“My first thought is about the rules and conditions that go with poetry competitions. The same advice to read the rules applies if you are going to submit to a poetry magazine.

It’s so important to read the rules through, and to follow them; if the organisers ask for no more than, say, 40 lines, or if the rules state not to include your your name on the page with your poem, it is essential to do so. It’s heartbreaking for the judges to throw the poem out – even if it is brilliant – just because you didn't follow the rules.

And please do not try to shoehorn a poem into a competition or magazine’s theme – no matter how magical that poem is.

We want poems that are natural but equally that follow the rules and the conditions set.

So, as a reminder, this one wants poems that relate somehow to water!

Good luck and don’t forget the deadline is the 7th July.”

Rules & Submissions ‘The Ways of Water’ poetry competition here.