Free entry writing competitions

 

Thank you to everyone for your kind words in response to my last post, and your understanding of the fact I'm not able to spend much time on the blog at the moment. The family situation is ... ongoing.  By early December things should have changed - hopefully very much for the better. 

In the meantime, there's cake!

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Alyson for the link to this flash fiction competition. There's a £50 gift voucher as a prize.

Here's a crime novel competition (for people born or living in Britain only) with cash and an offer of representation by a literary agent as the prize.

Over To You

 Do you have any womag news?

Any market news? Are you researching, writing, subbing? Had any acceptances or rejections? Still waiting to hear back on outstanding submissions? Do you have a question? Can you offer tips or encouragement to other writers?

Any other writing related news, questions and comments are also welcome.

In case you missed it, there's some quite vague, but positive sounding news from The People's Friend here. What do you think they're up to? I'm guessing anthologies, or maybe audio books or a podcast ... OK, I have no idea!

Sorry that I'm not responding to comments or tracking down much info for the blog at the moment. I'm totally fine myself, as is Gary, but a family member has problems and doing what we can for them is taking up a lot of our time. I've managed some writing, and have tweaked my website a bit. 

I changed hosting companies so was forced to sort it out or have it offline until I did. Luckily two brilliant friends have been helping me with reassurance and technical advice.

Feel free to use these photos as picture prompts. If you'd like written writing prompts, short exercises and story/scene suggestions then you might find this book useful.

Don't forget to check the submissions database for details of which magazines publish fiction under what terms, and how to submit.

Free entry writing competition news

Thanks to Fiona for the link to the Love Letters to London competition. There are four prizes of £500 on offer – which makes me feel suddenly fond of the place! There are classes for poetry and not poetry.

Thanks to everyone for your comments which offer support and encouragement to me and each other. That's always appreciated, but even more so when I can't respond as much as I'd like.

No news is... ?

Thank you so much to everyone who downloaded my free mini mystery and/or helped some way in letting others know about it. There were an encouraging number of downloads in the first week. It's remaining free, so you're not too late to get a copy and/or spread the word. The support is hugely appreciated.

Even more thanks to those of you who have left a review or rating, or will do so once you've read it. Seeing those 4 and 5 stars, and knowing people like my character Amelia, really boosted my mood in what was otherwise a difficult week. I'm fine - there's just some 'stuff'. 

Because of 'stuff' we've not been away in the van, so you get photos of the garden, and I've had time for novel writing. I'm now halfway through the second draft of what will be the second book in my cosy crime series.

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Alyson for the link to this short story competition. There's £1,000 on offer for the best crime story set in Scotland.

Here's a crime novel competition. There's a decent cash prize plus the offer of representation. I'm considering entering, but you probably won't want to. Nobody should really - just me!

This competition is only open to people who've lived, studied or worked in Cheshire. (I've probably written a few paragraphs while the van was parked in the county. That might count?) There are cash prizes and book tokens available. There are categories for short stories, plays and poetry.

Womag news

If you've not seen The People's Friend fiction editor's blog recently, and are interested in writing for that market, then I suggest reading the last two posts. (No depressing news, I promise.)

Personally I'd been feeling a bit despondent about the whole womag market - mostly because I never seemed to hear back about my own work and the more general news I was sharing here wasn't exactly cheery. Then I got a remittance advice for a My Weekly story. I'd thought that all my last batch had been rejected. They hadn't, I'd just not received the acceptance.

The following day I had notification that two of my stories are in the current TAB Fiction Feast. The published stories had been accepted quite some time ago and I'd not heard from the editor in what seems like ages so hadn't been hopeful.

The point I'm attempting to make is that although we'll go for periods with no good news, perhaps some bad, we should try not to let it get us down. If we keep writing and sending out work, the next email might well be good news. I really hope there's some on the way to all of you.