Loads of money!

The photos are a random selection of dahlias, seen at a garden I visited If I ever have loads of money to spare, I'll spend quite a lot of it on dahlias – but not as much as I'll spend on tulips!

What would you treat yourself to if you won a big cash prize?

Free to enter writing competitions.

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for sending me the link to the Commonwealth short story prize, which opens 1st September. To enter you must be a commonwealth citizen. There are regional cash prizes and a grand prize of £5,000.

I think I previously mentioned the mysterious murders competition, but when Sharon reminded me of it I wasn't sure.

Sharon says of these competitions "The cash prizes are very high, which kind of puts me off. I'd rather try and win £50 than £3,000, as I'd stand a better chance."

I'm sure she's right that the bigger competitions will attract more entries, but personally that doesn't put me off. I'll have a go at any competition where I think I can come up with an entry which fits the requirements. Lack of time is my most usual reason for not entering.

How about you? Do you like to try for the bigger prizes, and well known competitions, or keep it more low key? 

 Womag news

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for sharing the the updated People's Friend word counts, in a comment to last week's post. Sharon was able to access the info via a saved link. At time of writing this post I, and others, couldn't access everything on their website. Hopefully that's all sorted now, but just in case, here they are –

For the weekly:
1, 200, 2000, & 3,000
For the PF special:
1000, 1, 500, 2,500 & 3, 500 & 4,000
Can go 10 % under, but not over.

Other magazines do allow leeway in both directions, but keep in mind that going over means the story is likely to be cut. You might prefer to do that yourself, than have the editor take out the 'wrong' bits.

How to comment on this blog

 I recently had an email from someone who's read this blog for sometime, but hadn't commented before, as they weren't sure how. Like a lot of things in life, it can seem complicated or daunting until you try, but is easy once you know how ...

Step 1

Scroll down to the very end of the post, to where there are little icons for sharing the post, post tags etc and click on the word 'comments'.

Depending on your device, you might not have to do that and will go straight to the next step.

(That's a screenshot - you need to scroll down for the real thing.)

Step 2

A comment pop up box will appear. If you've never commented before and don't have a Google profile it will look like this.

That let's you comment anonymously, which is fine although it helps me if you either add your name or nickname. Alternatively you can click on the little arrow after the word 'anonymous' to select a different profile. Selecting the bottom one will allow you to enter your name, which will then be shown on the blog before your comment. That's how most of my blog readers comment, but the choice is yours (I'll add examples myself, so you can see the differences)

Step 3

Type in whatever you want to say - I've added the words 'Type your comment here' in this example. 'Sign' with your name or nickname (unless you want to remain anonymous) and press the red 'publish' button.

Comments usually appear immediately, but sometimes due to spammers, I activate 'moderation' which means I have to approve them first. 

Step 4

That's you done – and me grateful that you took the time. Comments are hugely important to this blog - it wouldn't continue without them.

Feel free to have an experiment with this post. I promise I won't mind if there are sixteen all saying 'test', half completed comments, comments with names missing etc etc. I also promise that it is completely impossible for you to somehow mess up this blog by getting commenting wrong.

And the winner is...

 

In my 26th July post, I invited blog readers to give an explanation of this mysterious photo which appeared on my phone.

My favourite reply was... Well, it was impossible to pick just one, so joint first place goes to –

the third one down beginning "Against her better judgement," (and not just because that sums up quite a few of my life choices)  the one giving me the great suggestion of "Dastardly Deeds and Delightful Decadence" for another book in my cosy mystery series and the one advising drinking a Tequila Sunrise as the safest option.

They were all really good though. If you've not read them, click here and scroll through the comments.  You should always read the comments - they're definitely the best part of this blog. 

The writers of the above mentioned gems win their choice of ebook download from my Slightly Spooky Stories series. Please email me at patsycollins53@yahoo.com to say which you'd like. Fee free to say which was yours in the comments, if you'd like to.

What really happened is that I had the phone in the pocket of my very blue trousers. Gary and I were walking, and talking about a variety of subjects including voice activated technology and panoramic photography. We discovered my phone had taken a panoramic photo of my pocket. I don't have anything voice activated on it, and the camera app wasn't open. Nothing was. To take the picture myself, I'd have had to enter my six digit password, select the camera app, chosen pano mode and press start. Weird, eh?

Womag news

The new fiction editor at My Weekly is Sian Dolan. There's no change to the 'closed list' situation, but there are other changes. If you're one of those who can submit to this market, read the latest guidelines carefully!

Free entry competition news

Here's an interesting travel writing competition. You're invited to recount a journey in the footsteps of a literary hero. I like visiting the locations of books I've enjoyed - does that count? The first prize is publication and $300. There's an option to pay rather a lot of money to have your entry assessed. That might be worthwhile to anyone interested in submitting work to the organisers, but it's not a requirement of entry.

I mentioned travel, which as you've probably realised by now, means you get a random selection of photos from my trips.

This one is for poems on the theme of togetherness Decolonising Minds and Shared Identities. Thanks to  Jenny for pointing out that I'd missed that detail. There's a £500 prize - and a (free) 32 page manual on the theme, which it might be advisable to read before you write.

I'm probably going to pass on those two, but I am working on entries for some competitions I've mentioned over the last month or so.

Festival time

Free entry competition news

I spotted this on Facebook. There weren't any other rules or t&Cs - just that. (Festive stories are ones which cellebrate festivals, aren't they?)
 
Thanks to Fiona for sending the link to the Val Wood prize. They're looking for stories of up to 1,500 words on the theme of secrets. The prize is £100, plus a book.

My news

Today I'mm selling my books at the first ever literary festival in Lee-on-the-Solent. 

If you happen to be in the area please come and say hello - and listen to some of the authors reading their work.

Discussion point

Do you go to literary festivals, either as an author or reader? If you've got one coming up soon, please share the details.

(Un)seasonal greeting!

Womag news

Thanks to Babs Trevitt who spotted this on Twitter – I'm glad she did as I'm not on it and so wouldn't have known. In case you can't read the small print it says The People's Friend have now chosen all their Christmas stories, won't be keeping those they have on file, and you can resubmit them next year. Babs was told next years' Christmas submissions can be sent from 1st June.

I've heard through the grapevine that a new fiction editor has been appointed for My Weekly.
 

Free entry competition news

This competition is for playwrights from anywhere in the word, as long as they write in English and produce a minimum of 65 pages and the work hasn't been previously professionally produced. (I guess there's a standard definition of a page and I can't just write 'Nobody wanted him so he exited stage left, chased by midges and a Highland cow' in really big letters.) Prize is $10,000.

There's still time to have a go at my blue photo competition.

My news

I'm at the cathedral in Old Portsmouth 2- 5 today, helping to sell books on behalf of the Portsmouth Authors' Collective. Do come and say hello if you're in the area.

Two of my cosy crime novels are currently reduced to 99p / 99c. These are Acting Like A Killer and Disguised Murder and Community Spirit in Little Mallow. Offer ends 7th August.

As explained in my last post, I've had to switch comment moderation on, so don't worry if yours doesn't appear straight away.