Concentrating on my writing whilst it's all been going on hasn't been easy, so I've used the time to sort out more of the photos from our recent trip. These were taken near the end on the Farne Islands.
Free entry writing competitions
Thanks to Alyson for this short story competition. The theme is titles, max word count 1,500 and the prize £100, plus a book.
Do you like writing book reviews? (If so, please review one of mine!) There's £500 on offer for a review of books in various categories in this competition. It does look as though they expect winners to attend their event.
Womag news
The TABFF rejections continue! I got 10 all at once - all of them submitted in 2024. Some of them previously rejected. Some previously published in the magazine. Some given up on after the period the guidelines told us we were to do that, subbed and published elsewhere.
I asked what would happen with stories accepted but not yet published ad got this reply - "Any stories we publish will be paid for in the normal way. Any unpublished submissions can be sold elsewhere. If you need any further information let me know."
Thanks to Maisie Bishop for forwarding these guidelines, recently sent out by The Simple Things. They used to take unsolicited submissions, then went to commissions only. It looks as though they've had a rethink about that!
The Simple Things
Fiction submissions
National, monthly, lifestyle magazine The Simple Things is proud to run a piece of flash fiction every month. We are always delighted to receive submissions, provided they fit the below criteria.
(available from newsagents, larger supermarkets, WHS, M&S, Barnes & Noble in the US, and as a digital version) to familiarise yourself with our overall content.
As you’ll see, we’re rather obsessed with nature/food/family/friends/home/crafts/nostalgia/simple pleasures. Stories should ideally refer to at least one of these obsessions in some way – but please don’t cram too many in, or feel obliged to deliver, for example, the tale of a middle-class family reconciled through crochet, chickens or a home-cooked dinner (we’ve had quite a lot of those recently…). Feel free to approach things from a new, oblique angle.
Sex and death are best avoided.
Humour is very welcome (though not essential). Melancholy is fine, but the story should ultimately strike – and this is probably the most important thing to bear in mind - an upbeat (though not cheesy) note.
Please keep titles 3-6 words long if possible.
WORD COUNT: 600 words.
FEE: £100
EMAIL AS WORD DOC TO: eithne.farry@gmail.com
HEARING BACK FROM US: If we decide a story is just right, we’ll be in touch as soon as possible. However, due to time constraints and heavy submissions it may not always be possible to reply personally to every unsuccessful submission. We’ll try, but if we can’t - please forgive us, and know that we are very grateful to you for sharing your words with us.
Thanks! We look forward to reading you.
The Simple Things.
2 comments:
Many thanks Patsy and to everyone who has passed info on.
I'll have a go with simple things but I looked at the mag in smiths (or what used to be smiths) and the fiction in it was very literary.
It was the sort of thing that I couldn't write, so I'd bear in mind that they may not be looking for commercial fiction.
That could have changed, of course but it didn't look like a typical women's magazine to me.
There's lots of questions I'd like to ask FF but I don't feel that we are going to receive answers. Are the submitted Xmas stories going to be considered for this year, for instance?
Is the mag going to become mainly filled with re- printed stories? Is it being cut done to 10 issues a year, or worse, 4 seasonal specials?
However, it's good that they have mentioned paying for stories in the future.
The only news from me is that I had a story published on a website. There was no fee but they illustrated it nicely with photos, so I was pleased.
I'm on the hunt for online story projects.
Well done to all with positive news.
Sorry meant to say that I'm glad you've finally had your office fitted, Patsy. It looks really great!
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