Meeting friends

 

We're currently away in the van, heading to a family wedding. We've taken the scenic, meandering, circuitous route and met several friends along the way – including Fiona, who often supplies details of competitions and opportunities on this blog, stories for womags and poetry for anthologies, competitions and events.

We've chatted a bit online, but this was the first time in person. We met at Baddesley Clinton. The photo was taken in the library, which had an exhibition about author Lady Georgina Chatterton. She wrote poetry, escapist fiction and travelogues. Fiona and I both liked this quote of hers.

Free to enter writing competition

On the Premises have another mini competition. They want stories of 25 to 50 words, in the form of a list. First prize $35 with other cash prizes.

Womag news

Thanks to Alyson for passing on this message which The People's Friend posted on Twitter. "We're currently looking for stories with a contemporary setting, set from January onwards for the weekly and mid-March onwards for the Special. All word counts welcome but especially 3000 and 2000."

Boo hoo!

 

Free to enter writing competition

Thanks to Sharon for sending me the link to this Christmas ghost story competition. As Sharon says, it doesn't actually have to be a Christmas story. First prize is £100. Max word count, 5,000. (That's the Boo)

This competition is for unpublished authors only. They must be citizens of, or living in the UK or Ireland. The first prize is £3,000, with runners up prizes of £1,000. Max word count 5,000. (Boo hoo, I can't enter!) Sorry - this has just closed!

My news
Most of my ebooks are currently 99p in the UK or 99c in the US. Woohoo! Sorry,  Amazon doesn't currently allow me to set up this deal elsewhere.

Out, and in

The image in last week's post was of the tracks made by seals. Probably bigger ones than this cutie, although he/she was part of the group who'd been hauled out there earlier in the day.

Womag news

The People's Friend fiction editor, Lucy Crichton asked me to pass on the following - 

"After nearly 39 years with DC Thomson - seventeen of those years on 'The People's Friend' - Tracey Steel will be retiring on Friday, October 2nd. 

We're wishing Tracey all the very best for this new, exciting chapter! And we're delighted to be welcoming Fiction Journalist, Lucy Dewar to the Fiction Team. 

Tracey's authors will receive an email with more information, and Lucy will be handling Tracey's authors, poets and pocket novel authors as of October 5th. "

I'm really hoping at least one of her authors will be called Lucy, so she sends out an email saying something along the lines of, Dear Lucy, I liked your story, and have sent it on to Lucy. Best wishes Lucy. I don't know why that should amuse me, but it does! 

I'm hoping to interview Tracey Steele on this blog soon. I'm sure she must have some interesting insights to share!

Other publication opportunities

Short Story Stack pay $100, plus royalties for selected stories. The word count range is from just 6 words, to 10,000 and they even accept reprints, as long as you still hold the appropriate rights.

Other news

You may remember that a while ago, Liz Filluel wrote this post, about having some of her stories which had previously appeared in womags, published by Clan Destine Press. Her book is now available for pre-order and there's a discount if you get in quick.

I'm not sure if it's available internationally, or just in Australia, but I was sure you'd like a look at the cover.

Questions, questions

Today's photo is a quiz!

I do know what it's of, but only because there was some context when I took the image. Care to guess? Or perhaps you know?

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Sharon for the link to this poetry competition with a £100 first prize, and book tokens for four runners up.

Here's a playwriting competition. The theme is climate crisis. The prize is £15,000 and develpment support. Entrants to be UK based.

Calls for submission

Thanks to Alyson for sending the details of this call for anthology submissions. It's in aid of Hope Against Cancer, so there's no payment. You have 1,500 to 3,000 words to write a short story on the theme of 'An Act Of Kindness'.

And thanks to Linda Casper for the following – Competition at www.thefirstline.com either a story with their first line or last line.

Winter:
Lawrence was the last to arrive.
Due date: November 1, 2026
Notification: We don't make decisions about submissions until after each issue closes. We typically send notices four to five weeks after the issue's deadline to everyone who submitted. You can also check the website's home page for each issue's production status.

Payment: We pay on publication: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction (all U.S. dollars). We also send you a copy of the issue in which your piece appears. You'll receive your money and issue at the same time.

Request for help

A fortnight or so ago, someone mentioned me having a story in BOWW. I can't remember who, or exactly when it was. If anyone saw the story, can you recall the title, or what it was about?

Just a couple

Everything seems very quiet at the moment. Or maybe I've been so busy concentrating on my novel that I've not noticed what's going on?

Free to enter writing competitions

On the Premises have another mini competition. They want just three sentences - beginning, middle and end. First prize is $35.

This short story competition from Horrortree is for up to 500 words about what happens after you take the last exit. The prize is a print copy of the publication the piece appears in, and a social media feature.

An actual post!

I did get to write a post this week, even if I am finishing it off at the last minute.

These photos were taken by me, but not in my garden.  btw, the photo in last week's post was of brown hares, as I'd not captured any fluffy bunnies with the camera. I'm guessing you all thought I'd mixed them up and are too polite to correct me.

Did you witness the eclipse?

Free entry writing competitions

Here's a competition for plays. The theme is climate change. If the current weather has inspired you, then in you're in with the chance of winning £15,000.

Thanks to Eirin for telling me about the Sunday Post short story competition, as it closes on Friday September 18th. "Entrants must be amateur writers and not selling their work on any platform. "

You have 1,500 to 2,000 words. I don't think there's a big cash prize, but winning this one could be a useful boost to a newish writer hoping to go on to be published.

And thanks, Dee - you know why!

Womag news

I believe Best have a Hallowe'en competition, but haven't seen a copy of the magazine yet. I'll update this post if/when I do.

Eirin has also told me that the cut off date for registering stories with ALCS in time for March payments has moved forward a little, to 31st October. If you'd been intending to sign up with them and not yet got around to it, now would be a good time. Here's why you might want to join.

Oh crikey!

It's Saturday already and I have nothing prepared for a blog post. I'd offer a fluffy bunny by way of apology, but this is the nearest I've got. Will it do? Will you forgive me?

More importantly, what have you been up to? I've mostly been editing the next Little Mallow novel, although I did pause to dash off a short story to send to My Weekly and make a submission to Ulverscroft.

Have you had any successes, or other writing news?

Some better news

You may remember that after I'd posted about TABFF using stories, I was contacted by a journalist who quoted me, and some of you, in an article. I've since been contacted by someone at the BBC! I gave a statement, but haven't heard back so don't know if anything will come off that. I also had another email, which some of you may be interested in. I've copied it, with permission.

Hi Patsy,

I hope all's well with you! I am writing on behalf of Ulverscroft Ltd, a specialist large print publisher.

I saw the sad news regarding AI use in Fiction Feast, which led me to your blog, and it concerned me that this will leave less space for womag writers and their creativity. 

At Ulverscroft, I acquire rights for a large print list - Linford Romance (Linro), which publishes shorter romances (typically 25-60k words). I was wondering whether yourself or other womag writers would be interested in publishing with us? I realise that the Fiction Feast stories tend to be shorter than the typical Linro length, but if you have something slightly longer that wouldn’t fit the magazine submission guidelines, that could work really well.

Please feel free to share this with your peers, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Very best wishes,

Ceri

Ceri Jones

Publishing Executive - Large Print Lead

Ulverscroft Ltd

If you wish to submit something, you can send a pdf or Word document, saying you saw the info on this blog, to editorial@ulverscroft.co.uk 

As a guide to the style, they often use MW and TPF pocket novels, although Ceri told me she can consider titles with 'a bit of spice'. They pay royalties only, with no advance. Their books are often available in libraries, so plr payments are a possibility.

I know that not everyone will have something suitable to submit, but isn't it nice that something positive just might come from all of this for a few of us?

The photos are all from my garden this week. Some plants are suffering, but these have coped with very little water, including none at all for the 15c days I was in France earlier this month.

AI news

I seriously hope this isn't going to be a regular blog section, but I thought you might be interested to know that a BIG name has got involved with the Take a Break Fiction Feast issue. (alternative link)

Sorry, I hadn't realised that you can't see this without an Instagram account. Short version - TABFF are replacing ALL writers with LLM (AI) and this is pretty rotten as they're a big magazine and don't pay writers much anyway. Richard says 'It's crazy'. I think some of their info is out of date (they pay 'low hundreds' per story - I wish!) and they may have confused TAB FF with the weekly mag.

Womag news

Sharon tells me there will be a September issue of TABFF. Neither of us have heard of anyone being asked to submit work. Have you?

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Sharon for this competition for empathy boosting stories of up to 550 words. You can submit poetry or prose, in written, video or audio formats. 

This competition is for horror novellas of up to 40,000 words. The prize is $300 plus royalties.

Other publication opportunities

Untold Tales of the Round Table want Arthurian stories, without Merlin as the central character, for an anthology. 4,000 - 10,000 words. Payment is per word.

Hot, hot, hot

It's been very hot and I've been very busy working on my latest novel – which is why there's only a short post today.  By way of apology, I've made something to cool you down. The photo is a clue!

Other publication opportunities

Thanks to Alyson for sending me the link to Flame Tree Fiction. Definitely not womag and a bit niche, but it is a paying market.

Something random!

Ever wanted to give your character a really wacky name, but weren't sure anyone could actually be called that? Here's a site which allows you to check whether a name would be legal in the UK. Thanks to Charlie for sending the link.

Ant thanks to Marguerite for this link for plausible sounding landline numbers which aren't actually in use.

Summer writing sanctuary

Thanks (again!) to Alyson for sharing the details of this free summer writing sanctuary.  Does it look like something you'd like to participate in?

I'm back!

I'm back home from my travels for a while – although obviously I reserve the right to dash off somewhere at a moment's notice. Unless that happens, and probably even if it does, the blog will return to regular weekly posts with various free opportunities for writers, and womag news when there is any.

Free entry writing competitions

Protopian Prize is for optimistic stories set in the future. They should be 500 to 6,000 words. There's a $5,000 prize in each category, plus publication.

Thanks to Dee for sending these details. As she says, both the competition on the New Writers website look interesting. Competition open to UK residents only.

Green Dragon Guild of London Poetry Prize 2026

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on Wednesday 29 July 2026

• Entry Fee: FREE
• Prizes: The winning entrant will receive: 1. Cash prize of £100; 2. Your work set to music by composer David Yardley and performed by professional musicians at the “Of Carols & Chimeras” concert on Friday 20 November 2026; 3. Complimentary tickets to the concert; 4. Standard 50% royalties from any future performances or recordings of the musical work that uses your lyrics
• Word Limit: 50 lines
• Theme: Chimeras
• Category: Poetry Competitions

Other (ie NOT womag) publication opportunities 

Story Unlikely are accepting submissions until 14th October. They pay 8 cents a word with a maximum payout of $350 (or 1 cent a word for reprints). They consider any genre, but don't want anything excessive.

My news

I have a new book out! (Yes, I'm back at that again too.)

A brief break from blogging

This is the brie I bought the day we arrived in France. We're not allowed to bring dairy products back, so I'm I have work to do. Delicious work.

Sorry for the cheesy pun in the title, and that there's not much of a post from me today. I'll be back home next week, and things will be back to what passes for normal round here.

Please chat amongst yourselves – especially if you have good news to share, or cheese based jokes, puns, and general remarks.

Last minute update! I've been alerted to the fact Press Gazette have published an article on TABFF's use of AI. It appears this blog, and those who comment here, are the top source of information on the subject!

Bonjour!

We're in France on another trip in the van. A short one, mainly for Gary's work this time. I don't think the one hour time difference is quite enough to account for me having lost all track of time and not getting around to writing a post. The lack of good news probably also has something to do with it. (If you missed the latest bad news, you can find it here.)

This morning I had a message from someone who has been writing womag type stories for years and is thinking of putting them into a collection to sell on Amazon. One of her reasons is she feels AI stories are taking over, and she'll find it even harder to get them published, so may as well try herself. As I've produced lots of such books myself, she wondered if I had any tips. Well yes. The first is, don't expect high sales. Secondly, it's not for everyone – and most definitely not something you 'should' do unless you actually want to. Thirdly, here's how I did it.

This post isn't just for her – it's for all of us wondering whether AI will make our human creativity worthless, and what we can do with our existing stories and any we may write in the future. What do you think? Are their still readers for short stories written by humans, and if so, how do we reach them?

Please note – I only know of one womag market using AI to 'create' stories. As far as I know, the other publishers have not decided to take this route, and still do value human creativity, and those who use it to produce content for them.

The future of TAB's Fiction Feast

Here's an email I received today. As I told Rebecca I wished to share any information received from her on this blog, and I've not been asked to keep this to myself, I'm sharing it here.

Hi Patsy

I hope you’re keeping well.

 

We were in touch recently to let you know about the pause in commissioning on Fiction Feast, and I wanted to share a further note with you as several writers have asked me about what will happen to the magazine.

 

We have been reviewing how best to support its long-term future and exploring opportunities in our current editorial and operational approach. 

 

So, the July issue of Fiction Feast has been created using a combination of stories – some writer commissions and some in-house creations from the Fiction Feast team. 

 

We have also introduced the use of AI tools exclusively for our in-house stories, so our editorial team has more time to do what they do best and focus on quality and creativity.  And we will be exploring this further in the coming weeks.

 

Again, I wanted to tell you how much we all value the enormous contribution you have made to Fiction Feast, and your kind words to the team.

 

Wishing you all the best for the future.

Rebecca

Update - This blog post has now been linked to in an article on the subject of AI in TABFF. As that might mean new readers finding the blog, I'd like to point out that it regularly contains information on writing fiction for magazines, usually has links to free entry writing competitions, and even stuff about me and my writing. If you're new here, welcome! I generally post on Saturdays. If you have questions or would like to add to the conversations, please do so in the comments.

It's summer!

Gosh, it's warm, isn't it? I'm so lucky to have the sea so close. We've walked down and chucked ourselves in several times this week.

I'll sprinkle this posts with refreshing glimpses of cool water for anyone who might benefit. (Not all taken on my daily walks!)

A quick reminder - this is how this blog works.

Free entry writing competition

Thanks to Alyson for sending the link to this haiku competition. The theme is sight, and the prize is $25 sent via Paypal.

Call for Submissions

Thanks to whoever told me about Poplar and Prose. Was it Fiona? Sorry, my memory isn't great even when it isn't melting! I got in touch, and was sent this –  I’m looking for 100-word stories that celebrate summer — inspired by nature and rich in imagery. This could include stories about family, relationships, vacations, and summer memories to give you a few examples of what I’m especially interested in. 

This is for Poplar & Prose, a literary lifestyle brand, featuring pieces that make the ordinary moments feel a little richer, inspired by good books and the outdoors. I’d love to highlight one or two amazing writers in August through a featured Journal post.

Authors always retain the rights to their work. I simply ask for non-exclusive permission to publish the piece on Poplar & Prose. Contributors are also free to publish elsewhere.

While I’m only able to provide a token .03/word payment, contributors will be credited alongside a short author blurb and linked work/socials if desired.

To get a feel for the brand, you can visit PoplarandProse.com.

By July 15 8pm EST, submissions, along with a 2–3 sentence bio, can be sent to: contact@poplarandprose.com

Thanks so much for your interest, and I look forward to reading about your summers!

Womag news

There will be July and August issues of TABFF. I don't know about after that.

A good excuse

That big block of text below gives me an excuse to break it up with lots of photos! In the hope it's warm and sunny when you read this, I've chosen cooling water and ferns.

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Alyson for this 100 word competition. First prize is $100, with smaller runner up prizes. As it's American, try not to put too much colour into it. ;-)

I found the following writing competition. I couldn't manage to find something to link to, so have copied the details below. No prize is mentioned, but there is a prize for another competition connected to this event (shared in last week's post) so there might be.

The Highclere Castle Book Festival Writing Prize 2026 To mark the inaugural year of the Writing Prize, budding writers are challenged to inhabit the mind and spirit of a famed author of the past. Whether inspired by the quiet intensity of a governess, the wit of a social observer, or the brooding sensibilities of a romantic poet, entrants must compose a diary entry as though they themselves were that writer, capturing not only their voice, but their time. 

Each submission, no more than 1,000 words, should unfold as a private reflection: intimate, immediate, and true to the era in which the chosen writer lived. Consider the concerns of the day, the constraints of society, and the inner life that shaped their work. What would they confide to the page, when no one else was listening? We are not looking for imitation alone, but imagination, writing that breathes with authenticity while revealing something new. Entries will be judged on originality, voice, historical sensitivity, and emotional depth. 

The winner will be announced at the Highclere Castle Book Festival in October. Take up your pen. Assume another life. And write as though history itself were watching. Entries to both competitions close on Friday 18th September and winners will be notified before the prize giving on Sunday 4th October at the Highclere Castle Book Festival. 

Prizes will be presented by Lady Carnarvon and Elizabeth Kirby from Hampshire Life.  Terms and conditions for entrants can be found at: www.highclerecastle/bookreadersawards.