More of the free things

 

Free entry writing competitions

The Black Orchid novella award offers $1,000 for a traditional mystery of 15,000 to 20,000 words.

The Wergle Flomp poetry competition offers a $2,000 prize.

The BBC short story competition requires a record of previous publication (exact requirements are specified) is open to UK nationals and residents only and offers a £15,000 prize.

Thanks to Fiona for the link to this poetry competition. She says 'looks like it will stretch my brain cells! Hopefully someone else who read the blog might enjoy it too.' The prize is a share of £1500

Womag news

The winners of The People's Friend short story bursary competition have been announced here.

Free reads

I'm taking part in (yet) another promotion which offers free reads to those who sign up to the author's newsletters. This one is for romance and cosy crime books. 

The way these things work is that each participating author shares them with anyone who might be interested and we all hopefully gain new readers. Writers are also readers, and some of you might like to learn about marketing strategies, so I thought it reasonable to include you in the 'might be interested' group.

My news

It looks as though we'll be able to get back to our travels again, reasonably soon. There are a few things to get sorted first - including me trying to get ahead with my writing so I'm free to explore, and take many, many, photos once we can get away.

UPDATE Please see HB's request for help in the first comment.

No news is... ?

Thank you so much to everyone who downloaded my free mini mystery and/or helped some way in letting others know about it. There were an encouraging number of downloads in the first week. It's remaining free, so you're not too late to get a copy and/or spread the word. The support is hugely appreciated.

Even more thanks to those of you who have left a review or rating, or will do so once you've read it. Seeing those 4 and 5 stars, and knowing people like my character Amelia, really boosted my mood in what was otherwise a difficult week. I'm fine - there's just some 'stuff'. 

Because of 'stuff' we've not been away in the van, so you get photos of the garden, and I've had time for novel writing. I'm now halfway through the second draft of what will be the second book in my cosy crime series.

Free entry competition news

Thanks to Alyson for the link to this short story competition. There's £1,000 on offer for the best crime story set in Scotland.

Here's a crime novel competition. There's a decent cash prize plus the offer of representation. I'm considering entering, but you probably won't want to. Nobody should really - just me!

This competition is only open to people who've lived, studied or worked in Cheshire. (I've probably written a few paragraphs while the van was parked in the county. That might count?) There are cash prizes and book tokens available. There are categories for short stories, plays and poetry.

Womag news

If you've not seen The People's Friend fiction editor's blog recently, and are interested in writing for that market, then I suggest reading the last two posts. (No depressing news, I promise.)

Personally I'd been feeling a bit despondent about the whole womag market - mostly because I never seemed to hear back about my own work and the more general news I was sharing here wasn't exactly cheery. Then I got a remittance advice for a My Weekly story. I'd thought that all my last batch had been rejected. They hadn't, I'd just not received the acceptance.

The following day I had notification that two of my stories are in the current TAB Fiction Feast. The published stories had been accepted quite some time ago and I'd not heard from the editor in what seems like ages so hadn't been hopeful.

The point I'm attempting to make is that although we'll go for periods with no good news, perhaps some bad, we should try not to let it get us down. If we keep writing and sending out work, the next email might well be good news. I really hope there's some on the way to all of you.