Friday, 24 January 2025

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!


9 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Happy Publication Day Patsy, it dropped into my kindle this morning, looking forward to reading it! I loved your video what a lot of work and thought you put into it, a masterpiece in it's own right. Good luck with the book I hope it flies.

Sharon at A Quick Read said...

Good luck with your new book, Patsy. Well done to all with positive news.

Marguerite said...

A novel is an achievement, let alone three in a series :) One concern: the third... 3 of 3 says Amazon? No more? I was looking forward to spending a while longer in Little Mallow? It seems like a charming place :) Hope there are more :) Thank you, Fiona - not sure if my poetry is up to it (know it isn't!). Also thanks to Sharon. Crowvus have not given a word limit (that I've seen). Their comps make it clear.

Sue McV said...

What an achievement Patsy. Well done!

ados123 said...

Congratulations, Patsy! Good luck with the books.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations! Quite the series.

Anonymous said...

What a creative video, Patsy! I hope the books do well.

Are any other writers here wondering what to do about social media? I've been on FB for years, on Twitter and Insta for not so many years, and have zero desire to join the much-touted new ones like Bluesky and Threads. Over the past few months, I've grown heartily sick of social media with its clickbait, influencer posts and tedious reels. All I want is to see my friends' posts. If I weren't a writer, I'd get rid of Twitter and Insta, and pare my FB back to just family and close friends (as a migrant, I find FB Messenger in particular a great way of maintaining contact with family and friends in the UK). I'm vaguely wondering whether I should do just that anyway. Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Sharon at A Quick Read said...

I'm just on FB, not on any other SM, and it suits me fine but I don't have anything to promote or sell.

Anonymous said...

A great achievement, Patsy. Congratulations!
Good luck with the books.
HB