Jane Wenham Jones’ 100 Ways to Fight the Flab Competition Results – Top 12

Straight from the horse’s mouth… or rather from much better looking (although I love horses) Jane’s blog…

Taa-Raaa – we have the first set of results of the Fight the Flab Competition, judged by Janie Milman, co-owner of the fab Chez-Castillon, Morgen-with-an-e-Bailey - blog-designer extraordinaire and me. Thank you so much to everyone who entered. Morgen has been the organised one and done all the admin, so over to her….

Hi Morgen here

Yes, that’s right – the entries were so impressive that we couldn’t agree on just ten.

Five of the twelve received a vote from all three judges, the other seven were picked by two of us.

Below are the shortlisted twelve and we shall be putting our heads together to pick out a winner… we may be some time! Only kidding, we will be posting the Top 5 here on Saturday 11th May then the winner on Saturday 18th May… listen out for the fanfare.

For a reminder of the prize…

The entrants had to: Write a diet or fitness tip in no more than 250 words. Entries were be judged on originality and entertainment value.

The author of the best tip will win: a week’s writing course with Jane Wenham-Jones, September 28th-4th October 2013 at Chez Castillon (see http://chez-castillon.com for full description) including meals and accommodation (flights not included) – worth £875.

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and now for the Top 12… (in alphabetical order by surname)

Name	Tip Name
Karen Booth	The Regulating Waistband Plan
Philippa Bowe	Clean out your colon
Tracy Fells	The E-Plan
Jessica Kennedy	Stop Doing the Dishes
Cathy Lennon	Acquire a Labrador
Jane Lovering	Bum’s Away
Clare Mackintosh	The upside-down diet tip: a poem
Jan Newton	Make Rejection Work for You
Janet O’Kane	Why join a gym when you can work out at the supermarket?
olivespastavino	Sleep The Fat Away
Rebecca Stanley	In a Spin
Tony Tibbenham	Roll 6 for Chocolate

So good luck to those 12 and watch this space for the top 5 next weekend and the winner the weekend after!

 

May #writing #competitions

Taken from my Competitions Calendar, below are some competitions run with May deadlines (in order of genre then deadline dates). If you know of ones that I haven’t listed here, find any of these have closed or discover any broken links, please do email me with details. I will be adding more as I get them. Also see the ‘Submission info.‘ page (and genre sub-pages) for submission opportunities.

NB. I may well not have tried these competitions myself so please take a good look at the websites before parting with money and submitting your hard work!  ALSO please note that not all the competitions run each year so please check their validity before entering (and their guidelines do change from year to year).

• Details of the H.E. Bates Short Story Competition that one of my writing groups runs (late October deadline) is here.
• Details of the NLG Flash Fiction Competition that I’m Head Judging (end June deadline) is here.

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MAY

• Children’s: bookweek.ca/information-artists
• Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – also see Indies Unlimited and ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Each week on http://theironwriter.com, four writers agree to compose a five hundred word story involving the same four elements. Please remember to give your story a title. The stories can be in any genre except erotica. The writers will not know what the four elements are prior to committing to the challenge. There is a four day time limit to complete the story. I email the elements early Thursday morning, my time. The story is due at midnight, Sunday, your time. Each author retains full and complete copyright of their story submitted to The Iron Writer for this competition. However, it is understood each story will remain on this website indefinitely. The Iron Writer will not publish any submission outside this website without express permission from the author. So, if you are up to the challenge, please email me at HERE and we can schedule when you are willing to participate. Please include your main blog or website. I will link your story to your site. You may participate as often as you want.
• Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
• Flash Fiction: http://theironwriter.com
• Flash Fiction: 16th May is National Flash Fiction day and you can find some competitions (various dates) on http://www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/competitions.html.
• Flash Fiction: The Bridport Prize. Poems 42 lines max, short stories 5,000 words max, flash 250 words max. £15,000+ prize fund, closing date 31 May. See http://www.bridportprize.org.uk.
• Flash Fiction: The New Writer 17th Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched April 2013. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• http://www.lightshippublishing.co.uk/competition/the_lightship_short_memoir_contest.
• Mixed: Free prose and poetry competition with a 10th May deadline: see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/listenupnorth-com-national-uk-prose-poetry-competition-18-10th-may-deadline.
• Mixed: Winchester Writers’ Conference has opened their 17(!) mixed writing competitions (deadline Friday 24th May). Details in their competitions brochure 2013. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.
• Mixed: The International 2013 Yeovil Literary Prize has a closing date of 31st May 2013 and there are three categories:
  THE NOVEL – Please send the synopsis with opening chapters (up to 15,000 words in total) :
  Prizes: 1st = £1,000; 2nd = £250; 3rd = £100. Fee £11.
  THE SHORT STORY – Up to a maximum of 2,000 words.
  Prizes: 1st = £500; 2nd = £200; 3rd = £100. Fee £6.
  POETRY – A poem with a maximum of 40 lines.
  Prizes: 1st = £500; 2nd = £200; 3rd = £100. Fee £6, two for £9, three for £11.
  The Yeovil Literary Prize can be entered online or by post. The judges are all professional writers and publishers. For details see the website (http://www.yeovilprize.co.uk) or write to: Yeovil Literary Prize, The Octagon Theatre, Hendford, Yeovil, BA20 1UX.
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
• Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Non-fiction: ​Elephants. You gotta LOVE ‘em! And can you WRITE about them? Let’s find out. We’re looking for FICTION (including but not limited to fantasy and humor) and for narrative non-fiction, between 500 and 5,000 words.Prize for 1st place is $150 and 2nd place is $50. Plus, the top tales may be included in an anthology {ELEPHANTHOLOGY} with your name. See http://www.phylsbooks.com/#!contest/c1kbb. Submissions accepted from 1 April 2013 to midnight of 1 July 2013. Cost $10.
• Non-fiction: another non-fiction competition is FBFT Sports Writing.
• Novels: A brand new ‘Navegator’ Competition is now officially launched. This time writers are invited to produce the first pages (800-1500 words) of a credible continuation of the first novel. The judging panel will be guided by Philip Purser, who has several books to his credit and a prestigious career as a journalist. Another crime novelist, Leo McNeir, will also be one of the judges. No purchase is necessary and you can enter from anywhere in the world. Entries close on 31st May and full details can be found on the website: http://www.navegator.co.uk
• Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing.
• Novels: Words With JAM is running a ‘First Page Competition’ where you can enter the first page of a finished novel, work in progress or page specifically written for the competition. Closing date 31st May 2013.This year’s judge is Sue Grafton. Prizes £500 / £100 / £50 with fee of £6 first entry, £4 per entry thereafter. See http://wordswithjam.co.uk/#/first-page-competition-2013/4573741026 for details.
• Playwriting: RealDeal Theatre is looking for 10-15 minute scripts for its new event, Popcorn Saturday!, short plays inspired by the movies, to be held on Saturday, 29th June 2013 to be held at Westminster Reference Library, off London’s Leicester Square. The entry window for sending entries to scripts@realdealtheatre.org.uk is Monday 20th May – Sunday 26th May 2013. A link straight to the entry details http://realdealtheatre.webs.com/scripts.htm.
• Playwriting: Lightship First Act Competition. Judges: Micheline Steinberg, Dave Whybrow, Anthony McCarten. Maximum 6,000 words, closing date 31 May. See http://www.lightshippublishing.co.uk/competition/lightship_first_act_competition.
• Playwriting: Pint-sized Plays 2013. Scripts should be capable of being staged in a pub with a running time of 5-10 mins, closing date 31 May. See http://www.pintsizedplays.org.uk.
• Poetry: Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Awards closes for submissions on 7 May.
• Poetry: Northampton Literature Group usually runs a yearly poetry competition with a mid-May deadline but it has 2013 off and is running a flash fiction competition instead!
• Poetry: The Montreal International Poetry Prize has a top prize $20,000 CDN, single poem, max 40 lines. Closing date 15 May. See http://montrealprize.com.
• Poetry: Printerpix Poetry Competition is a free competition to enter and winners will receive $100 worth of Amazon vouchers and a free canvas. The theme for this competition is ‘sunshine’. Entries can be no longer than 45 lines and must be original work. Competition closes Friday 24th May 2013. For more details and how to enter, click here.
• Poetry: The Welsh Poetry Competition. £4 entry per poem. Prizes: £400, £200, £100. The judge for their 7th competition (2013) is Eloise Williams and the deadline is Sunday 26th May. Poems in English, 50 lines, unpublished. See http://www.welshpoetry.co.uk for entry forms and rules.
• Poetry: The second ‘Poems Please Me’ Poetry Competition has a deadline of 31st May. Entry is by subscription to the site and the example given is a ‘single’ at £12 which entitles you to three entries to the competition. See http://www.poemsplease.me/?page_id=118 for more details.
• Poetry: The fourth Battered Moons Poetry Competition is now open to all UK residents aged 18 or over and accepts poems on any topic and style of up to 40 lines. Main judge Alice Oswald and Cristina Newton will read all the poems. The 3 winners and 4 commended poets will be invited to read their poems at the Swindon Festival of Poetry on Saturday 5th October 2013, when Alice Oswald will present the prizes and read from her own work. Winning and commended poems will appear in the Battered Moons pamphlet and website. First prize, £300; second, £150; third, £75. Entry fee: £3 each poem or £10 for 4. Closing date for entries is 31st May 2013. Online and postal entries accepted. For further information and to enter, visit http://batteredmoons.com. Queries to Cristina Newton on cristina.ne.newton@gmail.com. Supported by Swindon Artswords, the Swindon Festival of Poetry, and Arts Council England.
• Poetry: David Burland International Poetry Prize 2013 - in either French or English - closing date 31st May, 1st prize £200 + website publication. See http://www.davidburlandpoetryprize.com.
• Poetry: The Bridport Prize. Poems 42 lines max, short stories 5,000 words max, flash 250 words max. £15,000+ prize fund, closing date 31st May. See http://www.bridportprize.org.uk.
• Poetry: The Frogmore Poetry Prize 2013 has been annual since 1987. You can win 200 guineas and 2-year sub to The Frogmore Papers. 2013 adjudicator is Stephanie Norgate. Max 40 lines, closing date 31st May. See http://www.frogmorepress.co.uk.
• Poetry: Another 31st May deadline is Wigtown Poetry Competition. First Prize: Main Prize £2000. Runner-up £400. Gaelic Prize £250. Scots Prize £250. Eight additional prizes of £25 each. The first poem submitted costs £7.00. Multiple entries: the first three poems cost a total of £19.00. Each subsequent entry after the first three costs £5 or a total of £14 for every additional block of 3, ie: 1 poem £7; 2 poems £14; 3 poems £19; 4 poems £24; 5 poems £29; 6 poems £33; 7 poems £38; 8 poems £43; 9 poems £47; 10 poems £52; 11 poems £57; 12 poems £61 etc. Main Prize Judge: Robin Robertson, Gaelic Prize Judge: Meg Bateman, Scots Prize Judge: Liz Niven. Winners will be invited to read their poems at the Wigtown Book Festival 2013 (28th September to 7th October).  Winning poems will be published on the Festival website. For further details, rules and entry form, visit: www.wigtownbookfestival.com/poetrycomp.
• Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: 1st – £100. Runners-up – A Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Entry Fee: £5 each, £3 each thereafter. Includes a free critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://www.writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
• Poetry: The New Writer 17th Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched April 2013. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• Poetry: Other poetry competitions include Bridport Prize (also shorts / flash), Northampton Literature Group (on hold for 2013 but flash fiction instead), Partners, Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection Awards, Writing Magazine (WM: subscriber-only theme: poetry for children), Stephen Spender.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Scriptwriting: Mini Operas scriptwriting competition opens March closes May.
• Scriptwriting: The 10th Annual Screenwriting Challenge is a competition open to screenwriters around the world. There are 3 rounds of competition. In the 1st Round (June 14-22), writers are placed randomly in heats and are assigned a genre, subject, and character assignment (see examples of past assignments here). Writers have 8 days to write an original short screenplay no longer than 12 pages. The judges choose a top 5 in each heat to advance to the 2nd Round (July 25-28) where writers receive new assignments, only this time they have just 3 days to write an 8 page (maximum) short screenplay. Judges choose a top 25 from the 2nd Round to advance to the 3rd and final round of the competition where writers are challenged to write a 5 page (maximum) screenplay in just 24 hours (August 23-24). It’s easy to register.  First, download and read the Official Rules and Participation Agreement.  Once you have read, understood, and agree to the terms, you are ready to register by clicking here.  The entry fee is USD $39* until the Early Entry Deadline of May 16, 2013 and USD $49* until the Final Entry Deadlline of June 13, 2013.
• Short stories: ​Elephants. You gotta LOVE ‘em! And can you WRITE about them? Let’s find out. We’re looking for FICTION (including but not limited to fantasy and humor) and for NARRATIVE NONFICTION, between 500 and 5,000 words.Prize for 1st place is $150 and 2nd place is $50. Plus, the top tales may be included in an anthology {ELEPHANTHOLOGY} with your name. See http://www.phylsbooks.com/#!contest/c1kbb. Submissions accepted from 1 April 2013 – midnight of 1 July 2013. Cost $10.
• Short stories: Curry Mallet History Festival Short Story Competition judge is novelist Amelia Carr, max 2500 words with the title The Reunion or The Journey or The Letter, 1st prize £100, closing date 17 May. See http://www.currymallet.org/short-story-competition.
• Short stories: The Bridport Prize. Poems 42 lines max, short stories 5,000 words max, flash 250 words max. £15,000+ prize fund, closing date 31 May. See http://www.bridportprize.org.uk.
• Short stories: The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition welcomes ghost stories from 2,000 – 5,000 words. Closing date: 31st May 2013. (Annual competition). Prizes: First prize £500, second prize £100. Entry fee:  £6 for one story; £9 for two stories submitted together. For more details, see: http://www.thefictiondesk.com/submissions/ghost-story-competition.php.
• Short stories: Bridport Prize (shorts/flash, was June), The British Fantasy Society, Glimmer Train (different category each month), The Lorian Hemingway, Writing Magazine, Biscuit Publishing and the monthly competition Five Stop Story.
• Short stories: Hayley Sherman also runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
• Short stories: The New Writer 17th Annual Prose & Poetry Prizes launched April 2013. £2,000 in prizes. Closing date 30th November. Short stories, flash fiction and poetry.
• NB. Don’t forget to check out the ongoing competition websites listed at the end of this page.

 And do let me know how you get on.

 

ListenUpNorth.com National (UK) Prose & Poetry Competition 18+ (10th May deadline)

2103 is the centenary of a moment that changed history

A national writing competition has just been launched by audio entertainment website listenupnorth.com to mark 100 years since the death of Suffragette Emily Wilding Davison & to commemorate her Northumberland roots.

Emily Davison was repeatedly arrested, imprisoned and force fed for her part in demonstrations and activities in support of the Women’s Social and Political Union.  In June 1913, Emily’s name became known around the world when she stepped onto the track at The Epsom Derby and was struck by the thundering hooves of the King George V’s racehorse Anmer whilst, it is thought, trying to pin the suffragette colours on the animal.  Emily never recovered from her injuries and died four days later in hospital.  Emily was buried in St Mary’s Chuchyard, Morpeth on June 15th 1913, after a funeral procession through the town.

Entrants to the writing competition are being asked to imagine taking themselves back in time to just after Emily’s final departure from her mother’s home in Longhorsley to travel down to Epsom for the Derby. They are asked to write their thoughts or feelings through the eyes of either Emily, her mother Margaret or her neighbour Bob who drove her to Morpeth Railway Station to catch the train to London.

Entries can either be in the form of prose, a blog, a letter (up to 300 words long) or a poem of up to 50 lines. One entry per person. There is no entry fee.

The competition is open to anyone aged 18 years old and over on the closing day of May 10th 2013 and must resident in the UK. Prizes include an iPad and the winning entries will be read out during the ‘Emily Inspires!’ Centennial Weekend in June and recorded for audio entertainment site listenupnorth.com.

For further details & an audio workshop to help prepare your entries please visit listenupnorth.com or CLICK HERE and full terms are listed here.

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As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.

I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

April 2013 writing competitions and events

Below is a list of writing competitions and writing-related events taking place next month. If you know of any others, please do email me.

COMPETITIONS

• Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
• Flash Fiction: The NLG Flash Fiction Competition (that I am Head Judge of) is now open – see ‘June’ for full details.
• Mixed: Winchester Writers’ Conference has opened their 17(!) mixed writing competitions (deadline Friday 24th May). Details in their competitions brochure 2013. £7 per entry if attending, £9 if not.
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
• Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Non-fiction: ​Elephants. You gotta LOVE ‘em! And can you WRITE about them? Let’s find out. We’re looking for FICTION (including but not limited to fantasy and humor) and for Narrative Non-Fiction, between 500 and 5,000 words.Prize for 1st place is $150 and 2nd place is $50. Plus, the top tales may be included in an anthology {ELEPHANTHOLOGY} with your name. See http://www.phylsbooks.com/#!contest/c1kbb. Submissions accepted from 1 April 2013 – midnight of 1 July 2013. Cost $10.
• Non-fiction: Nature Writer of the Year 2013. You could win a place on a research expedition to Madagascar. The judges are looking for a short piece of nature writing (800 words) that describes your experience of the wild. The winning story will also be published in BBC Wildlife magazine, closing date 30 April. Judges: Miriam Darlington, Ben Hoare, Rob Stringer, Kate Humble, Paul Evans. Open to all writers aged 18 and over, whether previously published or not,
  http://www.discoverwildlife.com/webform/nature-writer-year-2013-call-entries.
• Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing.
• Playwriting: The 7th King’s Cross Award For New Writing. Up to two full-length plays may be entered per writer, unpublished and unperformed scripts only. £5,000 prize. Closing date 30 April. http://www.thecourtyard.org.uk/content/25/writers-group.
• Poetry: Poetry-Next-The-Sea Open Competition. Judge Heidi Williamson, max 40 lines, £100 first prize, closing date 6 April. http://www.poetry-next-the-sea.com/index.html.
• Poetry: UK’S First Bug Poetry Competition marking Buglife’s tenth year as the only conservation charity in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates, closing date 8 April.
• Poetry: Buxton Poetry Competition History and Heritage theme, all ages, judge Philip Wells, 40 lines max, closing date 8 April. http://www.derby.ac.uk/buxtonpoetrycompetition.
• Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: 1st – £100. Runners-up – A Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Entry Fee: £5 each, £3 each thereafter. Includes a free critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://www.writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
• Poetry: other poetry competitions include Nonsense Poetry & Flash Fiction (2014), Ver, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: horror), www.poetrypf.co.uk, www.swconline.co.uk.
• Poetry & Short stories: Deddington Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition 2013 Short Story or Poem. Competition information and entry forms available from website end January, 2013 or send SAE to: 7, The Daedings, Deddington, OX15 ORT. 1st prize: £100, 2nd: £50,  3rd: £25, awarded in both categories. Closing date 13 April. See http://www.deddington.org.uk/community/arts/writing or www.deddingtonfestival.org.uk.
• Poetry: The Royal Berkshire Poetry Competition open to all, 40 lines max, 1st prize £200, closing date 14 April. http://www.glowmagazine.me/poetry-competition.
• Poetry: Poetry on the Lake International Poetry Competition has a theme of ‘metal’. Top prizes of €200, judges include Anne-Marie Fyfe, closing date 22 April. See http://www.poetryonthelake.org.
• Poetry: The Winter Poetry Competition has grown out of the exhibition, Ice Dance, which features the photography and poems of Rona Campbell. The exhibition is touring throughout Wales and England in 2013 and the winners of the ‘Winter’ Poetry Competition will be announced during her exhibition at The Greenwich Gallery, London, on Monday May 13th 2013.There are three prizes £100 £65 & £35.We are looking for original poems on the theme of ‘Winter’. The subject is wide ranging and can be tackled through any number of approaches, including landscape, environment, political, personal or any other idea you may have. Poems inspired by Rona’s photographs are also welcome, and these can be found on her website www.ronacampbell.co.uk. The Judges are Aled Lewis Evans and Peter Read. Rules: 1.Writers must be over 18 years old. 2. Poems must be your original work, unpublished and not accepted for publication. 3. Poems must be written in English and not exceed 40 lines. 4. Each poem must be typed, single spaced on one side of A4 paper, which must not bear the name of the author, or any form of identification. 5. The titles of the poem/s and name and address of the poet should be clearly listed on the entry form. 6. The entry fee is £4 per poem, or three poems for £10. 7. Receipt of entry will be acknowledged if a s.a.e. is enclosed with the entry. 8. A list of prize winners will be sent if an envelope marked Prize Winners is enclosed with the entry. 9. Copyright will remain with the author, but the organisers reserve the right to publish any of the winning or recommended poems, up to one year after the end of the competition. 10. The awards will be announced at The Greenwich Gallery, Linear House, Peyton Place, Greenwich, London SE10 8RS, at a special poetry event on May 13th 6.30 – 8.30pm. 11. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the results. The poems will not be returned. 12. The organisers reserve the right to return poems and entry fees if the need arises. 13. The judges will read all the entries. 14 Closing date: Friday 26th April 2013. Cheques/POs made payable to ‘Winter’ and send the completed poem and application form to ‘Winter’ Poetry Competition, 5 Salisbury Road, Wrexham, LL13 7AS.
• Poetry: Ver Poets Open Competition 2013. Judge Nick Drake, 1st prize £600. 30 lines max, closing date 30 April. See http://verpoets.org.uk/news/competitions.
• Poetry: Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2013. Prizes: £600, £250, £100. £100: The Ware Sonnet Prize. Anthology publication for winners and shortlisted poets (£3.50, post free: pre-ordered). Closing date 30 April. Informal prize-giving ceremony at Ware Arts Centre, 5 July 2013. Fee: £4;  4 poems for £12, then £3 per poem (in the same submission). Length:  up to 50 lines. Sole judge: Susan Utting. Include contact sheet with usual details. Download flyer from website, or send SAE: The Competition Secretary, Ware Poets Competition, 21 Trinity Road, Ware, Herts. SG12 7DB or email: warepoets_competition@hotmail.co.uk and see http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/images/compware13.pdf.
• Poetry: Southport Writers’ Circle International Poetry Competition 2013 Final Adjudicator: Stephen Beattie. First Prize £150, Second Prize £75, Third Prize £25 A maximum of 40 lines per poem is allowed. Closing date 30 April. See http://www.swconline.co.uk/n1/?cat=5.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Screenwriting: http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/apply.html is a screenwriting competition with a late April deadline.
• Script: Royal Court Theatre’s 100-word plays and ’Ticket to Write’ 2013: competition for stage plays about The Beatles lasting 15 minutes, closing date 5 April. http://www.acedrama.co.uk/index.html
• Scriptwriting: The Nick Darke Award is open to all writers – stage play screenplay or radio play – prize fund £6,000. Closing date 29 April. http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/nickdarkeaward.
• Short stories: ​Elephants. You gotta LOVE ‘em! And can you WRITE about them? Let’s find out. We’re looking for FICTION (including but not limited to fantasy and humor) and for NARRATIVE NONFICTION, between 500 and 5,000 words.Prize for 1st place is $150 and 2nd place is $50. Plus, the top tales may be included in an anthology {ELEPHANTHOLOGY} with your name. See http://www.phylsbooks.com/#!contest/c1kbb. Submissions accepted from 1 April to 1 July 2013. Cost $10.
• Short stories: William Trevor / Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition 1st prize €3,000, closing date 5 April. http://www.mitchelstownlit.com/index.html.
• Short stories & Poetry: Deddington Writers’ Group Open Writing Competition 2013 Short Story or Poem. Competition information and entry forms available from website end January, 2013 or send SAE to: 7, The Daedings, Deddington, OX15 ORT. 1st prize: £100, 2nd: £50,  3rd: £25, awarded in both categories. Closing date 13 April. See http://www.deddington.org.uk/community/arts/writing or www.deddingtonfestival.org.uk.
• Short stories: The Fowey Festival of Words and Music (formerly the Daphne du Maurier Festival) has announced the launch of the Short Story Competition for 2013. First Prize is £100 and Runner-up £75. Entry is £6.00 and entry form and full details at http://www.foweyfestival.com/the-du-maurier-festival-society-short-story-competition. The closing date is 19th April 2013.
• Short stories: Five Stop Story, Glimmer Train (different category each month), The Moth-Altun Short Story Prize, Nonsense Poetry & Flash Fiction (2014), Nottingham Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: horror / subscriber-only theme: food), www.francobritishcouncil.org.uk, www.west-linton.org.uk/content/pentlands-writers-group. Also see Deddington in ‘Poetry…’ above.
• Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
• Short stories: Young Writers’ Competition. The annual Young Writers’ Competition at Jane Austen’s House Museum is entering its fourth year and is now open for entries. Annalie Talent, Education Officer said ‘Next year is the 200th anniversary of publication of Pride and Prejudice and so we have made the theme of the competition First Impressions which was the original title of Jane’s best-loved novel.’ Entries should be short stories of 300-400 words and entrants can interpret the theme in any way they want. Entry is open to all UK school pupils in school years 7-11. There are two categories: years 7 and 8 and years 9, 10 & 11. The competition will be judged by Professor Kathryn Sutherland of St Anne’s College Oxford and the Museum’s previous Writer-in-Residence, Rebecca Smith.
  Closing date 26 April. See http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk for details.
• Short stories: National Express / Little, Brown / Jenny Colgan are running a free to enter short story competition, max 2000 words. “We’re offering you the chance to become a published author. To enter, we would like you to write a short story no more than 2,000 words long with the premise of ‘take us on a journey’. You can use your own creativity to elaborate your journey into a literary masterpiece. The winning short story will be published in the back of Jenny Colgan’s, The Good, The Bad and The Dumped, e-Book edition. Closing date 28 April. More details here.
• Short stories: first Annual Sara Park Memorial Short Story Competition. Theme Journeying, max 2000 words, closing date 30 April. http://www.redsquirrelpress.com/SquirrelCOMP.html.
• Short stories: The 2013 James Plunkett Short Story Award for new and emerging writing talent, open to all writing in English who have not had a short story collection published. 1st prize €2,000, max 3000 words. Next closing date 30 April. See http://www.ireland-writers.com/index.htm.
• Short stories: 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers internationally over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). Entry fee £8 per story. Closing date 30 April. 1st prize £1,000 plus £150 Waterstone’s gift card. 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology. See http://www.bristolprize.co.uk.
• Short stories: The 2013 Bristol Short Story Prize is open to all writers, UK and non-UK based, over 16 years of age. Stories can be on any theme or subject and entry can be made online via the website or by post. Entries must be previously unpublished with a maximum length of 4,000 words (There is no minimum). The entry fee is £8 per story. The closing date for entries is April 30th 2013. Prizes: 1st £1000 plus £150 Waterstones gift card, 2nd £700 plus £100 Waterstones gift card, 3rd £400 plus £100 Waterstones gift card, 17 further prizes of £100 will be presented to the writers whose stories appear on the shortlist. All 20 shortlisted writers will have their stories published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 6. The winning story will, also, be published in Bristol Review of Books magazine. The 20 shortlisted writers will be invited to an awards ceremony in Bristol in October 2013 when the winners will be announced and the anthology launched. Any shortlisted writers unable to attend the awards ceremony will be sent their prizes. The awards ceremony will be part of the 2013 Bristol Festival of Literature. Judging panel : Ali Reynolds (literary consultant, former Random House editor), Bidisha (writer, broadcaster, critic), Anna Britten (author and journalist), Chris Wakling (novelist, Creative Writing tutor). Full details and rules at www.bristolprize.co.uk.

See this blog’s Competitions page for other competitions (in date / genre order).

EVENTS

• The Writing School Leicester April to August 2013 programme is now available.
• The London Writers’ Workshops latest programme is now available.
• A rare opportunity to get top tips on thriller writing from one of the best in the business is coming to Galloway.  On Saturday April 6th, Lin Anderson will be leading a two hour workshop at the Creebridge House Hotel in Newton Stewart from 2pm.  Lin is the author of the popular Rhona MacLoud series of crime thrillers which includes Driftnet, Picture Her Dead and Torch. She is the co founder of the Bloody Scotland Book Festival and is currently the chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland.  The workshop is being held as part of the Dumfries & Galloway Rural Literature Development Hub and the cost to any writer living within the region is just £5. This price, which includes refreshments, also applies to any writer living outwith the region but who is a member of a Dumfries and Galloway writers’ group. The cost for anyone outside the region is £25. The event has been organised by the Wigtown based Booktown Writers group and spokeswoman Anni Telford said: “We are absolutely thrilled that Lin has agreed to come to Newton Stewart. This is a marvellous opportunity with one of Scotland’s leading crime writers but places are limited.”  For further information or to book your place please contact Anni by e-mailing mail@booktownwriters.co.uk or telephone 07501 046501.
• Oxford Novel Courses is running a day-long conference of seminars at St. Hilda’s, Oxford (England) on 13th April entitled ‘Pitch your novel across the Pond and Beyond’. ”Learn from straight-talking agents, canny entrepreneurs and experienced authors amid the historic surroundings of an Oxford college.” (I went to St. Hilda’s for their crime-writing weekend last August, it is a lovely place) See http://www.oxfordauthorcourses.com for details. Cost £120 (discounts for members of professional societies).
• The yearly one-day (Saturday) Get Writing Writers’ Conference run by the Verulam Writers’ Circle, Hertfordshire, England has moved from their usual February schedule to mid-April (20th in 2013). They’re also on Twitter and Facebook.
• The yearly Chipping Norton Literary Festival runs every April (20-21st in 2013). You can also follow the festival news on Twitter.
• Cambridge-based Wordfest Spring Festival also runs every April and in 2013 is 12th-14th.
• THE LONDON BOOK FAIR 2013 runs from 15-17 April 2013, at Earls Court, London. The LBF has announced a partnership with book marketing and publishing consultancy Authoright, in the creation of a revamped AuthorLounge dedicated to unpublished authors at the 2013 fair. The LBF AuthorLounge will present new writers with an eclectic, compelling, cutting-edge, interactive and collaborative programme of events, seminars and networking opportunities designed to educate and inspire and mark the beginning of a new way of thinking about writing and publishing, providing a space in which authors can learn, create, have fun and, most significantly of all, take control. Already confirmed for the seminars are representatives from Faber and Faber, HarperCollins, Foyles, Kindle Direct Publishing, Matador, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency and Penguin. The AuthorLounge will bring together experts from all aspects of the publishing industry from editors, marketers, cover designers and booksellers to share their expertise and insights into the contemporary publishing landscape and, for the first time ever at the London Book Fair, unpublished authors will also be able to meet and network with literary agents. Find out more about The London Book Fair.
• http://www.chez-castillon.com runs a variety of courses by tutors including Jane Wenham-Jones with her ‘Is there a book in you?’ workshop from Saturday 27th April to Friday 3rd May 2013.
• Alt Fiction is a science-fiction, fantasy and horror weekend in Leicester and runs every April, although it’s on hold for 2013.
• Oadby Library, Leicestershire, England is running a Get Creative Fortnight 13-28 April:
  Saturday April 13 - 2pm-3.30pm £3 per child. Aesop’s Fables: the Lion and the Mouse Interactive storytelling from Lovers of Literature (LOL) with puppets and fun animal games for under 7s.
  Monday April 15 - 1.30pm-3.30pm pricing to be confirmed. Poetry Workshop with John Gallas Leicester Writing School tutor John Gallas leads a poetry workshop.
  Monday April 15 - 4pm-5pm £4. Roald Dahl Dance Workshop. Discover Roald Dahl’s classic books through the use of dance. A fun, enjoyable workshop for 7-10 year olds using props, materials and imagination to create journeys of movement through books such as James and the Giant Peach and The BFG.
  Monday April 15 - 7.30pm £8 including refreshments. Author talk: Stephen Booth. The author of the successful Cooper & Fry crime series discusses his books and the creative writing process.
  Tuesday April 16 - 5pm-7pm pricing to be confirmed. Short Story Workshop with Alison Dunn. Leicester Writing School tutor Alison Dunn leads a workshop focussing on the art of writing the short story.
  Wednesday April 17 - 2.30pm-3.30pm £4 per child. Explorers Dance Workshop. A dance workshop for 3-5 year old exploring classic children’s literature such as The Gruffalo, through movement and imagination.
  Wednesday April 17 - 6.30pm £8 including refreshments. Author talk : Lynda Page. The Leicestershire based saga author discusses her books and the creative writing process.
  Thursday April 18 - 6.30pm £3.50 including refreshments. Author talk : Malcolm Noble. Local author talks about his series of ten crime novels and discusses the creative writing process.
  Sunday April 21 - 10am-11.30am £4. Storytelling Workshop. What is a story and what does it mean to tell a story? This workshop looks at the connection between theatre and story and how the power of stories influences issues and facts into people and lives.
  Monday April 22 - 2pm-3.30pm £4 including refreshments. Secret Leicestershire. Local history author Stephen Butt discusses the hidden historical gems that can be found in your area.
  Monday April 22 - 4pm-6pm £5 per child. Under 12s Poetry Workshop. Using games and activities to explore different styles of poetry and techniques to create a poem.
  Monday April 22 - 7.30pm £8 including refreshments. Agent & Authors Q&A Session. Children’s books literary agent Penny Luithlen talks about the do’s and don’ts for submissions, and authors Bali Rai and Dan Tunstall share their experiences of getting published.
  Tuesday April 23 - 2pm-4pm £10 including materials. Book Making Workshop. Elizabeth Dyer leads a book making workshop. She specialises in handmade and altered books, ranging from simple folded paper books to more complicated book binding and book sculpture. For age 12 and upwards.
  Tuesday April 23 - 7.30pm £8 including refreshments. Author talk : Alison Moore. Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Lighthouse discusses the craft of short story writing and reads from her new short story collection The Pre-War House and Other Stories, which will be available to buy ahead of publication.
  Wednesday April 24 - 11am-12pm £4 including refreshments. Author talk : Margaret Kaine
  Local award-winning author of romantic historical fiction discusses her novels and the creative writing process.
  Thursday April 25 - 2pm-3.30pm £2.50 including refreshments. Self Publishing – The Opportunities and Pitfalls This session looks at the range of self-publishing options open to authors, how these choices can affect their chances of success, and some of the common pitfalls authors often meet.
  Friday April 26 - 7pm £5 including refreshments. Author talk : Anne Zouroudi The popular author of The Greek Detective crime series of books discusses her work and the creative writing process.
  Sunday April 28 - 2pm-3pm £4 per child. Bali Rai Workshop for Kids Local childrens author Bali Rai leads a workshop aimed at stimulating children creatively.
  Also, we are open for submissions for the Get Creative Prize 2013, a creative writing competition. Write a short story or the opening of a novel aimed at children or young people. There are three categories:
  Under 12s £2 per story (maximum 500 words)
  Teenagers £3 per story (maximum 1,000 words)
  Adults £5 (maximum 2,000 words)
  Prizes include a £50 Leicester Writing School voucher and a critique from children’s books literary agent Penny Luithlen.
  You can call in to Oadby Library at 10 The Parade, Oadby, Leicestershire to pick up tickets or call 0116 305 8763 to reserve your place at one of our events. Please note that tickets must be paid for and collected prior to the event. We have many other arts and crafts events, including jewellery making, calligraphy, streetdance workshops, the Utterly Butterly Ukulele Project and BBC Radio Leicester’s Down to Earth gardening programme broadcasting live from the library. There is something for everyone! Click here for Oadby Library opening times and directions.
• Creative Coffee Club is where creative people meet fortnightly on a Wednesday at Screen Lounge at Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, 4 Midland Street, Leicester LE1 1TJ (UK).
• Liars’ League run a series of short fiction readings held at ‘The Lamb’ pub in Lambs Conduit Street, London on the second Tuesday of every month.
• Loose Muse runs on the second Wednesday of every month. at the Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 (closest tube = Covent Garden). This is London’s only regular event for women writers of all genres, with a generous open mike sharing session plus two featured writers each month. The night starts at 8.00 p.m. Cost: £5.00 / £3.00 concessions.
• Towcester Writers’ Group meets every third Wednesday of the month. 7.30-9.30pm. Cost £3 includes refreshments. Towcester Library, Richmond Road, Towcester, Northants NN12 6EX.
• Buxton’s Word Wizards slam poetry competition runs in the coffee lounge at the Buckingham Hotel, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK at 7:30pm on the last Tuesday of every month. Entry is £2.50. More info can be obtained by e-mailing Rob at: poetryslamUK@aol.com.
• BookSlam reports to being “London’s best literary club night” and usually (but not always) takes place on the last Thursday of the month.
• http://www.artsderbyshire.org.uk has various literary events throughout the year.
• Other events in April include: www.cheltenhampoetryfest.co.uk (late March / early April), www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk (early April), www.birminghambookfestival.org (early April), www.galwayartscentre.ie/cuirt.htm (mid April), www.scarboroughliteraturefestival.co.uk (mid April), www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk (late April / early May), www.wenlockpoetryfestival.org (late April / early May), www.hexhambookfestival.co.uk (late April – mid May), www.shrewsburybookfest.co.uk (late April – mid May)

See this blog’s Events page for other events (in date order).

***

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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.

I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

March deadline writing competitions

A bit late this month but below are the competitions from my Competitions page which have March 2013 deadlines.

Also listed on the calendar are regular competitions e.g. weekly, monthly, quarterly, ongoing and of course competitions with other dated deadlines including one I’m Head Judge of, the NLG Flash Fiction Competition which has a 30th June deadline (500-word max, £2 / three for £5 to enter) but entries already welcomed.

MARCH

• Children’s: Academy of Children’s Writers, Crystal Magazine.
• Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
• Flash Fiction: Flashbang 2013 is now open to entries: http://flashbangcontest.wordpress.com. Sponsored by CrimeFest. £2 entry free. 150 words maximum. Deadline 1 March 2013. First prize is two free passes to CrimeFest. Shortlisted and winning stories published online. Judge is bestselling crime writer, Zoë Sharp. Full details are here.
• Flash Fiction: Erewash has a free flash fiction competition. Deadline noon (UK time) Thursday 21st March 2013. Full details here.
• Mixed: Words for the Wounded (W4W) is a new charity that raises money via writing prizes and donations for the rehabilitation of wounded servicemen and women. All proceeds will be passed to projects such as Battle Back, funded by Help for Heroes, which uses sports rehabilitation to help wounded service personnel gain independence and confidence. W4W is launching its first writing prize on Armistice Day, November 11, and is calling for all non-writers, aspiring, and experienced writers to enter. Entries can be up to 400 words, written in poetry or prose, fiction or life story tale. Winners will receive a small cash prize and their entries will be published in the monthly writers’ magazine Writers’ Forum (http//writers-forum/com). Entry costs just £3.50 and the deadline is March 11 2013, winners will be announced on 6 June (D Day). Oscar-winning screen writer and author Julian Fellowes and his wife Emma are among W4W’s patrons. Julian says: “Emma and I feel strongly that we must never forget the debt we all owe to these brave men and women. We are honoured to be involved in this wonderful charity.” Other patrons include Rt Hon Lord Ashdown, Lt. Col J. Dryburgh, authors Katie Fforde, Katherine McMahon, Louis de Bernieres , Sarah Challis and Mark Hodgson, Daisy Goodwin, paralympian Ann Wild OBE, Taryn Lee QC, artist Rowena Hampton, extreme sportsman  Hugh Williams Preece, Lt Ian Thornson and Founder/Director of the Winchester Writers’ Conference Barbara Large. For more information, see www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @Words_4_Wounded.
• Mixed: Christian magazine ‘Pockets‘ has a different theme per month.
• Mixed: www.helenwhittaker.net/phpBB2 (shorts & poetry).
• Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Novels: Novel Rocket runs an annual Launch Pad Contest: Boosting You Out of the Slush Pile. Entries will be accepted in all genres beginning mid-January. The deadline for submission is different for genre categories according to the following schedule. In each case, entries must be received by 11:59 PM EST on the 10th day of the month (April to September) listed on http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html. They also post a new writing-related article seven days a week, from author interviews to marketing discussions to articles about the craft of writing.
• Novels: Rubery Book Award First Prize is £1,000 and the winning book is guaranteed to be read by a top London literary agent from MBA Lit. Second and third prizes are £200 and £75 respectively. The books should either be published by an independent press or self-published. All genres welcome. Visit www.ruberybookaward.com for more details. Deadline 30th April.
• Novels: other March-deadline competitions include Dundee International Book Prize and The Next Big Author.
• Playwriting: Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama. and www.sohotheatre.com (Verity Bargate Award).
• Playwriting: Cambridge Theatre Challenge: Would you like to write a one act play for the stage and enter it in a competition where short listed plays are given full performance, judged by the audience, considered for publication and given a written assessment by a publishing company? The winning playwright will also receive a cash prize of £200. Every play will be read in its entirety by a minimum of two judges and entrants will receive two lots of feedback on request, at no extra charge! A shortlist of up to ten plays will be drawn up and posted on the Sky Blue website.  Local actors and a production team will be assembled by professional directors to rehearse the plays for performance at the Junction Theatre in Cambridge 6th / 7th July 2013 where the audience will vote for the winner. Closing date for submissions is 30th March 2013. Plays must be submitted on line and full details can be found on our website http://skybluetheatre.com/newplaywriting.php.
• Poetry: The Writers’ Forum Poetry Competition is a monthly contest for poems of up to 40 lines. Closing: Monthly. Entries arriving too late for one month go forward to the next. Prizes: 1st – £100. Runners-up – A Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Entry Fee: £5 each, £3 each thereafter. Includes a free critique (sae required if entering by post). Comp Page: http://www.writers-forum.com/poetrycomp.html.
• Poetry: other poetry competitions include Cardiff International, Fish Prize for Poetry, Literature Wales, MAG, Michael Marks (pamphlets), Northern Writers’ Awards, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: creative acrostic mini), www.davidburlandpoetryprize.com, www.treehousepress.co.uk (Three-in-One), www.towerpoetry.org.uk, www.firebirdpoetry.com, www.scottishbooktrust.com/familylegends.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Scripts: www.euroscript.co.uk.
• Short stories: Calderdale, Chapter One Romantic, Dark Tales, Exeter Writers, Fish Prize for Flash Fiction, Five Stop Story, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Meridian Writing, Mslexia, Northern Writers’ Awards, Rider Haggard, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all open: 750-words max / subscriber-only theme: last line ‘Out she walked with a spring in her step.’) and www.exeterwriters.org.uk, www.bristolprize.co.uk, www.greenacrewriters.blogspot.com, www.wyvern-publications.co.uk/competitions.
• Graffiti Magazine Short Story Competition Rules: *For crime stories* 1. Closing date March 16th 2013; 2. Entries must be in English and be the writer’s own unpublished work. They must not be on offer for publication or entered in any other current competition; 3. Maximum length 1,500 words; 4. Each piece of work, with its title, must be in clear type on one side of A4 sheet(s). Details of the writer must not appear on this sheet; 5. The name and address of the writer and the titles of all entries should be typed on a separate sheet of A4 paper; 6. The prize-winner will be notified by post, if SAE provided, or by email if email address is provided; 7. Entries are only accepted by post. Please keep a copy of your work, as entries will not be returned; 8. The fee is £3 per story. Cheques / Postal Orders in sterling only, should be made payable to ‘Catchword Writing Group’; 9. All entries that arrive on time will be considered by the adjudicator, whose decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into concerning the result. 10. Competitors wishing to be informed of the results should enclose an SAE marked ‘Results’ or provide an email address. Send entries to: Graffiti Magazine Writing Competition, c/o 33 Sandford Leaze, Avening, Glos. GL8 8PB (UK). Prize: £25 The winning entry and up to five of the short listed stories will be published in Graffiti. For more information: graffiti.magazine@yahoo.co.uk.
• Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
• Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award is now (October 2012) open for entries. This new international competition welcomes stories of up to 2,200 words on any theme or subject from published or unpublished writers. Prizes are as follows: 1st £500, 2nd £100, 3rd £50, and an additional local prize of £50. The competition closes March 30th, 2013. For further details see our website www.bathshortstoryaward.co.uk.
• Short stories: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their spring deadline is 31st March.
• Short stories: Exeter Writers is pleased to announce that the prizes in its 2013 Short Story Competition have all increased in this fifth annual Competition. The first prize is £500, 2nd and 3rd are £250 and £100. There is also an additional prize of £100 for a writer living in Devon so please pass on this information if you know writers who live here. Stories can be in any genre except for children, they can be up to 3,000 words and the entry fee is £5 per story. The closing date is 31st March 2013.  Rules of the competition and an entry form can be found on our website: www.exeterwriters.org.uk or you can send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Competition, 4 Albion Place, Exeter EX4 6L.
• Short stories: Five Stop Story runs a quarterly short story competition (end March / June / September / December). Membership to the site is £25 but you get to enter up to five stories in each competition. Further details at http://www.fivestopstory.com/write.

***

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Guest post: Valentine’s Day from romance writer Jane Wenham-Jones

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of romance (of course, it’s Valentine’s Day!), is brought to you by novelist, speaker, journalist, tutor, presenter and writing guru http://Jane Wenham-Jones.

Valentine’s Day

You might think that someone who has spent a great deal of her writerly life dealing in romance, would embrace the celebration of St Valentine with open arms. You may, indeed, imagine your average author of romantic fiction as a hearts and flowers sort of woman. Floating about in pink chiffon, exchanging Snugglebum messages with Coochie-face, preparing heart-shaped salmon delights and chocolate-coated strawberries in champagne, while the deliveryman arrives bent beneath a weight of ribbon and orchids. Not in this house. My theory is that we scribes make up romance for the same reason as so many millions read it. It’s in jolly short supply in real life. It would be fair to say that in the last two decades I have generally received a card on Valentine’s Day and more often than not, some roses to boot. This is largely by dint of leaving instructions in bold felt tip in my husband’s diary mid-January and by teaching my son, as soon as he could speak, to repeat “Buy Mummy Flowers” whenever I gave him a Pavlovian shove through the door of his father’s study. We have been married too long to dine out on February 14th – all those other couples slobbering over each other is enough to put anyone off their Nipples-of-Venus-to-share – and a general air of relief descends when the day’s over and we can go back to shouting as usual.

A quick straw poll among my friends suggests we are not unique. In novels, men may be tall, dark, handsome and capable of producing tickets for a romantic jaunt to Paris without being asked but in reality, in my experience, they are more likely to shriek “How much?” and remind you that there’s an important league match that weekend and the only thing they’ll be holding close is the remote control. The myth continues because, even if we find the whole “Bunnykins” thing pretty cringey ourselves, we live in hope that our fictional heroes who have the florist on speed-dial and understand about candlelight and Belgian chocolate and the element of surprise are out there somewhere. Even if the evidence to the contrary – “they double the price on Valentines Day / I can’t see what I’m eating / Won’t that make you fat? / You get it and put it on my credit card” – is overwhelming. And that, dear reader, concludes my entire fount of knowledge on things romantic. I only wish someone would believe me. But no, it is assumed if I write romantic comedy I must be something of an authority on the matter.

Over the years a variety of magazine editors, radio producers and fellow hacks doing the Ten Top Tips trick when there’s nothing else to say, have called upon me to dispense wisdom on everything from handling a first date to spicing up one’s marriage to how to cope when he lives a continent away. (Sounds ideal to me). I once choked on air having just heard myself introduced by one regional radio station (clearly desperate to fill five minutes before the travel news) as a “relationships expert” and finding I was being called upon to offer advice to Helen who felt Kevin no longer loved her, when I’d thought I was just there to plug a novel. “A special night out,” I suggested vaguely, trawling my memory for every cliché from every agony aunt I’d ever read. “A quiet night in when you can really talk… Communication is so important,” I simpered, getting into my stride, even though I knew that Kevin, as previously discussed, would rather watch the boxing and will be aghast when Helen serves up chicken a la mode in the dark instead.

But there are worse things to be asked to do and it’s just happened again. Another call from the well-meaning wanting me to give a workshop. “We’ve got someone to do Crime,” she says brightly, “and a very nice gentlemen in charge of Sci Fi. Perhaps you can give us a few words on Romance and Erotica.” I most certainly can’t. The only time I ever attempted to write something erotic, the magazine in question gave up on my descriptions of passion and wrote the end in themselves. I can’t do body parts, I can’t do moaning and writhing, I feel saying silly saying “nipple” (yes I know I said it earlier but that was a pudding) and even in my raunchiest novel where every single character is at it in some form or other, I still flinch from the squelchy bits. I tried to make this sound erudite. “I tend to believe less is more,” I offered. “The brain is the most potent of the sexual organs and arousal is often mental not physical. I see nothing wrong in closing the bedroom door and leaving much to the imagination.”

“Perhaps just the romance then…” she said.

I am planning my opening address: An appealing hero should be tall and good-looking, kind and sensitive, given to unexpected gestures in the city-break and floral departments. Even if he’s a traditional man, and you have to write it down for him first…

***

I loved it. Thank you, Jane! I wonder who the crime writer is…

Jane is the author of four novels and two writing ‘how to’ books – ‘Wannabe a Writer?’ a humorous look at becoming a scribe, and ‘Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of?’ a guide to the art of book and self-promotion.

Her latest book is ‘100 Ways to Fight the Flab’, for those of us with a writer’s bottom! You can win a great week-long writer’s course, at Chez Castillon, a beautiful southern France (Dordogne) location, with Jane as your tutor (April 2013).

Just click here for the details and rules.

As a freelance journalist she has appeared in a wide range of women’s magazines and national newspapers and writes regular columns for Woman’s Weekly and Writing Magazine, where she is the agony aunt. Jane is an experienced tutor who is regularly booked by writing conferences and literary festivals to run workshops and give talks on all aspects of the writing process.

She is also a member of Equity, has presented for the BBC on both TV and radio and has done her fair share of daytime TV, particularly when promoting her controversial second novel Perfect Alibis (subtitled How to have an affair and get away with it…). It was those – sometimes hair-raising – TV experiences that inspired Prime Time, her latest novel. For more information see http://www.janewenham-jones.com and http://janewenhamjones.wordpress.com.

Prime Time is available as a paperback and eBook, and has just been shortlisted for the Romantic Comedy category of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s RoNas.

***

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with cozy mystery and paranormal / historical Helen Osterman – the six hundred and forty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Guest post: How to tackle a writer’s bottom by Jane Wenham-Jones

Tonight’s (extra) guest blog post, on the topic of being a trim writer, is brought to you by novelist, speaker, journalist, tutor, presenter and writing guru Jane Wenham-Jones.

How to tackle a writer’s bottom

“My BMI is 22, my hip to waist ratio passes muster with the medical profession and given the right light, when wearing the right underwear, I have even been referred to “slim”. A small miracle given my alcohol intake, addiction to crisps and erratic approach to exercise….”

So speaks Jane Wenham-Jones, the author who coined the term “Writer’s Bottom”. Here, she brings you her top 100 tips for keeping a spreading rear end at bay. Quirky, hilarious, uplifting, occasionally bizarre, every one of these tried-and-tested methods will have you looking and feeling slimmer and fitter – even with a glass in your hand.

Tonight, Jane tells us more about 100 Ways to Fight the Flab – The Wannabe Guide to a Better Bottom…

I take the credit for coining the term “Writer’s Bottom” – the lardy backside you get when you sit on it too long cos you’re penning your masterpiece. And now consider myself a bit of an expert. I wrote a chapter on the syndrome in my first how-to book: Wannabe a Writer? And it’s the section of the book readers seem to mention the most so I thought it might be fun to expand on my dietary and fitness advice. Not that it is probably quite the right description. I doubt it is the sort of thing your doctor or nutritionist would probably point you towards, involving as it does, crisps wine and chocolate, but look at it this way – I am not morbidly obese (which is a small miracle). So it must work.

All the tips are tried and tested (with the possible exception of having lots of fantastic sex) and I am hoping for positive feedback from my hordes of grateful readers (before and after pictures especially welcome).

Interviewers so far – queuing round the block, natch, to learn my secrets – seem less interested in my quirkiest method for toning one’s gluts and only keen to establish which foods I love and hate. So here goes:

I like small nibbley things that go with champagne. I love canapés and little salty things and those paper cones of tiny fish and chips. Also you can’t beat really great bread with butter. With a chilled white burgundy. Anything with lots of small dishes like meze and tapas is right up my street. Adore a curry and anything spicy.

HATE dodgy animal parts or anything offally or suety. Loathe milk, overcooked greens and Mother’s Pride type bread. There was a time when a steak and kidney pudding and cabbage would reduce me to tears. In fact even thinking about S&K pudding works as aversion therapy. See tip number 31.

If you are sitting on a hot tip or trick that will help keep Writer’s Bottom (stomach / arms / thighs / chins) at bay, then we are running an exciting competition to go with this book – to win a writers’ retreat worth £875! Rules and entry code on my blog (http://janewenhamjones.wordpress.com/100-ways-to-fight-the-flab-tip-writing-competition). You don’t have to buy the book to enter but…

1) you might not win if you don’t – it has to be a DIFFERENT tip from the 100 listed already;

2) you don’t want to be tight, do you?

If you’re happy to have the book on iTunes instead of Kindle, you can be parsimonious, if you move quickly, because it is FREE right now if you click here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/100-ways-to-fight-the-flab/id591647028?ls=1

Thank you, Jane. Good luck, everyone.

Jane is the author of four novels and two non-fiction books – Wannabe a Writer? – a humorous look at becoming a scribe – and Wannabe a Writer We’ve Heard Of? a guide to the art of book and self promotion. As a freelance journalist she has appeared in a wide range of women’s magazines and national newspapers and writes regular columns for Woman’s Weekly and Writing Magazine, where she is the agony aunt.

Jane is an experienced tutor who is regularly booked by writing conferences and literary festivals to run workshops and give talks on all aspects of the writing process. She is also a member of Equity, has presented for the BBC on both TV and radio and has done her fair share of daytime TV, particularly when promoting her controversial second novel Perfect Alibis (subtitled How to have an affair and get away with it…) It was those – sometimes hair-raising – TV experiences that inspired Prime Time, her new novel.

For more information see http://www.janewenham-jones.com and http://janewenhamjones.wordpress.com. Prime Time is available as a paperback and eBook.

100 Ways to Fight the Flab – The Wannabe Guide to a Better Bottom is also available now on Kindle.

***

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with novelist and children’s author Michael Rowland – the six hundred and tenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.

Four new online writing groups:

• Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group (http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189)
• Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group (http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934)
• Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group (http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017)
• Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group (http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445)

 

Short Story Saturday story 003: The Bus Driver Who Stopped and Then Didn’t by Dan Purdue

Welcome to the Short Story Saturday story slot and the third story in this series. Because I have a 1,000-word limit on the Flash Fiction Fridays, I’ve decided (helped by first story contributor Jane Risdon) to add a story to the SSS slot, running roughly every other Saturday, in between the short story reviews, and here I’m delighted to share with you one of my favourite short stories (and one of the few I’ve given 10/10 to in the H.E. Bates Short Story Competition judging – this one once of the late-2011 entries – it had me hooked at the title!) by short story author Dan Purdue. The copyright remains with Dan.

Since he submitted this story, Dan’s told me that he’s submitted another for the late-2012 competition and one of the shortlisted (I only know the stories by the number our Competitions Secretary gives them and this year they all had the title / theme ‘A Walk at Midnight’ so it doesn’t help!) so I’ll get to meet him at the prize-giving next Friday 11th Jan (at Northampton’s Moulton Theatre, NN3 7RZ if you’re UK-based and free!).

The Bus Driver Who Stopped and Then Didn’t

Roland wasn’t built for running. Every flat-footed slap of his trainers onto the pavement shot a searing bolt of pain from his ankle to his hip. He was in poor shape, and right now he felt the weight of every excuse he’d ever made to skip the gym, every tube of Pringles he’d scoffed in front of the television. For a moment, Roland imagined his rippling flab, filmed and then played back in slow-motion, might have an imposing, monolithic quality, like a landslide or a chunk of ice breaking off a glacier. Then he caught sight of himself in a shop window. He looked like a giant blancmange bouncing down a metal staircase.

Roland’s lungs were filled with hot treacle. His throat was parched; his nose streamed. Sweat ran in greasy rivulets down the groove of his spine, soaking the waistband of his underpants.

A swarm of If-Onlys chased him, like a belligerent flock of birds dive-bombing without mercy. If only he hadn’t snapped a lace in the hurry to put his trainers on. If only he owned a decent travel bag, instead of having to cram everything into a decrepit rucksack. If only he hadn’t taken so long to work out what Hannah had been trying to say – that he had one last chance, providing he was sitting next to her on the plane when it left for Paris. If only he still had the car, if only he knew a shortcut, if only, if only…

So Roland ran. He ran like he’d never run before, like a man chasing down his last hope of happiness. The neighbourhood he’d lived in for years warped and changed around him. Streets stretched vindictively towards the horizon. Paving slabs reared up, determined to trip him, leaving him stilled on the pavement, a heartbroken bundle of frustration and chipped teeth. Every road he had to cross heaved with traffic, the sleepy suburb inexplicably transformed into a miniature Mumbai.

His one prayer, his mantra, was a simple one: Please, God, please let the bus be later than I am.

#

Maggie had only been driving the King’s Road route on her own for two weeks. It was long enough to be familiar with the journey, the timings, and the apparently permanent road works near Asda, but not long enough to be complacent. “I have to stay on my guard,” she explained to her husband over breakfast. “Let your mind wander for just a moment, and bang!” – she clapped her hands together – “you’re in a whole world of trouble.” Driving a bus, after all, was a very serious business. Her husband, never much of a talker, simply nodded and sipped his coffee.

So far that morning, Maggie had lost time stuck behind an old woman stubbornly blocking both lanes while trying to park right outside Boots. Then for a while it had seemed every traffic light in town was in on the conspiracy too. But now rush hour was dying down and Maggie was confident she’d be back on target within a couple of stops. Running late constituted a cardinal sin in Maggie’s imaginary book of bus-driving etiquette. Her passengers relied on her to chauffeur them to where they needed to be, at the exact time the bus company stated. She liked to think there were all sorts of important reasons for people to be in particular places at particular times. There was, of course, a chance that it would turn out to be something trivial, like picking up some stamps or taking a jumper that didn’t quite fit back to the shop, but Maggie didn’t like to underestimate anything.

So instead she told herself every one of her passengers was heading to a job interview, or going on a first date with a future spouse, or visiting a housebound, elderly relative. Important things. Maggie was the self-appointed keeper of their promises, the guardian of their good intentions. She drove with the dedication and care that would be appropriate if her bus was filled with world leaders travelling to an international peace summit. She didn’t think this was over the top, no matter what her husband had insinuated with his raised eyebrow. “People need to be able to rely on the timetable,” she told him. “Sometimes it’s just a few seconds here or there that decide how the most important events in life turn out.”

#

Roland came barrelling around the corner, head down, afraid to look towards the bus stop some two hundred metres up the road. His thighs were on fire; his arms were useless bags of meat hanging from his shoulders. His lungs hurt most of all; a cannonball of agony had struck him in the chest and lodged there. He wiped his face with his sleeve and looked up. The sight that met his eyes lifted him clean off the ground.

There were people at the bus stop. People – waiting for a bus yet to arrive. He was going to make it!

At that precise moment, two things happened. Firstly, the bus overtook him. Distracted by this, Roland didn’t notice the second thing, which was a middle-aged man in a tweed jacket finishing his conversation and swinging the door of the telephone box open. The door slammed into Roland’s shoulder, spinning him around. Fighting his own momentum, Roland stumbled and fell, crashing onto the pavement and rolling over and over.

He was only dimly aware of the tweed man’s apologies and the hands helping him to his feet and dusting him down. His gaze was fixed farther up the street, to where the bus was pulling in at the stop, its doors opening to welcome its new passengers. Beyond that, in his mind’s eye, he saw Hannah standing at the check-in desk, maybe scowling at her watch or even glancing towards the entrance. He imagined her pursed lips and the little crease of her brow as she concluded he’d let her down for the very last time.

Galvanised by this thought, Roland let out an anguished howl and pushed aside the little crowd that had gathered around him. He sprinted towards the bus, onto which the last of the waiting passengers was now climbing. Pain thrummed deep in his knee, his grazed and swelling skin chafing inside his jeans. He’d lost a shoe, the one with the broken lace, and something was tickling his neck – the fall had crushed and split his rucksack and a cable, from his phone charger or maybe the earphones of his iPod, was poking out. No matter. The pain, the shoe, the disintegrating bag – they’d all have to wait. The bus was already indicating, ready to move off again.

#

Maggie spotted the running man in her left-hand mirror. Her attention was focused on the right-hand side, on the stream of traffic into which she was preparing to thread the bus, but she knew better than to leave any mirror unchecked before setting off. A quick assessment revealed that the man had none of the physique, attire, or technique of a habitual jogger. He was potentially, therefore, a latecomer hoping to get onboard. Maggie plunged into a dilemma, flicking her gaze from right mirror to left as a gap in the traffic approached considerably faster than the lumbering fatty. Her chance came and she seized the opportunity, noting with satisfaction that she’d pulled away from the stop bang on time.

“You know I’m not an unkind person,” Maggie told her husband later. “But I can’t give people outside the bus priority over the ones onboard. That really wouldn’t be fair, would it?” Her husband shrugged, shook his head in a non-committal way, and went back to his crossword.

#

Roland couldn’t believe it. The bus belched a gritty cloud of diesel smoke in his face and drew away from him. An almighty burst of adrenaline rocketed through his body and he surged forward, managing to get within an arm’s length of the bus. He hammered on the side with his fist three times before his legs finally gave out and he dropped to his knees.

#

The sudden noise surprised Maggie, who hadn’t expected the chubby fellow to cover the ground so quickly. In her mirror she saw him kneeling on the pavement, a figure of such abject hopelessness that she couldn’t help but feel for him. Shaking her head, she flicked the indicator back on and steered the bus towards the kerb.

#

The bus stopped! Roland scrambled to his feet and limped along the length of the vehicle. He floated in a warm fog of relief, the pain and exhaustion melting away as he searched his pockets for the fare. Still panting hard, he stretched an ingratiating smile across his face, ready to gush thankfulness at the bus driver.

Somehow – despite everything – he still had a shot at getting to the airport in time.

#

The latecomer reached the doors. Maggie hesitated, her finger poised over the ‘open’ button. She stared at him through the glass, taking in the sweat, the reddened cheeks, and the rucksack.

“There was just, I don’t know, something about him,” she explained to her husband that night, suspecting he was only pretending to be asleep. “He had this creepy, manic grin, you know? And he was so worked up, so – what’s the word? Anxious. Yes, a bit too eager to get onboard. And that rucksack, well, you just don’t know, do you? I saw wires sticking out of it. Wires. He didn’t look like, you know… but how is anyone supposed to know for sure, these days?”

Maggie looked at the man on the other side of the door. She thought about all the lost minutes she’d worked so hard to win back and was now losing once again. She thought about her busload of world leaders. She shuddered. Picking up the agitated straggler suddenly seemed a very, very bad idea indeed.

#

The doors remained resolutely shut. Roland watched the small, nervous-looking woman at the wheel turn away from him and slip the bus into gear. He banged the palm of his hand against the glass as the engine note deepened and the bus began to move.

“Hey!” he shouted. “What are you doing? Open the door! Stop! Please, stop!”

But it was no use. The bus pulled out and accelerated away, leaving Roland standing, his shoeless foot in the road, watching the vehicle climb the hill. As the last glimpse of it was swallowed up by the horizon, the cannonball jammed in his ribcage detonated. The full blast of his failure squashed his lungs and cut his legs from beneath him. He staggered to a bench and sank his face into his hands.

Tears singed his eyes. His throat knotted so tightly air wouldn’t go in or out properly. His entire body quaked with muffled sobs.

Just as he was thinking nothing else could go wrong, Roland felt somebody sit down beside him. He shuffled to the end of the bench, striving to occupy as little room as possible. He curled up, ashamed of his bulk, the heat radiating from his body, the rank smell of his sweat. But the stranger moved closer. Roland drew breath and looked up, ready to tell whoever it was to get lost.

It was Hannah. She sat with her hands in her lap, swinging her legs like a child. She looked so pretty, sitting there in the dappled sunshine, Roland couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a dream. “You,” he squeaked, his voice full of helium. He cleared his throat. “You’re supposed to be at the airport…”

Hannah smiled at him. “Yeah, well,” she said. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I missed the bus.”

***

Thank you Dan for letting me share your story.

Dan Purdue lives and writes near Birmingham in the UK. His short fiction has been published in many places online and in print, including Writers’ Forum magazine, MicroHorror.com, Defenestration, Every Day Fiction, The View From Here, and The Waterhouse Review. His stories have won prizes in the 2010 Chapter One International Short Story Competition, Flash500.com, and the Seán Ó Faoláin Prize. He was also shortlisted for the 2010 James White Award and The Guardian’s 2009 Summer Short Story competition.

“Somewhere to Start From”, an anthology featuring many of his published and prizewinning stories, is available in print and as an ebook. He blogs at http://Lies-ink.blogspot.com and tweets as @DanPurdue.

You can find his book at:

• Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Somewhere-Start-Dan-Purdue/dp/1447676963 (print)
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/262944 (eBook)
• plus the iTunes Bookstore and other retailers.

***

Up next (in a couple of hours) is my author spotlight of non-fiction author Kathryn Vercillo, then the blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with multi-genre author Rebeccah Giltrow – the six hundred and fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

 

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and this feature ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words). Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Morgen’s Saturday Shout-out 001

Hello everyone. This is me… on the right – a water baby – except of course I’m a bit older and wiser (and almost as far away from the sea as one can get in Britain).

A couple of weeks ago, I created http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/me/morgens-saturday-shoutouts to inspire me to put a weekly post up about what I’ve been doing, see as the other posts are either about or by my guests.

I’d love to tell you that since that page went up that I’ve been working hard at my own writing, but sadly (and as per usual) this blog’s taken over and I’ve done nothing to my second novel, a mystery entitled ‘After Jessica’. What’s more annoying is that I have six wonderful first readers (hi Jenny, Graham, Tony, Robin, Catherine and Jessica) all waiting for me to get it done and send it over. Of course I don’t expect them all to come back to me (and certainly no quicker than I’ve been) but just knowing that one or more of them might should be pushing me to get it done… I know, it’s down to me to find the time and had it been November, I’d be doing just that for NaNoWriMo. I shouldn’t be hard on myself because I did / won my fifth NaNo in November and then had a backlog of emails etc then there was Christmas. Yeah, I know… it’s only three days.

So, in the meantime of me doing anything productive of my own, in case you’ve not stopped by my Morgen With An ‘E’ page, I’ve replicated it below to prove that actually I can sit my bum in my chair and do some work. I hope you’re sitting comfortably…

Hello. I’m Morgen With An E, a writer of over 7 years (although I do remember writing a story about an ampersand when young and dabbling with limericks in my 20s, and I’ve always had my head in a book; formerly Stephen King but my tastes have softened somewhat… to crime and humour). I’m passionate about the craft, and wanted to share with you my knowledge and experience gleaned to-date, having studied under the tutorledge of Sally Spedding, Judith Allnatt, Sue Moorcroft, Joanna Barnden, Jane Adams, and Myra Schneider, and most recently Helen M Hunt. My contact details are here.

I write fiction, mainly short stories and novels with some poetry, and have been published in the UK, the latest being two flash fiction pieces in Cake issue no.3. I also submit to magazines and competitions  in the UK and overseas and won Ripping Pages competition January 2008 with a poem ‘Fight for life’, was shortlisted in the Verulam Writers’ Circle ‘Get Writing’ Competition 2010 with Feeding the Father, a based-on-a-true-story monologue, which was also shortlisted in the Writers’ News Short Story Competition October 2010 (so near and yet so far). I won the Northampton Writers’ Group Members Only Short Story Comp July 2010 and was also shortlisted at Verulam Writers’ Circle ‘Get Writing’ 2011 Competition. ‘Feeding the Father’ is available as a free eShort here (there are three other freebies) and will feature in an upcoming anthology ‘It’s all about me’.

I’ve written four and a bit novels (three for NaNoWriMo – www.nanowrimo.org: 53,000 in November 2008, (novel no 2 Jan-Oct 2009), 117,540 words in Nov 2009 (in 29 days!), 51,300 words November 2010 and scraped through the 50,000 barrier (with less than an hour to spare) in 2011. The ‘bit’ is a conversion of my Script Frenzy 2010 script which I’ll continue at some stage.

I wrote my first-ever script for NaNo’s sister site Script Frenzy – www.scriptfrenzy.org – which was a challenge to say the least. The target was 100 pages rather than 50,000 words but the layout so different that it was a much slower process. Although I’m glad I did it  (102 pages), it didn’t make me want to be a script writer (although I wrote a 5-minute play for Northampton Literature Group’s July 2010 task which was fun) so am sticking with the novels, short stories and occasional poetry. I have also had one of my monologues displayed alongside one of Jaroslaw Ancuta’s drawings – see www.jaroslaw-ancuta.com.

I’ve also had writing-related articles published in the NAWG April 2011 ’Link’ magazine (Chorleywood Literature Festival Review), August 2011 (Blog interviews & Bailey’s Writing Tips) and October 2011 (The Benefits of Attending Writing Events) and a twisted fairy tale in April 2012 editions. I’ve been mentioned on Rosanne Dingli’s website as well as a short story (‘The Threadbare Girl’) published on Nathan Weaver’s site. This blog’s My Collaborations page lists everything to-date. ‘The Threadbare Girl’ is available as a free short story and part of my ‘Story A Day 2011′* anthology on Smashwords ($0.99 (£0.77 / AS$1.50)) *which has just received its first review on Amazon, a glowing 5*.

In July 2011 I guested on Tia Silver Bach’s blog on the subject of NaNoWriMo. In September, Jodine Turner invited me to talk about writing essentials. Later that month I said what it was (is) like to be a writer in the U.K. entitled The view from across the pond on JD Mader’s non-fiction blog.

In December 2011 I was nominated (by K.S. Brooks), and awarded (by JD Mader), a Versatile Blogger Award. Coming a few hours after the first (a 5*) review for my The 365-Day Writer’s Block Workbook they certainly made my day. Then Chaz Wood’s wonderfully dark blog I talked again about writing essentials (yes, it’s deja vu ).

In January I guested on Fiona Veich Smith site to talk about overcoming writer’s block.

Then late February 2012 Cindy Vaskova bestowed a ‘Liebster Blog Award’ on myself and four other bloggers: Nerine Dorman, Icy Sedgwick, Sonya Clark and Emma Newman. One of my duties is to 1. Link back to Cindy (easy). 2. Nominate five others (not quite so easy but doable). 3. Post the award on my blog (done). 4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people in the blogosphere (easy, I do that already ). 5. Have fun and spread the karma! (peasy). Thank you, Cindy.

In April I was one of Catherine Noble‘s ‘crafty fella‘s… that’s certainly a first. Thank you, Catherine, and later that month I was added to the Towcester Writers Group website, was awarded a ‘Lucky Seven’ by Kasia James, and listed as a top blogger by Finish Your Book (another WordPress site). I also met up with JD Mader again on the topic of the art of interviews.

Late May I was presented (online) with a ‘Beautiful Blogger Award’ by Sean Durity followed by another Versatile Blogger Award from Darlene Jones, and then another ‘Beautiful Blogger Award’ by Dicy McCullough. And I revisited the topic of writing essentials for Nancy Dodd and then on Siggy Buckley’s site with a piece entitled Do as I do, not and as I say.

In June I was no.7 of 21 on a list of other bloggers who interview authors, won another Versatile Blogger Award from DK Thomas and a WGT Kreative Blogger Award from Siggy Buckley. I was also Jadis Shaw’s ‘featured book’ with a Story a Day May 2011 giveaway. Also that month I became an Associate of the Society of Authors.

Then in July I was listed 12th in Best Colleges Online’s Top 100 creative writing blogs, on the Fantastic Books Publishing blog as a ‘Useful Resource for Writers’ and a ‘helpful people & sites’ on Burrst.com.

In August I was awarded a Sunshine Blogger Award by Sophie E Tallis then I spotted my blog as one of Sheila Pearson’s favourites and Sophie E Tallis awarded me a Very Inspiring Blogger Award (I never knew there were so many). Tony Riches asked me for 10 writing tips for new writers then a few days later I wrote a guest post for Tom Rizzo on crime writing. Later that day, Sheron McCartha listed this blog’s Books: Other’s Peoples / Novels & Novellas page on her sci-fi book review blog. The next day Gail M Baugniet listed this blog as an awesome blog to visit and a few days later I was mentioned on Helen Yendall’s blog. On the 22nd Christopher Farley awarded me a One Lovely Blog Award. It was a busy month!

Then in September Agnes Meadow invited me to be a (paid!) speaker (as “Queen Blogger”) at her Loose Muse event in Covent Garden, London, mid-March 2013 (I accepted, of course), Jaidis Shaw named me as one of her Author Resources on her new blog. and the same day Dorit Kedar told me via Facebook that thanks to some advice I’d given her she had a short story placed in an anthology. Mid-month novelist and writing guru Jane Wenham-Jones mentioned me in one of her Woman’s Weekly ‘Just Jane‘ columns. Then on the 24th September I was announced as one of Tribal Messenger Daily’s Top 50 blog for authors.

October 2012 started with me being nominated by Anne O’Connell for a Super Sweet award, then on the 2nd I was interviewed by Tom Blubaugh. On the 6th I signed up to (using my Twitter account, it was that easy) with RebelMouse which picks up my content from Twitter and Facebook as I produce it so I never have to do a thing. Then mid-October I I’ve joined Wattpad. Are you on there? Do let me know. A couple of days later I was notified that a free eBook entitled ‘Ditch the Publisher’ I’d contributed to (my section’s no.7, entitled ‘The eBook revolution’) was released. Then William R Bell ‘This is Your Life’d me. And late October I received an email inviting me to join storylane where I was asked to lay myself bare (not literally, you’ll be pleased to know) but perhaps sharing a little too much information about my private life… including my most embarrassing moment!

A great start to November with the kick-off of my latest crime novel ‘Once Perfect’ (and this is going to be very grim) for NaNoWriMo 2012 and I uploaded my first (third-written) novel, my one-and-only-chick-lit-to-date, The Serial Dater’s Shopping List on to Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Smashwords (and will be on iTunes, B&N etc. shortly). On the morning of Wednesday 7th November, I woke up to find I’d received a Written Acts of Kindness Award. The next day, Yasmin Selena Butt mentioned me on her blog. Then on the 11th I was interviewed by Richard Godwin at his Slaughterhouse! On the 21st I woke up to a comment on my blog from Sophie E Tallis and a p.s. that she’d nominated me for a One Lovely Blog Award. Then I submitted a 55-word story to Austin Briggs monthly competition.

I finished NaNoWriMo, with a few minutes to spare, ‘winning’ with 51,555 words then on the morning of 1st December, I was shortlisted on Austin’s competition. One of my interviewees epic fantasy novelist Yvonne Herzberger won. I received an email late on 4th December telling me I had won a professional video trailer from Writania for The Serial Dater’s Shopping List (TSDSL) with my pitch of ’31 dates in 31 days – what could possibly go wrong?’. Then on the 5th I woke up to find I’d been nominated for a Blog of the Year 2012 award. On 9th December TSDSL was featured on online magazine Female First! On the 18th December, Tracy Kauffman added me to http://literary.yolasite.com/bloggers.php. and later that evening I posted a part 3 of 3 guest post by crime novelist Neil Yuzuk who announced that he’s named one of his characters (a secretary, and I was a secretary!) after Rosanne Dingli and me!

January 2013 got off to a flying start with Cheryl Carpinello interviewing me on the 1st.

There is more on the Morgen With An ‘E’ page but I think that’s more than enough. So, hopefully another thrilling instalment next Saturday with some news that I’ve actually accomplished something this week…

***

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words). Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author interview no.600 with short story writer, novelist & tutor Della Galton

Welcome to the six hundredth (woo hoo!) of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with prolific short story author, novelist and tutor Della Galton. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Della. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Della: Way back in the mists of time when I was in my early twenties I bought a house with a guy – we did it as a business project but later we became romantically linked. He decided we didn’t have enough interests in common so he asked me if I fancied joining a writing class with him.  He lasted a term, I carried on. I still go to that class. It’s run by Ian Burton and is at Kinson Community Centre, Bournemouth. My erstwhile boyfriend actually said to me one day that I would never sell anything, so it’s been quite good fun proving him wrong. I did bump into him a couple of years ago and he said he’d read a couple of my restaurant reviews!

Morgen: I started by going to writing classes (lead by crime writer Sally Spedding) in 2005 and was hooked. You’re best known for your women’s magazine short stories, do you have a favourite genre and do you write any genres that they wouldn’t take, so submit elsewhere?

Della: I try to write what sells – but I think if I had to choose a favourite it would be either light hearted or very emotional. I know that’s two different ones, but it’s hard to say which I like best. Depends what mood I’m in. I also write fantasy – as in odd other worldly stories occasionally. I also write erotica, but under a pseudonym.

Morgen: I didn’t know that (about your pseudonym… maybe I should interview her another time ). Your short stories have been published in Bella, Best, Candis, Grace Magazine, My Weekly, People’s Friend, Take A Break, That’s Life, The Lady, The Weekly News, Woman, Woman’s Weekly, Writers Forum, and Yours – some of whom no longer take fiction, why do you think this is? Is there anything you think that might make them change their minds?

Della: I hope it’s nothing to do with my stories. Seriously I think it’s because not enough readers want fiction in their mag. It’s usually supply and demand with magazine editors. I doubt they’d take away something lots of people want. I have lots of students who join my writing classes wanting to write short stories for mags, but they admit they don’t actually read any.

Morgen: What a shame, and of course every writer should read, maybe they stick with novels (most people do). I have just over 100 of your short stories – I’m a nerd, having your 100+, and nearly 3,300 others, listed on an Excel spreadsheet… all in the name of research – I’d love to have been Ali or Tina in ‘The Banoffee Pie Survey’!

Della: Blimey, I’m stunned!! Tee hee, The Banoffee Pie Survey was real – well, in as much as that I did a Banoffee pie survey, it was great fun. Tasty!

Morgen: Research can be tough, can’t it. You’ve also had short stories in charity anthologies (including the gorgeous ‘Waiting’ from Sexy Shorts for Summer, I loved that Lisa and Mark were writers, and found it such a powerful story – yes, I was sniffing at the end – I also have Sexy Shorts for Christmas… Chefs… and The Beach. ). It must have been thrilling to be involved.

Della: Thank you Morgen, I’m touched that you liked Waiting. One of my favourites. No truth in that one I’m afraid.

Morgen: Two of your novels were published by Accent Press, who also publish Jane Wenham-Jones, did you find them or did they find you?

 

January-deadline writing competitions & events

I have a list of writing competition on my Competitions page, initially listed by month then the weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly ones. Below are the January-deadline competitions. Do email me if you know of any others…

January competitions

• Children’s: Frances Lincoln.
• Flash Fiction: Fiction Desk, Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
• Memoir: Lightship Short Memoir Contest: Do you want to tell your own story, or an episode of it? 1st prize £1,000 closing date 31 January 2013 – judge Rachel Cusk. Thanks again to The New Writer magazine for the info.
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
• Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Non-fiction: Nature writing essays welcomed for the Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. The deadline is 6th January 2013.
• Novels: www.booklinethinker.com/hookline.
• Plays: Bruntwood (OPENS 31st January 2013).
• Plays: The Drama Wales One-Act Play is ON HOLD for 2013 so there’ll be no competition but I’ll let you know if this changes in 2014.
• Poetry: Kent & Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition has a First Prize: £1000, 2nd: £300,  3rd: £100,  4th: 4 x £50. Judge: Daljit Nagra. Entry fee: £5 per poem. 3 or more poems: £4 each. Closing date: 31 January 2013. Entries to: The Competition Organiser, 26 Courtlands, Teston, Maidstone, Kent, ME18 5AS. Put name and address on separate sheet – not on poem or enter online and pay by Paypal. For more details, go to: www.kentandsussexpoetry.com.
• Poetry: other poetry competitions include Haiku Calendar, Hippocrates, Leaf Press, Strokestown, Writing / Writers’ News magazines (monthly), www.haikusoc.ndo.co.uk, www.slipstream-poets.co.uk, www.bevlit.org.
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Short stories: The Sophie King Prize is a romantic fiction short story competition which aims to discover a great new romance short story. The winning story will be chosen by best-selling novelist and short story writer Sophie King. The competition is run by women’s fiction ebook publisher Corazon Books, which published Sophie’s own short story collection, Tales from the Heart, earlier this year (to rave reviews) and a new edition of her novel The School Run. This free-to-enter competition is open to both published and unpublished writers resident in the UK. The winning story will be recorded by a professional actor, and broadcast from a dedicated online audio player at http://www.sophieking.info and www.greatstorieswithheart.com. The winner will also receive a beautiful silver-plated jug and £50 gift voucher courtesy of The Handpicked Collection. Entries must not have been previously published in any medium (including but not limited to print, audio and online). The Sophie King Prize will launch on Monday 12th November in association with National Short Story Week. Entrants must submit a short story of between 2,000 to 2,500 words with a romantic theme. The submissions deadline is January 10th 2013 and the winner will be announced in March 2013. More details at www.sophieking.info.
• Short stories: Home-Start Bridgwater Short Story Prize has a 21st January 2013 deadline and this year’s judge is Dame Margaret Drabble.
• Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
• Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award opened October 2012 for entries – see ‘March’.
• Short stories: Writer Selection has a 31st January deadline and 200-2000 word count. The 2013 judge is writer / poet and Costa / Troubadour winner John Hayes. Prizes £150, £50, £25. Entry is free and all entrants receive a year’s membership (normally £10).
• Short stories: Other competitions include Bury St Edmunds, Chudleigh, Fiction Desk, Five Stop Story, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Home-Start Bridgewater, Mslexia, National Galleries Scotland, Writing / Writers’ News magazines (monthly), www.flair4words.co.uk/news.

***

and an Events page based on a similar format. Do email me if you know of any others…

January events

• The Writing School Leicester September term programme will have been published in July.
• The London Writers’ Workshops latest programme is now available.
• Two-hour weekly (Tuesday nights) creative writing sessions at the Old Cross Pub, Church Street, Stapleford, Leicestershire. Run by local writer, Dave Wood. Cost £3.75. Email him for more info.
• Creative Coffee Club is where creative people meet fortnightly on a Wednesday at Screen Lounge at Phoenix Square Digital Media Centre, 4 Midland Street, Leicester LE1 1TJ (UK).
• Liars’ League run a series of short fiction readings held at ‘The Lamb’ pub in Lambs Conduit Street, London on the second Tuesday of every month.
• Loose Muse runs on the second Wednesday of every month. at the Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 (closest tube = Covent Garden). This is London’s only regular event for women writers of all genres, with a generous open mike sharing session plus two featured writers each month. The night starts at 8.00 p.m. Cost: £5.00 / £3.00 concessions. I’ll be appearing there in March.
• Towcester Writers’ Group meets every third Wednesday of the month. 7.30-9.30pm. Cost £3 includes refreshments. Towcester Library, Richmond Road, Towcester, Northants NN12 6EX.
• Buxton’s Word Wizards slam poetry competition runs in the coffee lounge at the Buckingham Hotel, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK at 7:30pm on the last Tuesday of every month. Entry is £2.50. More info can be obtained by e-mailing Rob at: poetryslamUK@aol.com.
• BookSlam reports to being “London’s best literary club night” and usually (but not always) takes place on the last Thursday of the month.
• http://www.artsderbyshire.org.uk has various literary events throughout the year.
• Other events in January include: www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org (India, late Jan), www.galleliteraryfestival.com (Sri Lanka, late Jan), www.stonystratford.gov.uk (late Jan), www.pitlochry.org.uk (late Jan / early Feb).

I put out a list of my New Year’s Resolutions this morning and I’m pleased to say I’ve stuck to them so far; the dog’s been taken to the park, I’ve eaten less rubbish and I’ve written a short story (whilst walking round the park). I’m working on the others.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words). Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author interview no.597 with suspense mystery novelist Debra R Borys

Welcome to the five hundred and ninety-seventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with suspense mystery novelist and spotlightee Deb Borys. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. You can read Debra’s author spotlight at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/author-spotlight-no-61-debra-borys.

Morgen: Hello again, Deb. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Debra: I currently live in Seattle and have been here for about ten years.  Before that I lived in Chicago, but most of my life was spent in small town Illinois. I’ve been writing since I was a kid.  I remember even binding a small book using cardboard, construction paper and a typewriter when I was in junior high.  I chose not to go to college because I knew I wanted to be a writer and what did a writer need with a college degree?  I know better now, but to my 17-year-old mind it made sense at the time.  I wrote all through my marriage and that was when I started submitting things.  I concentrated on novels at first, but nothing worked until I started writing and submitting a few short stories.  Getting a few of those accepted–for pay even!–gave me the confidence I needed to keep working on my novels. As an inspiration for Painted Black, I spent four years living in Chicago and volunteering with Chicago’s homeless, youth in particular.  I got to know a few on a personal level that made me want to become a voice for them.

Morgen: I’m always in awe of authors who said that they always knew they wanted to be a writer. I didn’t know until I went to evening classes in my late thirties and then it took me another four years to consider it as a profession (I’m still working on that actually). What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Debra: While I have written spec fic and literary stories, suspense and mystery seem to be my niche. Painted Black is a suspense novel, but because it’s so character driven, it doesn’t fit neatly into a genre.  Straight whodunits were never as interesting to me as something that got me into the mind of the character as much or more than the actual plotline.  If you care about the main characters, the puzzle they are solving seems less important than what might happen to them while they are following the clues.

If there is one unifying theme to my work now, it is an attempt to see the real world for what it really is, the good and the bad, and keep going no matter what.  Like the character in one of my short stories says, “It’s how you deal with the darkness that counts.”

I read a wide variety of books myself (my favorite all time author is historical novelist Dorothy Dunnett) but mystery / suspense has always been my favorite.  It started with the Bobbsey Twins and Hardy Boy books when I was a kid and continues through Stephen King and Dean Koontz, et al.  My favorite authors always have a certain something that makes them rise above the genre, however.

Morgen: I’ve never read Dean Koontz but I was a big Stephen King fan in my teens and read everything as it came out, until somewhere after Misery (which I loved) when I lost interest and switched to softer reads (like Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected ). What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?

Debra: Painted Black is my first published novel, but I have had several short stories published in print and online publications.  One of them, Red Light, Green Light, is actually a story that arose out of one of the main characters of Painted Black.  I also had three short mysteries published.  I did use a pseudonym for my Evelyn A. Archer P.I. stories which I call my cynical bitch mini-mysteries.  The only reason for the pseudonym was because the books are told from a first person narrative and I thought it would be fun to make it look like Evelyn was a real person writing about her detective agency.  The second book in the series, Bend Me, Shape Me, is due to be released next spring, also by New Libri Press.

Here’s a list of my publications so far:

• Painted Black – a suspense novel, New Libri Press
• Heaven Can B Hell – mini-mystery, The Fringe Magazine
• Peeling the Onion – literary short story, City Slab
• Red Light, Green Light – literary short story, Downstate Story
• Love Takes a Licking – mini-mystery, Red Herring Mystery Magazine
• Blackout Blues – mini-mystery, Pirate Writings
• The Nest – literary short story, Iowa Woman

Morgen: Evelyn sounds fun. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Debra: Standard rejections are easy to take.  I’ve created a database of markets and manuscripts that I’m always adding new markets to.  When a rejection comes in, I just send the story off to the next appropriate market in the database.  The hard rejections are the ones that take the time to tell you how good they thought this or that was, but they aren’t interested in the piece because of some other thing.  There have been times when I have revaluated and even changed a piece based on those kinds of letters, but opinions are always so subjective, it’s risky to take any of them to heart unless they say something you secretly already knew.

Morgen: It’s a good idea to submit elsewhere when something’s rejected. It is just a case of finding the right person for the right story. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?

 

Boxing Day interview no.593 with literary novelist Jane Davis

Happy Boxing Day and welcome to the five hundred and ninety-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. Today’s welcomes the return of novelist Jane Davis to talk about her second and third novels (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Davis/e/B0034P156Q). A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello again Jane, lovely to have you back. We covered a lot of ground in our podcast interview and our earlier blog interview, but mainly talked about the one book you had out at the time, so I’d like to concentrate on your latest two books. Firstly, please tell us how ‘I Stopped Time’ came about.

Jane: Reading a biography of Lee Miller, one of my heroines. I knew her photography but, as it turned out, very little of her life. She was an extraordinary, extraordinary person. One of the most sought-after fashion models of her day, who became a muse to surrealist photographers and artists such as Man Ray and Picasso. But she had always yearned to be on the other side of the lens and, in time, she became highly respected for her own work. At the outbreak of World War II she became dissatisfied with her fashion work and documented the Blitz for Vogue, then underwent yet another transformation to become the only woman in combat photo journalism in Europe, taking incredible personal risks. Lee also recorded the first use of napalm at the battle of St. Malo, the liberation of Paris, and she was there when the victims of Nazi concentration camps were liberated. Her personal relationships were never straightforward, but it a huge testament to the strength of her personality that all of her ex-lovers became friends. She eventually settled down in Sussex with the artist and curator, Roland Penrose, with whom she had a son, Anthony. He knew Lee as an embarrassing mother and had no idea of her history until, after she died, he discovered her collection of work. I found his comment that he was cheated out of knowing someone really very extraordinary extremely poignant, and it set me on the road to discovering one of my main characters, Sir James Hastings.

Other things, I stumbled upon along the way. One of the things that happened while I was writing a book that spans the period of the First World War was the death of Harry Patch. I had been deeply moved watching and reading about the histories of the last of the Veterans, and admired him greatly for his decision to speak out after so many years’ silence. After all that time had passed, you could still see how raw his emotions were.

Morgen: You mentioned in our earlier interview about your love for photography and you’ve incorporated it here.

Jane: Absolutely. That’s one of the things that made I Stopped Time such a joy to write. Jacques Henri Lartique, a self-taught photographer whose collection spans over seven decades, kept intricate notes of his experimentation with what was still a new medium when he was given his first camera as a boy. They became my sourcebook. In fact, I was able to pull several of my passions together: photography, a relatively new-found interest in history. The book is dotted with some of the incredible people I found along the way, whose paths would have crossed with my main character’s. I’ve already mentioned Harry Patch. There’s also Florence Mills, the first black female international superstar, and Edith Hawkes who became better known as Sylvia Ashley, a real rags to riches story. Graveyards also feature.

 

Author interview no.588 with children’s writer Steve Lamoreaux

Welcome to the five hundred and eighty-eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s author Stephen Lamoreaux. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Steve. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Steve: I have spent my adult life in the State of Connecticut, USA, but was born and raised in New Jersey. I have four children between the ages of 24 and 6 (married twice) and have made a career in Sales of various products (financial, software, corporate). You could say that this first children’s book of mine developed over almost 30 years, when I sketched “the little wave” character in 1984, with no thought of an accompanying story at that time. The initial story emerged over the following decade as I became a new father and the implications of man’s behaviour as it effected the future of the earth’s environment because apparent to me. In the late-1990’s, the first draft of a story was written in prose. In the mid-1990’s I rewrote the story in rhyme, but it took another fifteen years of editions and a number of illustration styles (worked on from time to time) before this book, “The Little Wave: An Adventure in Earthly Care – Part One”, was finally worth releasing.

Morgen: Wow, that’s dedication. How did you decide what to write about?

Steve: I’m afraid I cannot name a specific inspiration that lead me to write this book as it appears today. It has always felt to me like it had a life of its own and I was just following along.

Morgen: You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?

Steve: I used a self-publishing company that allowed me to retain control of every step of the creative process. The best input this publisher had was to break my story into two books (the initial story was too long for a single children’s book).

Morgen: It’s great you had that feedback, some would have just left you to your own devices. Is your book available as an eBook?

Steve: Yes. After the paperback copy was released, the publisher created eBooks in a variety of formats.

Morgen: The joy of going digital. Did you choose the title / cover of your book?

Steve: I have retained full creative control of this publishing process. I created the illustration for the book cover, the publisher found the font to use for the text on the cover and within the book.

Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?

Steve: Because my original story was too long, most of the work for the second book is already done. I will probably revisit some of the illustrations when it comes time to begin the process to release Part Two. Right now, my time is spent trying to find ways to market Part One. This is an exciting challenge.

Morgen: I’m glad you find it exciting. It’s certainly a challenge. Do you have a method for creating your characters and if any of your books were made into films, whom would you have as the leading actor/s?

 

Author interview no.582 with multi-genre writer Kenneth Weene

Welcome to the five hundred and eighty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre author Kenneth Weene. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. You can also read Ken’s short story ‘Curbside’ and guest blog.

Morgen: Welcome back, Ken. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Ken: Such a kind question: most of the time I feel like I’m floating in the air someplace between here and there. Geographically, I’m in Arizona, which is in the southwest US, but I grew up in New England and spent many years in New York.

As a kid I loved reading and always wanted to write. So naturally, I went to college to study economics and then got a doctorate in psychology. I grew up with an abiding belief that one should never follow ones dreams only ones nightmares. Luckily, in the past few years I’ve grown a bit. Now I do what I always dreamed and nobody tells me to not.

Morgen: I didn’t know I’d always dreamed of being a writer, I came to writing in my late 30s so I guess I’ve grown up too. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Ken: Mostly I write “literary fiction”, which means more attention to character and language than to plot. Having started with poetry, I am very much about how the writing sounds. I hope readers will read my work aloud. I never understood those teachers who wanted me to read silently; some of them were even upset if I moved my lips. Can you imagine reading Shakespeare silently? Milton? Dickens? Well, I feel the same way about Weene.

Currently I am working on a piece of historical fiction and I certainly have many short stories, some even flash fiction—under 1, 000 words. But the emphasis is still on language.

Morgen: I mentioned your short story ‘Curbside’ in the introduction. It’s a great story. What have you had published to-date?

Ken: I have four books published. The first, an anthology, was published through a vanity press simply to get my feet wet. Titled Songs For My Father, it has become strangely more in demand in recent months, perhaps because people have discovered me. When Amazon runs out, there are no more, and that’s okay. After Songs I was picked up by All Things That Matter Press, a small publisher. They have been great, and we have three novels out: Widow’s Walk, Memoirs From the Asylum, and Tales From the Dew Drop Inne.

Morgen: Maybe ‘Songs’ will become a collector’s piece that’ll fetch large sums on eBay. You mentioned Amazon, are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?

 

Author interview no.576 with novelist, philosopher and writer for children Will Buckingham

Welcome to the five hundred and seventy-sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with novelist, philosopher and writer for children (and translator!) Will Buckingham. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Will. Please tell us something about yourself.

Will: Hello, and thanks for having me on your blog. I’m a writer interested in fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature. My second novel, The Descent of the Lyre (Roman Books) was published in August 2012. I also write for children (The Snorgh and the Sailor, Alison Green Books, 2012), and philosophy. These days, I’m based in Leicester, slap-bang in the middle of England, although I was brought up in Norfolk and in the years in between I’ve moved round a fair amount.

Morgen: You’re not far from me, about five junctions up the M1… and I was born just seven junctions further south. How did you come to be a writer?

Will: Writing is something that has crept up on me. I read quite a lot whilst I was a teenager, and then I became an art student, which gave me plenty of time and very little to do with it. I studied art for four years, and most of the time I spent reading books, drinking coffee, and lounging around in paint-smeared overalls trying to look artistic. I didn’t get much painting done, but I read a vast number of books. Then several things happened. I graduated in 1994, and in the same year I won second prize in the Independent newspaper travel writing competition, for a short piece about having my bike hijacked by a fervently proselytising Christian in Pakistan. Later that year I went off to Indonesia, and it was there that I decided I would start writing seriously. My experiences in Indonesia later turned into my first novel, Cargo Fever (Tindal Street Press, 2007).

Morgen: I read a lot as a teenager too and blame Stephen King for me wearing glasses (his latest book / torch / duvet). I didn’t start writing until 2005 when it suddenly dawned on me (via an evening class) who thrilling it was to write fiction. You write so many things, what genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Will: At heart, I am a storyteller; but the kinds of things that I write tend to move between genres. So I sometimes stray into writing philosophy and also into writing for children. What I’m interested can be boiled down to two main things: philosophical stories, and story-like philosophies. I’m always doing one or the other.

Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?

Will: I have published two novels, The Descent of the Lyre, which is about music and myth in Bulgaria, and Cargo Fever, which is about the outer islands of Indonesia. I have also written popular philosophy (Introducing Happiness, Icon Books 2012), decidedly unpopular philosophy (Finding Our Sea-Legs, Kingston University Press, Levinas, Storytelling and Anti-storytelling, Bloomsbury), and for children (The Snorgh and the Sailor, mentioned ealier). I have only once written under a pseudonym, Lupe Varos, when I wanted to fill a hole in a literary magazine I was writing and, being short of good material for that particular edition, I wrote a story, invented an author, and published it.

Morgen: I love that, and why not? If we can’t be creative, who can? Have you self-published? If so, what led to you going your own way?

 

Author Spotlight no.143 – Anthony Miller

Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and forty-third, is of second-place winner of the fiction Shirley You Jest! Book Award (of which I’m a sponsor) Anthony Miller.

Anthony Miller is a trial lawyer who spends most of his time helping corporations fight about widgets, self-cleaning kitty-litter boxes, and talking light switches.  He has a personality disorder that makes him think it’s fun to stand up and talk in front of people, and realized early on that juries are among the best and most readily-available captive audiences in the world.

After years of getting paid by corporate benefactors to make up stories, Anthony decided he ought to branch out and try his hand at not getting paid for it, and so wrote a profane and offensive (his words ) book about Satan called ‘What Would Satan Do?’

He’s currently hard at work on a sequel called ‘Bjørn Again’, in which Scandinavians, having grown tired of making safe cars and flat-pack furniture, decide to return to their Viking roots of sacking and pillaging.  When he’s not writing, Anthony says he “heads up the Pave the World Campaign, which is a for-profit organization created to fight vicious, man-eating polar bears by promoting the cause of global warming”.

And now from the author himself:

‘What Would Satan Do?’ is a silly book that might be appropriate for anyone who liked Christopher Moore’s ‘Lamb’, or anything by Douglas Adams (in particular, ‘The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul’).  It’s the story of what would happen if Satan decided to skip the whole End Times thing to retire on Earth.  I was in a Bible study class (don’t even ask), reading Revelations, which is basically this wild prophecy that tells what’s going to happen at the end of the world.  As I understood it, Satan’s job would be to get the ball rolling, only to have God show up all triumphant at the end to case Satan into the Pit of Despair.  It occurred to me that if God is omniscient, and He is the unmoved mover, and if He came up with the whole plan for Judgment Day, then Satan is little more than a pawn, and that just seems kind of unfair.  I figured that if I were Satan, I’d blow off Judgment Day and take off for a holiday somewhere nice.

I then invited Anthony to provide an extract of his writing and this is the short, short story ‘Love With Connected Heads’…

James and I are in love.  We’re also Siamese twins, and have been connected at the head since birth.  I once heard a woman say, talking about our love, that we’re “connected at the hip”.  I had to stop right there and correct her.  No, lady, you’re wrong – our craniums are fused together.

But our connection runs deeper than our blend of bone, sinew, and flesh.  In fact, I can actually taste what he eats.  We love soup.  And though we have two, separate hearts (along with all the other vital organs), they really do beat as one, because we share a circulatory system.

Lately, though, I’ve been worried.  I think James is starting to look at other women.  It’s hard to tell, because the way our heads are connected means his eyes actually point in the opposite direction from mine.  We have to cooperate to turn around, which makes it pretty tricky to catch him looking.  By the time I speak up and say, “Hey, let’s turn around so I can look at something,” and he goes, “What?” and I’m like, “Just something I want to see,” and he’s all, “What is it?” and I go, “Can we just turn around already?” it’s usually too late.

I don’t know what to do.  I trust James like I trust myself, but I know there’s something going on.

You can find more about Anthony and his writing via…

WWSD? Blog: http://www.robotsandlava.com

Satanic Magic Eight Ball: http://www.robotsandlava.com/apm/index.php?page=8ball

WWSD? on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/whatwouldsatando

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/What-Would-Satan-Do-ebook/dp/B005MKZEJ0

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The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with novelist, philosopher and writer for children (and translator) Will Buckingham – the five hundred and seventy-sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

5a.m. Flash 061212 – December deadline writing competitions

Every now and then at 5a.m. (probably posted by my clone) I will be bringing you a newsflash, update on what I’m doing, invited guest piece, or whatever takes my fancy, and today I’m talking writing competitions.

I have a Competitions Calendar on my blog and below are some competitions that have December deadlines.

NB. I may well not have tried these competitions myself so please take a good look at the websites before parting with money and submitting your hard work!  ALSO please note that not all the competitions run each year so please check their validity before entering (and their guidelines do change from year to year).

DECEMBER

• Children’s: The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices and www.theredtelephone.co.uk.
• Flash Fiction: Indies Unlimited hosts a weekly 250-word max. prompt competition – see Indies Unlimited. Also see ‘Short stories’ below.
• Flash Fiction: Writer Austin Briggs runs a monthly 55-word competition (different theme each month). It’s free to enter and you can win $55 (of his own money!).
• Mixed: Christian magazine Pockets has a different theme per month.
• Mixed (novels & short story collections): iWriteReadRate and Cornerstones Literary Consultancy (http://www.voteformyebook.com) are offering a monthly social competition to members of the community – see ‘Monthly’ towards the end of this page.
• Playwriting: New Perspectives has a £1000 prize fund for their Dream Up script competition which ends 21st December. Open to any writer living in the East Midlands area of England, the theme is ‘Starting out in the East Midlands’ and should last no longer than 10-15 minutes with a maximum of four characters. See http://newperspectives.co.uk/STEPUP for more details.
• Poetry: Print Express are running their first poetry competition and this is free to enter, with the winner will receive £100 worth of Amazon vouchers. The theme is ‘Winter’ and poems must be no longer than 45 lines. The deadline for this is the 28th December 2012.  You can view further details here: http://www.printexpress.co.uk/blog/2011/10/17/the-print-express-poetry-competition
• Poetry: Other poetry competitions include Anthony Hecht, Holland Park Press, www.le.ac.uk/engassoc and Writing Magazine (WM: subscriber-only theme: waiting for the post).
• Screenwriting: Canada-based Wildsound run monthly screenwriting competitions.
• Screenwriting: www.screenplay-competition.com.
• Short stories: Hayley Sherman runs a monthly short story competition for submissions on any subject up to 2,000 words. The winners are published on the website, promoted online and receive a £10 First Writer voucher. All entrants are also considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual at the end of the year. Deadline 25th of the month. Heather Marie Schuldt runs a similar contest, although 500-750 words max., but with the same deadline.
• Short stories: Writers’ Village runs a quarterly short story competition which attracts entrants worldwide. Click here for the rules… and every entrant receives invaluable critique! Their winter deadline is 31st December.
• Short stories: The Bath Short Story Award opened October 2012 for entries – see ‘March’.
• Short stories: Five Stop Story, Glimmer Train (different category each month), Willesden Herald, www.westcountrywriters.com, Words Magazine, Writing Magazine (WM: open to all theme: first line ‘This won’t be as much fun, Jessica thought.’ / subscriber-only theme: moving on).

***

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author interview no.570 with writer and editor Hayley Sherman

Welcome to the five hundred and seventieth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with editor, writer and creative writing consultant Hayley Sherman. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Hayley. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be an editor.

Hayley: I have always been the editing go-to girl, ever since I was at school and the other kids were stressing about their English homework. This led to an early career as an English teacher, moonlighting as a freelance writer. It was actually a prolonged period of illness that steered me in the direction of retraining as an editor – something I could do from home. When I recovered I realised that I enjoyed dealing with authors much more than facing hundreds of screaming teenagers every day. I now freelance for a range of publishers and run a consultancy for independent writers, offering editorial and creative support. I am obsessed with books, whether writing, reading or editing them.

Morgen: I must admit I’d prefer teach writers than teenagers, especially screaming ones, although I have had teenagers in my writing groups and they’ve been great, although they’ve wanted to be there which makes all the difference. Is there a format (novels, non-fiction…) / genre that you generally edit?

Hayley: I love it when I get high-quality fiction in any genre. Equally, when I am working with a writer who needs more support it makes for a project that I can really get my teeth into. Non-fiction presents different challenges, but I always encourage authors to inject as much of their personalities into their books as possible to create a unique reading experience. There is no area that I rule out and I have extensive experience in both fiction and non-fiction. The only type of author that I tend to turn down is the lazy author. Writers who send a first draft and expect it to come back as a best-seller are not generally welcome.

Morgen: Although you’re doing the editing, it should be a complete and almost ready-to-go document so you get to do the almost-final edits not the first. An author’s got to generally be happy with it before an editor gets involved otherwise he / she is wasting both of their time if too much has to be changed. A rather global question, but are there common mistakes an author can make?

Hayley: Telling the story rather than showing it; dragging undernourished characters behind their plot; forgetting that the reader is not a mind reader; imitating their favourite authors; clichés; following current trends badly; not pushing their characters or plot to their potential. A missing apostrophe is not worth worrying about; it can be easily mended. My main focus is to encourage writers to produce the very best.

Morgen: Ah yes, the old show don’t tell. I talk about that on my blog’s Writing 101 page (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/writing-101). Do editors generally charge by the word or the hour?

Hayley: I charge per 1,000 words. It makes it easier for authors to know exactly what they will be paying when the work starts.

Morgen: It does. That’s the arrangement I have with mine, and it works really well. You can never tell with someone who charges by the hour how long it will take, even if they give an estimate, and as long as both sides are happy with the rate it’s unlikely to deviate too much. How much notice do you get (would you like / need) for editing a project?

Hayley: It really depends on how busy I am at the time.

Morgen: Do you have much dealing with publishers?

Hayley: I freelance for The Book Guild, Hesperus Press, Hay House and The History Press.

Morgen: I’ve heard numerous authors say they can self-publish without an editor – what would you say to that?

Hayley: I would say that it’s a risk. I’m a professional editor, but I always use another editor to correct my own writing. It’s so easy to miss the minor errors in work that you have spent so much personal time with. Aside from the minor errors, it’s always a good idea to have someone (not a friend or family member) read through the book to give some feedback. The bottom line is that if you want to get a good reputation and sell books you need to make sure that you are producing a great product.

Morgen: It is, absolutely. Rachel comes up with some great suggestions, as do my writing groups, and writer-dog-walking friends. How do you edit – on screen or on paper?

Hayley: On screen. When editing I always provide one marked copy, so that all of the changes can be seen, and one unmarked copy.

Morgen: That’s useful. I don’t, as yet, do much editing for other people (just the red pen podcast sessions, which I’ve decided to stop but am doing them on the blog instead: http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/red-pen-critique). Do you write? If so, please tell us about that and does being a writer as well influence your editing at all?

Hayley: Writing and editing affect each other. I don’t think I’d be a good editor if I didn’t have a grounding in writing (I wrote on many subjects as a freelance writer, have had numerous short stories published and have decided to self-publish my first novel at the end of the year). Equally, working on hundreds of writers’ projects has definitely strengthened my skills as a writer, so it works both ways.

Morgen: It’s all about practice, like anything. If someone wanted to become an editor, how would they go about it? Are there qualifications they can gain? Would they need them? Is there much competition to be an editor?

Hayley: Personally, I have a degree in English, a teaching qualification, a diploma in proofreading and copy-editing and I’m partway through an MA in creative writing. These are the things that look great on paper and are going to encourage publishers / authors to trust your skills. When I was starting out, however, it was perseverance that got me off the ground. With no actual experience, I started contacting publishers for work and was laughed away. I ended up getting a break with O-Books who paid modest fees, but gave me my first fifty or so books. After that, I was much more marketable. Experience is invaluable, so even if you have to work for free it’s worth doing it. There is competition, but in this era of self-publishing there is more than enough work to go around if you’re good at the job.

Morgen: There is. It’s a well-known fact that authors can win prizes / competitions – are there equivalent for editors?

Hayley: I’m not sure. This is something that I should definitely look into.

Morgen: These days an editor and agent are the key people in a writer’s life, do you think agents are vital to an author’s success?

Hayley: If an author wants to take the traditional publishing route then an agent is essential. Most publishers won’t even open a proposal if it doesn’t have an agent’s stamp of approval on the envelope. Agents are almost as hard to get as publishers, so I don’t think that writers should get disheartened if they are being left out in the cold. We live in an age where there are endless opportunities for writers to get their work out there. It’s all about being proactive.

Morgen: I’ve heard agents are more difficult to get, certainly than small presses, but then they prefer to deal directly with the author anyway. What do you think of eBooks? Do you read them or is it paper all the way?

Hayley: I love my Kindle. I know that many people are puritanical about saving books, but I’ve got so much more room in my flat now, and I’ve been introduced to some great new writers. I’m a great supporter of self-published authors and I’m excited by the way that the industry is developing.

Morgen: Oh me too. I think it’s the best time to be an author; we have much more ‘power’ than before, and are taken more seriously… if we put our best work out there. Are you involved in any of the marketing for your clients?

Hayley: I want my clients to be as successful as possible and tend to point them in the right direction rather than actively getting involved in the marketing. Many authors make the mistake of thinking that their job ends when the book is written. In reality that is where the real work begins. I am in the process of putting a marketing guide together for new writers and currently refer my clients to websites and books that offer constructive information.

Morgen: A marketing guide would be useful… marketing’s most of my interviewees least favourite aspect of writing, mostly because it’s so time-consuming. Are there any books that you’ve edited that you remember for all the right / wrong reasons?

Hayley: It would be unfair on the authors involved to say!

Morgen: How important do you think title / covers are?

Hayley: Terrible books have sold because of their wonderful titles and vice versa, but gimmicks don’t make for longevity. Ultimately, a book is only as good as its contents, but people do judge…

Morgen: and review. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Hayley: I’m copy-editing a spy thriller at the moment. I am also self-publishing five books this year, mostly writing reference books, and this is keeping me busy.

Morgen: Wow. I’ve just released my debut novel and plan another one this month (hopefully) and four collections of flash fiction / short stories, all are pretty much ready (written, edited, edited some more, red penned, now just need final edits)… and cover design, one of my favourite aspects of eBooking. Do you work every day? If there is such a thing, do you ever suffer from editor’s block?

Hayley: Editor’s block strikes when I am editing books that show very little imagination. Most people can stop reading a book that they’re not enjoying. I have no choice but to keep going even if I feel like throwing my laptop out of the window.

Morgen: Oh dear, but all the more reason to tell the author where they’re going wrong, in the hope they can fix it. There’s so much choice these days that a reader is going to feel less inclined to battle on. Do you have to do much research for your job?

Hayley: I fact-check rather than research to make sure that there are no errors. If I have to do major research to understand a book (unless it is written for a specialist market) then the author has misjudged their audience and this is something that I will address.

Morgen: That’s true. There’s nothing more annoying that getting bogged down in the author showing off that they know far more than you do and you have to Google every other word. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your editing life? Has anything surprised you?

Hayley: Working when I want, in my pyjamas with endless cups of tea and snacks, is a plus. I have already touched on working on books that I wouldn’t choose to read as a negative point, but my job has also introduced me to subjects that I wouldn’t have considered reading and have loved.

Morgen: I’ve just joined a book group to get me reading more and although the first book is my choice (Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader, popular I think because it’s nice and small for a busy month, and very funny – I can’t wait to read it again), I know there will be books that I wouldn’t have otherwise read. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Hayley: Just write!

Morgen: We are writers after all. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?

Hayley: Kurt Vonnegut, Oscar Wilde and Hugh Laurie (huge House Fan). We’d probably have to go out somewhere nice if Oscar is coming.

Morgen: I’ve never watched House. I have series four (I think) on box set (a random car boot sale buy) and like Downton Abbey (which I love) I never started watching it until late in (although only series two with DA). Are you involved in anything else writing-related?

Hayley: Aside from the ebooks I have mentioned, I also run a monthly short story competition. The winners are published on my website. All entries are considered for publication in The New Short Story Annual 2013 at the end of the year.

Morgen: Oh great. I’ve added you to my http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/competitions-calendar page. What do you do when you’re not working? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Hayley: Strangely, I love to read when I’m not working. It’s nice to be able to do it at full speed rather than with my editor’s hat on. Other than that I’m a bit of a social butterfly, but really shouldn’t share my party tricks.

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work? Do you take enquiries from authors directly?

Hayley: My website is www.hayley-sherman.co.uk. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter. I offer a free service trial on my website and am always keen to hear from new writers.

Morgen: Thank you, Hayley.

***

Hayley Sherman is an editor and creative writing consultant who has worked with authors around the world to enhance the quality and clarity of their vision. Her literary repertoire includes proofreading, copy-editing, critiquing/manuscript analysis, mentoring, synopsis-writing and generally making books behave. She likes cake, dislikes celery and often dreams of a world with no apostrophes.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Author interview no.561 with travel writer and crime novelist Margaret Piton

Welcome to the five hundred and sixty-first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with travel and crime writer Margaret Piton. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Margaret. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Margaret: I’ve been a writer for most of my adult life. I didn’t have a clear career direction – considered diplomatic service, law, academia and other fields, but I had always done well in school on written work and won a contest or two. Jobs were scarce when I started looking, and I was about to become a ski bum in Vermont when I received an offer from a trade magazine in Washington DC. That was followed by stints with newspapers in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa, writing about business and travel. I’ve also worked in academia, teaching political science and journalism in university for brief periods, and in corporate communications. I’m based in Montreal.

Morgen: Although a ‘ski bum’ sounds fun I would have picked writing too. You write non-fiction, how do you decide what to write about?

Margaret: Generally I write about what interests me, although from time-to-time I’ve accepted assignments more for the money than out of interest.

Morgen: Sadly it has to be done. Having quit my job in March I’m appreciating how tough it is to be a full-time writer. What have you had published to-date?

Margaret: I’ve published a lot, mostly in newspapers and magazines – there is a partial list of my freelance articles under publications on my Website, www.travelwriterforhire.com. My first book, co-authored with Susan Lukowski, was published in 1972 by Potomac Books.

Morgen: You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?

Margaret: I have just published my second book, “Budget Travel Tips for Russia”, myself as an ebook. I decided on this format because the book is relatively short, and because of the difficulties of today’s publishing scene.

Morgen: It is and that’s pretty much why I went that route, although I only tried fourteen agents so I could have tried harder. Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?

Margaret: Yes, I had a say in both, but I’m not sure how important they are. I used one of my own photos as the cover of the Russia book.

Morgen: It’s a wonderful picture, what an intriguing building. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Margaret: I’m working on my second crime novel, titled “Siberian Spring”, and considering doing a second ebook “Budget Travel Tips for Cruises”.

Morgen: Cruises are so popular, it’s a great topic to choose, and I’m a big fan (and writer) of crime novels. Do you manage to write every day?

Margaret: I don’t try to write every day, and I have gone through long periods when I have written little or nothing.

Morgen: Oh dear, but you clearly enjoy it, which is the main thing. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Margaret: I usually edit once and that’s it. Perhaps I should edit more, but with newspaper training you tend to go with what you have.

Morgen: Writing non-fiction at least you have the facts there so it may not need it – perhaps your newspaper training has made do you write a cleaner first draft. Do you have to do much research?

Margaret: I adore research—it’s much more fun usually than writing. I especially enjoy research on history, geography, psychology and travel.

Morgen: Would you like to do mine? Research and editing are my two least favourite aspects. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Margaret: Yes, I have an unfinished spy novel set during the Cold War.

Morgen: That sounds great, hopefully never say never. You said earlier that you “accepted assignments”, do you pitch for submissions and / or are you commissioned to write?

Margaret: I used to get a lot of commissions, but now it’s more a matter of pitching usually.

Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Margaret: Yes, I’ve had a number of rejections, like virtually every writer. I try not to pay much attention to them, but it’s hard.

Morgen: Easier said than done, for sure, but I like to think it’s just the right thing for the wrong person. Do you enter any non-fiction competitions?

Margaret: I did enter a couple in the past, and won one or two, but these contests aren’t around now.

Morgen: That’s a shame. They are hard to keep going. I’m involved in two (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/competitions-calendar/he-bates and http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/competitions-calendar/nlg-poetry-competition and they generally lose money or break even – with judge fees (which are generally worth every penny!), prizes, postage etc it’s hard). Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Margaret: I have tried to get an agent for a novel recently, but no luck yet. Agents do seem to be necessary for fiction writers. When I was publishing the most nonfiction, there were very few agents here in Canada.

Morgen: It’s tough for them at the moment and I know some have become small presses as it’s often easier to secure business (from both angles) that way. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Margaret: I don’t enjoy marketing, but I realize it’s necessary in today’s environment. I do enjoy writing my blog, www.yourtravelwriter.blogspot.com. It’s similar to a budget travel column I wrote for many years for The Globe and Mail, Canada’s newspaper of record. I’m also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc. I’m going to be giving some talks / workshops to promote my ebook on Russia.

Morgen: Oh great! Perhaps you’d like to do me a guest blog post on the subject. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?

Margaret: My favourite thing about writing is that you can do it anytime, any place, and as much as you like. My least favourite thing is the difficulty of making a living as a writer. What has surprised me is that so many people seem to think everything, including the work of writers and other artists, should be free.

Morgen: They’re the most popular answers for that question, and the ones I’d give. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Margaret: Understand that it is a long, tough slog. You may have initial success, but at some point your luck will change. Read the books of Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way, The Sound of Paper) for good ideas about perseverance.

Morgen: Or if you don’t have that initial success it may just be round the corner. If you could invite three people from any era to dinner, who would you choose and what would you cook (or hide the takeaway containers)?

Margaret: I would invite V.I. Lenin, Carl Gustav Jung and master spy Sidney Reilly and I would have an elegant dinner catered (though I would not expect Lenin to eat much—he was famously ascetic.) I would be fascinated to learn what Jung thinks about the other two, especially Lenin. How could such a civilized, brilliant, highly energetic person turn into a mass murderer once in power?

Morgen: I’d love to be a fly on the wall at that party. If you had to choose a single day from your past to re-live over and over, what day would it be and why?

Margaret: The day would be the first staged public reading of my play, “Analysis of a Revolutionary”. It is an imaginary account of the analysis of Lenin by Jung, set in 1916-17 in Zurich and in 1923 in Moscow. The reading took place in September, 2001, and there is a brief video clip from it on my Website. The day of the reading I was extremely anxious, terrified that no one would show up or like it. Also, I was doing the music intro and afraid I would screw it up. I felt euphoric when the play was well-received—it was really the best day I can remember. There’s nothing like writing success.

Morgen: Wow. Congratulations. If any of your stories were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?

Margaret: I would like Tom Cruise to play Lenin and Colin Firth to play Jung in my play.

Morgen: What a team. That I would like to see. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Margaret: No party tricks, but I enjoy tennis and working out at the gym, and of course travel, reading and studying, especially languages. I’m working on Russian now.

Morgen: My father was in Russia for a while (on business, I think) and later took my mum their for an anniversary (possibly their silver). It looks an amazing country. Are there any writing-related websites and / or books that you find useful?

Margaret: Any books by Julia Cameron or Natalie Goldberg and Hemingway On Writing, a small paperback.

Morgen: What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Margaret: I am worried about the future of writing and writers, since it is very hard now to make a living writing. Some people have the energy to hold day jobs and write on the side, but that’s not ideal.

Morgen: I’m very lucky that I gave up mine in March although I’ve had to get a couple of lodgers instead but I wouldn’t go back. I had a dream the other day that I just started a full-time secretarial job (I used to be a secretary). It was scary. Thank you, Margaret.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see Opportunities on this blog.

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Interview no.555 with writer and publisher Rosemary Kind

Welcome to the five hundred and fifty-fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with writer and publisher Rosemary Kind. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Rosemary. Can you please briefly explain the structure of your publishing house… perhaps who’s involved along the process of an acceptance to the book / story being published.

Rosemary: All submissions come into a common mailbox. Although I do a lot of the reading personally, I will farm out stories which are based on subjects I’m less familiar with, or genres that are I think another pair of eyes would be better looking at. Ultimately the say on acceptance is mine and as far as possible I will give feedback to writers telling them where more work is required, rather than simple rejections. A surprising number of stories are later accepted following rework. Most of the work from there is done by me. I do the formatting and final checking for errors as well as much of the uploading to the internet. We have other technical support when I come unstuck, but fortunately I can cover most things.

Morgen: It’s great that you can give some feedback. Most don’t, or can’t because they simply don’t have the time. I mentioned in the introduction that you also write, does this help with deciding which projects to take on?

Rosemary: Yes I do, although since launching www.alfiedog.com I’ve had precious little time to write. What I write has little bearing on what I accept, but there will always be genres that are personal favourites. My own writing is an eclectic mix and in many ways was the trigger for the project. I was all too aware how limited the paid outlets are for short stories, particularly if you don’t write for the classic magazine market.

Morgen: It is indeed, and even that’s been shrinking. In the UK, even in the time that I’ve been writing (seven years) we’ve lost (for fiction) the likes of Bella, Best, Woman, Woman’s Own, Chat etc. The $64,000 question: out of all the submissions you receive, what makes a story stand out for all the right reasons?

Rosemary: The ones you remember are the ones that move you. If they inspire me, challenge me, make me laugh out loud, cry, or scare me witless then they are the remarkable ones and the ones you promptly tell everyone about.

Morgen: My favourite story from last year’s H.E. Bates Short Story Competition was called ‘The bus driver who stopped and then didn’t’ (I later found out was by Dan Purdue and we’ve since got in contact). Having flicked through the titles, that was the one I was looking forward to reading so I saved it ’til last and was one of the few I marked 10/10. Unfortunately it didn’t make the top 10 (I was one of a handful of first round judges) but I still remember it clearly. And then, without naming names, what makes a story stand out for all the wrong reasons?

Rosemary: Sometimes a story is completely flat. The characters don’t come to life. The scenery is grey and there is nothing to transport you from the real life surrounding your desk. You can very often tell from the email that accompanies the submission if it is going to be very hard work. If you groan before so much as opening the attachment, then you begin reading the story looking for excuses to turn it down. First impressions are everything. I do still try to read to the end, but every so often you reach a point where you realise no amount of time spent reading and making suggestions is going to bring a story up to scratch.

Morgen: I read to the end of all the stories I receive for the H.E. Bates but on some (rare) occasions it has been hard. I start at 10/10 and work downwards, including punctuation etc. because it should be word perfect, but then I’m a hard task master and silly mistakes (missing / adding a rogue word) is unnecessary. It shows it was either submitted in a hurry or without due care. What genres do you accept? What would you suggest an author do with a cross-genre piece of writing?

Rosemary: We accept all but the most violent and totally exclude erotica. Our aim is for the site to be a place the whole family can go. We aren’t afraid of difficult issues, but gratuitous violence or sex is not what we are about. Cross genre is not a problem. We can put a story against multiple categories and every so often we receive something and think – ‘great, let’s create a new category’.

Morgen: That’s how I like to view this blog as I know I have viewers of <13 and >90 (I’ve interviewed one of the latter!) and have only had to put content warnings on two pieces so far, only done major edits to one short story submitted and not refused anything so far (not such a hard task master on that score). Is there a genre that you haven’t published and would like to?

Rosemary: No, we have had submissions right across the board.

Morgen: Is there a genre that sells better than others or that you can’t get enough of?

Rosemary: As a reader I just love receiving humour and we do have a very strong humour section, but as far as sales go they are fairly evenly spread.

Morgen: How can an author submit to you?

Rosemary: They need to read our submissions guidelines http://alfiedog.com/submissions/submission-process. We only accept submissions by email, but everything you need to send and the file formats we accept are all outlined.

Morgen: Very helpful, thank you. Can you suggest some do’s and don’t’s when submitting to you.

Rosemary: We have covered some of the key faults which occur in blog posts on our ‘Alfie Dog Bites’. This link will take you straight to some of our writing tips http://alfiedog.com/category/writing-tips. Unsurprisingly it is the old faithfuls of show v tell, spelling, correct tenses and punctuation.

Morgen: Ah yes. I have a new page of tips (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/tips) which mentions some of these. I think as a writer (or really any other profession… or life!) you never stop learning. This is a question that I ask authors but I think is just as relevant to you as a publisher: what was the first book / story you published?

Rosemary: Personally it was Poems for Life, a book of poems to raise money for Age Concern www.poemsforlife.co.uk. Under the guise of www.alfiedog.com the first short story we accepted as by Patsy Collins.

Morgen: Do you run competitions, do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Rosemary: Not at present, but we are thinking of launching one next year. I think they can be a good way for a writer to gain confidence and of course, there is the financial reward for those who secure prizes.

Morgen: There is. I’m involved in two; a short story (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/competitions-calendar/he-bates) and poetry competition (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/competitions-calendar/nlg-poetry-competition), although the latter may turn into poetry and flash fiction, and it’s interesting seeing it from the other side of the fence, juggling entry fees against prizes and judge / postal costs etc. It’s not as simple as it looks. To your knowledge, have any of your published books / stories won or been shortlisted in any competitions?

Rosemary: Yes, many have.

Morgen: Excellent. What do you feel about an author writing under a pseudonym? Do you think they make a difference to their profile? And would you recommend an author writing under different names for different genres?

Rosemary: This is a tricky one. If you do use a pseudonym you need it to be appropriate. If you write a story in voice which is clearly male, then calling yourself Elizabeth is unlikely to fool the reader. There can be perfectly good reasons to take a pseudonym, it is entirely the choice of the writer – although if they suggest something highly inappropriate that would damage their sales then we would point that out.

Morgen: I’ve come across some strange ones (mentioning no names ) but I think if your name is John Smith then it’s worth considering because you become a brand. Try and Google John Smith. Now for, in theory, a simple question: what’s your opinion of eBooks, do you publish them and do you read them?

Rosemary: I read them, we publish them. The main focus of our publishing is the e-story market, but with the possibility of a printable format. Interestingly we sell more of the printable format, but these can still be read on screen.

Morgen: That is interesting, especially in the days of Amazon selling more eBooks than paper books. Poetry and short stories are, in my opinion anyway, the two most hard done by genres… what do you see as the future for them? Do you think the eBook revolution will help, given that eBooks seem to be getting shorter?

Rosemary: I wholeheartedly agree. I started www.alfiedog.com because there is a need for a real market for short stories where writers can earn royalties and where readers can be sure of the quality.

Morgen: As (predominantly) a short story writer, I totally agree. Since I’ve been writing (seven years) I’ve seen the market in women’s magazine fiction dwindling. It’s really sad. Is there a plot that’s written about too often?

Rosemary: There are plots that are repeated. If you take something that is obvious you need to have a different angle. Find me a reason to want to accept your version of events. Even the most commonly covered subjects can have a worthwhile angle that a reader will enjoy.

Morgen: They can. There are only so many scenarios (boy meets girl etc; West Side Story = Romeo & Juliet). Do you have to do a lot of editing to the stories you accept or is the writing usually more or less fully-formed?

Rosemary: It varies from author to author. There are some we can accept without change, but many need a little assistance.

Morgen: Unless we have a second opinion we’re usually too close to our own writing, and another person will often come up with some great suggestions. For your purposes, does it matter what point of view a story is written in? Have you ever printed any in second person? What’s your opinion of second person?

Rosemary: Second person if very hard to make work and writers rarely manage to stick to it exclusively and fluently. We have no preference, except that writers have some understanding of what point of view involves.

Morgen: True, and I’ve seen some stories where they switch unintentionally. If the writer (and reader) imagines they are that person, it does make it easier. Have you had any surprising feedback about any of your published works?

Rosemary: Yes. I never cease to be thrilled when people enjoy my own writing and I have had some wonderful encouragement for the work we are now doing with Alfie Dog.

Morgen: Isn’t that great. Most of us write to be read and when a reader takes the time (and effort) to let us know they enjoyed (or otherwise!) that we do then it makes it all worthwhile (or makes us learn!). What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Rosemary: Never give up. Be prepared to learn from everyone and everything. Don’t keep your writing in a drawer. If other people don’t read your work you won’t have the chance of feedback that could improve your writing. If you don’t succeed first time round that is not necessarily an indication that you won’t succeed next time. Rejection is part of the game, learn from it if you can, but don’t give up.

Morgen: Absolutely. Get your work out there (says she who has files of short stories and three and a bit novels!). What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Rosemary: A need to evolve to meet whatever markets develop. Over generations writing has developed from the preserve of the elite, to availability to the masses. Now many people take their entertainment from films, TV or video clips, but behind all good fiction sits the writer developing the story.

Morgen: We do, and for me there’s nothing like it, especially if I’m ‘winging’ it. I think it’s never been a better time to be a writer. We do have to work harder than ever before at the marketing but we have so many more opportunities. Given that more emphasis these days is put on the author to market their published works or indeed themselves as a ‘brand’, how involved are you generally with your authors post-publication?

Rosemary: We stay close to our authors and have tried to build a sense of belonging. Those authors who promote their work definitely sell more copies than those who don’t and we are now trying to share tips from the more successful ones with all our authors. We also write press releases and flyers that the authors can adapt by adding their own details so they can promote their own work on the site in any publicity they may do.

Morgen: That sounds like a great topic for a guest blog post if you have time sometime. Apart from your website, how do you market yourselves? Are your authors involved in marketing for you / themselves?

Rosemary: We encourage our authors to do as much promotion as they feel able to. In addition to that we use flyers, social media and press releases for all key events and achievements. Funds are tight, so whilst we would love to do a full scale advertising campaign that will have to wait until a little further down the track.

Morgen: I’m sure it’s the same for every company. It all comes down to resources and why wouldn’t the author want to make themselves known? In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about, or distributing, your publications?

Rosemary: As we are internet based we could be anywhere. We are in the UK, but we have good links across the globe and have writers and readers in a surprising number of countries covering every inhabited continent.

Morgen: Most of my enquirers are in the US and they assume I am so are (hopefully pleasantly) surprised when I say I’m in the UK but as you say, we could be anywhere. What do you think of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and more business-related such as LinkedIn? Do you think they’re invaluable or too time-consuming?

Rosemary: You avoid being involved at your own risk, but they are very time intensive for the return they bring. You have to be there, but if you could devote the same energy to other approaches the time might be better spent. The reason you use them is that they are low cost and enable easy access to a very wide potential audience. What you really need is the tipping point effect. Once you cross into global brand territory the same time investment reaches many more people. You have to climb the mountain first.

Morgen: It is that. Marketing is usually the answer to ‘what’s your least favourite aspect of your writing life?’ because it’s so time-consuming. Are you involved in anything else writing-related?

Rosemary: I’m part of the online writers group Alpha Writers and love our annual challenges. It is a closed group, often with a waiting list for places and we all find ourselves counting down to the days in the month that the challenges are issued, last month’s entries sent anonymously for judging and eagerly open the results of the month before to see what our colleagues thought of our efforts. It’s addictive.

Morgen: I keep thinking I should join an online writing group. I run or belong to four local (in-person) ones and get so much out of it. I should investigate what’s out there. What do you do when you’re not working?

Rosemary: I am Chairman of the Entlebucher Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain and work to develop the breed here. When I came back to the UK from living in Belgium, four years ago, there were just 10 of the breed in the country. We’ve built that number to 31 with more litters planned over the next few years. It’s very exciting to see the breed gaining recognition. We have four including two breeding bitches, so we have litters each year to bring up too.

Morgen: Oh how sweet. I have a rescue dog (a 12-on-Boxing-Day Jack Russell / Cairn cross) and I’d love to live on a farm (a writers’ retreat) with loads of dogs. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Rosemary: If you have any thoughts of things we need to change or improve we are always happy to hear them.

Morgen: Please do let us know… comments section below. Thank you, Rosemary. I’m chuffed you could join me today.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Author Spotlight no.137 – Robin O’Bryant

Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and thirty-seventh is of non-fiction author and first-place winner of the non-fiction Shirley You Jest! Book Award (of which I’m a sponsor) Robin O’Bryant.

Robin O’Bryant is a humor columnist and stay-at-home-mother to three daughters born within four years. She finally figured out where babies come from and got herself under control.

Her first book, Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves, has been rated #1 by reader reviews on Amazon in two genres: Humor Essays and Parenting & Families since December 2011.

Robin won the South Carolina Press Association’s award for Best Humor Column for 2012. She was a Circle of Mom’s Top 25 Funniest Moms 2011 and 2012. Babble has listed Robin’s Chicks as Top 10 Funniest Parenting Blog and her work has been featured on Huffington Post.  She uses her blog and newspaper columns to teach women helpful tips such as: how to breastfeed behind your back (only applies to lactating women with a DD cup or larger), how to talk to your daughters about man parts, and how to write a proper gold fish obituary.

And now from the author herself:

I’ve been an avid reader and writer my entire life. As a child it was common for me to have dark circles under my eyes from staying up into the wee hours to read. I’ve journaled since I could write a complete sentence and throughout my life I have been told repeatedly, “You should write a book.”

I wanted to, I really did. I wanted to be a writer but I had no idea what to write about. I was good at expressing myself in words but I wasn’t creating new worlds or going all J.K. Rowling in my free time. Reading and writing were private passions until my third child was born. Three daughters in four years, it’s all a blur. Do the math, people. That’s a lot of crazy.

I was writing about my kids extensively, because that’s what I do. I am compelled to write about my life. But because my husband and I lived hundreds of miles from our families, I was also sending out mass emails on a daily and weekly basis to update our families on our shenanigans. And I heard it again and again, “You should write a book.” (Please note: this doesn’t always mean you should and I realized that this was my mom and she might be a little biased.) I realized I might have an audience when my family members started forwarding my emails to everyone in their contact lists and I began receiving feedback from people I didn’t know. I started a blog and somehow convinced the editor of our local paper to let me write a weekly family humor column.

I started outlining Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves and wrote like a mad woman. I signed with Jenny Bent in July of 2009 and began the arduous process of editing and revising. Because platform is so important, I had a lot of work to do in building my blog readership and expanding my humor column. Jenny has been a great source of information, an editor, advocate, writing teacher, butt-kicking motivator for me for the last three and half years.

We decided to take a calculated risk and self-publish Ketchup (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble) to further expand my platform. It worked. I’ve sold a fair share of books and Ketchup has spent almost 11 months rated #1 by reader reviews in two categories on Amazon: Humor Essays and Parenting & Families.

Due to the success of the book, we published a separate e-book only collection of my best humor columns titled A Second Helping (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble). I’m currently working on the proposal for my third book.

You can keep up with me online by reading my blog, Robin’s Chicks, liking my Facebook Author page or following me on Twitter. November 30th is Ketchup’s first birthday and I’ll be giving away signed copies on my Facebook page for the next few weeks!

Morgen: Congratulations. Thank you, Robin.

***

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with writer and publisher Rosemary Kind – the five hundred and fifty-fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Flash Fiction Friday 061: Carte Blanche by Marion Grace Woolley

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the sixty-first piece in this series. This week’s is a 922-worder by multi-genre author guest blogger, interviewee and spotlightee Marion Grace Woolley, which won first place in the Swanezine Short Story Competition in December 2011.

Carte Blanche

We’re like the sea, you and I. Rolling to a thick, deep rhythm that only we can hear. That invincible river of truth running between two distant shores, the type of truth you can drown in. 

Some nights, that’s exactly what happens, dragged beneath the surface of my own consciousness. Pulled under by the crocodile teeth of my own lies, ready for that final death roll. I wake, sweat drenched and sour in my own scent. Afraid that I will never be able to rise again, back to the cool oxygen that my body craves.

That’s the thing about cravings. Some things you crave because, without them, your flesh would die. You need to breathe, to eat, to drink. But other things – you need them just as much, but, in needing them, you’re killing yourself.

You never understood that, did you? You never quite got it.

And now it’s too late. Every day of our lives I tried to explain it to you. Tried to show you; make you aware. At first I thought you hadn’t noticed – I really was that subtle. Pouring your champagne before mine. Helping you into your coat as we left the restaurant. Would I have noticed? Probably not.

But as time went by, I started to suspect. I knew you better than that, see. To me, you’re like crackle glass. There’s nothing transparent about you. If you were ordinary, I could look straight through you and know all there is to know. I could see our future on the other side of you. I could look you over, and look away.

But you’re not. Your clarity changes with the light. Those thick fractures within you, they fascinate the eye. I could gaze at you for a lifetime and never see the complete picture. It takes a complicated person to be that beautiful. It takes intelligence to break itself upon the jarred rocks of self-realisation and denial.

That’s how I knew that you were choosing not to acknowledge me. You were fully aware of my craving, yet you chose to overlook it. You chose to withdraw into the facetious playroom of childhood innocence. You chose to be stupid, blind and dumb.

And every part of me wanted you more for that.

I couldn’t help what happened that night. The fairy lights twinkled as bright as stars around the garden trellis. Your husband and his fat, porky guests quaffing port like pigs in a mud hole. Drunk on their own fine taste and sense of self-worth. I watched you smile, like a string of pearls strung around a pauper. That fake, false way that I watched you cultivate over twenty years of marriage.

I missed the girl in you. I missed the part that was real; that was genuine. Where did she go? Sometimes when we’d take tea, or walk in the country, I’d imagine that I caught a glimpse of her. For a moment she would return as if from some far-flung adventure to the outer shores of existence. ‘I was always coming home,’ she’d say, then just as soon be off on her next escapade, far beyond my grasp.

I loved you from the first moment I saw you, standing in your skinny gym slip at St. Mary of the Immaculate Heart’s. I cherished those all-girl dances we used to attend. They were our salad days. Where no man could touch you, because none were invited.

Every sentence begins with ‘I’, because I never knew what you thought or felt. Did you ever look at me sideways in the showers? Did you ever wonder? Did you ever, for one brief moment, in the dark-enraptured night, consider what it might have been like?

Each of your boyfriends came and went, so literally. Yet I was always constant. After every heartbreak, after every betrayal – wasn’t I always there, just as I ever was? Perhaps you believed my inventions, those imaginary boyfriends who never called and never sent me flowers. Surely you knew that there was only ever one. One person, out of the entire world, that had my full attention.

It had to be said. As we sat beneath the eaves of your grand affluence, staring out across the night-cooled lawns towards the lake. It had to be said.

The sting of your hand across my face burns still. That hot horror as you realised what I had been trying to tell you all our lives. And in that moment, as your eyes flashed and your pearls broke and scattered, I knew that you had known. I knew that, in your own way, you had expected this moment to come.

I suppose, if we’re now to be honest, I had always known your reaction. What caused me to provoke you, I cannot say. The empty look of your Gould-guzzling guests, your husband’s hollow laugh; the sheer plasticity of it all? The faintest recognition in the depths of my soul that there could be another life behind all of this. Something real. Something meaningful.

And now, there is nothing. Should I regret opening my mouth? Because I do, with every ounce of my being. If, by staying silent, I could look upon you every day for the rest of our lives – look, but never touch – I would sign my name to that contract. But it’s too late. That river of truth touches both our continents, but forever keeps us worlds apart.

Should you ever return to the country of our birth, you shall find me waiting. Here, beneath the eaves.

I asked Marion what prompted this piece and she said…

Carte Blanche was written specifically for the Swanezine Short Story Competition in December 2011. Incredibly, it beat 214 other entries to take the (cash) first prize. So, an afternoon well spent.

I’ve been a long-standing supporter of a scriptwriting community called Celtx. They used to run short competitions on their forum, based on prompts. Their 14th competition, in 2008, asked for a ‘script over 5 pages of a meeting between two formerly-close friends that haven’t seen one another for over a year.’

I titled my seven-page entry Meet Me Next June. It was set in a café where two formerly-close friends, June (ho ho) and Emily, were experiencing a less-than-comfortable reunion. Friends for years, they had fallen out when June finally confessed her feelings and tried to kiss Emily. It’s a theme that I had been holding onto for a while.

At the time of writing Carte Blanche, I had been enthused by the Muse. Every now and then – rarely – you meet someone who captures your imagination. It’s never a deliberate thing, but it has the effect of wiring you into the mains, rather than running off double As.

Possibly for that reason, this story was one of the easiest to write; it just flowed onto the page. I think I knew, when I got to the end, that I’d written something special. It’s a hefty thing to say, but I still class this as one of the best pieces I’ve written to date. See what you think.

It was great. Thank you, Marion.

Marion Grace Woolley studied at the British Record Industry Trust (BRIT) School of Performing Arts, Croydon. After obtaining an MA in Language & Communication Research from the University of Cardiff, she declared that she’d had enough of academia and decided to run away to Africa.

Balancing her creative impulses with a career in International Development, she worked and travelled across Africa, Australia, Armenia, and a few other places beginning with ‘A’. In 2009, Marion helped to oversee the publication of the first Dictionary of Amarenga y’Ikinyarwanda (Rwandan Sign Language), a project of which she was immensely proud to have been a part.

The same year, Marion was shortlisted for the Luke Bitmead Bursary for New Writers. She is the author of three novels and an associate member of the Society of Authors.

She now lives in Gloucester, although the travelling bug hasn’t gone away. You can find out more about Marion and her writing from her website and see her book trailer on YouTube.

***

If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with psychological thriller novelist Rebecca Reid – the five hundred and fifty-fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Writania Best Book Pitch Challenge: 15-30 November

I’ve entered my chick-lit novel in a competition to win a free book trailer and voting started today!

You don’t have to vote for me (obviously) but please do vote:

http://writania.com/the-writania-best-book-pitch-challenge-entries

you’ll need to scroll down to the ‘comments’ bit for the choice of elevator pitches then scroll back up to vote.

There are plenty (33) to choose from…

… and voting ends November 30 so plenty of time.

Winners are announced with their book titles on December 3.

Good luck to everyone taking part (I don’t expect to win but you do have to be in it to have a chance, as the saying sort of goes).

 

Guest post: Why You Should Enter Writing Competitions by Ben Skinner

Sunday nights are double-dose guest blog posts and the first of tonight’s duo (the second will be along in an hour), is on the topic of writing competitions, and brought to you by competition guru Ben Skinner.

Why You Should Enter Writing Competitions

In 2012 there are a multitude of reasons why a large proportion of the population are looking at ways to supplement their personal income, and the growth of the internet has given us more opportunities to do this than ever before. We can all earn a little extra cash by filling in surveys, selling our unwanted goods, and even partaking in affiliate schemes. These and other methods can all help to increase the family budget.

There is, however, a way to potentially add significantly to your income while also improving and honing your writing skills, and increasing your writing portfolio – Writing Competitions. While there are no financial guarantees (you have to win to be in with a chance of getting paid!), the potential rewards involved are simply huge. The concept of winning cash or big prizes has been with us for a number of years but with the increase in online activity, there are more options now than ever before.

Getting started

Chances are that you’ll already know of some writing competitions that you’ve come across in your normal day – poetry, short stories and fiction writing competitions are particularly popular. Maybe you’ve been cynical about these in the past but it’s true to say that someone has to win them and it is also true that the best ‘compers’ (someone who enters competitions as a serious hobby) can actually make many thousands of dollars a year and therefore make a comfortable living in this way.

Why should I enter a writing competition?

This is a great way to improve your writing skills and gain confidence, even if you don’t win. But if you do, the feeling is great. And the prize helps too! Entering a writing or poetry competition is one of the best things you can do, especially if they offer a critique of your story as part of the entry. Well worth the time taken to write your entry to find out how you’re doing and what you need to do to improve! As well as the prize involved in winning, it’s also likely that your entry will be published either online or in a magazine or both! This provides writers with a fantastic opportunity for exposure to a huge audience who might not otherwise have read your work. Want more reasons? Sure!:

• Writer’s block anyone? Loosen up with a contest submission. Take a troublesome chapter of your book, or a mind-numbing topical article and throw caution to the wind. Who knows, it could create a fresh, vital storyline that would double nicely as an excerpt from your book, or add pizzazz to that magazine article.
• Don’t know a deadline from a dateline? If you are still working on that first book or article acceptance, entering a contest lets you taste-test what it’s like to work under deadline pressure—an essential quality in a writer’s life. If you miss the deadline … you automatically lose!
• Contests come in varying lengths. Learn from them! Do you write short-short stories and think you don’t have enough storyline to develop a tale of 3,000 to 10,000 words, or more? What’s missing? Try a contest before you go book-length. Or perhaps you’re the novelist, who struggles to edit the unnecessary chatter—try writing a short-short story. Take one of your lengthy chapters and create a new technique by pulling key phrases out first—you’ll be amazed at how much text you can cut and still tell a great story—maybe even better, with more punch than your original.
• Contests build comfort with your genre and help you understand where weaknesses may be plodding sluggishly through your creativity.
• Test the waters of a new genre, without feeling the bite of an editorial shark. Stretch your imagination in a risk-free environment. You could discover a “new you.”
• If you think your entry is some of your best writing (and it should be, or what’s the point?), guess what? You own it—sell it! Of course as a professional, you should abide by whatever contest regulations pertain to publishing the entries, but once the notification deadline has passed … it could be dollar signs waiting to happen!

Key points

If you’ve made the decision to enter a writing competition, there are a few key points worth remembering before you pick up your notepad!

• Original material – you will be entering a commercial competition with a prize or reward, so make sure that you are submitting original material – that obviously means no plagiarism or rehashing of your previous work! (Unless submitting old work is permitted in the competitions guidelines, so read them carefully!).
• Audience – think about who your target audience is, and by that we mean both the eventual readers of the website or publication where your entry will be used, and also the people who will be judging the competition!
• Research – do your research of previous years’ / months’ competitions, or similar competitions on other websites or publications. What kinds of stories or poems have been successful? Is it better to write from a first or third person perspective? What kind of word count should I be shooting for?

Making money!

As you will no doubt be aware, some contests offer a straight cash prize while others might award a product or item. If your reward is an object rather than a wad of money then how do you make some extra cash if you don’t need it? The answer is simple – just sell it. A number of prizes end up on the auction site eBay and are a quick and simple way of converting those prizes into money in your bank account.

Thank you, Ben!

This post was written by Ben Skinner the Marketing Director of UK competitions site MyOffers. MyOffers are a free online competition site offering cars, holidays and cash prizes. Visit them at http://www.myoffers.co.uk.

***

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with memoirist Rosemary Sabet – the five hundred and forty-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Author Spotlight no.135 – J W Bull

Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and thirty-fifth, is of chick-lit novelist chick lit novelist J W Bull, the first prize fiction winner of Shirley You Jest! Book Awards.

JW Bull is the author of Pickin’ Tomatoes and the fiction winner of The 2012 Shirley You Jest! Book Awards / Shirley LOL.

She was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio and grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia. Raised by parents who believed in encouraging their children to follow their dreams, JW received a bachelor of violin performance from Furman University and also worked as a sous chef in a French restaurant.

Currently, JW lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two sons. When she’s not teaching violin, playing in The Georgia Symphony, or cooking she’s writing. Her next book, Musical Chairs, is a mystery involving Maggie’s cousin, Molly Malone – plucky part-time symphony player and full-time Irish fiddler. JW wants to do for classical music what multiple authors have done for gourmet food: make it fun and interesting for mass market. JW’s wacky voice and musical knowledge make Musical Chairs a must read for 2013.

And now from the author herself:

Living Monet Style

If I had to sum up a typical day in my life in just one word, it would have to be the word, multitasking. I wish I were the type of person who had the luxury of doing just one thing at a time and doing it well, but alas, I’m not – at least not in this stage of my life. I am a mother, a wife, a part time violin teacher, a part time symphony player, and in between all of that, I write. My life and limbs are pulled in so many directions that some days I feel like a chocolate covered pretzel: sweet, salty and a bit twisted. During my good days, my sweetness prevails and I am that person I’ve always wanted to be. During my bad days, my saltiness emerges and all of humanity needs to get out of my way. And every day, I’m a tad bit loopy – contorting to catch all those balls life is zinging at me.

So how do I write amidst all the chaos? I have learned to tune things out. The cacophony of voices bellowing, “Mom, mom, MOM!… Can I go to a friend’s house?… Did you go to the grocery store?…What’s for dinner?…Can I have some money?…But why, I just want to know why?… I don’t want to practice…What homework?…Did you do laundry?” fade and I am suddenly immersed in a section of the book I am writing. Sometimes, I am physically writing the book but more often than not, I am on auto pilot with life’s chores while mentally writing my book.

Where do I get my inspiration from? I pilfer experiences from my chaotic world, tweak them a bit and weave them into stories. Let me just tell you, when you’re a wife, mother, teacher, and performer, you have a whole smorgasbord of material to choose from – most of it funny. So why not use it? I have always been an advocate of laughing at oneself. I think it keeps you humble. Besides, in this economy, if you don’t laugh from time to time, you’ll just cry. And I chose laughter any day over crying.

So there is my life in a nutshell. I am a multi-tasker and not afraid of admitting it. Do I feel guilty about not mentally participating one hundred percent in every aspect of life? Sure, I wouldn’t be human, if I didn’t. But sometimes, you’ve got to look at the big picture. Multitasking is like a Monet painting. Up close, it seems like a bunch of dots. Far away, all those dots form a masterpiece. Right now, I’m living Monet style, with a lot of works of art in the process – family, violin, writing. I look forward to the day those masterpieces will be completed and I can just step back and enjoy.

Oh, me too! Thank you, and congratulations, JW.

You can find more about JW and her writing via her website http://www.pickintomatoes.com.

***

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with children’s author and speaker Cheryl Carpinello – the five hundred and forty-eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.

 

Interview no.501 with publisher Martyn Forrester

Welcome to the five hundred and first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with Managing Director of publishing house Apostrophe Books Martyn Forrester. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. Martyn mentions Robert Ford who I interviewed in August – you can read our interview (after Martyn’s please ) here.

Morgen: Hello, Martyn. I’d like to jump straight in and ask you whether there is a genre that sells better than others or that you can’t get enough of?

Martyn: Perversely, the genres that sell best aren’t the ones we’re interested in. What we can’t get enough of is literary fiction that conventional publishers can no longer afford to take the risk on – that was our original mission when we launched earlier in 2012. We’re talking experimental, cutting edge fiction like The King Of Spain, by Robert Ford (http://apostrophebooks.com/kingofspain). Robert’s a movie editor, and you can tell by the way he uses his literary cameras. The result is a collection of vivid images that stays in your head a long time after you’ve finished reading.

Morgen: I wrote a TV script for the now defunct Script Frenzy in April 2010 and whilst I didn’t enjoy the process (I’ve since converted it into the beginning of a novel) it has made me think more about the construction of visual media. I’m sure there will be writers reading this interview who are looking for a publisher, how can they submit to you?

Martyn: Submit fiction to us through Fiction Fast-Track, our new competition in which we publish an e-book voted for by the public every two months: http://apostrophebooks.com/fictionfasttrack (we have just published our first winner). Writers submit their complete novel or collection of short stories, and we upload a sample for the public to vote on. For non-fiction, we take submissions by email. We also hunt down writers ourselves, often by sampling self-published works.

Part of our aim is to give new life to books we’ve loved in the past. In theory these should be easy enough to track down, but it’s often taken a lot of detective work to trace authors.

Finding exciting new work is becoming easier by the day. We’ve even had some coy approaches from agents who like the idea of launching their authors’ new work in ebook format. We have an ebook coming out later this year whose author has been on the New York Times bestseller list many times – their Madison Avenue agent specifically wanted a boutique ebook publisher, and we’re thrilled he chose us – especially as we don’t pay advances!

The ebook market is maturer in the States, and agents and publishers have been able to see that the ebook and hardback markets don’t cannibalize each other – they cross-fertilize. I see a rosy future in which we all happily co-exist. After all, part of our mission is to find conventional hardback / paperback homes for our new authors – if we love their writing enough to publish it, we want to see them reach as wide a readership as they possibly can.

Morgen: I’d say only a handful of people I’ve spoken to / interviewed only read eBooks. I see them running alongside each other quite happily, in fact I know of readers who have both… of the same book! (if it’s good enough of course) Can you suggest some do’s and don’t’s when submitting to you.

Martyn: Please make sure your work has been edited, even if it’s by a friend. Spelling mistakes and poor grammar make our teeth itch. It’s like singing out of tune at a music audition.

Morgen: The X-Factor factor of publishing. Are there authors that you deal with on a regular basis and / or perhaps represent directly?

Martyn: We have been asked to represent authors, but being an agent is a full-time job. Informally, we’re happy to get great work we’re publishing in front of the right people in the right agencies or conventional publishing houses, but after that we’ll step back.

Morgen: Again most authors I’ve spoken to appreciate that the emphasis is on them to do the marketing, “a necessary evil” some have called it. You mentioned your competition, do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Martyn: I think competitions can be a fantastic springboard. Any contest open to public vote can be skewed by a contestant’s friends and supporters, but by and large you can tell how well a book is going to do. Robert Ford’s The King Of Spain attracted a lot of votes and positive comments, and sure enough it went straight in at Number 1 on the iTunes New & Noteworthy feature.

I think the book and author get a lot of publicity they wouldn’t have otherwise. The media like reporting competition winners – look at the coverage The Orange Prize winner got this year. The launch of Fiction Fast-Track was reported as far afield as the San Francisco Chronicle and the Times of India, and internationally on Yahoo.

Morgen: Don’t you just love technology (I’m so grateful I grew up with an older brother). You spoke of agents earlier, do you think an agent is vital to an author’s success? How would you suggest an author gets one?

Martyn: Between us, we’ve been in publishing for 30 years and we know how tall the slush piles are in most publishers’ offices. Mind you, they are in agencies too. In general, get yourself a good agent and you’re home and dry. Not because of the money – these days, you’re very unlikely to receive an advance that lets you give up the day job – more in terms of editorial advice and guidance. An experienced agent has a price beyond rubies.

Morgen: Most of the authors I’ve spoken to who have them would say the same. Now for, in theory, a simple question: what’s your opinion of eBooks, do you publish them and do you read them?

Martyn: We love them – we only publish ebooks! And Amazon have just announced that their customers are buying more Kindle books than print books, both hardback and paperbacks, so it looks like we’ve made a good decision to only publish ebooks. So far in 2012, Amazon say that for every 100 print books sold on the site, it has sold 114 Kindle books, excluding free Kindle books. What’s most encouraging, though, is the news that in the UK, Kindle readers buy four times the number of books they did before owning a Kindle. As long as people are involved in the magic of reading, does it matter whether it’s via an iPad, a hardback or a cereal packet?

Morgen: I had heard that. Mine are only eBooks (so far ). Poetry and short stories are, in my opinion anyway, the two most hard done by genres… what do you see as the future for them? Do you think the eBook revolution will help given that eBooks seem to be getting shorter?

Martyn: I see a huge future for them. We are bringing out a stunning poetry collection in September, and if it’s successful, we’ll look to establish a list. We’ve already published our first collection of short stories, Pork by Cris Freddi (http://apostrophebooks.com/books/fantasy/pork) ­– a powerful and unusual collection of animal stories for adults. We’re on the hunt for good short stories. A lot of people write one or two good ones, but not enough to fill a collection.

Morgen: As a short story author, that’s great news. Is there a plot that’s written about too often?

Martyn: There is now – it’s the 50 Shades plot, or as we call it, Boy Beats Girl.

Morgen: Ah yes. It’s like vampires, it goes in and out of fashion although Dracula has always been popular. Writers should write what they want to, there will be a market for it somewhere. I loved your music audition analogy earlier, do you have to do a lot of editing to the stories you accept or is the writing usually more or less fully-formed?

Martyn: We expect submitted work to be already edited, but no work is perfect and there are always a few tweaks we can suggest.

Morgen: For your purposes, does it matter what point of view a story is written in? Have you ever printed any in second person? What’s your opinion of second person?

Martyn: Not a fan of the second person. Mind you, books written in the present tense don’t float our boat either but you still see plenty of them, so what do we know?

Morgen: <laughs> Although second is my favourite point of view, and I write a second person story every Friday for my 5pm fiction slot, I’m sensible enough not to write anything long in it. It’s wearing as a writer and reader. Have you had any surprising feedback about any of your published works?

Martyn: It’s cheesy to say this this, but the greatest feedback comes when writers we admire choose to come aboard.

Morgen: Flattering for sure. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Martyn: It’s obvious, but: keep writing. Monica Dickens used to spend the first two hours of the day writing furiously, and then she’d throw it away and start her working day. It’s the same for aspiring writers. Just because you wrote it, doesn’t make it good. The very least you can do is cut the first three paragraphs of your first chapter. And then, as Elmore Leonard says, cut the stuff people don’t read.

Morgen: Absolutely, start with the action, although I don’t throw anything away regardless of how bad it is because I like to think it can be whipped into shape, or if not it shows me where I’m going wrong or how far I’ve come when it’s finished. Regardless of what you write, you can’t edit a blank page.

Martyn: The other thing is, don’t be afraid to expose your work to criticism. If you’re worried about showing your work to others, it’s probably for a good reason – it most likely needs another edit. Be brave and send your work out to publishers, and enter it in competitions – of course we’d suggest Fiction Fast-Track as the first port of call!

Morgen: Of course. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Martyn: I think we’re in danger of heading for a world where you have to be able to afford to be a writer, like the gentlemen scientists of the 19th century. That’s why Apostrophe Books is trying to incubate and showcase great new voices. It’s not a money making mission; it’s a labour of love.

Morgen: I’ve not charged for anything on this blog and therefore not made a penny out of it but it’s part of me (some of my writing friends have called it an obsession and I’d agree with that, about writing certainly). I’d say that’s what it has to be for everyone in this industry.

Martyn: For the last couple of years now, the big mainstream publishers have been caught in a perfect storm of high overheads and dwindling sales. They are having to concentrate their resources on their surefire franchises, and it’s being left to independent publishers to champion new writing – look at the number of independent publishers on this year’s Booker long list. Hardback indie publishers tend to have been set up with good intent and decent war chests, and they can fill the void – as long as the good intent and war chests hold up!

The costs, and therefore risks, to us as ebook publishers are much lower – not least because all the elements like cover design, formatting and proofreading can be bought out.

Morgen: Absolutely. It cost me nothing but time to put mine online and it was a fun process. What do you think of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and more business-related such as LinkedIn? Do you think they’re invaluable or too time-consuming?

Martyn: Social media sites are really important these days, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because you have a lot of followers, you have a lot of buyers. It’s not the same thing. We use Twitter (@apostrophebooks) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/apostrophebooksltd) to update our followers daily and to reach new readers – and new writers. We’re also on LinkedIn, and starting to build a presence on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/apostrophebooks). Join us!

Morgen: I’m pretty new to Pinterest but have heard good things about it so I will have to check you out. Thank you, Martyn.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Author interview no.498 with historical / biblical writer Laura Davis

Welcome to the four hundred and ninety-eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical / biblical fiction and non-fiction author Laura J Davis. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Laura. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Laura:  I am Laura J. Davis, I am from London, Ontario and I have a passion for biblical / historical fiction and bible studies. I love digging deeper into the Bible and sharing what I learn with those who are truly seeking to know Christ and follow Him. Before I started writing fulltime, I was a singer / songwriter with over 30 years of experience in music ministry. In the winter of 2000 an emergency surgery resulted in the loss of my singing voice, so I began writing full-time out of a sense of loss really. I needed to do something creative and writing seemed a logical choice.

Morgen: How awful but it does sound like a positive out of a negative situation – I’d love it if you could write me a guest blog post about songwriting, something I’d like to do. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Laura: I generally write historical or biblical fiction and I also write bible studies. I have considered other genres and do enjoy stretching myself a bit, but I also seem to come back to historical fiction.

Morgen: Write what you love, and historical fiction is incredibly popular; I had three agents tell me last year that they want more of it. What have you had published to-date?

Laura:  My first book Come to Me is about the life of Christ through the eyes of His mother. This was followed by a bible study guide to go with the novel; it is called Learning from the Master: Living a Surrendered Life. Come to Me won a Reader’s Favorite Award in 2011 for Historical Fiction.

Morgen: Congratulations. Are your books available as eBooks?

Laura: Both books are available on Kindle.

Morgen: Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?

Laura: I absolutely love Mary in Come to Me. When I was writing her I almost started to believe she was still alive. Of course I loved Jesus too, but His character is kind of set in stone in scripture so I didn’t want to deviate too much. Plus I could improvise and develop Mary more as a wife and mother because she isn’t in the scriptures that much. I can’t imagine who I would choose for leading actors if Come to Me were ever made into a film. I love how Jesus is portrayed by Bruce Marchiano in the Matthew videos. As for Mary, there would need to be at least two actresses, one to play her when she is young and another for when she is older. Not sure who.

Morgen: Maybe your readers can tell you. Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?

Laura:  I had some say, but not much choice. I think book covers are so important. The bench portrayed on the covers of Come to Me and Learning from the Master, symbolize two things – sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning from Him and in Come to Me in particular, Mary has this bench that Joseph made her and she takes it everywhere, so it kind of becomes a familiar place for all.

Morgen: It sounds lovely. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Laura: I am currently working on a sequel to Come to Me.

Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Laura: I suffer from writer’s block every day! And I write every day. It is when I choose to write about certain things that I get stuck, but usually if I blog or turn my attention to other things I find my creative juices flowing once again.

Morgen: Absolutely, switch your mind to something else and the original project will seem fresher. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Laura: I’ve tried both ways. Plotting a story makes me antsy to get into the story. However, it fills up the holes that usually come when I just “run with it”. So, I try to plot first, and then write.

Morgen: Sounds like a good plan. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Laura: I edit as I go. I know I shouldn’t because it takes me longer to get things done, but I can’t seem to help myself. I think the more you write the better you get, but there is always room for improvement.

Morgen: It is all about practice – no different really to playing the piano. Do you have to do much research?

Laura:  Tons! Especially when writing about historical fiction. I research the culture, places, and customs of the times. I pour over scripture to get an accurate timeline of events as well.

Morgen: Because there’ll always be someone out there who knows more than we do. Do you write any poetry, non-fiction or short stories?

Laura:  As a former songwriter I do find myself writing poetry from time to time. I find it is very helpful when I am going through writer’s block as it has a different flow to it. Learning from the Master is my first non-fiction attempt and I loved doing it! I believe most of my books will have a follow up study or book guide to go with them because I really enjoyed writing that study.

Morgen: It’s so important to enjoy writing because if it bores you, it’s bound to bore the reader. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Laura: Yes. Next question.

Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Laura: Yes, I have had a few. I don’t get over excited about them. If they come with actual reasons why they were rejected and helpful criticisms, then I happily learn from them and know better for the future.

Morgen: Editors rarely have time to comment so if they do then it’s probably nearly there. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Laura: Pretty much all of it! My publisher is good in that they put out emails and fliers and publicise on their website, but for the most part it is up to me to get my books “out there”.

Morgen: It does tend to be. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life? Has anything surprised you?

Laura: My favourite aspect of my writing life is finishing a book! LOL! Seriously, I think my favourite part is meeting other writers. Writing is such a solitary thing that you need to get out from behind your desk and meet like-minded souls. So I love going to conferences. My least favourite part of writing? Editing, followed closely by marketing. I’ve been surprised by how much marketing is involved. Wasn’t expecting that.

Morgen: Marketing is usually the answer to that question. Even if an author enjoys it, it takes so much time away from writing. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Laura: Never say you “want to be a writer” say you “are a writer”. If you are writing something every day – you are a writer! If you think you need improvement – take a class or a writing course. Work hard at your craft and you will be confident of saying that you are a writer.

Morgen: Bob Frey wrote me a really interesting post last December called ‘When is a writer an author?’. Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?

Laura:  I am the book review coordinator for Maranatha News and I also write my own reviews and interview authors at Interviews & Reviews.

Morgen: I have a book reviews page on my blog and am always looking for reviewers to add to it… and I love being interviewed. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Laura:  I am addicted to online games! In particular, Star Trek Online and some Facebook games. I seriously need help.

Morgen: Oh dear. The only game I play is Word Drop on Facebook but that’s rarely and even then I can say I’m practicing my words. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?

Laura: I am a member of the John 3:16 Marketing Network and The Word Guild. I find both extremely valuable as they are wonderful people who are in the same business and we support each other in so many ways. I am also on Facebook and Twitter.

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your writing?

Laura: You can visit my website at http://www.laurajdavis.com or “like” my fan page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laura-J-Davis/22722856504

Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Laura: Yes, I’d like to let everyone know that Learning from the Master has been endorsed by Rick Larson, creator of the Star of Bethlehem DVD and if anyone decides to use it in their ladies group, they should contact me at davis_duo@sympatico.ca and I will call them at some point during their study for a question and answer period. I have a link on my site where anyone can read the first chapter of my book Come to Me. The link is http://www.laurajdavis.com/thefirstchapter.htm.

Morgen: Thank you, Laura.

I then invited Laura to include a synopsis of her latest book…

Are you sold out for Christ? Would you do anything He asks you to do? Many people believe they are living fully surrendered lives to God, but when the cares and worries of this world start to crowd in, they cry out in frustration and anger instead of bowing before Him and saying, “Thy will be done.”

Even the temptations this world has to offer can keep us from living surrendered lives. But what does Jesus say about this? How did He lay down His life so willingly? What of His mother Mary? How did she say yes to God, knowing she might be stoned for suspected adultery? By following the lives of Mary, Jesus and the apostles, we can discover what true surrender is all about.

Based on the award-winning novel Come to Me, Learning from the Master follows the life of Christ, from birth to resurrection. Each chapter in the study will take you through the book Come to Me, giving you the opportunity to know Jesus in an intimate setting as He interacts with His family and friends. From there, the study takes the reader through various topics such as: faith, family, trust, doubt, and even wilderness experiences. In addition, other topics of discussion include the significance of the Bethlehem star, the last supper and of course the resurrection.

With over twenty topics of discussion, Learning from the Master: Living a Surrendered Life is ideal for your ladies bible study group, or for private study.

What others are saying about Learning from the Master:

“Embracing the fullness of life means accepting the truth to find that life. Laura has captured the essence of pursing and getting hold of that truth from our Master, Jesus Christ. The beauty in this Study Guide is that Laura guides us along a rich journey of discovery through the tender and loving eyes of Jesus’ mother, Mary.  This Guide is rich with compassion; but chock full of challenges and wisdom. Be prepared to be transformed.” – Heidi McLaughlin, Author of Sand to Pearls

“Learning from the Master will guide those who read it into a deeper understanding of what it means to live a surrendered life.” – Rick Larson, Creator, The Bethlehem Star, a top indie DVD worldwide

Laura J. Davis is a former singer/songwriter with 30 years of experience in music ministry. Her high soprano voice led her to sing in venues such as Ontario Place, The Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Centennial Hall and The Western Fair in London, Ontario to name a few. Her concerts and messages always pointed her listeners to a relationship with Jesus Christ

In 1981, her song “Lift Up the Lord of Salvation” won a national contest and was featured in an album that included various Christian recording artists throughout Canada. In 1982 while singing in Toronto at the Yonge St. Mission coffeehouse, Evergreen, she was invited to sing on 100 Huntley St., where she debuted another song she wrote called “Thank You”.

She released her first album and continued touring throughout Southwestern Ontario and the U.S. in 1989, appearing on 100 Huntley St. from time to time, until the winter of 2000 when an emergency surgery resulted in the loss of her singing voice. Six months later, a fall down a flight of stairs would leave her permanently disabled. In April 2008, she appeared on 100 Huntley St. once again – this time to share her story of surrendering to God when your dreams are shattered.

No longer able to sing, Laura began writing full-time. Her first novel, Come to Me, is about the life of Christ through the eyes of his mother. Laura says, “Writing this book brought me into a deeper relationship with my Lord. I wasn’t ready to give up singing and struggled for months with surrendering to the idea of writing full-time instead of singing. It wasn’t until I submitted to God and said yes, that this book came flowing out of me. I spent more than three years studying the life of Christ, researching the era and getting into the minds of Mary, the disciples and yes, even Jesus. My relationship with the Lord has never been closer. He healed me of my sorrow over losing my voice, by drawing me to write about him and in the end, Come to Me, is all about drawing people to Jesus, surrendering to him and getting to know him intimately, even if you’ve known him your whole life.”

Today, Laura loves to share her story with those who are in need of encouragement and is available to speak at your next ladies meeting or church event.

Update January 2013: I am now the book reviewer for Christian Life in London and online newspaper at www.clilondon.com, and I have a bible study blog called Learning from the Master at www.learningfromthemaster.com. Thank you, Laura.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Author interview no.481 with science fiction / fantasy writer and writing coach Nina Munteanu

Welcome to the four hundred and eighty-first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with science fiction / fantasy author, writing coach guest blogger and spotlightee Nina Munteanu. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Nina.

Nina: It’s a pleasure to be here, Morgen. Thanks for having me.

Morgen: You’re so welcome (I’m always just as grateful to have someone to talk to ). Please tell us about yourself, and how you came to be a writer.

Nina: I’m a Canadian and I currently portion my time between Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and Toronto, Ontario. I’ve always wanted to be a writer since … well, forever! My sister and I used to trade stories at bedtime. We shared wild stories with casts of thousands and worlds only limited by our imaginations. It went from there.

Morgen: That’s the great thing, isn’t it, about fiction; it’s limitless. What genre do you write?

Nina: I write mostly science fiction and fantasy. My heroes were science fiction writer and visionary Ray Bradbury and classic writer Thomas Hardy: their rich metaphor and messages were so potent. I simply wanted to write and stir other hearts and souls like they did.

Morgen: A great combination. What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?

Nina: All my works are under my name, Nina Munteanu (which means from the mountain in Romanian). I’ve published over a dozen short stories, articles, reviews and essays and five novels, in the form of e-books and traditional print books. Most of my works are science fiction. I worked as a scientist for many years and have a strong interest in the environment; most of my stories explore our relationship with our environment and with technology and how these must reconcile somehow if we are to survive and evolve. My most recent book is the first of a paranormal space thriller trilogy that explores dreams, déjà vu, clairvoyance and quantum entanglement.

Morgen: I love technology (I grew up with an older brother). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Nina: Oh, many! I file them away, I share them in my workshops for good laughs. I lecture about rejection and how writers can use it to help them in their journeys. I start by telling them that we will always experience rejection, even after we have published time and again. Rejection is, in fact, part of acceptance. Consider it a way of learning, a stepping stone toward achieving a relationship with publishers and editors who truly wish for you to succeed.

Morgen: It is, invariably, just the right thing for the wrong person. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions?

Nina: A long time ago I was shortlisted in a science fiction writing contest with The Science Fiction Writers of Earth. Several of my works have been nominated or won awards. They include several nominations for the Aurora Prix, the SLR Fountain Award, the Gaylactic Award, finalist of Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Award, the Midwest Review Reader’s Choice Award and the Delta Optimist Readers’ Award.

Morgen: Congratulations. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Nina: No agent. I don’t think they are vital to an author’s success. Of course, that all depends on your definition of success. With the explosion of Indie books and e-books on the internet, an agent is almost superfluous. What is more important is an author’s savvy in the world of internet promotion, SEO, market lists, etc.

Morgen: Are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?

Nina: Yes, two of my books (Collision with Paradise and The Cypol) were e-books. The rest of my books are available on Kindle with Amazon. I don’t generally read e-books. I still (and I think I always will) prefer print books that I can hold in my hands.

Morgen: Even those who are avid eBook readers still love print books. I’m sure even those (few) who say they’re eBook only wouldn’t like to see paper versions disappearing. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Nina: a lot! It never ends… Facebook, Twitter, websites, blogs, guest blogging (like yours—thanks!), newspaper articles, interviews on radio, YouTube videos, etc. etc. etc.

Morgen: There are some great opportunities for authors and really we have more power than we’ve ever had. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?

Nina: Actually one of my books is being considered right now for a movie! Angel of Chaos is currently being written into a screenplay for a movie producer. Wish me luck!

Morgen: Oh, I do! Maybe you could write me another guest blog on the topic. Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?

Nina: I had total say in the titles and mostly in the covers. Although, my publisher and I did have some discussions. Titles and covers are a critical part of a book. They are the first things someone reads and sees of your work and they ultimately summarize your book—the theme of your story, a core aspect that sparks the reader’s interest.

Morgen: They are and I know some people have been put off by either / both. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Nina: I’m finishing the edits of my second and third books in the Splintered Universe Trilogy. I’m also doing the last edits to my latest book, The Last Summoner with Starfire World Syndicate. It’s a historical fantasy about a girl from medieval times who learns that she can change history. I’m finishing a guidebook for my Romanian publisher Editura Paralela 45 on journal writing called The Journal Writer… and collaborating on an Edwardian urban fantasy about a female detective and her very smart cat … And … well, I’m a multi-tasker… LOL!

Morgen: Aren’t you just. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Nina: I write every day, Morgen, and I don’t generally suffer from writer’s block. I have a mechanism in place that helps me. If one project holds me up, I simply move on to another one or do something different in that same project, say edits or research.

Morgen: That’s what I do and works for me (and I write a story a day). Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Nina: I used to just go with an idea and run with it. Now I tend to do a mix of both. I find it far more efficient if I outline to a premise and theme.

Morgen: It certainly makes sense for the longer pieces… mine tend to be 300-400 words so the outline would probably be longer. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Nina: Only that they must be true to their archetype and role in moving the plot and theme of the book.

Morgen: You said earlier you write non-fiction (articles, reviews and essays)…

Nina: I write a lot of non-fiction; anything from scientific and technical papers to reviews of movies and textbooks on writing. I am a teacher of many years and write for several online magazines including Scribophile, A Hopeful Sign, Suite 101, E-Zine, and others. You can find my reviews and critical essays on The New York Review of Science Fiction, Strange Horizons and my own blog The Alien Next Door.

Morgen: “The Alien Next Door” I love it. And you write short stories…

Nina: Yes. My short stories have been reprinted several times and translated into several languages. A collection is coming out this year with Starfire World Syndicate, entitled “Natural Selection”. Each story touches upon issues of evolution and co-evolution, and how we relate to nature and technology.

Morgen: Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Nina: I edit a fair bit as I go along. By the time I have a second draft, it’s pretty much fully formed and only needs polish… and polish… and polish…

Morgen: <laughs> You said earlier that you worked as a scientist, do you have to do much research?

Nina: For most of my books, yes. I write science fiction. SF readers are intelligent and rather unforgiving when it comes to science and technology. They expect you to be accurate and able to give them something new but logical. We are expected to be visionaries and provide a fresh new perspective on concepts but with good substantiation. So, I have to be very vigilant, consistent and honest.

Morgen: Because there will always be someone to pick you up on an error. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Nina: Yes, I wrote a short story in second person. And liked it. The POV depends on the kind of story I’m writing. I like both first and third person. Lately I’ve been doing more first person stories. I find them extremely vibrant, personal and deep.

Morgen: I love second person. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Nina: No. LOL!

Morgen: I hope not either… I like to think that everything can be honed (or polished… and polished, as you say). What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Nina: Live and write from the heart.

Morgen: Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?

Nina: One of my favourites is by Auschwitz survivor Victor Frankl: What is to give light must endure burning. To “endure burning” in order to give light is what all artists must do. We must experience life to the depths of our being before we can write anything of substance and merit. The quote implies an element of sacrifice, of destruction, in the creation of enlightenment: a kind of initiation. It invokes transformation in the mythic “hero’s journey”. And lastly, it reminds us that there are always many aspects to anything that is rich and worthwhile. There is dark in light, chaos in stability, self in selflessness.

Morgen: And our writing is all the more richer for it. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Nina: The future is bright for the writer. Society will always need those who can reflect our world back to us. Every culture needs its storytellers. Writers are reporters who challenge us when we get too comfortable and let others rule our lives. Writers are the shamans and creators of our current myths. Storytelling is changing with the internet and with the changing face of publishing. Writers must keep ahead of the wave with our originality and our courage.

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?

Nina: You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+ and other social networks. I also have several websites and blogs that feature my writing and my views, including www.ninamunteanu.com; The Alien Next Door; www.darwinsparadox.com; www.ThePassionateWriter.com; and www.toulouseletrek.com. I serve as staff writer and blogger on the writer’s site Scribophile, Suite 101, ezine, and others, where I provide advice on writing and discuss issues to do with writing and publishing.

Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Nina: Just to thank you again for this interview, Morgen.

Morgen: Oh, you’re very welcome, thank you for returning.

I then invited Nina to include a synopsis of her latest book…

Outer Diverse is Book One of Nina’s new paranormal space thriller trilogy Splintered Universe. Thirty years have passed since the mysterious Vos invaded the galaxy to destroy Earth. If not for the intervention of the arrogant Eosians, who drove away the Vos for the right to inhabit Earth, humanity would have perished. But not all of humanity is thankful…

Rhea Hawke, Galactic Guardian, must solve the massacre of an entire spiritual sect, dubiously connected with the crime syndicate Eclipse and the toxic drug Glitter Dust, the resurgence of a dark prophesy and the return of the cruel extra-galactic Vos. Her quest for justice catapults her into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she first murdered an innocent man with her eyes.

“… a master of metaphor, Munteanu turns an adventure story into a wonderland of alien rabbit holes. When the action starts it goes into hyper-drive … A fascinating and enthralling read.” Craig H. Bowlsby, author and creator of Commander’s Log

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist and novelist. In addition to five published novels, she has authored award-winning short stories, articles and non-fiction books, which have been translated into several languages throughout the world. Recognition for her work includes the Midwest Book Review Reader’s Choice Award and the Aurora Award, Canada’s top prize in science fiction. Nina lectures at university and teaches writing workshops and courses based on her award-nominated textbook The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now!  Her award-winning blog The Alien Next Door hosts lively discussion on science, travel, pop culture, writing and movies. Visit www.ninamunteanu.com for more information and to book a coaching/workshop session or class with Nina.

Update December 2012: Hi Morgen. Thanks for reposting this interview. It was so fun! Just as an update, my second book of the Splintered Universe Trilogy is now out. It will be on Amazon in a few weeks. Editura Paralela 45 in Romania has also just published my new guidebook on expressive writing called The Journal Writer; it will be out in English early 2013 with Starfire. It’s been a great year and looking like another awesome year to come. Best Wishes, Nina

Let’s hope so. I have lots planned.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!

See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• http://nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

 

Guest post: How to be a weaver bird – and win a story contest by John Yeoman

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of competitions is brought to you by author, editor and writing competition judge John Yeoman.

How to be a weaver bird – and win a story contest

Are you a peacock or a weaver bird? Some writers – peacocks – flaunt their lovely words and beg us to admire them. Others are weaver birds, patiently building a structure that’s serviceable but dull.

Some preen. Some delve.

Or so I’ve discovered from three years of judging the Writers’ Village story competition. Who wins the prizes? Peacocks or weaver birds? Neither. The cash goes to those who combine both colour and craft, preening and delving – with flair.

Here are three fast ways to blend colour and craft and write a best-selling story – or, at least, win a cash award in a story contest:

1. Draft it quickly

You have a plot idea, right? A few dramatic events? A snatch or two of dialogue? Scribble it all down as fast as you can. Don’t wait for the ‘right’ words to come to you. Clichés, stagy incidents, clumsy expressions? Welcome them. They’re fine. Just get the tale written!

Then throw it in a closet for a month.

Pluck it out with a sniff, tone it down and tune each sentence so it sings. The job should now be easy.

‘She rolled her eyes to heaven. “Joe,” she spat. “You are a lying bastard!”’

That’s formulaic. Boring. What are you really trying to express?

‘Camilla toyed with her bread stick. She wouldn’t look at me. “Is there somebody else?”

I tried to smile. “Of course, not.” I leaned back in my chair.

“That’s what you said before.” The bread stick crumbled in her hand.’

Now the incident, underplayed but loaded with body language, has gained depth.

2. Knock out the ‘show off’ language

Peacocks love to display their metaphors, fine sensibilities and erudite tropes. Tropes?  ‘Tropes’ is itself an erudite term. They wouldn’t buy it at WalMart. Why didn’t I simply write ‘tricks of style’? Because I was showing off.

‘Show off’ writing stops the reader. It says: ‘forget the story. Look at me, the author!’ In commercial fiction, we are allowed to use just one show-off expression per thousand words. More than that and our name is Umberto Eco and the reader loses the plot.

‘Literary’ works are another matter. If our name is Umberto Eco we can strut our ego in every line. Alas, our name is not Eco.

3. Firm up the structure

A good story is a ‘globed compacted thing’ (Virginia Woolf). Every word, incident and exchange of speech should support the plot. Is your structure strong? Does your story cling close to the plot? Is your first paragraph arresting and the close emphatic and clear?

Does the reader finish your story and sigh? Like somebody who has just consumed a filet de bouef without a shred of gristle?

True, you can end with a mystery or question but the reader must feel: ‘nothing could have been added or taken away from this. The story works.’

Here’s a tip. Give your tale to a friend who has no cause to love you. Ask: ‘does it work? Can you spot my deliberate howler?’ Bless them when they frown and chortle and ask you: ‘What’s the point of all that silly chatter between Joe and Madge? Why does Joe dump her? Why doesn’t Madge protest? And what, exactly, is the wretched story all about?’

It’s music to your ears. We’re all too close to our own story to spot passages that do nothing or are obscure to the reader. Or, for that matter, stories that make no sense at all.

Just apply that three-step process. Add flair. And you’ll be points ahead of the average story contestant. Gulp, I might enjoy your story. I might love it so much that I read it three times. Worse, I may even have to pay you a cash prize!

Let’s hope so. Thank you, John!

Dr John Yeoman has 42 years experience as a commercial author, newspaper editor and one-time chairman of a major PR consultancy. He has published eight books of humour, some of them intended to be humorous.

Dr John Yeoman, PhD Creative Writing, judges the Writers’ Village story competition and is a tutor in creative writing at a UK university. He has been a successful commercial author for 42 years. A wealth of further ideas for writing fiction that sells can be found in his free 14-part story course at: http://www.writers-village.org/contest-success.

‘How to be a weaver bird – and win a story contest’ reveals a 3-step process that can help writers draft their stories quickly and tidy them up painlessly, based on the author’s own experience of judging 3000+ stories in the Writers’ Village contest.

If you’re after competitions also take a look at my Competitions Calendar which includes details of the H.E. Bates Short Story Competition that one of my writing groups is running (deadline 31st October).

***

If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with science fiction and fantasy author, short story and article writer, blogger and teacher Nina Munteanu – the four hundred and eighty-first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter where each new posting is automatically announced. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords, Sony Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, iTunes Bookstore, Kobo and Amazon, with more to follow. I have a new forum, friend me on Facebook, like me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn, find me on Tumblr, complete my website’s Contact me page or plain and simple, email me.  I also now have a new blog creation service especially for, but not limited to, writers.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but I have a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them)  on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast, then do email me. They are fortnightly episodes, usually released on Sundays, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.