Saturday 21 January 2023

Five freebies and flowers

It's got cold again – do you have any top tips for keeping warm whilst writing? 

Mine are -

Wear fingerless gloves (thanks again Fiona!) as well as lots of layers.

Drink tea and eat cake.


If you can, go out for a brisk walk every day. The longer we sit still the colder we feel.

Free entry writing competition news

Thanks to Barbara Trevitt for passing on the details of this competition for local history stories. The prize is a year's subscription to family history website, Findmypast, and includes unlimited access to the 1921 Census. Sounds perfect for anyone interested in writing a historical novel set then – or who'd just like to find out more.


Thanks to Fiona for telling me about this competition for poetry or prose. The top prize is £500.

Here's a haiku competition with a $500 dollar prize.

And this one, with the same prize is for screenplays.

The Alpine Fellowship's competition offers a £3,000 cash grant as the top prize. I have no idea how a grant differs from any other cash prize – do you?


From The Horse's Mouth have a poetry competition with a £50 prize. (I won last year's short story one!)

Womag news

The latest word count requirements for The People's Friend can be found here. Thanks to Eirin for reminding us about the website and Alyson for pointing out this particular post.



As always –


New blog posts are published each Saturday. All blog readers are welcome to use the comment section to share writing news, tips, successes, links to competitions and other publication opportunities, to ask questions and to respond to comments from others.



7 comments:

Sheelagh said...

Thanks for all the info and the lovely photos Patsy, love the Helleborus, the markings are so dainty. Just being reading an article on the benefits of exercise on creativity i.e. unsurprisingly I suppose the more exercise you get the more creative you are especially in the hours after exercise so maybe best to take exercise in the morning if you can (& it will keep you warm for longer!).
My only news on the writing front is that I have an article on Irish abstract artist Mainie Jellett in this weeks Ireland's Own so pleased about that, I enjoy doing the occasional non-fiction article as I love researching topics of interest.

Marguerite said...

Thank you for all those - I like the sound of the local history but am sure I am not up to scratch enough for that - and it's too cold to go foraging (!) for info for me at the moment - full hibernation mode ;) The snowdrops are gorgeous - a hint that we are approaching spring... maybe? Well done, Sheelagh - it certainly sounds as though you have well-honed non-fiction skills :)

Sharon boothroyd said...

Thanks for the updates and info Patsy.
It looks like the screenplay opportunity is aimed at movies in the US. I tend to focus on UK projects, which is ambitious enough for me!
Also, as a US broadcaster pulled the plug on our Yorkshire based 'Gentleman Jack,' I don't place faith in US broadcasters, as they don't seem to have an interest in life set in northern England, either in 2023 or in Anne Lister's time!
Soul & Spirit mag have a current call out for 500 word short stories and poems, but sadly, they don't pay.
They will give brief publicity for your business though. I guess this is aimed at tarot card readers and the like.
But if you have a book to promote and don't mind waiving the fee in exchange for this, give it a try!
However, bear mind that is a spiritual kind of mag, so they may only offer it to people in this type of business.

Maisie Bishop said...

I've just bought a snood to help keep me warm when writing. Tennis is my favourite exercise - wrapping up warm and hitting a ball for an hour or two works for me! Thanks for the competitions. I think I'll try the Horse's Mouth poetry one. No writing news from me, but I've finally moved on from only editing and re-submitting, and have returned to working on a series of short stories I'm trying to put together.

Fiona said...

Glad the fingerless gloves are still helpful Patsy! Thanks for the lovely photos and the competition info. I’ve been going through a poetry phase so the haiku one is definitely of interest.
My exercise yesterday was hot footing it to my lovely local bookshop which was having a 70% off sale. They have a big clear-out of old stock twice a year and so I was weight lifting on the way home!
My writing news is that I have a short story accepted by Postbox magazine, which is based in Scotland but open to all and comes out twice a year. They don’t pay but you do get a copy of the mag which is beautifully produced like a book and very well regarded. Always a good addition to a CV.

ados123 said...

Thanks as always for all the competitions and womag updates, Patsy. I'm looking forward to some colour coming to the garden. The snow has finally gone and the hellebores are in bud and daffs are poking through...

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