for the project. The Bibles, which state on the spine that they have been presented by the secretary of state for education, have been sent to schools this week.

Teachers have greeted the initiative with a mixed reaction. A primary school teacher from Sheffield, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian the Bible, which arrived on Monday, would "stay in the headteacher's office on a shelf".
"I work in an inner-city primary school and there's no way that our children are going to be reading and understanding the kind of English this Bible is written in," he said. "I have nothing against celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, but we really could have done with some more story books."
Another teacher, who did not want to be named, wrote on the forum of the Times Educational Supplement that pupils in her school – a Church of England primary – were presented with their own Bibles. "I feel the inscription on the side is more to do with this project than the actual 'gift'," she said. "Privately funded or not we could all have used the money more appropriately to our own school setting."
The Bibles, which have been published by the Oxford University Press, are accompanied by a letter from Gove.

"I believe it is important that all pupils – of all faiths or none – should appreciate this icon and its impact on our language and democracy," it says. He adds that the gift has been funded through the generosity of private sponsors "who share my view that this book has a unique place in our nation's history and culture".
All schools are expected to have received their copies by the end of the month.

Think you have a book that could be popular in schools? Contact the Words Worth Reading Ltd team to find out how we can help you publish and distribute it.

Experts by experience make their mark

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:21:40 PDT

One of the key features of CQC’s themed review of learning disability services has been the involvement in the inspections of experts by experience– people with personal experience of these services as service users or family carers.

Putting service users at ease

Laura D Broughton and John Woodhouse have been involved in 26 of those inspections, with Laura taking part in seven and John 19.

Both had been recruited as experts by experience for CQC through a consortium of smaller and user-led organisations led by Choice Support. Laura said: “It was an eye opener for me to see other services and different structures. I hadn’t been employed before so this was a good opening for me and confidence building. I hadn’t been around people before who have ideas of disability but treat you as an equal.

John said: “It was a great opportunity to help user voices to be heard and an opportunity to speak to them myself when they might not have been comfortable speaking to others. In one place someone did speak to me one-to-one and the staff were astonished.”

Experts by experience had two days of training, but even so, there was still an element of stepping into the unknown. Laura and John have both used learning disability services, but neither had lived in residential care. As John put it: “I had a good idea from the work I do with VoiceAbility but didn’t know what to expect from each service – and things varied from service to service.”

He also found that the best method for him was to not always stick rigidly to the questions on the forms: “As I did inspections I learned to ask questions in different ways.”

Laura said she sometimes found it difficult to see why people were sectioned. “Having not had the experience of being in that situation myself was good – I could objectify it. But it was initially shocking. I learned to distance myself. I was shocked at the start, but it got better as it went on.

She said that most staff were OK, but some were a bit shocked at the idea of being questioned on their job as a carer or support worker by her and the language of one member of staff disturbed her when they said that to communicate with some patients staff have to ‘[try different things, like you do with a baby’.
“The idea that just because someone is non-verbal that they should be referenced like that was too much. We are all grown-ups and we have our difficulties but we have a right to be treated as grown-ups. Being referred to as a baby is too much.”

Both felt that they did notice things that might not have been seen by inspectors. For example, Laura said, one place had handrails on the stairs but only on one side. Because I have a weakness in my right side I would have needed rails on both sides.”
John said he found information was there, such as a safeguarding phone number or an advocate service, but [service users] were not always aware of it. One concern John reported to the inspection team manager regarded safeguarding. He spoke to one service user who was happy but not sure how to complain if they needed to. “Sometimes people might not feel safe and not know what to do.”

Both agree that service users probably felt more at ease talking to them. Woodhouse says, “In one place a service user started talking to me and the staff were astonished because they didn’t think he would talk to anyone. He wasn’t that happy with staff which may have been why he was more comfortable talking to me.”

John said he learned about services from doing these inspections. “I went in with an open mind, willing to listen and not judge. I was able to approach questions in different ways, or in some cases put the questions to one side and chat. I felt like an equal part of the team and I think inspectors appreciated the contribution we made”.

Unique insight provided by family carers

Julie Thorpe and Ted Goodman were recruited by the Challenging Behaviour Foundation (CBF) as family carer experts by experience to take part in CQC’s inspection programme of learning disability services. Audrey Giles from CBF, a family carer herself, also took part in inspections.

Family carers brought a unique insight to the inspections. CBF set out strict criteria for recruitment, wanting to ensure people not only brought the experience of how they managed their own relative’s support, but could work as part of team and had a real desire to change things for the better.

The carers had two days of training to prepare them for the inspections. The first was provided by CQC; the second, delivered by the CBF was also part of the recruitment process and included training in positive behaviour support, personalisation, use of physical and medical intervention, the importance of including family carers and working in partnership. This ensured that all experts by experience had a good understanding of what good support should look like.

All three agreed that the meaning of ‘choice’ was an important issue –choice is a vital ingredient of person-centred care. They acknowledged that it is difficult when people are perceived as not having the capacity to make choices, but there must be a balance. For example, can people help themselves to snacks? Who gets to change the channel on the tv?

As well as visiting the services being inspected, family carers contacted relatives of the people using the services to get their views. Julie said there were times when this led to “a cathartic outpouring for family carers who hadn’t been able to talk to people before”.
She felt the empathy and understanding of people who had experienced this type of care was vital: “it gives you the language and the understanding” to connect with other family carers. Ted agreed that families welcomed the principle of using experts-by-experience.
She said that she found some family carers express sadness and anger about the treatment their relatives had in previous placements. People had not complained because they feared making a fuss would have a negative impact.

A lot of carers were concerned about confidentiality and there was a fear of reprisals and sadness about previous places that were much worse than current placements. For relatives, the most important thing was that their family member was safe.
Julie said that carers tended to open up as the conversations progressed, with the issues for concern usually disclosed near the end of the conversation after a rapport and trust had been established.

She also commented that it was hard for carers to know what a good service looks like – carers talked about their relief that the place the person was in was much better than the terrible place they used to live in, even when they had some concerns about the current placement.

Ted talked about “the privilege of being talked to and having people opening up and sharing their lives with me. It was humbling. The sheer commitment from families was astonishing.”
Ted and Julie both commented on some of the contradictions that can make judgements about services difficult. For example, although by their nature assessment and treatment services are not meant to be long-term placements, some families don’t want their relative to have to move from somewhere they are settled to supported living, where they fear lack of support.

The attitude of staff was all-important. Julie says in some places there were “disinterested staff who don’t really like the people they are working with”, while in other she saw “wonderful staff who really care and have an empathy and a positive attitude”. Ted and Julie both felt that good will, caring and empathy were the most important staff attributes, more important than “the list of qualifications”.

Julie also thought that society needs to raise the status of the job – and recognise that people need to earn a living. She commented that many services charge extremely high fees for placements, but she didn’t see evidence of the money filtering down to the people using the service or the staff.

Julie and Ted both felt they added an important ingredient to the inspections. As Julie said: “I can’t say inspectors wouldn’t have understood so well but I feel that caring and having someone else care for someone you love is a very emotive and challenging issue for a lot of people, whether the person they love lives with them or not. We live it and know it and I think this may shine through the conversation.

“I think I added a fresh pair of sharp eyes from a prospective customer point of view – a critical friend to the inspection team.”

Ted said he was impressed with some of the care he witnessed. For example, staff sourced a virtually indestructible lap top computer for one service user who, while he benefited from listening to music on a computer or mp3 player, his behaviour led to him destroying such equipment. He’s now learning other activities on the computer. Another service had encouraged a service user’s artistic talents, to the point at which they had been exhibited locally and on the internet through their own blog.

Both family carers said they had benefited from taking part in the inspections. Ted valued the opportunity to meet other family carers and tap into new networks offering mutual support. He also said his involvement helped him update his own knowledge of current trends in services.

Julie said the experience had given her a greater understanding of the range of facilities and approaches, knowledge of specific outcomes expected and a knowledge of what a good home looks like – which may not be the same as a compliant home. Julie and Ted said they had excellent support from CQC and CBF and felt included as a useful part of the team.

Words Worth Reading can help you prepare for a CQC inspection, visit our website to see the services we provide.

Writing on cancer wanted for Glyn Harris Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:11:52 PDT

Now in their tenth year, the Glyn Harris Awards recognise new writing and artwork about the experience of cancer.

One award category is for entries concerned with the experience of facing cancer; the other is concerned with the clinical work of healthcare professionals. Winners, one in each category, will each get £100 and a glass trophy. The winning entries will be posted on the CancerCare website.

Entries are welcomed in any medium. Written entries may be of any length up to 5,000 words.
The closing date is 30 April.

Website: www.cancercare.org.uk/glyn-harris-awards

Thinking of entering and would like some support? Visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd website to see how we can help you.

Final print edition of Encyclopedia Britannica is a sell out

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:00:47 PDT

The final edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica to be printed has almost sold out after a rush of readers tried to acquire their own copies of the 32 volume set at a cost of £1,195.

The books have been the oldest continuously published reference source in the English language, and stockpiled copies of the final edition are already selling on Amazon for up to £2,500. "Particularly the week after the announcement, our sales staff were run off their feet," said spokesman Eoghan Hughes.

"It's sold much quicker than normal – we haven't seen sales like this for a long time," said Hughes. "But people have grown up with it – in the early days it was the mark of an educated household – and they wanted to get their hands on a piece of history, we think. It's looking like we will sell out – I imagine the remaining 800 will go very quickly."

Future editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica will only be available online, "I don't think we would go back to print on it, although we haven't suspended print entirely – just the 32-volume set," said Hughes. "In the distant future we might do a limited edition once a decade, but there are no plans for that at the moment," added Hughes.

Think you have a novel that could become as well known as the Encyclopedia Britannica? Have a look at the publisher packs we offer on our website.

Jules Verne first edition sells for £1,000

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:02:57 PDT

Thanks to the Guardian online for this one...

A rare first edition of a novel by Jules Verne has been sold for almost £1,000 by a charity shop in Aberdeen.

Five years ago, a first English edition of the same book by the science fiction writer, also donated to Oxfam in Aberdeen, sold for £975, breaking the shop's record.

The book, An Antarctic Mystery, was published in 1898 and tells the story of a journey around the remote Kerguelen Islands in the south Indian Ocean.

Marion Craigie, manager of the Oxfam bookshop in the city, said: "We're always looking out for rare items being donated to our shops, including first editions. It's great that this book has raised so much money." She said the sale had "boosted our confidence in the online market", referring to the launch of Oxfam's website last December.

Verne's tale, written as a response to a novel by Edgar Allan Poe, was first published by Sampson Low Marston & Co. It followed Poe's 1838 novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.

Verne is best known for his novels Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Take a look at the Words Worth Reading Ltd website to see all the writer services we offer!

CQC publish second annual report on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:02:52 PDT

Some care homes and hospitals are still not meeting their obligations on liberty safeguards, according to the CQC's second annual report.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (the safeguards) aim to protect people’s human rights in circumstances where they cannot consent to their care or treatment.

Since 2009, the CQC have been monitoring the use of the safeguards in hospitals and care homes as part of their broader inspection programme.

Key findings

8,982 applications to deprive a person of their liberty were processed, of which 50 per cent were authorised.
Many services have developed good practice on the use of the safeguards, especially in involving people and their families in the decision-making process, but some were confused as to when restraints or restrictions on a person amounted to a deprivation of liberty.
Between a third and a quarter of care homes had not provided their staff with training on the safeguards, and in some cases only the manager had received training.
Most hospitals had held some training, but the proportion of staff involved ranged between 20-100 per cent.

To read more about the safeguards, the CQC's role and future plans by click here- Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards 2010/11.

To find out how Words Worth Reading Ltd can support you with all apects of your CQC documentation visit our website.

Open call for new books

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:02:43 PDT

An interesting one from Writers Online...

New Writing North has put out an open call for submission for new books by writers based in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside

Following three successful years in the north-east, this year's Read Regional campaign has been extended to include writers from Yorkshire and Humberside. The project will select a number of new books and promote them widely across northern libraries, bookshops and festivals.

Submissions are welcomed of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Books may only be submitted by writers currently living and working in the north-east, Yorkshire and Humberside.

Books must be submitted by post. The deadline is 30 April.

Details are on the website: www.readregional.com

Think this could be you? Visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd website to find out how we can support writers of all genres!

CQC publish a review of support for families with disabled children

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:55:04 PDT

Families with disabled children say that they are waiting too long for mobility aids such as wheelchairs according to the CQC's review.

The review into the support for families with disabled children included 151 local area reports and a national report looking at how long families wait for critical services and the quality of the support they receive.

People taking part in the review also felt services were not joined up and did not work well together while many children and their families reported they had not been consulted about how their care was provided.

The CQC report that there appears to be significant disparity between the experiences of disabled children and their families, which is overwhelmingly negative, and the data supplied by primary care trusts.

Words Worth Reading Ltd now offer CQC packages that will be tailor made to you exact needs. Visit our website to find out more.

UCAS application system debate

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:42:56 PDT

UCAS have decided to scrap plans for a post-qualification application (PQA) system, but the debate won’t go away.

The Schwartz Report recommended a move to PQA in 2004, which involves students applying for university places with their actual grades. It has been argued that PQA would lead to a widening participation of people applying for university places and a greater fairness in places offered.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: "Moving to a system where pupils apply to university with their actual grades is essential for improving social mobility." However, at the inaugural seminar of the Bridge Group, an association promoting social mobility through HE, members acknowledged that "whatever system is in place, the university application process will continue to pose challenges for disadvantaged students and those from non-traditional backgrounds".

Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes reported in July 2011 that PQA could allow universities to "target better students who perform well and come from difficult backgrounds or from areas which do not usually send young people to university". Hughes looked to universities in the US for inspiration, including Harvard University, which wrote "to every top performing 'minority' student in the country asking them to consider applying to Harvard".

Impact Magazine, run by students at the University of Nottingham, published a lead article by Ben James suggesting that PQA would lead to an increase in "quickly and poorly made decisions". It suggested that change was needed to "make the system more representative", but PQA was a false trail.

As it stands, predicted grades are not always used with necessary caution. Some of those with good grades who happen to miss their conditional places by a whisker struggle to find a place at all. As a report from BIS last year found, only half (51.7%) of all predicted grades were accurate, while 41.7% were worryingly over-predicted.

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), in response to the government White Paper, pointed out that applicants from comprehensive schools "were more than twice as likely to have had a predicted grade lower than they achieved", 11.2% of those who achieved an A grade not having been predicted to. HEPI concludes: "Even if PQA proves to be impracticable, a better understanding of the relationship between predicted and actual achievement would be valuable to those making decisions as to whether to make an offer as well as to those making the predictions."

So the debate continues, but whatever application system is in place Words Worth ReadingLtd can help you improve your chances of a university offer with a well written UCAS personal statement.

Lavinia Greenlaw wins Ted Hughes award 2011 for new work in poetry

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:10:36 PDT

Thanks to the Guardian online for this one..

Lavinia Greenlaw's "outstanding" sound work Audio Obscura, which sent listeners on journeys of discovery through Manchester Piccadilly and London St Pancras train stations, has won the Ted Hughes award for new work in poetry.

The prize, established by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, rewards "the most exciting contribution to poetry" over the last year. A drama documentary by Simon Armitage, an orchestral piece by Christopher Reid set in the first world war, and a sequence of dramatic war poems by Andrew Motion were all in the running for this year's award. Greenlaw's work gave its audience headphones and led them through the bustle of London St Pancras and Manchester Piccadilly train stations, listening to individual narratives. It was felt by judges to "fully capture the spirit" of the Ted Hughes award.

"Wandering through St Pancras and listening to Lavinia Greenlaw's Audio Obscura was an extraordinary experience of what poetry can do," said judge, sculptor and author Edmund de Waal, who was joined on the panel by the poets Sarah Maguire and Michael Symmons Roberts. "It was profoundly moving, an inward and private journey in a very public place."

Greenlaw, a poet and novelist, said she was delighted to win the £5,000 award. "I can't tell you how pleased I am, not only with a panel of such eminent judges, but that people recognise this as part of my body of work, not a diversion. It absolutely goes to the heart of what I do," she said. "[The judges] understood that, which is just fantastic. I did think people might think it was a sort of side show novelty, or some completely ungraspable conceptual self-indulgence. But I believe in it, in what it became, and am really grateful to the people who took me there, and to the judges who understood it was part of my poetry.

The concept for Audio Obscura, Greenlaw said, came from two places. "I'd done quite a lot of radio work so I was really interested in this format – the idea of only working with what people hear – but I wanted to take it out of the structure of a radio play. Then I have always been interested in the chinks and edges of perception, and how we make sense of what's in front of us. I wanted to really get at the relation between what we see and what we hear.

"Everyone in a station is in a state of tension," she said, "they're coming from somewhere or going somewhere. I really wanted to explore that state of tension. Everyone looks contemplative, and I wanted to explore their thoughts."

Her audience, she explained, was given a set of headphones and an MP3 player, and told to wander through the crowd. "You hear station noise so you forget you have headphones on, and the idea you're cut off goes," she said. "Then these voices start appearing. At first you think they're voices you're overhearing in the crowd, then you start to overhear interior monologues – some are quite painful and explicit, some uplifting."

She chose to write monologues by characters whom she felt there was a chance of people seeing. "I spent a long time coming up with situations you could map on to the people around you. So there's a teenage girl, waiting," she said. "Having recorded these monologues, which are more poetic than narrative, I broke them down. I wanted to get to the point where you could overhear enough to imagine the rest."

Thousands of people listened to the sound show, which took place at Manchester Piccadilly in July 2011 and at St Pancras in September and October 2011. Greenlaw said she would love to write a similar piece again. "I think it was such a clever thing Carol Ann Duffy did, that the award should be for new work in poetry," she said. "It recognises that we all want to work off the page, and to test the edges of what we're doing, and to explore what we are doing in other ways and in other forms."

The Ted Hughes prize was established by Duffy in 2009 and funded from the annual stipend the laureate traditionally receives from the Queen. Its previous winners are Alice Oswald, for her book Weeds and Wild Flowers, and Kaite O'Reilly for her verse translation of Aeschylus's The Persians.

Have a look at how Words Worth Reading Ltd can support you on your own writing journey with our Mentoring Services.

CQC's ‘Tell us about your care’ pilot project begins

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 08:50:11 PDT

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have begun pilot projects with the Relatives and Residents Association (R&RA) and the Patients Association (PA).

The aim of these pilots – known as ‘Tell us about your care’ - is to assess how feedback received from people who use services, their families and carers, via these organisations can inform the CQC's regulatory work. The CQC also plan to report back to the organisations on any action they have taken as a result of people’s feedback.

The CQC have provided training to R&RA and PA staff to support them to recognise concerns raised by callers to their helplines which relate to the government standards they regulate against.

The CQC hope to learn from the pilots, which will run for six months, to help the improve the way they gather and use information from people who use services, their families and carers about their experiences of care.

For advice and support on your CQC registration visit our website and explore our comprehensive Health Services department.

Literary legends brought to life in publisher's archive

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:51:32 PDT

With tales of beers with John Steinbeck at his Nobel prize ceremony and signing up Roald Dahl on a transatlantic ferry, the newly opened archive of the publisher Charles Pick offers a intriguing glimpse into publishing's golden era.

After he started out as an office boy for Victor Gollancz in 1933, Pick's 66-year career in publishing saw him discover, nurture and publish some of the biggest names in 20th-century literature, including JD Salinger, Graham Greene and Dahl. With a roster including Catherine Cookson, Wilbur Smith, Anita Desai and John Le Carré, Pick had an unerring eye for what the public wanted and formed close relationships with many of his authors.

Early in his career, however, his keen eye did not always serve him so well. The young publisher tells of how he went into a Hampstead shop and tried to persuade the bookseller to stock a new title. "I know you don't stock a lot of new books," Pick said, "but there's a marvellous new book coming next month called Burmese Days by George Orwell." It turned out the bookseller was George Orwell himself, working under his real name Eric Blair, before 1984 and Animal Farm had made him famous. It seems as if Orwell took the misunderstanding in his stride. "I think he made some remark like: 'Very interesting'", recalled Pick in an interview taped for the British Library.

Pick's as-yet-unpublished memoirs, donated in a large collection of letters, interviews and press cuttings to the University of East Anglia by his son Martin Pick, show how he signed Roald Dahl after a chance meeting. Pick had bought a copy of Dahl's early short story collection Kiss Kiss in the US, and sailing back to the UK on the Queen Mary he began to read it. When he discovered that Dahl himself was on the ship, "much to the purser's annoyance" he insisted on finding him, Pick writes. "The seas were very rough, but armed with a copy of his book, Kiss Kiss, I found the cabin. Inside, his two children were being sick, the nursemaid having been sick lay prostrate on a bunk, Patricia Neal was looking for a £2,000 diamond which she had lost and Roald Dahl was pacing up and down saying, 'I hope you don't find it, I never did like it.'"

Pick invited Dahl for a drink and they went on to dinner, but Dahl told Pick not to make him a book offer as he had five already from English publishers and was travelling to meet them in the UK. Dahl was happy for Pick to send in his own bid to his literary agent, however, and disembarking the ship at Southampton, Pick "saw Roald Dahl waving a piece of paper and shouting to me: 'It's all yours! It's all yours!'" His agent had told him to snap up Pick's offer before the publisher changed his mind.

Pick also worked with Salinger, signing up Franny and Zooey after realising it wasn't money the reclusive author was after but accuracy. Salinger's agent told Pick: "Money doesn't mean anything to Salinger. He's got so much and he's a recluse, but he is paranoic about how his books are produced."

Steinbeck was another of Pick's American authors, and he travelled to Stockholm for his Nobel prize ceremony. "Steinbeck, who was a very heavy drinker, had, for three weeks before coming to Stockholm, given up all hard liquor and was just drinking beer," Pick recalled. "He had such self-discipline."

Pick also encouraged Monica Dickens, the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, to pen her first book. The pair met at a dinner party, where she had him "spellbound" with her stories, Pick writes. He said: "Look, if you could write a book as well as you can tell these stories I believe you could write a bestseller." "I hope you aren't fooling me," she replied. "My secret dream is to write. Nobody in my family writes and nobody knows that it is my ambition." Pick took her to see his boss at Michael Joseph and Dickens was given a contract, going on to write the bestselling One Pair of Hands.

Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa (under the pen name Isak Dinesen), was an easier signing, the memoirs reveal. Pick received a phone call from the author herself in 1958, asking if he would be interested in reading and possibly publishing her new book. When he said he would indeed be interested, "'Splendid,' was the reply. 'I will ask the president of SAS to bring it to you tomorrow.'"

The author, a celebrity in her native Denmark, appeared a demanding customer once signed, however. Eating at the Connaught, at a table she insisted be surrounded by screens, she would only order one thing at a time, and "after two or three teaspoonfuls of the consommé she nibbled a corner of the melba toast and said 'Now I am satisfied'." Later, waiting to fly home to New York, she demanded that Pick find her champagne and oysters for the journey. After managing to track them down, he was told by plane staff that they couldn't open the oysters, but found a sharp knife on a nearby book stall and opened them himself.

"My father was very deferential to authors. That's why I think he got on so well with such a wide variety – he never pushed himself," says Martin Pick, who is hoping to publish his father's memoirs. "He was very aggressive in the way he dealt with marketing, for example, but they wouldn't have seen that."

Pick Sr also arranged what he believed was the first celebrity author signing – for Noël Coward, attended by 360 fans – and met Wallis Simpson in Paris to discuss her memoirs. On meeting Pick, the Duchess of Windsor immediately demanded to know who Marilyn Monroe's publicity agent was. Simpson was distressed about Monroe's dominance of the newspaper front pages, but "I explained that I wasn't in any way able to help her in displacing Marilyn Monroe in her favour", said Pick, who "certainly did not find [Simpson] witty, endearing in any way, but a rather brittle, hard and vain person".

The publisher also had little affection for Dorothy L Sayers: meeting the author just after publication of her new book The Nine Tailors, Pick congratulated her on her knowledge of campanology. But Sayers "turned around and said: 'Young man, twenty minutes with the Encyclopaedia Britannica.' That … that was a moment of great disillusion," said Pick in his British Library interview.

It was Wilbur Smith, though, who was Pick's longest-standing author. Smith's first novel was acquired by Pick in 1962, and the pair worked together until the publisher's death in 2000. Although Pick retired from his final position as chairman of the Heinemann group in 1984, he remained as literary consultant to the bestselling South African writer until he died.

"He was (and still is) extremely good looking and the younger members of the staff would use any reason to come into my office just to catch a glimpse of him," writes Pick of Smith in his memoirs. "It was even suggested that one girl actually swooned on the staircase, but I think that is probably an apocryphal story."

Thanks to the Guardian for this one!

Young poet award opens its doors

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:53:05 PDT

The Foyles young poet of the year is a prestigious international poetry competition open to 11-17-year-olds. More than 7,000 young poets enter every year from all over the world - previous winners have come from New Zealand, Malaysia and the USA.

Many past winners have gone on to become published and prize-winning poets, including Caroline Bird, Sarah Howe and Caleb Klaces. They are supported in their poetry writing by the prize - the top 15 poets are published in an anthology which goes out to more than 20,000 people worldwide in March 2013. The 14-17-year-olds also attend a week-long residential course run by the famous Arvon centre, where they will be tutored by this year's judges, Christopher Reid and Helen Mort.

The Foyles young poet of the year award is free to enter and poems can be of any length and on any subject. The deadline for entries is 31 July 2012. Find out more at www.foyleyoungpoets.org

Contact Words Worth Reading to have your entry proofread.

British author Geoff Dyer wins prestigious US National Book Critics Circle Award

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:19:13 PDT

Thanks to Writers online for this one...

Geoff's book Otherwise Known as the Human Condition won the NBCC Criticism Award. Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews (Graywolf Press) was praised by NBCC judges as: 'celebrating critic par excellence who showed his love of his various subject in tour-de-force language.'

The NBCC Awards honour the best literature in English in six categories: autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, non-fiction and poetry. They are the only US awards for which non-US authors are eligible, and the longlists, shortlists and winners are selected by the critics in the Circle.

The awards are given annually, in March.

Website: http://bookcritics.org
For advice and support on getting your novel published visit the Words Worth Reading website.

Teachers' vote Roald Dahl as their favourite

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:10:03 PDT

Roald Dahl continues to be a popular choice being voted primary school teachers' favourite author. A new survey put five of Dahl’s books among the top 10 for children under the age of 11.

Dahl's marvellous brand of wicked humour and dark plot lines is the core of memorable books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG and The Twits. As Dahl, the author of 19 books for children, put it: "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

Donaldson's The Gruffalo was voted the best book for children in the survey of 848 primary school teachers by the education resources website Teachit Primary. Siobhain Archer, the website's founder, said: "The Gruffalo was teachers' overwhelming favourite book at the moment, polling more than twice as many votes as Louis Sachar's Holes in second place. But five of Roald Dahl's books appeared in the top 10 and overall a staggering 17% of primary teachers named him as their favourite children's author."

Do you have an exciting idea for a children's book, visit the Words Worth Reading website to see how we can help you.

Review of health care in care homes published

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:35:37 PDT

The Care Quality Commission have published the results of they're review of how the health care needs of people living in care homes are met.

The review focussed on health care services for older people and people with learning disabilities in care homes.
It addressed:

How they access health care services.
Whether they have choice and control over their health care.
Whether the care they receive is safe and respects their dignity.

CQC inspectors visited 81 care homes from within nine primary care trust areas and spoke to managers, residents and staff as well as observing care and checking case files.
The key findings of the report included:

More than three-quarters of the care plans we checked had considered the views of the resident
Ninety-six per cent of care homes identified the changing health care needs of residents through informal or responsive monitoring.

You can read about the CQC's key findings, including in easy-to-read format, and download the data for the review of Meeting the health care needs of people in care homes.

For advice and support about any aspects of your CQC needs please contact catherina@wordsworthreading.co.uk

Postgrads – at last you're on the agenda

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:08:08 PST

Thanks to the Guardian for this one...

Postgraduate students are vital to the country's economic strength. Photograph: Alamy

You're clever, exotically international, and there are more of you than ever before. You contribute billions of pounds a year to the British economy. The trouble is, nobody cares. Or at least they didn't until just a few weeks ago, when policymakers finally seemed to wake up to the idea that someone should start thinking about postgraduates.

Amid all the kerfuffle about the future of higher education – Lord Browne's review of fees, the government's white paper, the dire warnings of universities going bust or being taken over by profit-hungry capitalists – postgraduates occupied barely a footnote. They did have their very own report, by Adrian Smith, in 2010 but it sort of got forgotten, such was the excitement of a change of government and disputes over the more radical proposals for undergraduates.

But, to the surprise even of those who have been gamely trying to push postgraduate heads above the parapet for years, all this has begun to change.

First, Smith's review group was briefly reconvened to discuss the likely impact on postgraduates of the new undergraduate fee system. Then, earlier this month, came the announcement of an independent inquiry on behalf of the Higher Education Commission, a cross-party group of MPs and representatives from business and academia, to look into how postgraduates could contribute to the knowledge economy.

The group's chairman, IBM's Graham Spittle, says: "So much attention has been on undergraduates yet nobody has really thought structurally and strategically about what we should be doing with postgraduates, and what the effect of these undergraduate changes are going to be on them."

He says the commission, which is due to report in June, will look at the contribution of postgraduate education to the UK economy and the competition it faces from emerging economies. It will also look at access and funding.

"I do think there's an urgency to this," he says. "As soon as we have a coherent picture, we want to make some pretty firm recommendations."

Even more significant for those rooting for postgraduate education are new promises of cash. For the first time, universities are to receive extra government money specifically for taught postgraduate courses. They will get £1,100 per student starting one of these courses next academic year, except in those arts and humanities disciplines that are cheapest to run.

This means they will effectively be cushioned from cuts in funding to undergraduate courses – which are expected to make up the shortfall through student fees, paid for by student loans. Because the big bone of contention is that postgraduate courses remain outside any loan system.

While undergraduates can merrily fork out up to £9,000 a year for their degrees, safe in the knowledge that they have 30 years to pay it back and that if they haven't done it by then the debt will disappear, most postgraduates have to butter up friends, family and the bank manager to scrape together the cost of their course. And these debts are the kind that remain until every penny is paid off.

Employers once offered to support staff wishing to do postgraduate study, but many have cut back on sponsorships because of the recession. About six in 10 taught postgraduate students receive no support for their studies other than family or commercial loans. And even banks have become more reluctant to take on the risk of lending to postgraduates who may of may not turn out to be the next Bill Gates.

The big worry is, with undergraduates paying higher tuition fees from this year, it is likely that universities will want to start charging postgraduates more too.

Malcolm McCrae, who until this month chaired the UK Council for Graduate Education, says universities have felt in limbo on the question of what to do about postgraduate fees. A Times Higher Education (THE) analysis of this year's fees found the average home/EU fee for taught postgraduates was just under £6,184, a 24% rise from the previous year but still well below the average £8,354 institutions are expected to start charging undergraduates this autumn.

McCrae says he cannot see how a university could justify charging taught postgraduates less, when their courses run for more weeks and at a higher level.

The financial squeeze has already led to a growth in the number of postgrads studying part-time and working while they take their degree.

But McCrae fears many UK students will duck out of postgraduate education altogether and choose to go straight into the jobs market instead.

A survey by High Fliers Research last month found that employers are increasingly keen on work experience, with more than a third of graduate vacancies likely to be filled by those who have worked for the company to which they are applying.

While the number of postgraduates studying in UK higher education institutions leapt by 36% between 1997 and 2009, and is still growing, this growth is largely among international students. In those 12 years, the numbers from European Union countries rose 69%, and from non-EU countries a whopping 155%.

"The government sees postgraduate activity in universities as a success story," says McCrae. "But the success part of it is largely overseas recruitment rather than home recruitment. Are we looking forward to the prospect of training people for the knowledge economy everywhere in the world, just not doing it for our own?"

Tim Leunig, chief economist at the think tank CentreForum and a reader in economic history at the London School of Economics, has proposed a new loan system for postgraduate students to try to redress this imbalance.

He argues that countries with the highest levels of educational qualifications tend to be the most successful, and that it is therefore vital to increase the number of UK students studying at postgraduate level and to ensure this level of education is open to disadvantaged groups.

"If all these foreigners want to do postgraduate degrees here, shouldn't we be thinking of why British kids don't want to be doing them too?" he says.

Leunig believes this should be a key part of Spittle's inquiry, and Spittle agrees. Postgraduates, he says, will be key to Britain's future: "As the world become more competitive, there is evidence to show that where formerly a first degree was what was required, people are looking for higher qualifications."

Visit the Words Worth Reading website to find out how we can support students in their essay, coursework and disatation writing.

Daybreak and the Salvation Army team up to get Britain reading

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:51:41 PST

The five-a-day campaign is designed to help families improve their reading skills. The campaign aims to encourage people to read to their children everyday and also to raise awareness of the difficulties people face in dealing with illiteracy and dyslexia. People will be asked to donate books at 100 Morrisons stores and 50 Waterstones across the UK to help projects run by The Salvation Army, Dyslexia Action and the Book Trust.

The campaign is supported by celebrities including actor Michael Sheen. 'Books have been like doorways for me all my life. When I was growing up, being able to read books let me enter new worlds and discover all kinds of new possibilities.,' he said. 'Seeing how much pleasure my own daughter got out of being read to when she was very little and now, as a teen, how much she values reading herself, shows how important and joyful it can be to share these things with our children.'

Think you have an excellent idea for a children's book? Visit the Words Worth Reading Website to see how we can support you to write an engaging, exciting children's novel.

Charlotte Brontë's lost short story to be published

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:27:24 PST

Thanks to the Guardian for this one!

A long-lost short story written by Charlotte Brontë for a married man with whom she fell in love is to be published for the first time after being found in a Belgian museum a century after it was last heard of.

The tale, written in grammatically erratic French and entitled L'Ingratitude, is the first-known piece of homework set for Brontë by Constantin Heger, a Belgian tutor who taught both her and her sister Emily, and is believed to have inspired such ardour in the elder sibling that she drew on their relationship for her novel Villette.

Brian Bracken, a Brussels-based archivist and Brontë expert, found the manuscript in the Musée Royal de Mariemont. He said the short story had been last heard of in 1913, when it was given to a wealthy Belgian collector by Heger's son, Paul. The London Review of Books (LRB) is to publish the story in full on its website on Wednesday and in its paper edition on Thursday.

"It was finished a month after Charlotte arrived in Brussels and is the first known devoir [piece of homework] of 30 the sisters would write for Heger," writes Bracken in the LRB. "It contains a number of mistakes, mainly misspellings and incorrect tenses … he [Heger] often returned their essays drastically revised – sadly, there are no comments on this copy of L'Ingratitude."

The fable-like story is dated 16 March 1842 and is about a thoughtless young rat who escapes his father's protective care in search of adventure in the countryside and comes to a sorry end. The tale contrasts the solemn paternal devotion of the father with the reckless abandon of his "ingrate" offspring.

Bracken believes it could well have been based on the works of the celebrated French fabulist, La Fontaine.

"By all accounts a gifted and dedicated teacher, [Heger] gave Emily and Charlotte homework … based on texts by authors they had studied in class," he writes. "They were to compose essays in French that echoed these models, and could choose their own subject matter."

After her first stay in Brussels was brought to an abrupt halt in November 1842 by the death of her aunt, Brontë returned to the city the following year to become an English teacher at the boarding house run by Heger's wife, Claire Zoë Parent. She left for good in 1844, "worn out", writes Bracken, "by her infatuation with Heger, and his wife's hostility towards her."

Brontë's feelings were made public when, in 1913, Paul Heger gave permission for four letters she wrote from Yorkshire to her teacher to be published.

"I would not know what to do with a whole and complete friendship – I am not accustomed to it," she says in one. "But you showed a little interest in me when I was your pupil in Brussels – and I cling to the preservation of this little interest – I cling to it as I would cling to life."

The Brussels period is recognised by Brontë scholars as being pivotal in the careers of both sisters – particularly for Charlotte, who was 25 when they first arrived in Belgium. "Charlotte's novel Villette, published in 1853, reworks her experiences in Brussels, with the difference that the teacher returns the heroine's love," Bracken writes. In The Professor, too, a novel written shortly after her return from Belgium but only published posthumously, she explores the dynamic between pupil and teacher. Unlike her real life infatuation, it ends happily.

Thinking about getting your novel published? Visit the Words Word Reading's website to see how we can help you,

Cynthia Bower announces resignation as Chief Executive of CQC

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:14:39 PST

Cynthia Bower, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today announced her resignation.

Cynthia Bower said: “After almost four years leading CQC, I feel that it is now time to move on. The process of setting up an entirely new system of regulation has been intensely challenging - but we have accomplished an enormous amount. We have merged three organisations, registered 40,000 provider locations and brought virtually the entire health and social care network under one set of standards, which focus on the needs of people who use services.

“I am pleased that the Department of Health Performance and Capability review, published today, recognises the scale of what has been achieved - and in particular the significant improvements made over the last nine months. I’m confident that CQC will continue to build on the progress already made, delivering increasing benefits to people who use services by shining a light on poor care - and I am proud to have played a part in this.”

Jo Williams, Chair of the CQC, said: “I am very sorry that Cynthia has decided to move on, but I understand her desire to take on new challenges. I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for the enormous contribution she has made to the setting up and running of CQC. She has shown tireless commitment to this organisation, and she leaves it in a strong position to carry out our essential role in tackling poor care. This is confirmed by today’s Performance Review from the Department of Health, which recognises CQC’s “considerable achievements” in setting the essential platform from which tougher regulatory action can be taken.”

Sir David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, said: “I would like to thank Cynthia for her commitment as CQC Chief Executive. Building a new regulator involves great vision, leadership and resilience. This is always a complex task and one under constant scrutiny. It is great credit to Cynthia’s leadership to have achieved this.”

Una O’Brien, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health, said: "Cynthia has provided energetic leadership to the CQC from its very outset. Over her four years as Chief Executive, CQC has introduced - for the first time - a new model of regulation for health and social care. Cynthia is a committed public servant and I wish her well for the future."

Cynthia Bower has agreed with the Chair that she will remain in post until autumn 2012 to allow for an appropriate handover. The recruitment process for her successor will begin shortly.

For all your CQC registration and training needs visit the Words Worth Reading website.

University league table published

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:20:19 PST

The Guardian have released their 2012 university guide. All UK universities are ranked according to teaching excellence. The university league tables cover full-time, undergraduate courses at higher education institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are aimed at those wanting to start university in the 2012-13 academic year.

Click on this link to see subject specific league tables http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2011/may/17/university-guide-education

Click on this link for a detailed profile of all UK universities http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/list/educationinstitution

When you have decided on the University for you, find out how Words Worth Reading Ltd can help you write that all important personal statement for your UCAS form.

James Joyce story for children gets first publication

noreply@blogger.com (Words Worth Reading) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:01:45 PST

The Cats of Copenhagen, written in 1936 for Joyce's grandson, has been published for the first time in a collectors' edition by Ithys Press

The story was originally written by Joyce in letter to his grandson Stephen whilst the author was in Denmark.

However, the Zurich James Joyce Foundation, to whom the letter was donated, has claimed that the unpublished letter is not out of copyright and that it has not granted permission for the book's release.

The published works of James Joyce came out of copyright and entered the public domain on 1 January this year.

Prices for the 200 copies in the Ithys Press edition, illustrated by Casey Sorrow, start at €300.

Website: http://ithyspress.com

Thanks to Writers Online for this one!

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