Wednesday 31 March 2021

It's an age thing

Free entry writing competition news

Writers aged under 21 may be interested in this competition. There are cash prizes for the authors, plus book tokens for their school to be won.

It was my birthday yesterday (these gorgeous flowers are from Gary) and I'm not 21 anymore. (Not that I was at the start of the week!) Do you know any writers that young? I don't think I do.

I may have mentioned this crime writing competition before. My memory isn't great. It never was, and I don't suppose it's going to get better. Still, it looks like a great opportunity so it won't hurt to have a reminder.

I definitely have mentioned this sci-fi and fantasy writing contest before. The closing date is today – but don't worry I've not lost the plot and you've not lost your chance of winning the £1,000 prize as another one starts tomorrow. In fact there's a new one every quarter.

Good things often come in threes. which is why I try to include links to at least three free to enter writing competitions each week – and why there were three different types of chocolate chunk in my birthday cake!

You may remember that I was a finalist in a short story


competition run by Nottingham Writer's Studio last year. I've already had the cash prize, my paperback copy is on the way and the ebook is available here. I love the striking cover image and the way it references several of the stories – mine included, I think.

Womag news

Thanks to Carrie Hewlett for the following ...

"Just to let you and other members of your blog know, I'd been having trouble putting in the ISSN number for the PF Special on ALCS. Got fed up today so rang them and spoke to a lovely, helpful girl, who told me they use the same number for the specials.
It's called A People's Friend (not the!) for some reason and number for the special is 14790467
I tried it whilst the girl was on the phone and it went through a treat."


My news

Several years ago I won a novel writing competition and Escape To The Country was published (on my birthday) as a result.

Unfortunately the publisher didn't last long, but I got my rights back and re-published it. It's available as an ebook and paperback – and I've just got the cover for the audio version which will be released later this year.

If you've read the book, is this how you imagined Leah, Tarragon (the dog) Rosemary (the cow) and Aunt Jayne's home of Primrose Cottage?

9 comments:

Lindsay said...

Congratulations on being included in the Black Lives Anthology. Yvvette Edwards is a fabulous writer (and a lovely person.) And that birthday cake. You need birthdays every month.

Elizabeth McGinty said...

Happy belated birthday Patsy, flowers and cake look gorgeous.

Well done on being included in the anthology, and thank you for the comp links.

I absolutely love the cover of Escape to the Country, fairly brings the story to life.

Enjoy those three types of chocolate chunks, I'm so jealous.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Happy Birthday Patsy! Your flowers are beautiful. And that's awesome that you got your rights back.

Eirin Thompson said...

Happy Birthday, Patsy. And congrats on being a finalist - it's nice to hear of someone I 'know' doing well in these competitions. The Escape to the Country cover looks great.

Marguerite said...

Happy Birthday for yesterday, Patsy - cake looked scrumptious! Flowers lovely too :)I fancy living in Primrose Cottage...,. Thank you for the comps - I like those regular ones because you can nip in when you want - one to add to my list :)Well done for inclusion in the anthology!

Chris Sutton said...

Happy Easter everyone, and I hope you had a happy birthday, Patsy... cake looked gorgeous.

Just in case anyone has been trying unsuccessfully to upload their republished stories from Woman's Weekly's Best Of Fiction to ALCS - I've been in touch with Ersilia at ALCS and sent her the details she asked for, a cover shot of the mag showing the barcode - which includes the ISSN - and a link to the website where the magazine is listed. Hopefully it will be enough to see it added to their database. Don't know how long that will take (it's Easter, after all) but at some point it should enable us to claim our ALCS payments. Although Future Publishing buy All Rights, I checked with Emma, WW's former fiction ed, last year and she confirmed that they have no objection to us claiming ALCS payments.

Patsy said...

@ Lindsay – A monthly birthday cake sounds a good idea – as long as it didn't age me faster!

@ Elizabeth – Thank you. The cake was at least as good as it looked.

@ Natalie – The flowers look even better now!

@ Eirin – I know what you mean. It's encouraging to see names we recognise in the lasts of finalists.

@ Marguerite – It's nice to feel you can have another try isn't it?

@ Chris – Thanks for the info. I've found ALCS to be very helpful when I've had queries.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous - the cake, the flowers and the cover picture.
Many Happy Returns on all three.

Karelann67

Patsy said...

Thanks, Karelanne.