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 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.
21 comments:
Thanks Patsy, don't think any of this week's competitions play to my strength ( so to speak).
Hope all your 'stuff gets resolved in a positive way & you get back on the road soon.
Congratulations on some good news. Totally agree with you that the best way through a dry spell is write, write, write, edit & submit often. I learnt that here & though I'm a slow (or lazy) writer I've got much better. It also takes your mind off what happened to your submissions until hey presto some good news arrives again.
I missed that! I will go download now.
Well done for the successful stories this week, Patsy! Yes, we can all do with a boost but sometimes they come at just the right moment. I love reading crime but can't really write it so, you're on your own with that one! Thank you also, Alison. Good to see the spread but I couldn't do Scotland justice (or Cheshire). I've decided my forte is letter writing. Just had my second letter in Writing Magazine last month - only ever written 3! What does that tell me? I can only write (well) in bursts of a couple of hundred words at a time :) As Sheelagh has said, hope the 'stuff' resolves itself soon. Sometimes you can exorcise it by writing.
Thanks Patsy and everyone for the useful competition news. I might have a go at the Cheshire one. I've lived here most of my life so definitely qualify. Also thanks Patsy for the tip to check out TPF editor's blog. As you say, definitely no bad news and actually very helpful. I've just had a poem accepted by them. Not my usual genre but I discovered one from ages ago that I wrote with my granddaughter for school and decided to try it. They accepted it so it's given me a little boost in an otherwise rather barren landscape. Onwards and upwards folks.
Thanks for the comps and tips and photos Patsy. I've downloaded your book but not had the opportunity to read yet.
I'm delighted to have some good writing news, I have a festive story coming up in Best of Woman's Weekly Fiction.
I really hope your "stuff" gets sorted out Patsy and normality is restored to your life very soon.
Thanks, Patsy, for the news. Going through a bit of a womag slump here! So I think I might try the short crime comp for a bit of a change.
Alyson
Oh stuff can be such a pain Patsy. I really hope things settle very soon. And thanks for the comps, info and photos.
I’ve downloaded the mini mystery and when I’ve got Zadie Smith’s Fraud finished and returned to the library (I’m first to borrow it, always love that!) then your story will be next. Looking forward to it.
Congrats to all those with writing success news.
My success has been making it through torrential rain, a bus strike, and repairs on the Metro to read poetry at Iron Press’s 50th birthday bash in a very wave-battered Cullercoats!
Thanks for continuing to post these updates, Patsy, always appreciated. Best wishes.
Well done to all who have had acceptances.
I too, have gone through a despondent phase of around 2 months.
I'd had no success in the comps I'd entered, e-mags didn't want my stories and a non- fiction piece was rejected in 2 minutes.
Rejects that arrive so soon like that hardly raises the spirits.
Then a local charity got back to me. They wanted a Xmas story. Yay!
There's no fee but I'm ok with that.
I have heaps of unsold upbeat material, so I'm glad that it will be put to good use.
The Daily Mirror newspaper accepts poems for their community page but I don't think there's a fee.
They also launched a journalist/ fiction writing scheme last week.
From the sounds of it, novel publishers are involved in a section of it (Not the journalism bit).
It's free to enter but the drawback of it is, you must prove that you're from an under privileged background.
How the heck you go about proving that, I don't know!
It'd be useful if they provided a list of qualifying criteria, but they don't.
From my point of view, I feel that a lot would like to enter but could feel put off by their 'under privileged background' statement.
Thinking of you with the 'stuff', Patsy. I've been writing quite a bit lately, but I am slow, so not as many submissions as I'd like.
Thank you for the latest competition news. I keep trying with competitions. They're often not really the way my brain works, but it's nice to have something else 'out there' even though I'm not very successful!
Congratulations on the story successes Patsy. I am sure we have all written stories about characters who don't give up in difficult circumstances, and we should try to emulate them in real life! :)
Hi our cat mag has now been discontinued. The current Xmas issue is the last. Another market gone for good.
Sorry I meant Your Cat monthly magazine.
HI PATSY. HOPE YOUR 'STUFF' RESOLVES AND YOU HAVE A GOOD OUTCOME WHATEVER IT S. WELL DONE ON YOUR ACCEPTANCES, AND THANK YOU, AS ALWAYS FOR THE POSITIVE CHAT AND INFORMATION. NOTHING TO REPORT HERE. NOT WRITING MUCH - UP TO MY EARS IN A RENOVATION PROJECT. MANAGED TO SEND SOMETHING OFF TO THE PF ABOUT A WEEK AGO, THOUGH. DIDN'T RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION FROM MY EDITOR (A NEW ONE AS MY OLD ONE LEFT) AS I USED TO. HAVE THINGS CHANGED THERE? GOOD WISHES TO EVERYONE. KATE HOGAN.
@ Kate, I too sent a story to TPF recently & I actually did receive confirmation from editor!
A little good news from TPF today regarding some new opportunities, poetry now being accepted from unpublished Friend poets up until Christmas and an expansion in the types of stories being accepted with room now for some 'grittier' stories.
https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/2023/11/16/fiction-eds-blog-update-for-poets-and-authors/
That's good news. Thanks Sheelagh. I had a poem accepted by TPF just last week. Didn't know submissions were closed to new authors. But I think they are going to use it on their Between Friends page so I don't know if this means I could submit poetry now after the Christmas window. Does anyone know?
Good news that TPF is reviewing its fiction policy. Maybe it'll make it easier to get work accepted. I've failed so far!
Ditto, Maisie! I, too, was pleased to see yesterday's blog post. Another sweep through my stories to see if they just might... Congratulations, Sue McV, on the poem :) I will have to re-read, but I am guessing the 'new' submissions will be after they have posted the new guidelines.
I thought this new gritty fiction policy at TPF was being introduced in January and not now?
I was under the impression it was after the new fiction guidelines have been issued.
I too, have had lot of stories rejected, even ones that were nice and uplifting!
I know of another TPF poet whose poem was published on the TPF letters page, but they were paid the usual poet's fee.
If you're classed a published TPF poet, you submit your poems to Tracey.
Thanks for the information Sharon. I'll see where my poem ends up.
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