Well hello again. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I spent most of December away from this fair city, in North America and the Lakes (credit crunch? what credit crunch?). But now I’m back and have dozen of things I need to write about, starting with this:

Left Your Heart in Manchester?

Rainy City Stories wants your love. We also want your love stories and poems. In honour of Valentine’s Day, we’re offering a wonderful prize for the best Rainy City Love Story we receive in the next month.

Whether you’re an old romantic or a cynic, we invite you to tell us your tales (real or imagined) of falling in, out, or over love in our city. But don’t restrict yourselves to traditional romances; we’re willing to interpret “love story” in a wider sense. The winning submission could be about a more abstract kind of love. It could even be an anti-love poem, or a rant against all things loved-up.

The winning piece of writing will be published on our website on the eve of Valentine’s Day amid a shower of cupids and lace bows and twinkly-eyed kittens. And the winner will receive a big fat £50 Borders gift voucher (the kind of thing that really makes us writer-types swoon), kindly donated by our friends at the Manchester Literature Festival.

Here’s the lowdown: Entries must be submitted by close of business on Tuesday, February 10. Please submit short stories or poems through the mechanism on our website and put the words “love contest entrant” at the top of the story. Entrants should only submit their own original work, and writing that has not previously been published. Also, by entering the competition you grant RCS the right to publish the piece online.

There’s a bit of buzz going around Manchester blogs and news sites about Manclopedia, a new wiki community for Manchester. I got a tip-off from a reader just under a week ago, and a couple of days later Kenan Bailey sent me this press release:

Manclopedia is a free, non-profit, open content encyclopedia project that aims to collect and summarise every single aspect of Greater Manchester (including it’s history, culture, politics, people and places) in hope of becoming the most comprehensive online collection of information regarding Manchester and the surrounding areas.

As well as serving as a source of learning, Manclopedia also hopes to work as medium for promotional interaction between Manchester-based projects and businesses and the general public as whole. By allowing Manchester-based artists and entrepreneurs to publish autobiographical articles Manclopedia hopes to serve as a platform to kick-start the careers of its most talented inhabitants whilst at the same time broadcasting the universal qualities of Manchester to the wider world.

Kenan admits that the site isn’t as populated as he wants it to be – a result of being ‘rumbled’ by the blogging community a month before its planned launch. Still, if people get involved it may soon be a useful resource – Chester’s wiki, also powered by MediaWiki, is something to aspire to. And, of course, there’s already a substantial Greater Manchester community on Wikipedia itself.

Manclopedia is ‘owned and operated’ by Hive, a web-based collective that runs Hive Central – a Ning-powered social networking site that promises a digital art gallery, music and videos, event information, venue locations and classified ads.

They’ve also launched a ‘Mad about Manchester’ toolbar. It’s an interesting tool that offers the latest posts from various Manchester blog (including Mancubist) – plus headlines from the MEN – within one click.

Just a quick heads-up about three blogging workshops that Kate of the Manchizzle and I are running next month:

BLOG LAB
On Saturday 8 November, 1pm-3pm
At Manchester Digital Development Agency, 117-119 Portland Street, Manchester M1 6ED

Stuck on posting images in Blogger? Need someone to walk you through switching platforms? Want to pimp your blog up with all the latest cool widgets, or just get some feedback on your new site? Two experienced bloggers will be on hand to help solve your practical blogging problems in these open ‘surgery’ sessions. Some computers available, or bring your own and use our wireless. Drop in whenever you like during the session, but please let us know you’re coming.

BLOGGING FOR BEGINNERS
On Saturday 22 November, 10am-12pm
At Gorton Library, Garratt Way, Gorton, Manchester M18 8HE

On Saturday 29 November 10am-12pm
At Crumpsall Library, Abraham Moss Centre, Crescent Road, Crumpsall, Manchester M8 5UF

So you think you’d like to create a blog, but you’re not really sure where to start? In this workshop we’ll take you through the basics, and by the end of it you’ll have your own blog.

All three sessions are free – but space is limited and the previous workshops have been packed out, so get in there early if you’re coming. To book, call the Manchester Literature Festival office on 0161 236 5555 or email admin at manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk.

Completely unrelated to anything, but I just glanced at BBC Manchester‘s latest headlines, which are displayed on Mancubist’s sidebar:

• Man dies three days after attack
• Hospital gun threat man is jailed
• Officer injured in robber arrest
• Police name family killed on M6
• Man guilty over birthday murder
• Stab man guilty of manslaughter

Is it too much to ask for a good news story just once in a while? Apparently so…