Sunday 28 November 2021

No more rehearsals

Free entry competition news

You'll probably have heard the phrases 'life is not a dress rehearsal' and 'there is no planet B'. Both came to mind when I read about the latest competition from Nottingham Writers Studio. You have up to 5,000 words to write your story. There are a range of prizes from £250 for the winner to £15 for highly recommended. As well as the money they'll each get a year's free membership of NWS and have their story published in an anthology. (I was a runner up last year last year.)

My news

My romantic murder mystery Acting Like A Killer is out today! Thank you so much to everyone who has helped (or is about to help) with the promotion for this and/or ordered a copy. As always your support is greatly appreciated.

The ebook will remain at the introductory price of £1.99 ($2.99) for a few more days and then go up to the regular price of £2.99 ($3.99).  It can also be read through kindle unlimited. The paperback version is now available too. You can get it from Amazon, or order through bookshops and libraries. If you do read a copy, I really hope you enjoy it.

I'm no actor, but I have made a video of me reading the first few pages.





Wednesday 24 November 2021

Thanks, maybe, yes, no and please.


Womag news

Several people have asked about the rejection policy with Seven Days, magazine, so I asked Siobhan. Her (very swift) reply was – "I’m not sending out rejection responses so 2 months / 60 days would be the cut-off for assuming and sending elsewhere." She added "the fiction content has now increased – which can only be good news." 

Thanks, Siobhan. It's so much better to know where we stand within a reasonable period of time than to wait and wait and wait and still be left wondering.

Free entry competition news

For this competition from On The Premises, you're asked for 25-50 words on holiday stress. The first prize is $35. I'm very tempted to have a go at that one.

Thanks to Alan Barker for letting me know about this crime writing competition. Stories can be up to 2,000 words and the top prize is £1,000 plus some nice whisky glasses. I'm definitely entering that!

Here's what seems to me to be an odd poetry competition. Entries are to be inspired by something within the TV show Twin Peaks, which I've never seen so it makes no sense to me. Possibly American spellings, such as 'donut' will help. Still, as with all the competitions I feature, it's free, they seem to like a bit of alliteration, you can have up to three goes and there's a £75 prize. I'll probably give it a miss, but if I do enter I'll craft couplets concerning my curious compulsion for chocolate cake.

A request from me

My romantic murder mystery Acting Like A Killer is officially released on Sunday (it can be ordered now). Anything you can do to help support it will be very welcome. 

That support includes, but isn't limited to, buying a copy of the ebook or paperback*, asking your library to stock it, or borrowing through kindle unlimited. If you do read and enjoy it, a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads would be wonderful.

Also sharing tweets and posts or otherwise letting people know the book exists will be very much appreciated.

*books make excellent and easy to wrap gifts ;-)

Wednesday 17 November 2021

Over to you!

 Do you have any womag news?


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?

My news

Just a reminder that my murder mystery novel Acting Like A Killer is out next week, and that my friend Rosemary J Kind and I are doing a combined launch event for our books.  

We'll be reading the opening pages, getting interviewed and answering questions from attendees.

It's free to take part. Email ros@rjkind.com for the link.


Wednesday 10 November 2021

Couple of things ...

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Alyson for sending me the link to this competition. If you can write up to 500 words about why you love London, you could win up to £500.

My news

Together with my friend Rosemary J Kind, I'll be taking part in a Zoom chat /; book launch.  Rosemary will be talking about her historical novel, Vi for Victory and I'll be discussing my romantic murder mystery, Acting Like A Killer.



Thursday 4 November 2021

Womag updates


I'm still on my travels, so not always finding it easy to keep up with news. Luckily I have friends who help to keep me informed. Thank you to those who have passed on the following bits of womag news ...





Those writers on the Take a Break closed list have been sent news contracts, offering a much lower rate of pay, but no longer requiring all rights. 

The fiction editor at YOU is still reading and buying stories which were sent prior to them temporarily closing to new submissions.

The current word count requirements for Yours fiction are –  450, 800,1400, 2,000, and 2,700

The word count range for Seven Days is confirmed as 500 - 1,200 (not 500 - 1,000 as stated in one issue.)