Reading Ruminations

You may or may not know that Waitrose is part of John Lewis. In my local Waitrose recently, I discovered a free magazine called Source. Naturally I picked it up, and when I got home and got round to looking at it, being a freelance writer, I turned first to the page with publication information. Source is published by John Brown, which is a carbon neutral company. Source is free to Greenbee, John Lewis and Waitrose customers.

Unsolicited manuscripts, artwork or transparencies are accepted on the understanding that the publishers incur no liability for their storage or return. So that’s another possible market. And it looks as though their features are mainly written by freelances, while cookery, fashion and beauty pages all have internal bylines, as does part of the travel section. They publish readers letters with no cash offered but luxury gifts instead. One lucky letter writer gets an £85 case of wine – pretty good for a 50 word letter. All the letters are comment son previously published articles. I must get reading.

In magazines like this, I always like to read the ‘what’s on’ and ‘what new books are out’ pages. I see I’ve missed the New York City Ballet at the Coliseum, but the new musical, Gone with the Wind doesn’t open till April 22^nd. Doubt if I’ll get to that one either; I still haven’t made it to Blood Brothers which has been on my list for years. Plenty of time to see the Cranach exhibition at the RA though – there up till June 8^th. Not sure whether I fancy the Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art at the Barbican, but as the write up states, it should be fun. Exhibitions are easier than theatre as you don’t have to plan and book weeks ahead. You just have to find yourself in the area with some time to spare.

I used to do that a lot when I lived in south London. Now I’m 100 miles away, it’s not so easy. But it’s always nice to dream. So, of course, while on the greenbee website, I’ve entered myself in the draw for a trip to Venice.