Other months' editorials are accessible via the site map:

And don't forget to keep us informed of your competitions for the diary page. And all our regular sections will remain - articles about writing, poetry, humour and book recommendations.

Check out the guidelines, and send work to me at: editor@patchword.com.

Happy holidays!

Welcome to the December 2001 edition of Patchword.

I can't believe how quickly the months go by! Well, that's one excuse for having to postpone the launch of the new design yet another month.

Actually we decided that it would make more sense to start the new edition with the New Year, particularly as we hope to have a little more time this month to get things really organised.

What I can do, though is let you have a sneak preview of the new home page. You'll see that the menu has changed, but we certainly believe it's going to be easier to navigate.

Some of the sections are going to be changing, but the only one we will lose is the recipe section - it hasn't generated enough interest to be worth keeping.

Remember that we're adding a list of writers' circles - snail mail or web details, as appropriate. If you want your group to be included, you have only to send us the information and it will be added to the list.

Then we need contributions for the non-fiction section - essays, opinion pieces, serious or light-hearted - and writing for children. We're happy to include extracts from longer works, too.