Surprise!

You weren't expecting to see a photo of me in a cart pulled by a wooden horse, were you?

What would you name him? 

Free entry writing competitions.

My friend Sheila (known as Spanish Sheila, as opposed to Irish Sheelagh, as all my attempts to pronounce the names differently have failed) told me about this competition. They want a story with a surprise in 2,500 words or fewer, and offer £100 prize. To enter, you must sign up for the writing club, but that's also free - and sounds potentially useful.

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for these two competitions – 

The W&AYB short story competition offers a prize package including publication and a place on an Arvon Residential Writing Week, valued at over £800.

Comma Press also have a short story competition. They want you to use what they describe as 'found text' for the whole thing. That means using something like letters, text messages, emails etc etc rather than ordinary narration. Janice Hallet writes like that, and I enjoy her books, so I know it can be done. First prize is £500. UK residents only.

Womag news

Thanks to Liz for this news - Woman's World have cut their fiction fees in half. A solve-it-yourself mystery is now $200 and romance $250. Their word counts are different too - 400 for mystery plus 40 for the solution, and between 550-680 for romance. 

The future with Future

Future have sent out updated contracts. I'd just like to remind everyone who has received one to read it, and to be sure they understand the terms, and agree to them BEFORE signing it.

I'm currently away from home and not able to read it thoroughly right now. 

UPDATE 24/9 I've now read it, queried the parts I didn't understand and had a reply. I'm now going to have to research insurance for writers.

Meeting friends

 

We're currently away in the van, heading to a family wedding. We've taken the scenic, meandering, circuitous route and met several friends along the way – including Fiona, who often supplies details of competitions and opportunities on this blog, stories for womags and poetry for anthologies, competitions and events.

We've chatted a bit online, but this was the first time in person. We met at Baddesley Clinton. The photo was taken in the library, which had an exhibition about author Lady Georgina Chatterton. She wrote poetry, escapist fiction and travelogues. Fiona and I both liked this quote of hers.

Free to enter writing competition

On the Premises have another mini competition. They want stories of 25 to 50 words, in the form of a list. First prize $35 with other cash prizes.

Womag news

Thanks to Alyson for passing on this message which The People's Friend posted on Twitter. "We're currently looking for stories with a contemporary setting, set from January onwards for the weekly and mid-March onwards for the Special. All word counts welcome but especially 3000 and 2000."

Boo hoo!

 

Free to enter writing competition

Thanks to Sharon for sending me the link to this Christmas ghost story competition. As Sharon says, it doesn't actually have to be a Christmas story. First prize is £100. Max word count, 5,000. (That's the Boo)

This competition is for unpublished authors only. They must be citizens of, or living in the UK or Ireland. The first prize is £3,000, with runners up prizes of £1,000. Max word count 5,000. (Boo hoo, I can't enter!) Sorry - this has just closed!

My news
Most of my ebooks are currently 99p in the UK or 99c in the US. Woohoo! Sorry,  Amazon doesn't currently allow me to set up this deal elsewhere.

Out, and in

The image in last week's post was of the tracks made by seals. Probably bigger ones than this cutie, although he/she was part of the group who'd been hauled out there earlier in the day.

Womag news

The People's Friend fiction editor, Lucy Crichton asked me to pass on the following - 

"After nearly 39 years with DC Thomson - seventeen of those years on 'The People's Friend' - Tracey Steel will be retiring on Friday, October 2nd. 

We're wishing Tracey all the very best for this new, exciting chapter! And we're delighted to be welcoming Fiction Journalist, Lucy Dewar to the Fiction Team. 

Tracey's authors will receive an email with more information, and Lucy will be handling Tracey's authors, poets and pocket novel authors as of October 5th. "

I'm really hoping at least one of her authors will be called Lucy, so she sends out an email saying something along the lines of, Dear Lucy, I liked your story, and have sent it on to Lucy. Best wishes Lucy. I don't know why that should amuse me, but it does! 

I'm hoping to interview Tracey Steele on this blog soon. I'm sure she must have some interesting insights to share!

Other publication opportunities

Short Story Stack pay $100, plus royalties for selected stories. The word count range is from just 6 words, to 10,000 and they even accept reprints, as long as you still hold the appropriate rights.

Other news

You may remember that a while ago, Liz Filluel wrote this post, about having some of her stories which had previously appeared in womags, published by Clan Destine Press. Her book is now available for pre-order and there's a discount if you get in quick.

I'm not sure if it's available internationally, or just in Australia, but I was sure you'd like a look at the cover.