Team Zodiac!

Thank-you to everyone who responded to last week's post about a guest blog series I'm planning. I was overwhelmed to have so many volunteers! Taurus was particularly popular. I'm really excited to read all of your flash fictions, poems and mini-essays based on the signs of the zodiac and at the great mix of people we have, from best-selling children's authors to flash fiction specialists, people who were at my wedding to people I've never spoken to before.

Here is the list of participants:

• Aries - Iain Pattison
• Taurus - Alicia Myers
• Gemini - Dan Purdue
• Cancer - Simon P Clark
• Leo - Martyn Beardsley
• Virgo - Alicia Rades
• Libra - Anna Lickley
• Scorpio - Derek Thompson
• Sagittarius - Helen
• Capricorn - Jenny Hickson
• Aquarius - Kirsten-Valerie
• Pisces - Joe Hickson

So, here's how it's going to work. If you could let me know as soon as possible when you think you are going to be able to finish your piece for the blog, either by commenting on this post or by e-mailing me (details at the bottom). Then, when I have about half of the pieces finished and ready I will start running the series, one piece a week if possible, under the label 'zodiac blog series'.

When you send me your work (or beforehand if you won't be able to write your piece for a while) please also send me as much as you can of the following:

• a photograph of yourself
• a short biography - three to five sentences is fine - saying who you are, what you do, how long you've been writing etc. etc. You can add an extra sentence saying why you chose your sign, or what inspired your piece of writing etc. too.
• a shorter biography - one line summary of who you are (if you're not sure about this I'll write you one myself from the other biography you send)
• any links you want people to have to your blog, website, social media pages, publications, amazon listings etc. etc. Basically send up to five links showing people where they can find out more about you. They don't have to be only writing links.

The idea is that I will create a new page on this blog for the series. Right from the start - if you send me the information in time - I will put a list of all the participants up on that page along with your photograph, one-line biography and a link to your blog/website if you have one. Then I can add links to your stories/poems/essays once they've been posted.

I think that's it! Unless you specifically ask for me to disable them, encouraging or constructive comments will be encouraged on each post. Tell me if you want readers to know that you're new to writing or you've never written a poem before or anything like that (only if true!). It'd be great to support each other with comments and sharing links to other people's stories on Twitter/ Facebook etc.

Let me know if you have any questions either here or by e-mail. If you have already e-mailed me in the past feel free to use whichever e-mail you have for me already. Otherwise start off with this one:

chloe [@] wordsyourway [.] co [.] uk

I may reply from my personal address - I just don't like to broadcast it on the web - and you are welcome to use that one from then onwards.

Thanks again and happy writing!