Saturday 17 September 2022

A change to the blog - plus the usual free comps and womag news

The photos are all from trips in the mobile writing retreat, as I've not been anywhere for AGES and am missing it.

There still seems to be an issue with subscribing to this blog. People report they can do it (by using the link in the right hand column, just above the links to all my lovely books!) but they get a scary message saying it's insecure and that their email address can be seen by anyone. I don't think that's the case – I don't have access to any details about my subscribers. I don't even know how many there are! I've subscribed myself to test it out and other than the warning there have been no problems. However I totally understand people being reluctant to click on it.

To make things easier for non subscribers I'm going to try posting regularly, every Saturday morning. That will mean some posts are rather long, and others light on information, but at least you'll know when to look for what I do have.

In case you're wondering – the only advantage to subscribing is that you get an email when there's a new post. You don't need to subscribe to see posts or comments, or to comment yourself, and subscribing doesn't benefit me or the blog in any way. (If you want to help the blog, please leave comments, share info or tell others who might be interested that it's here.)

This issue doesn't apply to my newsletter. You're welcome to sign up for that if you'd like updates on my writing.

Free to enter writing competitions

It's not all that often getting a rejection can be seen as an advantage, but it can happen. If it's a poem you've had rejected then you might like to enter it into this competition which has a $100 prize. (I'm sure any poetry I submitted would get rejected, but as I've not written any in a very long time, I'm not eligible.)

There's $1,000 on offer for the winner of this new media competition. (Usually anything I consider current is old hat, so I'm going to pass.)

This themed short story competition has a £100 prize. (I've already sent in my entry.)

Storyhouse are running an animal themed non-fiction writing competitions, for unpublished writers, each with a $200 prize. (I'm not eligible - otherwise I'd be very tempted to have a go.)

Here's a competition for comedy horror. The prize is $750. (I don't think this is one for me.)


Publication opportunities


From The Horse's Mouth accept submissions of just about anything – videos and photos as well as writing. I don't think there's a fee.

Storyhouse welcome submissions from unpublished authors. No fee appears to be offered.

Although I don't personally submit work where's no fee, I know that some people are happy to do this occasionally, so I'll post details of such opportunities when I find them. I'll also look out for paying markets.

Womag news

I did update my last post with a link to this blog post from Lucy at The People's Friend. All those who've already had work accepted by TPF, have had an editor assigned to them, and currently have five or more stories under consideration should contact that editor before submitting anything else.

The procedure for those who've not yet been published by TPF, or who have fewer than five stories waiting for a response is unchanged.



13 comments:

Marguerite said...

Oh, good - I didn't want to go on and on about it ;) I even (unkindly!) unsubscribed and subscribed again! And still Helplogger' reckoned I was on the list - ah, well... Ha ha! I think I have one all ready to go for the 'summer' theme :) Thank you, Patsy. Ah, yes, I remember summer...

Sheelagh said...

Thanks Patsy, great info as usual. A short story about summer in September brings me right back to my school days, not in a bad way. I might give it a go. Love the photos especially the bird in the marsh, fantastic pic

Fiona said...

Thanks Patsy. Will look forward to catching up with all your news (and photos) every Saturday - great idea. I finally managed to send off a story for the secret life of data competition you listed, so a summer theme seems a lot simpler. Will have a go!

Anonymous said...

Will look out on Saturdays now. Thanks for all the info - such a useful and entertaining blog.

Karelann Wright

Sharon boothroyd said...

Thanks for this update, Patsy.
I will make sure to have a look every Saturday from now!
I will see if have anything that could suit Horse's Mouth mag.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sorry about the stupid warning. I subscribe through Feedly so that's never an issue.

Elizabeth McGinty said...

Thanks Patsy, I will lookout for your Saturday posts. Must investigate Horse's Mouth comp and mag it looks interesting.



ados123 said...

Thanks for the comps. Patsy. I will look at the summer one, too.
I don't get an email about your blog, but check from time to time and see it on twitter or FB.
Alyson

Liz said...

I have your blog bookmarked and check it every couple of days or so to see if there's an update. I don't need to subscribe to the very few blogs I visit.

Does this mean you'll only be updating on Saturdays from now on, Patsy?

Patsy said...

@ Marguerite – In this case there's nothing unkind about unsubscribing. I wish I could make it work properly, but as far as I can see I've done it right, and there's a problem elsewhere.

@ Sheelagh – Not the dreaded 'what I did in the holidays?' essay.

@ Fiona – Oh, well done for coming up with something for that one! Good luck.

@ Karelann – Thank you – I'll do my best to continue in the same manner.

@ Sharon – I hope you get a positive reaction.

@ Alex – It's good to know something works!

@ Elizabeth – Yes, it does.

@ Alyson – I'll continue to share links on social media. And I'll continue to be grateful to people like you who share those links.

@ Liz – Yes, the plan is to post just on Saturdays from now on. I'm hoping that will be simpler for everyone, myself included. Always open to suggestions though!

Marian said...

Thanks for this, Patsy. I'm just catching up after the last week. I'll also have a go at the summer story competition - I've got a story that I thought had missed its opportunity for this year!

New girl on the block said...

Thanks again for all the info. I haven't got time to write a summer story by the end of the month, and I haven't got anything suitable 'in stock', but I did just get a story with a musical theme in to the competition you told us about a while back.

Patsy said...

@ Marian – Catching up seems to be my usual state! Hopefully we'll both get there.

@ New Girl – I don't think we should beat ourselves up over those we miss – as long as we don't miss every opportunity we hear about.