Wednesday 15 December 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.

Here's a free short story competition with a $250 prize.

And this is "a free-to-enter poetry and art contest with over $10,000 in cash prizes, paid via PayPal. This is a huge opportunity for any and all writers or artists".

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?

19 comments:

Elizabeth McGinty said...

Hi Patsy, Thanks for picture prompt, it looks delicious and makes a great story starter.

Well all was fairly quiet on the writing front until the end of last week, when I had not one but two short story acceptances! One for Woman and one for Yours Fiction. Nice to end the writing year on a high.

I'm still trying to crack winning a writing comp had a few highly commended, so I do appreciate the comps you feature on this blog.

Hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year and very best festive wishes to all the Womag blog readers.

alyson faye said...

Hi Patsy I entered the last On the Premises free comp and they nicely emailed me to say I'd made the top 10% of entries with my story, and I also got on the Fifty Word stories site you've flagged up, they do a one off £20 prize for top story I think.
But I am still waiting to be paid by SevenDays Magazine, story was accepted in October and published week of 15 November, and I've emailed (politely) to ask about payment.

Natalie Aguirre said...

Sorry not to have any contests to report. Thanks for the picture prompt.

Jane Ayres said...

Hi Alyson, me too. Story pubbed early Nov and email chased twice but apparently they take 8 to 10 weeks!

Jane Ayres said...

Mainly rejections, unsuccessful story comps or waiting to hear on subs recently. Thinking next yr I might give up on short stories. Need to reboot. But thanks for sharing opps and advice. Really appreciated.

Sheelagh said...

Had a Christmas story published this week in Ireland's Own and a copy of the magazine arrive in the post on the morning that it went on sale so that was nice. Other than that I haven't had any other successes in December (as yet!) or any rejections for that matter.
That looks like a delicious prompt Patsy which is making me realise that I haven't had any lunch yet!
Best wishes to everyone for Christmas & many many more successes on the writing front.

Fiona said...

Thanks for the competition links Patsy. I had a story accepted by People’s Friend, the first in ages, but haven’t got anywhere in short story or poetry competitions lately. Still enjoying writing though, so will keep sending out!

Marguerite said...

Thank you for the competition news, Patsy. After a cold dry spell in the Secret Attic, I had a weekly write selected last month. I also came third in the Sight for Wight Christmas story competition - runner up a few years ago so heading in the right direction! Since several people have now had acceptances from SevenDays on this blog, please can I ask again if you gets a head up about likely date? Do they ask for a bio or anything? Thank you.

ados123 said...

I had a story in last week's SevenDays and an email today asking for my address to send the cheque and saying cheques should be sent out before Christmas. Sale to Yours Fiction this week.
Thanks for all the comps, Patsy and Merry Christmas to all.
Alyosn

Charlie said...

Congratulations to everyone who has had stories accepted. I’ve had two stories accepted for Woman and Woman’s Own in last few weeks both out in Jan/Feb mags and first acceptance from Sevendays but don’t know when it be published yet - do they let you know? I just keep checking every week. Thanks for everything Patsy as always and Merry Christmas to all.

Marian said...

I've had two acceptances this week, which was very exciting; one for Woman's Weekly and my first ever one for Yours Fiction. I've got other stories out there, but haven't heard anything.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and refreshing Christmas and New Year.

Liz said...

I was absolutely stoked to have an acceptance from Woman's World in the USA for a mini-mystery. It was my first attempt at writing for them, so I was over the proverbial moon. It'll be published at the end of January.

I also had the final part of a three-part historical mystery serial accepted by People's Friend, and look forward to seeing that in print at some stage in the future.

Thanks for all you do for us with this blog, Patsy. Congrats to others here on their acceptances. Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately two rejections for me this month. One from WW, which I felt was a cert. ( I’m wondering if it was slightly too short for their word length). The other from TPF - one of their 24 hour rejections, which, to be honest, I expected . So I’ve just shrugged my shoulders and moved on to something else. I do have another story with WW, as well as an ‘If we find a place...’ acceptance from them in September. Haven’t heard anything about it since. Has anybody else had an acceptance this way? Was it a long wait until publication? Congratulations to everyone who has had acceptances. I just hope I’m a bit more successful next year.

A Merry Christmas to everybody.

Michael D

Sharon boothroyd said...

Michael, tons of writers have had the 'if we find a place for it' acceptance from WW.
They have one writer's stories coming up to a year and still no sign of publication, but Andrew has found slot for others - he does let you know.
I've had no recent acceptances and I got nowhere in the funny pearls comp.
I've decided to take a 3 month break from subbing to TPF as they lost a Xmas one in their email system they'd had for over 3 months.
I re-subbed but it was rejected in 2 days. I could have subbed it elsewhere back in August but in December, it was too late.
When I sub again, I'll need to gear myself up for a 3 month wait, and then be prepared for the 'We've lost it' message. It just seems such a farce.

New girl on the block said...

All quiet for me. I hope everybody has a lovely Christmas and much writing success in 2022.

Sheelagh said...

@ Michael D I've had exactly the same Michael, an acceptance for one story in Sept and two in November but no date for publication as yet. I also had one rejected today which a bit like yourself I was quietly confident of. It would be lovely to get a little feedback to avoid whatever pitfalls going forward but I can understand how that might be quite time consuming for an editor. Anyway onwards and upwards, we hopefully will see them in print in 2022. Overall I feel I had a good year given how much (or how little I actually put out there).

Linda Casper said...

I have contacted Seven Days again about payment and Siobhan replied that she would chase them up. I notice that the magazine has no advertisements, they have not publicised it/reduced price and I have only found copies in Asda in my area, although I look for it in all outlets. I do hope it continues.
Thanks you Patsy and others for your helpful tips and wish you a successful and productive New Year.

ChrisC said...

No news from any subs this month. I haven t subbed anymore to TPF as still waiting to hear from ones already in with them. I won the Hengistbury Head writing comp this month, but no other successes. A break over Christmas now and see how inspired I feel in the New Year. Congratulations to all those with success this month. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Patsy said...

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sorry not to reply, but it's a difficult time at the moment.