Over to you

No blogger is an island – I benefit greatly from the help I get from readers who pass on info, leave comments, share posts etc. Thanks everyone!

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!

As always, feel free to use my photos as writing prompts. If you prefer words to images for that purpose, take a look here.

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Alyson Hilbourne for sending me the details of this flash fiction competition from Green Stories - it's good to know they're still going. They want stories under 500 words on the theme of epiphanies. The first prize is £300, with seven runner up prizes of £100!

My news

One of my short story collections, Slightly Spooky Stories I is currently on sale for 99p / 99c.

International news - not all bad!

 

Womag news

This (paraphrased) info comes from Liz. It's been announced this week that Woman's World (USA) sister publication, First for Women, is being closed down, and its subscribers moved across to Woman's World (if they want to). There have been redundancies from Woman's World as well as First for Woman, among them Sienna Sullivan, one of the two editors who worked on the WW fiction (as well as some of the features). It's unclear as yet what this means for the two fiction slots in Woman's World.

Since I made the post, Liz has learned more -

A follow-up to my info regarding Woman's World - two new fiction editors have been announced. One (Shay) will look after the mysteries and the other (Melissa) the romances. The email addresses remain the same: Fiction@womansworldmag.com for writers who haven't published with Woman's World before, and FictionPro@womansworldmag.com for those who have. I'm hopeful that having two editors again, one for each slot, will make the role less overwhelming (they look after other parts of the magazine as well as the fiction). 

And from Sharon Boothroyd "If anyone is interested in writing nostalgia/ memory pieces, Best of British monthly mag want around 800 words, with photos. One photo must be a headshot of yourself. If it's accepted, they pay £20." Sharon also informs us that That's Life in Australia has resumed the Fast Fiction slot. Neither of us know if they're accepting unsolicited submissions.

Here's a link Fiona found, about how magazines are perhaps being appreciated differently.

Free entry competition news

The BCSA are running a competition for up to 2,000 words of prose. There's an optional theme of 'liberation' and other compulsory criteria. First prize is £400.

Calls for submissions

From Liz - The June issue of The Simple Things is asking for readers to submit microfiction (300 words). There's no money or prize (that I can see), but the best submissions will be published in next June's issue of The Simple Things. See the mag for more details. The Simple Things is a great mag that includes a commissioned short story in every issue. They're more literary than in the womags, but I've really enjoyed several of them. 

The Heroines Anthology reimagines women in myth, fairy tale, folklore or legend, & tells women's lost histories and untold stories. Submission is open to women writers from around the world, and all submissions are considered for the Heroines women's writing prize, which is $500.

More free entry writing competitions

 

Free entry writing competition news

This competition is run by the Scottish Mental Health Festival, but is open to all. They want fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction on the theme of 'comfort & disturb'. Shortlisted entrants will be invited to read at the awards ceremony (pretty sure that will be optional). The shortlisted and winning pieces of writing will also be published in an illustrated print and digital book. 

Thanks to Marguerite for this short story competition. The theme is heat wave and there's just a couple of weeks left to get your entry in and possibly win an Amazon voucher.

Thanks to Alyson for this short story competition with £100 prize.

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for the info that Scribble magazine have writing competitions which are free to enter for their subscribers, and that The Oldie magazine have a regular free poetry competition with a £25 prize.

New blog feature! 

Here's a discussion point, hardly at all intended to justify littering the blog with my travel photos! 

Do you think writing is like peeping in through a window, or walking straight through the doorway?