Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Any other news?
Feel free to use the as a picture prompt. If you'd like other writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.
I'd love to hear your competition news.
Have you entered any writing comps? Had any luck? Heard about interesting contests? Got any tips to pass on? (Although I only feature free to enter competitions in my posts it's fine to share news about other competitions too.)
Do you have writing tips to share, questions to ask, or suggestions for this blog?
I'll be back later in the week with more free entry writing competitions and publication opportunities.
18 comments:
No competitions but I am in full-on edits on my latest manuscript.
Had my first story published in 3rd November issue of Yours so very pleased to see it in print. Anyone getting much response from TPF? They bought a story back in May but not heard when it ll be published and I have had a couple of stories with them coming up to a year next month and not had anything back on them. I know things are a lot slower atm but just wandered how everyone else was getting on with stories sent to them.
Congrats ChrisC, it seems I got stories out everywhere but nothing coming back. TPF has had a story of mine for over a year and so I contacted them and they replied them to say it still being considered but as it’s 1200 words they are prioritising 2000 and 3000 words stories at moment so probably why such a delay and they behind by months too due to working from home - so difficult for me everyone. I’ve submitted a 2000 word story to them so keeping my fingers crossed 🤞
@ Alex – That's plenty to keep you going!
@ ChrisC – congratulations! Yes, I've had some responses from TPF.
@ Charlie – That fits in exactly with what I've been told and experienced. I sent TPF a 3,000 word story and had a response within days, but am still waiting to hear back about shorter ones which have been out for far, far longer.
Magazines on hold at the mo and throwing myself in to competitions - Furious Fiction and 53-word just to get me in gear each month, Writing Magazine's 500 word, Writers' Bureau 500 word about to any day and The Isle of Wight Blind Society Christmas Competition (okay, a bit niche but I was a runner up two years ago!)
Congratulations, Chris C - feel liking giving up but you have inspired me :)
Like ChrisC and Charlie I've got stories with TPF. As they've had them for nearly a year, I contacted them too, and they asked me about word length as well. One is 1200 and one is 2000. Still waiting to hear if they get accepted, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime I'm making slow progress on the 3000 word story I'm writing for them. Does anyone know if they'll accept email submissions while working from home? Otherwise our work will just sit in an empty office.
Sorry, no contest news. But I am writing almost every day on my first draft.
I've had a couple of acceptances from TPF over the past week, and have had quite a few since August. These acceptances have mostly been for stories submitted from April onwards. There are a few stories that I submitted late last year and early this year that I haven't heard anything about. Some of them are long crime reads, which they've said they currently have a healthy stock of, so I'm assuming it'll be a while longer before I hear back on those.
No more story acceptances since my one & only in Yours recently but a competition shortlisting in Australia and a Highly Recommended in Flash500 recently. Haven't got much out there at present as I've been focusing on my novel which daughter is beta reading and being utterly ruthless in her feedback.
I've only written seriously for TPF for a while, no shorts, and the editor gets back to me relatively quickly. Writing. The last part of a five parter at the moment but I know they were asking for five and eight part seriously a little while back of anyone fancies a go at those? Also have an agent considering a full manuscript and trying to write the next one. Best of luck, all
I've had another acceptance at Yours Fiction for the Jan edition. May I ask for advice? Apart from The People's Friend - are there any other UK places where writers can submit without needing to be on an approved writer list? Thanks!
Had a recent acceptance from TPF, probably submitted at the beginning of the year - or before! They have quite a few of mine submitted over six months ago. Had an acceptance from My Weekly for their Annual. Managed to dash off a story for the Best Magazine - thanks Alyson for sending the info in, and to Patsy for posting. Trying hard to rekindle my writing now that the dark nights are here. Good wishes to all. Kate H
@ Marguerite – nothing wrong with niche! I like the slightly more unusual competitions.
@ New Girl – They'll consider email subs from writers who've already been published by them (you need to contact your own editor first to discuss this)and overseas authors, but I think the rest should still be sent by post.
@ Natalie – I hope it's going well.
@ Liz – they're definitely prioritising the lengths they have least of.
@ Lindsay – as long as it's from someone who knows the genre and it's also constructive, ruthless criticism is what we need.
@ Lynn – Good luck with both the serial and the novel. I keep thinking I should try a serial, but haven't yet come up with an appropriate storyline.
@ :-) – Well done! There's the fortnightly Yours, as well as the Yours Fiction – you should submit separately for that.
If you don't mind giving up your copyright (I do not recommend doing that) you can try Woman's Weekly, Prima (via their monthly competition and Spirit and Destiny. The submission details can all be found on this blog.
@ Kate – Good luck with the stories awaiting feedback.
Hi Patsy
I won a free local short story comp this month run by Saltaire Festival in conjunction with River Aire https://saltairefestival.co.uk/winner-of-short-story-competition-announced
and I've got shortlisted to final 5 in horror flash fiction comp run by Word Stafford - results out on Monday.
So pretty happy.
Alyson Faye
Well done, Alyson 😀
Congratulations, Alyson!
Mags with open lists - Allas and Ireland's Own, plus You in south Africa but they are closed to subs until Jan 2021.
Received another acceptance from PF on Friday, so that ended the week on a high.
I emailed an entry to Louise Beech's competition today. Can't remember where I heard about it. If it was here, thank you for the info, Patsy. If it hasn't been featured here, I hope this link is of help to people:
https://louisebeech.co.uk/2020/11/17/the-beech-50-writing-prize-so-it-sounds-dead-proper/?fbclid=IwAR0TKpkDsnezWZXa3GhxKph0l2opbmeXVffExngNexRUCu0hN1cpdaCgZSg
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