Rather than clutter this home page, below are this blog’s highlights:
And you can email me via morgen@morgenbailey.com.
*** If you enjoy these prompts, or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript, do take a look at my seven online courses… five currently half price and two FREE! (coupon codes on the online courses page) and / or my Writer’s Block Workbooks… my best-selling eBooks – now available in eBook and paperback format!
I also run a free Monday mentor group. Do join us and pick my brain. 🙂
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs. As you’ll see by the heading numbers, you may have missed a few but the links are listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there. So here are your poetry and short story exercises…
Poetry Writing Exercises 1434: Tuesday 17th July
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts, do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price (when using the coupon codes on my main blog’s online coursespage) and two others are FREE!
Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next. When you’ve finished, do pop over to this blog’s Facebook Group and let everyone know how you got on. I also run a free Monday mentor group. Do join us and pick my brain. 🙂
Below are the four – you can do them in any order.
Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
Story Writing Exercises 1438: Tuesday 17th July
Here are your four story exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts (or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript), do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price and the other two are FREE (when using coupon codes)!
A lovely interview with a fellow NaNoWriMoer (it’s how I started writing novels). I’d love Anne to review my new book, The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, but think it’s too chick lit (Izzy’s 40). 😦 Maybe I could just gatecrash the dinner. 🙂
Hi Anne and welcome. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?
Hi Jo, and thank you so much for inviting me to join you today – I always enjoy your Tuesday Talk interviews, and it was lovely to be asked to do one! I’ve lived in the beautiful Yorkshire market town of Wetherby for 25 years now, but I’m originally from a village near Bangor in North Wales (and people tell me I still have the accent!). I worked as a civil servant (DWP) for more years than I want to remember – project management, marketing and communications – but was lucky enough to be offered early retirement four years ago. My plan was to spend my time doing all the things I most enjoy, and I do – but I also care for my 92 year old mum who has vascular dementia.
You run…
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*** If you enjoy these prompts, or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript, do take a look at my seven online courses… five currently half price and two FREE! (coupon codes on the online courses page) and / or my Writer’s Block Workbooks… my best-selling eBooks – now available in eBook and paperback format!
I also run a free Monday mentor group. Do join us and pick my brain. 🙂
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs. As you’ll see by the heading numbers, you may have missed a few but the links are listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there. So here are your poetry and short story exercises…
Poetry Writing Exercises 1433: Monday 16th July
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts, do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price (when using the coupon codes on my main blog’s online coursespage) and two others are FREE!
Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next. When you’ve finished, do pop over to this blog’s Facebook Group and let everyone know how you got on. I also run a free Monday mentor group. Do join us and pick my brain. 🙂
Below are the four – youcan do them in any order.
Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
Story Writing Exercises 1437: Monday 16th July
Here are your four story exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts (or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript), do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price and the other two are FREE (when using coupon codes)!
Drum roll please…
Following on from a fantastic festival on Saturday, I’m delighted to announce the top ten authors of our competition.
Drum roll please…
The winners are (coincidentally both from May’s round):
Runners up (each winning free entry to BeaconLit 2019):
Either Dave, our Chair and competition coordinator, or Jacquie, our Secretary, will be in touch with your prizes.
In another batch any one of these stories could have won but the top…
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Hello everyone. Last month I received 25 entries from 17 authors. Ten were disqualified for not being 100 words (three 101s, four 99s, a 98, two 97s and a 96), all but three being 100 INcluding rather than EXcluding their title. It’s a shame, especially as three were from one author. Fortunately their entries this month are spot on the 100. Yay. Two of the 101s were submitted as a 100-word stories but both were missing an ‘a’ before one of the noun (a plate in one, a mood in another) so corrected, would have pushed them over the limit. Two of the 99s (one of which was actually my favourite story this month) was disqualified as there was a word that had been split in two (and was flagged in the grammar check) and one of the stories had a similar word which had, correctly, not been so it amounted to 99 words. To be fair to everyone, I had to correct then disqualify them. 😦
The winning stories are ones that I reacted most favourably to. They were clever, surprising, eek-making (in a good way),or gave me a warm fuzzy feeling (without being sickly). You may have chosen a different order or indeed not placed one or more of them so if you entered and didn’t find your story / stories here, don’t lose heart. You probably only just missed out so do enter new stories this month*, next month, whenever you like (but not in advance!). It’s an ongoing competition and free, so you could win at any time. There were new and familiar names this month so anyone could win… it’s all dependent upon whether your story grabs me, for whatever reason (whether it be clever, funny, unusual, quirky, or sweet).
Apart from the top three and highly commended, there are some ‘Honourable Mentions’. They don’t win anything but they were so close to being Highly Commended that I wanted them to know how close they came. It’s still something for them to put on their CVs.
*The theme for July is ‘a horror story’ and you can submit your entries (and do send three) at any time up to midnight (UK time) on Tuesday 31st July. Details and entry forms on https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/100-word-free-monthly-competition. So without further ado, below are the successful entries this month.
*
First place (winning free access to three of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £60 / $60) or a free edit and critique of up to 2,000 words (worth £14 / $18):
Steve Root with ‘Silent Running’
It wasn’t the tyres. Properly inflated, legally treaded, they still performed as per design as they incongruously sped down the road unattached to a vehicle of any kind.
It wasn’t the brakes. Recently tested, they had performed well, although in this time of crisis they were never troubled.
The tree was not to blame. It had stood for many years. Those years had made it big, strong, and most importantly utterly immobile.
No, the culprit was still in place, wide staring eyes still proving the old adage: the most dangerous part of a car is the nut behind the wheel.
*
Second place (winning free access to two of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £40 / $40) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,500 words (worth £11 / $14):
Jane Broughton with ‘Greener Pastures’
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Great Garibaldi will astonish and amaze. Prepare to gasp as he throws the knives, while blindfolded, at the lovely Dolores. Bobo, spin that wheel.”
Bobo the clown started to turn the glittery wheel.
Dolores looked at Graham, also known as the Great Garibaldi, in contempt. She couldn’t wait for the fool to finish so she could leave him for greener pastures.
Graham levelled the knife. The audience held its breath. Graham smirked and mouthed ‘goodbye’ to the horrified Dolores.
After the funeral, Graham and Bobo consoled each other during a long weekend in Whitby.
*
Third place (winning free access to one of my online creative writing courses (currently worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9):
Cathy MacKenzie with ‘Squeaky Runs’
Squeaky jumps off the wheel and rests.
When I stick a finger into his cage, he leaps at it.
I spin everyday on a wheel to nowhere. Squeaky races to nowhere on a trip to somewhere, unaware he’ll spin for eternity, not missing what he’s never had.
A breeze drifts through the open window where the forest beckons.
I unlatch Squeaky’s door. He glances at me, glimpses the open door and the window. He darts out of the cage and bounds out the window like a bullet whizzing into the forest.
“Bye, Squeaky,” I whisper. “Perhaps I’ll see you again.”
*
Highly commended (winning my Entering Writing Competitions course worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9) – in alphabetical order:
Juan Andrés González Romero with ‘The Longest Trip’Honourable mentions (not winning anything but only narrowly missing out and still looking good on their CV) – in alphabetical order:
Congratulations, everyone. The entries for this month are already drifting in. Remember, you can send up to three per month so rather than miss out on a chance by sending one story, do submit more.
If you’ve enjoyed these stories and / or just want to leave a comment, please do so below and / or you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com., although I won’t (can’t) discuss forthcoming entries unless it’s a general query.
*** If you enjoy these prompts, or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript, do take a look at my seven online courses… five currently half price and and two FREE! (coupon codes on the online courses page) and / or my Writer’s Block Workbooks… my best-selling eBooks – now available in eBook and paperbackformat!
I also run a free Monday mentor group. Do join us and pick my brain. 🙂
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs. As you’ll see by the heading numbers, you may have missed a few but the links are listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there. So here are your poetry and short story exercises…
Poetry Writing Exercises 1432: Friday 13th July
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts, do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price (when using the coupon codes on my main blog’s online courses page) and two others are FREE!
Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next. When you’ve finished, do pop over to this blog’s Facebook Group and let everyone know how you got on. I also run a free Monday mentor group. Do join us and pick my brain. 🙂
Below are the four – youcan do them in any order.
Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
Story Writing Exercises 1436: Friday 13th July
Here are your four story exercises for today. If you enjoy these prompts (or are looking to improve your writing or submit a manuscript), do take a look at my online courses… five are currently half price and the other two are FREE (when using coupon codes)!
And now for a little about my journey. Thank you, Sonya and Sarah!
I am thrilled to be taking part in this blog blitz along with a number of other book bloggers and would like to thank Sarah Hardy for inviting me to participate. ‘The Serial Dater’s Shopping List’ was published in paperback and as an eBook yesterday the 12th July 2018 by Bombshell Books and it sounds really good.
I have a guest post by Morgen Bailey, but first here’s what the book is about.
Book Blurb
31 days. 31 dates.
Izzy is a journalist who usually writes a technology column for a Northampton newspaper. Her somewhat-intimidating boss William sets her the task of dating thirty-one men, via an internet dating site, all within a month, and writing about it for the paper.
Having an active, though fruitless, social life with her friend Donna, Izzy knows what she wants in a man, so creates a shopping list of dos and don’ts and…
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