So go on, pick a sin, any sin – or more than one sin – and see what it inspires in you. The original seven deadly sins were  wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony - but maybe those are a little limiting. Is there perhaps an eighth deadly sin you’d like to include? Or a whole new seven of your own?

Either way, you’ve got until the end of April to get your sinning in. If you’re still a little unsure of what to do, read our submissions guidelines before you start – but remember, the real sin would be not submitting anything at all.

There’s wars (old and new), marmalade put to a surprising use, a leaving do with a difference and road trips both fun and frightening, plus trips near to home and further afield, all of them offering a welcome escape into spring.

It’s plain / this land is all / but liquid… (from Jean Atkin’s Scotland Overflows)

The days are already drawing out though, and so the next theme might bring a more cheerful note: the Great Escape. Sharpen your pencils and uncap your pens and dream your way into something that gets us out of the rain. All D&G writers can send us something in – see our submission guidelines for details

Given how much our submitters like to wrongfoot us, who knows what the next issue will be like – but in an attempt to get something a little light hearted we have settled on ‘down the drain’.

Get scribbling…

This time I made the tactical error of asking some of our gallant team of folders what the theme should be. After a little discussion, they came up with a doozy:

Sex ‘n’ drugs ‘n’ bacon rolls

Now, we know some folks might find this a mite controversial, but we’ve decided to run with it. After all, we’ve all experimented in our youth, and as long as it’s between consenting adults and taken in moderation, then we believe that bacon can be enjoyed responsibly. Just remember kids: you should never inhale it.

Happy writing.

Roll out the Barrel: folded fankles ready to be released

In these inflationary and recessionary times, its cover price is still amazingly only 50p. You’ll be able to get your hands on one at Wigtown this weekend, or else in one of our many stockists across the county. We’re more widely available than ever this year so you’ve no excuse for not getting your hands on one.

And for those of you who feel inspired to submit your work yourself, we’ll be announcing the theme for the next issue within days. It was chosen at the folding session after a fair bit of the wine had been drunk, and that’s all I’m saying…

In fact this is the very first of those calls: the next issue of the Fankle will have the theme over a barrel, and we’re looking for short prose and poems interpreting that as loosely or as strictly as you choose.

To find out how to submit see our submission page. Get writing!

You can get hold of the Fankle from one of our stockists – from the Ewart Library to Byre Books or points in between. Or if you’re having trouble getting your hands on one let us know and we’ll get one to you, one way or another.

Meanwhile, we have pressing issues on our mind here at Fankle Towers. The forthcoming issue will be our sixth, which means we will have done a full year’s worth of publications. This was what we originally committed to do and it’s been fun, interesting, a massive learning experience for all concern but not, strictly speaking, profitable.

The Fankle was always designed to be a cheap and cheerful publication, accessibly priced and aimed at getting the work of local writers out to the widest possible audience in the county. At 50p, it’s a ‘why not?’ purchase and it’s cheap enough to produce. We’ve gained a regular readership and sales have grown over the year, showing that there’s an appetite for writing away from the traditional literary magazine format. However, distributing it is a burden for a group of people who are doing it in their spare time and at the moment it’s a small financial drain on the Dumfries Writers’ Group.

An email around our contributors and other supporters has resulted in a good number of responses, overwhelmingly helpful and positive. It seems people want the Fankle to continue. There’s been some great suggestions too, which I’m following up. Taking these in the round it seems to me that something along these lines might be possible:

To form a consortium of interested writers groups to take the publication on. Groups would share in the costs (and, hopefully, any profits) and group members would get involved in helping to edit (at the moment we have a rotating guest editorship in place which the four who have taken part so far seem to have enjoyed), fold and distribute copies of the Fankle.

Obviously there are practical difficulties that would have to be ironed out, mainly to do with the distances. However we could alternate folding venues (between Dumfries, Castle Douglas or even further afield if people were willing to host a ‘Fankle folding’). In fact, the opportunity for groups to get together and chat before and after (or even during, for the multi-taskers among you) folding might in itself be a benefit. We could also organise regular Fankle nights across the county, with readings and maybe an open mic element as well.

So what do you think? The floor is yours in the comments box, but I’ve also added a poll so you can vote if nothing else.