Summer's here!

How are you enjoying the weather? Personally I like it hot and sunny, as long as I don't need to be too active. It can be draining though. If you're finding it hard to write at the moment, here's an idea which might help.

Free entry writing competition news

Green Stories are running another short story competition. The theme is microbes and the top prize £500.

A tip for entering any competition with a theme, prompt, genre requirement etc – make sure it's obvious you've written your piece to fit the requirement. One of the entries in my local writing group's short story competition was disqualified by the judges because they didn't feel it fitted the brief. That's a shame as the person concerned is a good writer and had created the piece specifically for the competition, it simply wasn't clear to the judges that was the case.

Btw, the winning entry (mine!) was praised for its layout, grammar lack of filler words and the fact an original title (as opposed to the competition theme) was used. Obviously the actual story is the most important element, but it's worth paying attention to the details because if two or more entries are close, as I'm sure they were in this case, that might well make the difference.

Other publication opportunities

Stand magazine is a new to me, although well established, paying market, which considers poetry and short stories. The style seems to be more literary than womag – does that appeal to any of you?

Womag news

Angela Gilchrist has been replaced as editor of The People's Friend by Stuart Johnstone, who has previously been a My Weekly editor. More details here.

The new fiction editor at My Weekly has been announced. She's Kirstyn Smith. 

I don't yet know what difference, if any, these change will make. 

This isn't really news, just a clarification. It's YOURS FICTION which is currently on hold with an uncertain future. The regular YOURS magazine is continuing without change, so you can continue to submit work there.

As YOURS FICTION had a policy of, if you've not heard in three months then it's a no, I think it's safe to assume anything submitted there won't now be used. Submission to the regular YOURS should all eventually get a reply. That can take up to six months, although do sometimes come more promptly.

My news

I'm using my website more now. If you're interested in reading about my writing life, take a look.

For those wondering about the TAB FF story of mine accidentally credited to another author – I have received an apology and payment. My guess is there was a change round when the magazine was laid out and switching the author name got overlooked.

The next scheduled post is 15th July. There may be travel photos!