Well just a quick reaction from a short perusal of the new Features ezine - well presented and written, well put together, punchy and eye catching. Nearly wet myself at Mystic Ted, can't wait to see Blackburn in Wonderland (so sorry to hear Paul is dead but hey ho! When's the piss up, I mean wake?) or should that be Blackburn in Shitsville? Mr Thomas on great form with his wobbly bicycle and Claire's tips on international success a must try, for all budding performance poets. I'm off to write, I mean read Uncle Dermot's problem page and check out the rest and suggest you do the same.

Have to say, i spent the best part of two hours yesterday morning perusing the new features.
I found it to be interesting, packed with a various assortment of, well.. features!
I can understand that while some of them would benefit from having nowhere for reader comments, i feel that others might. It would possibly save having to set up separate discussion threads like this one. Perhaps a general feedback section could be included somewhere in the ezine?
I know it's early days and it's only a suggestion. If there is one already which i missed while browsing then please excuse me.

Personally, i've always enjoyed reading reviews by Mr. Thomas and Ian MacMillan among others, so it's nice to see them in one section for easy access. I would have liked to see Alec Newmans poetic writing know how in a larger text format. I lost interest because i had to concentrate too hard on being able to actually read it without a magnifying glass as well as my specs on.
Maybe the next issue then?

I do love the jukebox idea and Fiona's pics although i haven't actually tried the excercises yet but there's a whole month to have a go.
Chris Dawson's done a great job of providing info for improving stature and voice projection in performance and i look forward to testing them out.

I wish the mag and the team success.

I think the idea is, that like an ordinary magazine, there is a letters to the editor facility, though, of course, feedback can be given here.
So send your 'letter' to dermot@writeoutloud.net

And well done Dermot!
.

I love it. A lot of hard work has obviously gone into it and I can't believe that you have actually got people to do all this for nothing... There must be so much good will out there. Is mystic Ted really a man? His observations seem far too keen... and how did he know that I was a was a Cancerian?
Like Janet, I think that a comments page would be great. It is easy to leave a comment but a drag having to construct an email that then has to be fed into something else. On first glance, I found the cryptic crossword to be too hard, but then I've never liked cryptic crossies, just like I don't like overly cryptic poetry.
Chris Dawson's tips on breath control sound a hoot. I'm looking forward to finding a special moment to try them out...
Loved reading Darren's review - he's always a hoot - though I felt for the 'reviewed'. I could never do that job in a million years...
Well done everyone - I think you are a brilliant team. x

The magazine is excellent. Very well done. A lot of work went into that.

I enjoyed Darren's review of 'Wirral's Winter Words', but what is the typo in 'In Poetry'?

Malcolm - at great risk of me sounding (even more) anal... the final stanza - second line.

Now, if you'll excuse me - I'm still in hiding.

Thanks everyone for such lovely feedback - can I use any of this thread in the "Dear Dermot" section?
Derm x

We now include comments on the workshop exercise page.

Dermot, you can use mine with pleasure. I'm still reading the features and going to tackle the crossword sometime this week.
I love doing crosswords and Simons has a special twist to it because of the poetry theme.

Enjoyed all of it - well done and congratulations to all who contributed.
I particularly liked the photos and wrote a short, instant response... images work well for me.
Thanks to the whole team - a wonderful way to start the new year.
May your muse, always amuse.

Hi great work everyone and Dermot, you been burning the midnight oil. Will the features section have any way of including embedded 'youtube' footage?

Would like to see poets performance videos.
I have filmed many poets over the years, also have some films to include, as does Paul etc

I'm just going to nick stuff from here and publish it in the Dear Dermot section and (unconnectedly) be damned. Thanks all and keep it coming.

wers teh spel cheker?

At a 'zine team meeting, it was suggested that we should "have a house style, like they do at the Guardian" and, unfortunately, I didn't hear the comma.

bugger all to do with the subject-just wanna crack sad joke-theres snow business like snow business-no there will be no business at all-come on! not that bad-if I don,t see you before next snowmass, all the best!