Monday 18 April 2022

A wee bit of cheer

Womag News

Some good news! The People's Friend are going to publish even more fiction. Full details can be found here.








Free entry competition news

This competition is for writing about 'what Scotland means to me' offers "free enrollment to the "Become a Successful Author" course (a value of $1,500 USD), plus access to our library of author training resources (up to $500 value)" as the prize. I feel it also totally justifies me for posting some pictures of my trips to Scotland!

Thanks to Alyson for your continued support of this blog and for passing on more great links. The latest are for this short story competition with a £500 prize and this one which offers prizes of $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000!

Blog news

Thanks to Beverley who alerted me to the fact that the option to subscribe by email to this blog had disappeared. I don't know how I managed to remove it, but I think I've now managed to reinstate it. You should be able to find it in the right hand side sidebar (possibly only on computers and tablets, not phones). 

I've tried it out myself and it seems to work, but I did get an alarming message saying it's not secure. Sorry, I don't know how to fix that. If you do, and can explain it in very simple terms, please get in touch!

However you find my blog posts, please do leave a comment on any you find of interest. This lets me know what to post more of and motivates me to do so. Comments also have the potential to improve the blog – both by the sharing of information and the possibility of getting responses from editors, competition organisers etc and attracting interesting guest bloggers. Such people are more likly to be interested if the blog clearly has readers and the only way they'll know that is if you leave comments.

20 comments:

ados123 said...

It's great news about The People's Friend, Patsy!
thanks for the blog as ever.
Alyson

Sheelagh said...

That's brilliant news Patsy thanks, I never seem to have any luck with submitting to TPF but with expanded opportunities maybe 2022 will be the year, either way I enjoy reading the stories & justify the cost of buying magazines as research & a bit of escapism (who doesn't need that from time to time & its a lot cheaper and healthier than alcohol!)

Lindsay said...

Great news about PF. I rarely see the Specials here in Australia which is a shame but I'll keep a look out. Never know, I may get a story in one day!

Carrie said...

Great news to hear, Patsy re The People’s Friend publishing more fiction �� and I often have a go at the writing competitions you list so please keep doing so! Thank you ������

Marguerite said...

Thank you for the competitions as always. Taking all the advice from the last blog, I'm going to rethink for TPF. (slightly frowning, perplexed but hopeful emoji).

New girl on the block said...

I've just optimistically subbed to TPF. Good to have expanded opportunities. I've also just been reading about a new online magazine - Lipstick and Lies: https://www.lipstickandlies.com/
It's been set up by Eva Shelby of Secret Attic and possibly sounds quite fun. There's no mention of payment on the website though....

Patsy said...

Thanks for the comments so far!

Re Lipstick & Lies – I'm currently in communication with Eva and will put the details in my next post.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sorry the subscription vanished and now it gives an insecure warning. I've had blogger buddies vanish from my sidebar, so I think it's Blogger, not you.

Sharon boothroyd said...

Thanks for all the comp info and womag updates Patsy, it's very much appreciated.
I'm looking forward to reading more about Lipstick and lies e- mag.
By the way, has anyone heard from Stylist mag yet?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the comp news and updates, Patsy. As always, it’s very much appreciated. Yes, good news about TPF. I’ve just finished tweaking a story that I plan to send them, as well as a story I subbed to Best’s pet fiction competition. (Unfortunately, it didn’t win). Here’s hoping with fingers crossed.
Michael D

New girl on the block said...

Sharon, I subbed to Stylist on 1st April - heard nothing yet.

Patricia G said...

Great good news about TPF - maybe things are looking up for us Womag writers at last.

I've not left a comment here for ages (sorry) but, as a regular reader, Patsy, I'd like to say thank you very much for keeping us well-informed about developments - both bad and good!

New girl on the block said...

Unbelievable - just had a rejection from TPF for the story I submitted this morning! Very dispiriting.

Sheelagh said...

@new girl on the block; I feel your pain I did the same as you with similar outcome. Not having written anything in the past couple of months I finally had something to submit & decided to submit to TPF. Some feedback would be wonderful but these automatic rejections are the worst as you learn nothing, I still don't know if I've missed it by a mile or not.

alyson faye said...

Thanks Patsy, for heads up on PF - might give that a go, and I've subbed to your blog by email too, as I find it useful and tell my writing students to check your info out too.

Marian said...

Thank you for the information, Patsy. I always find something to encourage me when I check your blog.

Patsy said...

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sounds as though a post on writing for TPF might be of interest.

:-) said...

Hi Patsy, I find everything that you post very useful and I'm guilty of not commenting as often as I could. Will try to comment more often!

Great news on PF needing more fiction. Not that I've ever managed to crack that one...but I live in hope!! One thing I'd find really useful is to know which magazines generally send rejections and the usual timescales. Eg. Do Ireland's Own send rejections? Does Your Cat? I know lots of us are waiting to hear about Stylist too.

I find the hardest thing is hearing nothing and not knowing when it's safe to re-submit elsewhere. So I'm actually a big fan of PF's speedy rejections, at least they save me time -wondering- and I can revise and try another market. I know how dispiriting it feels when they come back almost instantly though.

Sharon boothroyd said...

Ireland's own don't send out rejections now, so give it around 3 months 4 to be on the safe side for re-subbing.
Acceptance from Yours or Yours fiction special arrive within 3 months.
If you don't hear, it's a no.
It's the same time frame with Woman's weekly and for stories for Woman and Woman's Own. Andrew also tells us if a story is not not suitable.
YOU used to take 8 weeks - if you haven't heard from them after that, it's a no.
Your cat - sometimes it's a yes straight away, other times it's a wait of around 2-3 months for a decision.
I hope this is useful.

:-) said...

That is so very useful! Thanks Sharon. All my acceptances have come from Yours Fiction or Yours within 3 months, but their email auto reply says allow 12 months, so I always feel I should wait that long before re-subbing (which feels like ages!)

Thanks for sharing all that info :-)