Here's a bit of fun for a rainy day (at least, it's raining here). There's a new vote in town. Novel Writer magazine is running a poll on which is the best online writer's school. This got me to thinking about the value of writing courses.

I'm probably old fashioned. I learned to write by having a job which forced me to write, so I have not had any formal training. However, for 13 or so years, I wrote every day. I wrote news stories, feature articles, reviews and much more. When I started teaching, I wrote courses and exercises for students and spent a lot of time critiquing writing. At the same time, I did a spot of freelancing to keep my hand in.

Now, I'm a reader, so when I want to know something, I turn to the books. I have about 20 books on different aspects of writing, because I want to make sure I've got the info on any kind of writing I want to do. Almost all the books on writing recommend that you attend a writing course to improve your writing. I have also attended a couple of one day workshops on different aspects of writing, all within the last year.  In fact, there's a new one in town next week that I'm thinking of going to.

And now I have the option of studying online. There are so many online writing schools that it's difficult to decide which is best. Does anyone have an opinion on this? If you do, why don't you head over to the poll, cast your vote and leave me a comment about whether writing schools are useful and which one you think is best. I really want to know.

Primestyle.com has issued a web release which gives information about the Hope diamond. This rare and beautiful gem was thought to be cursed, and it's true that bad things happened to many of its owners. Of course, this could be because of theft! The diamond now resides in the Smithsonian Institution. Although you won't get the Hope diamond from Primestyle, you can find diamond bracelets and other diamond jewelry.