Yes, if you love reading and would be willing to give feedback (from answering a handful of questions to pulling the story or novel apart) on my writing, please take a look at the …Beta Readers page. And / or if you’d like to review any of my books on your website, let me know from the choice on my Amazon page. Thank you!
Rather than clutter this home page, below are this site’s highlights:
And you can email me via morgen@morgenbailey.com.
Hello. Here are your prompts for today. Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a 
summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…
Hello. Here are your prompts for today. Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give u
s a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…
Hello everyone and welcome to the forty-seventh month of this competition. There were 33 entries from 14 authors for the theme of ‘given the chance’. NB You can all send in three stories for a better chance of being picked.
One was disqualified for only being 98 words with a two-word title. Fortunately the author had submitted two other spot-on submissions, however one of those had two sets of words (include a number) that should have been hyphenated, bringing it down to 98 words. To be fair on every entrant, I have to be strict and it just goes to show how valuable (useful anyway) it can be to submit three stories.
Another story was 99 words because a word (the) was used twice. Again the author had submitted two other stories. One of those however was only 97 words (98 originally but one word had been written as two). The remaining went through to the judging.
A 99-worder possibly was because it included a hyphen/dash which doesn’t count as a word.
Another was 101 words and I couldn’t find any reason other than there being too many words. I pasted it into https://wordcounter.netand it agreed. Ditto a 95-word story and sadly both those stories were the only submissions from their authors so they missed out on the competition for this month. Hopefully they’ll submit again. One author sent the same story three times (and another) but, as per the rules, only the first version is accepted. Another 101 story started as 100 but had a word missing (‘at a time’ rather than ‘at time’) which was a shame so was sadly disqualified, especially sad as the entrant’s only submission.
One was disqualified for having a numbered ‘year old’ half hyphenated, i.e. ‘15-year old self’ rather than ‘15-year-old self’ because it’s only the self that’s the noun rather than old self. Fortunately the author had submitted two other stories which went through to the judging.
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). Sometimes a story beats another because it has a strong link to the theme – and there were several this month that barely stuck to the theme, if at all (sorry!) – so it’s worth writing a story to the theme rather than tweaking a story you already have to loosely fit it.
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 August is ‘escalator’ and you can submit your entries (and do send three) at any time up to midnight (UK time) on Saturday 31st August. 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):
Joyce Nelson with ‘Always in the Wings’
It would be so liberating to be given the chance of taking the lead. Always in the wings, learning the lines and stage directions others will use. I’m just a spear carrier, and my family think I have made it, living the high life in London. I mouth the words of my character as he is played out on stage as I await my entrance. I’m on, and I’m off, don’t blink, you’ll miss my performance as the bustling butler. I have made the part my own, there are no better butlers in the West End. I dream of accidents.
*
Second place (winning free access to two of myonline creative writing courses (currently worth £40 / $40) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,500 words (worth £11 / $14):
Paul Mastaglio with ‘One More Day’
Given the chance, we’d walk in the fields again. I’d hold her hand, stroke her cheek and make her smile. We’d go to our favourite place. There, we would embrace, look into each other’s eyes and recall the happy memories.
We’d dine in our special restaurant and talk until they threw us out. Then we’d stroll by the river and stare at the moon. Later, we’d amble back home, close the door and go up the stairs one last time.
Tears filled my eyes as I walked away from her stone. If we’d had one more day. Given the chance.
*
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):
Jennie Cordner with ‘Second Chances’
When I left Isobel, six months pregnant, I never imagined the consequences of my actions. I thought she deserved better than a layabout as a father for her child. Later, the pain of witnessing her marrying another man upset me greatly. I had to move away.
Over the years I grabbed every chance to better myself. I’m now a professor. Who would have guessed it? Yet, nothing stopped me thinking of my child or my missed opportunity to be a dad. Then, today, I saw a young man in the lecture theatre who was the image of my young self.
*
Highly commended (winning my Entering Writing Competitionscourse worth £20 / $20) or a free edit and critique of up to 1,000 words (worth £7 / $9) – in alphabetical order:
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.
I’m delighted to announce the winners of the recent Oh, Henry book giveaway. Drum roll please…
It was the first time we had run a giveaway and while there weren’t enough entrants to fulfil all the prizes, we are delighted to list the following seven winners (in alphabetical order):
First prizes: signed Oh, Henry book + Unique Story
Kerry Robinson
Leila Benhamida
Second prizes: signed Oh, Henry book
Denise Sutherland
Helena Denton
Nicki Murphy
Third prizes: Oh, Henry eBook
DeeJay Sakata
Joyce Bingham Nelson
Congratulations, everyone. I shall be in touch for details of your dedications and addresses.
We will be running other giveaways for this and my other books so watch this space!
What a lovely bunch of bloggers they were. In case you missed the reviews, they’re summarised below (click on the bloggers’ names for their full review – and please do leave comments). You can purchase my book here. I’d be very grateful. 🙂
Monday 12th
“One of my favourite authors… yet again something completely different… an intriguing story… like a lighter version of a David Lynch novel… a riveting and compelling read… I couldn’t put this one down… short chapters keep this a fast-paced novel… clever timing… written in a very smart way… a fantastic novel with a difference.” Kerry @cats_herding
“It seems like Ms Bailey can turn her hand to anything… slow-burning tension that kept me intrigued to the end… sense of place is wonderful… ” Kate @bantambookworm
Tuesday 13th
“One for the Road had me hooked… I wanted to find out what happened next… some of the characters I fel in love with, others I absolutely didn’t like at all. Some of their actions throughout the book shocked me…” Chelle @Curlupwithbooks
Then Bev of @beveaves kindly shared an extract from my book – do go and check it out.
Wednesday 14th
“I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it had me hooked… the author has a really nice writing style and I have really enjoyed everything I have read by her so far… a well-crafted story with some excellent character… another well-written story from this fabulous author – really looking forward to her next release.” Donna@dmmaguire391
And Liza @turnthepage171 shared an extract of my novel at https://turnthepage171.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/one-for-the-road-morgen-bailey.
Thursday 1st
“I was soon captivated by the story… I absolutely loved reading ‘One for the Road’… It didn’t take me long at all to become addicted… the book had developed a sort of hold over me… The pages were turning increasing quickly as my desperation to find out what happened increased… just didn’t want the book to end… Once Morgen has your attention, she doesn’t let it go.” Amanda @Ginger_bookgeek
“The more I read of Morgen’s work, the more impressed I am by her writing… Morgen cleverly intertwines their stories to produce a well-written book. I highly recommend Morgen’s writing.” Caroline @thedivinewrite1
Friday 2nd
“A slow burn – worth waiting for!… Unfolding slowly, it’s like peeling back the layers to get to the truth – and it does all come out in the end. Trust me, it’s worth waiting for. I’m very happy to give it four stars.” Grace@Reviewerlady
“This started off very strong with so much to offer the reader – really what I expect from this author as she has depth in her writing… The characters were well written… The story was interesting and I enjoyed the read.” Sean@seantalbot1977
You can purchase the book here.
Thank you so much everyone, especially Sarah @BOTBSPublicity for organising and Caroline @CazVinBooks (and others on Twitter!) for sharing.
Hello. Here are your prompts for today. Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…
Hello. Here are your prompts for today. Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…
