Womag news and free writing competitions

Womag news

Just in case you haven't heard – My Weekly are discontinuing their pocket novels. This doesn't apply to The People's Friend. You can find the guidelines for their pocket novels, and everything else, here.

Free entry competition news

 Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for passing on the link to this novel writing competition. It's for 'first time writer and as Sharon says, they're looking for something 'literary'. The prize is £10,000.

Sharon also shared this travel writing competition. There's a paid option which offers feedback, or a free option. The prize is $300.

And thanks to Sharon, Ruth and Alyson who all told me about The People's Friend poetry competition.

Do you enjoy reading the wonderful poetry we publish in the “Friend”? Do you ever find yourself thinking, “I could do that”? Well, if you do, now is your chance! Today, we are launching our first ever poetry competition! There’s a cash prize and the winning entries will be published in our "Feel-good Fiction" special edition later this year. The writer of the winning poem will receive £150 and their work will be published in the “Friend”. Three runners-up will receive £50. All you have to do is write a poem on the theme of "harmony”. Harmony can mean a number of different things, and there is no right or wrong answer. It could be friendships or something peaceful, for example. The only thing that matters is that it is your interpretation of harmony. Your poem should be three verses of four lines. Give it a title and email it to us. The competition will be open until March 1, so get your creative hats on! E-mail your poem, along with your name and address, to pfeditor@dcthomson.co.uk

If you fancy trying that but don't usually read The People's Friend, I strongly advise getting the latest issue.  As with their fiction, they have a preferred tone.

My news

Last week I signed books at my local bookshop. Technically it was for my latest book, but I snuck in the entire series, plus my other crime novel.

I'm pleased to report that I arrived with two boxes of books and by the time I left the larger one was empty.

Please note the purple pen!

Tuesday top tip - slaying self doubt.

Writing is an incredible journey, full of ups and downs, but let’s be honest—it can also feel like a bit of a battle. Self-doubt and procrastination are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to slowing us down or, worse, stopping us in our tracks. The good news? You can tackle both with some simple but effective strategies.

I know this all too well because I’ve just released my latest novel, The Call Back, the second book in my Mickey Blake thriller series. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Over the years, I've interviewed hundreds of successful authors and so many of them have talked about 'The Difficult Second Book'. Even so, I didn't fully appreciate just how hard it would be until midway through 2024, when I felt like a total imposter. For a while, I wasn’t sure I’d finish it at all. Self-doubt hit me hard during the process. That little voice in my head constantly whispered, “What if it’s not as good as the first book?” or “What if people hate it?” My inner critic worked overtime, and there were days when procrastination felt like the only way to cope. I went to Harrogate Crime Festival and my patient friends listened to me complain about it and, fortunately, convinced me to keep going.

The other thing that got me through was recognising that self-doubt doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer—it means you care. The trick is not letting it stop you. One of the things that helped me was keeping a ‘Doubt Journal.’ Whenever those negative thoughts popped up, I wrote them down and challenged them. Was it true that I’d lost my ability to tell a good story? Of course not. I reminded myself that every writer—yes, even the most successful ones—has to battle these same feelings.

Procrastination was another beast I had to face. At one point, The Call Back felt like this huge, unwieldy mountain I didn’t know how to climb. The solution? Break it into manageable chunks. I set small goals—sometimes as simple as writing 200 words a day—and celebrated every win, no matter how small. Those little victories kept me moving forward, even when the process felt impossible.

Another lifesaver was my pre-writing ritual. Before every session, I’d make a cup of tea, put on some ambient rain sounds, and take five minutes to visualise the finished book sitting on a shelf. It sounds a bit corny, but it worked. It gave me just enough motivation to push through those tough days. And eventually, the panic subsided and that messy first draft materialised before my eyes. As the saying goes, you can't edit a blank page. 

To my astonishment, I hit my deadline to get the book off to my copy editor so that I could make my release date and now I have another book out in the world. As a consequence, I decided to formalise some of the techniques and tips that helped me survive the process - partly so that I can refer back to them next time the dragon of Self-Doubt comes calling, but also so that other writers can use them to slay their demons. This became a 15 page PDF called the 'Write or Die! Writer's Survival Kit' and you can download it by signing up to my FREE monthly newsletter. It's full of actionable tips, like how to reframe your inner critic, set achievable goals, and find inspiration when you feel stuck. These are the same tools that helped me finish The Call Back, and I’m confident they can help you too.

Writing is never a straight path—it’s more of a twisty, winding road—but with the right tools and mindset, you can navigate it like a pro. If this sounds like the kind of support you need, why not grab a copy of the Writer’s Survival Kit? It’s completely free, and it might just give you the boost you’re looking for.

Oh, and if thrillers are your thing, I’d love you to check out The Call Back, or it's prequel Safe Hands. It’s a fast-paced, suspenseful ride, and while it was a tough book to write, I’m really proud of how it turned out. Writing doesn’t have to be a lonely or frustrating process—sometimes, all you need is a little help to keep going. Ready to slay that dragon?! Let me know how you got on in the comments below, or by dropping me a line on my website at waynekellywrites.com.

Today's top tip was supplied by writer, podcaster, film director and songwriter Wayne Kelly.

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do.

Release day! (And free entry writing competitions)

Today is release day for the third book in my Little Mallow cosy crime series! Regardless of how well it does, I'm very proud of these books, and of myself for completing a series. It's a lot of work (I wrote all three in two years, as well as helping Gary with his photography business, writing short stories, running this blog, travelling and doing everything involved in having a normal life) but also interesting a satisfying. At times it was even fun!

I'm fortunate to have had lots of help from friends who provided services such as beta reading and feedback, proofreading, ARC reading and marketing. Thank you so much to everyone involved. And thanks to any of you who can help spread the word about my book (eg by sharing social media posts, or just telling someone who might like to read it) to those who request it at their local library, or who buys it.

Free entry writing competitions

The DRF award is for 'a first-time writer whose submission demonstrates outstanding literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their work. ' It can be fiction or non fiction. By first time they mean you've not written a full length book. British Commonwealth and EIRE only. £10,000 prize.

Thanks to Fiona for sending me the link to this poetry competition. The prizes are whisky, and you've only got a couple of days to enter. (Unfortunately they want all the rights.)

Publication opportunity

Thanks to Sharon Boothrod fro the reminder that Crowvus are looking for submissions on the theme of science fiction - you can send poetry, fiction or non fiction.

And finally...

In case you've not seen it already, here's a short 'unboxing' video I made for the latest book. It's about as serious as I am. Dog owners be warned - there's a doorbell sound!

Tuesday top tip - attend a small literary festival.

Why attend a small literary festival?  Lindsay Bamfield has a few reasons.

There are literary festivals everywhere ranging from the famous such as Hay on Wye to the little known. Those I’ve been involved in are very much at the lesser-known end. So why should people attend a minor literary festival which won’t be featuring the big names of Pulitzer Prize winners or best-selling authors? 

We’re cheaper for a start and when it’s a local in-person event, it can introduce readers to fairly local authors. When I helped organise the Finchley Lit Fests in London, we discovered the most amazing authors on our doorstep (and a few from a little further afield.) Some weren’t well-known at the time but have gone on to pretty stellar heights (all because of us obviously!!) 

Our festivals included workshops which brought local writers together and introduced new people to writing groups. It was about community; encouraging emerging writers, supporting local published writers and giving our community enjoyable events that they could reach on foot.

The literary festival I’m currently organising is 12,000 miles from London. The Society of Women Writers Victoria in Australia is a state-wide group so our three-day event comprises one in-person event in Melbourne where we’ll launch our book of the Society’s 50-year history followed by a weekend of online sessions so those who live across the state or intestate don’t have to drive for 8 or more hours to join us! 

Several big literary festivals were delivered online during the pandemic but the numbers of attendees precluded much interaction. A smaller online festival can include more audience engagement. We’ve chosen our sessions to appeal primarily to our membership but have opened it up to anybody who’s interested.

Our sessions include three writing workshops: short stories; history writing and ekphrastic poetry, plus author talks ranging from established Australian authors to those who have brought out only one book – so far. Covering memoir, historical fiction, modern fiction and non-fiction, the aim is for these events to enthuse and inspire our members and guests as well as entertaining them. We also have an Open Mic session open to all ticket holders to give us 4 minutes’ worth of their writing and a showcase of short monologues written by our members. 

Big festivals generally go after big names, but there’s so much more to the literary world than big names. Small festivals may introduce you to authors unknown to you, help you discover books you’d not come across. Small festivals involve their audience.

For $70.00AUD (currently about £35.00) a ticket covers the whole weekend so attendees can dip in and out of the sessions that appeal or join every single one. That’s the same price as one session might cost at one of those big events!

Check us out: https://www.swwvic.org.au/

The timings of this one won't suit everyone, so if you know of any small literary festivals coming up in your area, please share the details in the comments.

This tip was brought to you by Lindsay Bamfield writer of flash fiction, short stories and more!

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do.

Over to you

Please share writing related news – successes and failures, details of free entry writing competitions, updates about the womags you submit to, any other publication opportunities, and raise any queries you may have. All these things will help* other readers of the blog, and help me** to keep it going!

* It can be very reassuring to know we're not the only person who gets rejections, finds something confusing, or has doubts. It's also very encouraging when people we've heard of and know are real people, something like us, win competitions or get published.

** It takes time to find new free competitions every single week and it's very difficult to keep track of markets I don't submit to. Your support through sharing information, and leaving comments, makes a big difference. (Never worry you're telling me something I know – reminders are welcome!)

Publication opportunities

Thanks to Marguerite for telling us about this competition from Dusty Attic. They're looking for previously unpublished short stories and poems which are spooky, fantastical, or both. They pay $10.

If you'd like to read some (slightly) spooky stories as inspiration, I have lots here!

Tuesday top tip - try a non obvious POV

Sometimes calls for submissions, or competitions ask for work on a 'well worn' theme. It can be difficult to come up with something fresh, which stands out from the others, yet is still firmly on target. One idea is to try writing from a non obvious POV. Eg if you're writing about a wedding, your main character doesn't have to be one of the couple getting married. Romances don't have to be about a young woman meeting a young man for the first time and heading towards a happy ever after – there can be romance between couples who are older, or have been together for a long time, or who aren't going to stay together until death does them part. 

The idea of writing from a less obvious viewpoint is just one of many in my book A Year Of Ideas; 365 sets of writing prompts and exercises, which is available as a paperback and ebook. You can request it at your local library, buy online, order through a bookshop or read it with kindle unlimited.

This tip was brought to you by Patsy Collins. 

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do

Is it a new story?

One of the contributors to this blog contacted me recently with an interesting question –

If someone says "We do not accept stories that have already been published in other magazines, blogs, or websites"... what exactly does that mean? What if you used roughly the same story, but wrote it in a different way, or changed some of the details, language choices, etc?

Personally, I don't think changing the title, location and character names would be enough – that's something we might choose to do to make a story more suitable for a different market but, in my opinion, that would still be the same story.

I do think a complete rewrite might be possible. If the viewpoint character was changed for example, the events might be broadly similar, but those would impact on the character differently and therefore might create a very different story.

What do you think? Can you rewrite a story and submit it as something new? And if so, how far do you have to go?

(Just to be clear, we're only talking about rewriting our own work, not that of anyone else.) 

Womag news

The People's Friend are 'looking for shorter stories, 1000 words and 1200 words. All genres and from summer onwards!'

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Ruth for sharing the link to the latest On The Premises competition. They want short stories of between 1,000 and 5,000 words. The prompt is 'somewhere else*' and the prize $250.

And further thanks to Ruth for the link to the latest Irish Country Magazine short story competition. They want between 500 and 1,200 words, the theme is motherhood and the prize €200.

*Which is my excuse for using photos of places I've visited in this post.

My news

The third book in my cosy crime series is now available to pre order. 

My recent radio interview was fun! If you missed it and would like to listen, you can do that here.

Writing challenge

Thanks to Sarah Charmley who says -  Deadlines for writers has started its 12 stories in 12 months for this year (you can also write 12 poems). These challenges are free to enter, you get a prompt and a word count and a deadline which normally gives you 3 weeks. The deadline is only open for 24 hours. You comment on 4 other stories and hopefully 4 other writers comment on yours. It's a great way to get 12 stories or poems written this year. https://deadlinesforwriters.com 

If anyone has questions or suggestions they feel might make an interesting subject for discussion on the blog, feel free to let me know. I can either raise them anonymously, or you could create a guest post if you prefer.

Tuesday top tip - drink some water

 

Staying properly hydrated is very important for our health – and it's generally easier to write if we feel well.

Water is the cheapest way to stay hydrated and generally the easiest to obtain. It doesn't rot our teeth, make us fat, or give us a headache the next morning. So go and drink a glass RIGHT NOW! 

Still here? In that case, how about downloading this free short story collection?

This tip was brought to you by Patsy Collins.

If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do.

Eleven free entry writing competitions!

It's the eleventh day  of Christmas today. As I'm rather short of pipers piping, here are 11 free to enter writing competitions for you. (I may have mentioned some of these competitions before – but I thought maybe people might have been too busy the last few weeks to do anything about them, or maybe become more determined to send out work this year, and so welcome a reminder.)

Free entry competition news

To win the Nine Dots prize you need to write 3,000 words on 'Is Data Failing us?' along with an outline of 1,000 words showing how you'd expand that into a short book. Actually, there's quite a bit more to it than that - but then the prize is $100,000 so I suppose they have to do something to keep the entries to a reasonable level.

There's probably not time to write anything new for the Bruntwood playwriting competition, but if you happen to have something ready you have a few days left to submit it and be in with a chance of winning the £20,000 prize.

The Jim Baen memorial short story competition is for a science fiction short story. The prize bundle includes paid publication.

And here's another short story competition, this time for horror, fantasy, or science fiction. The prize is $200.

The new media award is for fiction or non fiction to be viewed on electronic devices. The prize is £1,000.

Criminal Lines is a crime novel competition offering a £3,500 prize, plus agency representation.

The prize for the W&AYB short story competition is a place on an Arvon residential course.

This poetry competition has a top prize of $2,000.

If you fancy writing a mystery story of 15,000 to 20,000 this competition is for you. The prize is $1,000 and publication.

This competition is for those who've not professionally published a novel or more than three short stories. They want 'short' stories of up to 17,000 words - and I think they're supposed to be science fiction. The prize is $1,000.

Thanks to Marguerite who shared the details of Best's lateset competition (as a comment to a previous post). Here it is again in case anyone missed it -  Maximum 1200 words on a Valentine's theme by 20th January, 2025. Name, email address and phone no. to bestfiction@hearst.co.uk with 'Valentine's fiction 2025' in the subject title. The all rights issue does seem to be only the winners but do check.

My news

I'll be on Soundart Radio on Monday morning (10 - 12), talking to my friend Anne Rainbow about writing, travel* and probably other things too. There will also be a selection of songs which we like and feel tie in with my work, or our lives and writing in general.

Anne has a Facebook group associated with her show. If you'd like to join that you can post questions for her to ask me live on air (eeek!) You can find out about her other shows there. Her guests include artists of all descriptions.

*which is my excuse for sharing loads of photos from my trips.

My latest novel, the third in my cosy mystery series, is available to pre-order now.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you happiness, productivity and positivity in 2025. May the words flow and your typos be spotted before you click 'submit'.