The current word count requirements for The People's Friend have changed a little and can be found here.
Do you have any womag news?
Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Any other news?
Feel free to use the photo as a picture prompt. If you'd like other writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.
Free entry writing competition news
Thanks to Alex for mentioning WEP - the write, edit, publish challenge.
I'd love to hear your competition news.
Do you have writing tips to share, questions to ask, or suggestions for this blog?
21 comments:
I am trying very hard to produce something each month for Writing Magazine comps, also submitting to Secret Attic. This has meant a growing stash of stories. I am pleased I foresaw the need to do a spreadsheet of title, date and where it was sent and the outcome as I have also sent some stories to magazines. It saves a lot of embarrassment. It's not a complicated thing and could just as easily be done with a ruler and pencil :)
All I know is WEP is this week.
I am excited to share the news that my book, which was published in trade paperback format last summer, has just come out in the smaller (and cheaper) paperback format. So if anyone thinks they might enjoy a contemporary thriller with a fifty-something female main character, then I'd be delighted if you gave it a whirl; you can get a sneak peek of the first chapters on Amazon. It's called 'I Know I Saw Her', with the author name E.D. Thompson. Hoping everyone gets through the storms unscathed - a good excuse to stay indoors and write/read. Thanks, Patsy!
Brilliant Eirin, well done, will look out for that, & definitely get a copy. Personally I am just ticking along doing a little bit of writing, not much. Oh I have an article in the Ireland's Own this week. No acceptances but no rejections either.
Thanks Patsy for link to PF updated word counts.
Congratulations Eirin and Sheelagh on your news.
I'm still entering competitions, no luck so far. I've had two short stories published this month Yours Fiction and Woman, so that has been a bonus after a quiet spell.
I've had a rejection from Woman's Weekly, but I haven't heard about any other submissions. However, I did have a story in the most recent Yours Fiction, which was very exciting.
Congratulations to everyone else, as well.
Just had a rejection from Woman’s Weekly, but still have a couple out with Yours. Just completed a story and playing around with a few ideas at the moment. Congratulations to everyone who’s had acceptances.
Michael D
For anyone wishing to add works that have appeared in Best of Woman's Weekly Fiction to their ALCS account, there is now an ISSN for that magazine: 27529940. It was allocated in November but applies to all issues. I had problems adding stories that had originally been published in the weekly magazine under the same title - the system won't register what it sees as the same article twice. When I contacted ALCS, they were very helpful in sorting this out.
@ Marguerite – Spreadsheets are so useful for keeping track of submissions. I'd be in a horrible muddle without mine. Good luck with those competitions.
@ Alex – I'll put a link in the post.
@ Eirin – I hope it does well for you. That 'look inside' feature on Amazon is a great way for readers to try before they buy.
@ Sheelagh – congratulations on the IO article! (I'm coming to Ireland in the summer, which should be useful research for that publication.)
@ Elizabeth – Well done for the acceptances.
@ Marian – Well done. A publication makes up for quite a few rejections, doesn't it?
@ Michael – Playing around with ideas is one of the joys of being a writer.
@ Gill – Thanks for sharing that. The people at ALCS are generally helpful in answering queries.
If you're near the Irish midlands Patsy, call in for a coffee
@ Sheelagh – Our plan is to be in Co.Leitrim at the end of May, then head for Larne and go round the coast anti-clockwise until we get to Rosslare.
Thanks as ever for all the news, Patsy. Just on your site looking at word lengths for Yours Fiction. So useful.
Alyson
We are in next county Longford so not too far away from Leitrim!
Late comment from me. Well done to everyone. It's nice to hear how we're all doing. Writing can be quite an isolating business can't it. I've had a story in Woman and one in Woman's Own recently.
Just a question. Does Woman's Weekly let us know if one of our stories is to appear in a Special? Just wondered when I read that we can claim the ALCS.
All quiet here - I'm hoping no news is good news!
Same as you Sue - a story in Woman and woman’s own recently but that’s about it, hoping for good news regarding a rewrite of a 3000 word story for PF
After a month of rejections, silence from competitions and no responses from editors I'm feeling quite dispondent. I'm usually pretty good at picking myself up abd dusting myself down...must be the weather! Time to get back on the horse and get some more work out there! Congrats to all with success this month.
Chris C - I know how you feel.
Give yourself time and allow yourself to take a short break.
Maybe try something small, like a letter to a mag that pays? TV mags What's on TV and tv times are good to try and also Inside Soap mag is good.
If you'd like to to try an unpaid slot, just to boost confidence, the monthly Take a break fate and fortune mag has a 100 word spooky twist in tale fiction slot.
Having something small 'out there' and seeing if it's in next week can give us something to look forward to when we're going though a dry period.
Remind yourself that it won't last forever.
@ Alyson – I find the database useful myself! It's impossible to remember all the changing requirements, isn't it?
@ Sheelagh – It would be great to see you if we can arrange it.
@ Sue – yes it can be very isolating. That's one of the reasons comments on this blog mean so much to me. Well done for the publications.
If you mean WW reusing previously published stories then no, I don't think they do inform the authors.
@ Liz – so do I! Although I've had some acknowledgements it feels like ages since I've had a definite response to any stories.
@ Charlie – Well done for those publications and fingers crossed for the rewrite.
@ Chris – Sorry you feel demoralised. I quite understand it – hopefully it will be very temporary.
@ Sharon – Good idea to take a break and/or try something different if we're feeling down about one type of writing.
I've got several stories out with 'Yours' and 'Yours Fiction'. I think their waiting time is 6-12 months. This seems horribly long. Can anybody confirm whether I've got this right, please?
Many thanks.
I reckon after 3- 4 months it's a no, but it's up to you, if you'd prefer to wait the full 6 months or year. Acceptances usually arrive fairly quickly, around 2 - 3 months after subbing. Ireland's own no longer give out rejections, so it's the same situation there, with us doing
the guessing game of when it's ok to sub out to another mag.
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