Tuesday 31 December 2019

Happy New Year!

I hope 2020 brings you all much happiness and positive stuff.

And for me, I hope next year starts as this one is ending – I've just had an acceptance from Shirley for The Weekly News!

9 comments:

carrie said...

Congratulations, Patsy :) Me too from Shirley at The Weekly News! A lovely way to end this year and may 2020 bring further successes and happiness to all of us. Happy New Year!

Unknown said...

Many congratulations! What a way to end a very successful year and may 2020 be even better!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's awesome! Happy New Year, Patsy.

Kate Blackadder said...

And me too from Shirley @TWN! Thanks for all you do, Patsy. Have a lovely 2020.

New girl on the block said...

Happy New Year! Congratulations on TWN stories, Patsy and Carrie. Just as I was getting despondent over 2 end-of-year rejections from Yours and deferred publication of an accepted story from Spirit and Destiny, I got another story accepted by Spirit and Destiny today. Such is the writing life - one minute you're down, and the next you're elated.
New Girl on the Block

Chris Sutton said...

Happy New Year to you, too, Patsy, and to all the womag bloggers. Congratulations to all who had acceptances. I didn't get any last minute ones this year, but my next Woman's Weekly one should be in the March Special which, oddly, comes out in three weeks!

sarah said...

HI I wonder if you could help shed any ideas on where to pitch? I've written a short story about myself actually falling for a guy at work who then dumped me and started dating my colleague in the same classroom. I've likened it to Love Island which is starting very soon and wondered if you know of any publications that might accept pitches/its actually written from writers. I'm a freelance journalist and have published work in magazines before but haven't written for womens' magazine sector recently. Last timte I tried to pitch some ideas I got no responses to my emails! Sarah x

Patsy said...

@ Carrie – Well done! Maybe we'll be issue buddies?

@ Unknown – thank you.

@ Alex – thanks.

@ Kate – excellent! Maybe Shirley had a mini buying splurge, so her replacement won't have to deal with that task until they've settled in a little?

@ New Girl – I'm pleased you got some good news at the end. Yeah, this business can be very up and down.

@ Chris – Congratulations! What with subbing seasonal stories so far in advance and the way magazines are dated, it's a wonder any womag writer ever knows which season they're in.

@ Sarah – You don't pitch fiction to womags, you just submit it 'on spec'. If the editor likes it, they'll make you an offer (which will be their standard rate.)

You'll need to look at the guidelines to see which magazine accepts the length you've written (you can find them by clicking 'magazine guidelines quick links' in the right hand column of this blog. Perhaps more importantly you'll also need to find the magazine which publishes fiction most like yours in content, style and tone. The only way to do that is read a current issue or two.

Good luck.

Chris Sutton said...

Shirley is obviously going through the story backlog before she retires, because I've just had an acceptance from People's Friend of one I submitted last July. I'm really pleased. Also have one in the current issue of Woman's Weekly according to a friend, so will have to get a copy tomorrow.

Sarah... how close to the truth is your story based on your own experience at work? It's fine to use real-life events as the springboard for a fictional story (I did for my PF one, above) but don't make any character identifiable as themselves. Change names, physical descriptions, the way they speak, and submit it as a work of fiction, nothing more. Good luck, I hope it sells.