Scroll down below this post for the latest item…
Hello and welcome. I’m Morgen Bailey, ‘Morgen With An E’, and I started this blog on 31st March 2011 with the intention of posting the occasional item about writing (pretty much my sole interest since 2005 which became my career March 2012) but it soon built to what it is today… 800+ interviews, 300+ author spotlights, 300+ guest blogs, 100+ Flash Fiction Fridays and batches of 6-word FFFs (which were later podcasted), and 100+ post-weekend poems… 2,600+ posts generating 200+ views a day, to-date 220,000+ hits. If you’d like to take part, click here.
I’m now running local (Northampton, UK) writing / I.T. courses and plan to have the equivalents online early 2015, so watch this space.
If it’s information you’re after, then you’ve come to the right place (or one of them anyway), there are competitions, reviews/reviewers, submission info., writing 101 (tips), writing groups, how to create free book trailer videos and eBooks, as well as feedback, courses (which will be in person and online), you can take part in my online writing groups, go and buy books: other people’s and there’s an Ask Me facility if there’s anything you want to know about writing (I’ll try my best to help you). I also have Other stuff including Quotes and eNewspapers. If you’d like to know more about me, there’s my writing, books: mine and Morgen With An ‘E’. If you’re looking for an editor, I offer that service (various levels) along with other facilities.
This blog’s usual schedule is (it can vary depending on content received)… Monday – poetry (or book review); Tuesday – guest blog or spotlight; Wednesday – book review (either by myself or a guest); Thursday – guest blog or spotlight; Friday – batch of 6-worders or <500-word short story (or book review); Saturday – an interview or spotlight, which then leads for the weekend. On weekdays I also post writing exercises on / from the Online Writing Groups.
And now for the latest item (below)…
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 (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 554: Friday 27th February
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. 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.
Below are the four – you can do them in any order.
- Keywords: schedules, stressful, throat, house, update
- Random: front and back
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- One-word prompt: step
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…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
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Story Writing Exercises 558: Friday 27th February
Here are your four story exercises for today.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the one hundred and fifty-sixth piece in this series. This week’s is the nineteenth bunch of 6-word stories by a variety of authors, together with their 6-word biographies!
6-word stories
by Chong Teck SIM – aspiring Singaporean writer
- Small lamps. Rangoli floor paintings. Deepavali.
- Re-igniting old pains. Past love.
- Sweet innocence. Ever-lasting marriage. Golden anniversary.
- Creaking doors. Pitter-patter footsteps. Mischievous poltergeist.
- Every morning. Unexpected roses. Secret admirer.
- To my beloved: no refund permitted.
- Tear-soaked face. Photograph. Departed lover.
- Two students. Holding hands. Puppy love.
- Anonymous donor. A blank cheque. Charity.
- Love misses a stop: my heart.
by Sal Buttaci finds humor in life
- Words of kindness transcend all tongues.
- In sleep no one is harmed.
- Life is measured with a thimble.
- The last great war was not.
- Counting to six, use both hands.
- Can “I do” be empty boasting?
- Find your purpose and live it.
by Mark K – a writer? Trying hard.
- Snail racing: Not an exciting sport.
- Twenty-twenty vision but he’s deaf.
- My Teddy bear died last night.
- Airline stewardess joins mile high club.
- When she went, my world stopped.
- Then diamond tears track furrowed cheeks.
- I’ll so miss her child-like smile.
- Her voice is like an angel’s.
- The door closed, my lips trembled.
- Sweet silence reigned, she’d left me.
by Samantha Wilcox, navigates life through writing
- Mix up, mothered the wrong child.
- Two men, three girls, one sigh.
- Her assistance declined, she left carefree.
- Ignored his call and walked away.
- Colorado snowfall brightened the dark firs.
- She failed and so I won.
- Excited, needed to share, chose you.
- Icy, moved fast, bad move, dead.
- Wrote this and more inspiration came.
- Degree’s done, job’s unfulfilling, still searching.
by Awen Thornber. Creative dreamer. Cancer survivor.
- Flash fiction. Short story. Became novella!
- Flees England, becomes Huguenot. Flees France.
by Geoffrey Iley: hedonist, romantic, aspiring wordsmith
- Will you… please? No! Goodbye.
- I demand your money! No! Bang!
- Where? Just here? ¾ enjoyable? Ooooh!
- Help! What? Can’t hear, sorry. Aaaaaargh…
- Candle snuffed… whose hand grips mine???
- (Enriched plutonium) + (psychopath) = extinction.
by James Holden works as a geek.
- But you were beautiful, back then.
by Mary Annie: writer at her best.
- The car screeched. And she screamed.
- Sang, danced, dined. To no avail.
by Suzanne, Pear-shaped, pushing 50, risking all
- Daughter bride chooses hyphen, maintains identity.
- Matriarch flees. Ocean restores. Family rejoices.
- Boy turned man. Loved her back.
- Grampa spoiled us flea market Sundays.
and then some from yours truly… Morgen Bailey, Morgen With an E
- Valentine’s Day. I’d expected something else.
- Generous lover, lonely wife, guilty feet.
- Concerto plays as he proposes. “No.”
- I love AC/DC. The band too.
- Watching movie, sinking into the sofa.
- Bought duct tape. Lover or killer?
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Thank you, everyone.
If you’d like to submit your 6-worders (up to ten per blog post, although you can send as many as you like and I’ll either pick the best ones or if I like most / all of them, schedule ahead) and / or 500-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 6-word stories, 6-word story, 6-worders, 6-words, AC/DC, Alberta Ross, author, Awen Thornber, Bailey's writing tips, books, Chong Teck, Chong Teck SIM, creative writing, England, Ernest Hemmingway, flash fiction, Flash Fiction Fridays, Geoffrey Iley, Helen M Hunt, James Holden, Jane Hertenstein, Jessica Caudill, literature, Marie Annie, Mark K, micro fiction, Miriam Averna, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, novelist, Rebecca Barbee, Sal Buttaci, Salvatore Buttaci, Samantha Wilcox, Sarah Grace Logan, short stories, story author, story authors, twitter fiction, Valentine's Day, Warren Bull, writer, writing, writing advice, writing tips
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 (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 553: Thursday 26th February
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. 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.
Below are the four – you can do them in any order.
- Keywords: time, plus, someone, own, walls
- Random: decision made
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Thursday Title: Renovating the Shack
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…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 557: Thursday 26th February
Here are your four story exercises for today.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by romance novelist Elizabeth Bailey.
How To Put Together A Multi-Author Box Set
A collection of authors writing in the same genre is a must. The five of us in our box set are all Regency writers, so that was a good start.
How do you find them? The obvious way is to look amongst your writer friends and acquaintances. Often writer groups put out anthologies together. But if you are going to put out full-length books, you may have to go further afield. Do you belong to a writers’ organisation?
We are all members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in the UK, and we often meet at events. We know each other, not necessarily well, but we were able to locate enough writers in the same genre from this large pool.
The hardest thing to face is that you want writers of similar calibre. This means taking a good look at your own ability and level. You may not be a bestselling author, but are your books of good enough quality to align with those who are? How experienced are you compared to the rest?
Also look at your prospective fellow authors. Check out their books. Would you read them? Would you be happy to recommend them? These are important considerations, because you all need to be rooting for success together, and you must believe in the value of the box set. Fortunately, our five contributions match very well in terms of quality, and we all like reading each other’s books.
Each author then has to decide which book will go in the set, ensuring no two books are too alike. Having chosen the book, you need to decide which platform to publish it on. Then make sure that all the books are available and meet the criteria of the platform. Amazon, for example, has a number of exclusivity clauses, depending whether or not you go into its Select program.
One of the authors has to take responsibility for publishing the box set on their account on the platform, and be willing to share out the profits after costs are met. All the authors need to agree on a publishing date and a promotion campaign, each one playing their part in getting the box set noticed.
Don’t forget the cover! It’s worth paying out for a good one as you need the box set format and a really attractive come-on general picture that will work for all the stories. Proofing is a must! You don’t want typos and errors all over the place. We each proofed the whole thing, so there were five pairs of eyes going over it and we must have caught most of the mistakes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amanda Grange, bestselling author, blog post, blogging, books, box set, creative writing, Elizabeth Bailey, fellow author, Fenella J Miller, guest blog, guest blog post, guest blogging, guest post, Lauren Bailey, literature, Liz Bailey, Melinda Hammond, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, non-fiction, reading books, self-published novelist, story author, story authors, Wendy Soliman, writer, writing, writing advice, writing tips
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 (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 552: Wednesday 25th February
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. 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.
Below are the four – you can do them in any order.
- Keywords: progress, dry, installing, clear, cable
- Random: the last three weeks
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Sentence start: If there are things…
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…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 556: Wednesday 25th February
Here are your four story exercises for today.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
Today’s book review, of a short story collection, is brought to you by yours truly, Morgen Bailey. If you’d like your book reviewed or to send me a book review of another author’s book, see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog.
Being a writer and editor, I read and review books with both hats. If you’re a writer reading this review and found it useful, do let me know.
Twenty Short Stories: Settling a Score by Michael Ross
Synopsis: What does it feel like to take another person’s life? Will the good deeds we do come back to us in different forms? Should we always trust our instincts? Is it ever too late to turn back? These are of some of the questions posed in this imaginative collection of short stories involving amongst others; a public executioner, a super hero who’s half man-half wolf, a failed celebrity writer, a disillusioned taxi driver, a father and daughter facing the end of the world, an ugly journalist, and a policeman seeking justice. Some of the many characters in this intriguing and imaginative collection of stories where all the characters have a tale to tell. A collection that will surely leave a mark on the reader.
This collection is available via http://www.amazon.co.uk/TWENTY-SHORT-STORIES-Settling-Score-ebook/dp/B00G4E5038 and http://www.amazon.com/TWENTY-SHORT-STORIES-Settling-Score-ebook/dp/B00G4E5038.
Review (of the eBook, using Mrs Kindle’s text-to-speech function)
The collection, as the title implies, has twenty stories (listed and reviewed below). I love titles and often with short story collections, I pick and choose the order in which I read them, leaving the most intriguing to last (these being the third, twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth and seventeenth).
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amazon, audiobook, author, Author Michael, Bailey's writing tips, book review, book reviews, book-reivew, books, character, collection, creative writing, fiction, Kindle, Lady Jane, literature, main character, marketing, Michael J Fox, Michael Ross, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, novel, novelist, novels, short stories, story author, story authors, text-to-speech, Toby Jones, writer, writing, writing guide, writing tips
The Chip Lit Agent Pitch event is back!
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Carole Blake (photo by Jack Ladenburg)
Seeking a way around the slush pile? Brave enough to have your manuscript critiqued in front of an audience? Whether you’re ready to throw your hat in the ring, or just want to pick up tips for your own writing, this event is one for aspiring authors everywhere.
Literary agent Carole Blake (pictured right) teams up with author of Wannabe a Writer?’s Jane Wenham-Jones (pictured below) – and me! – for this interactive ‘reality show’ event. Submit the first 1,000 words of your novel in the form below by 20th March 2015 (entries over the 1,000 words excluding title will be disqualified) together with a strict 250-word maximum third-person biography (as if someone else is describing you) and strict 250-word maximum synopsis of your novel including the ending.
Submission confirms agreement with, and acceptance of, the terms and conditions listed here (with entry form).
We’ll invite five shortlisted writers to pitch their work to Carole. The audience will listen as Carole critiques each piece, before opening it up for audience question and answers. Based on the planned TV show Wannabe a Writer, this promises to be the Dragons’ Den of the literary world. Join in, if you dare.
Chipping Norton Literary Festival is a four-day celebration of books, reading and writing, with a host of author talks, signings, discussions and workshops.
Tickets on sale via 01608 642350, visit www.chiplitfest.com for the full programme or click here for the event itself.
Before you submit, if you’d like some tips on writing take a look at my Writing Tips page.
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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 The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, various short story collections and writer’s block workbooks) and If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating. Thank you.
For anyone looking for an editor and general feedback on your writing at a very reasonable rate, do take a look at Editing and Critique.
If you would like to send me a book review of another author’s books or like your book reviewed (short stories, contemporary crime / women’s novels or writing guides), see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog. And I post writing exercises every weekday on four online writing groups.
Tags: Carole Blake, Chipping Norton, Chipping Norton Literary Festival, Chipping Norton Literature Festival, creative writing, critique, Dragons' Den, feedback, Jack Ladenburg, Jane Wenham Jones, literary agent, Literary Festival, Mark Billingham, novel competition, novel critique, novel feedback, opening chapter, openings, Wannabe a Writer, writing, writing competition
Hello and welcome. I’m Morgen Bailey, ‘Morgen With An E’, and I started this blog on 31st March 2011 with the intention of posting the occasional item about writing (pretty much my sole interest since 2005 which became my career March 2012) but it soon built to what it is today… 800+ interviews, 300+ author spotlights, 300+ guest blogs, 100+ Flash Fiction Fridays and batches of 6-word FFFs (which were later podcasted), and 100+ post-weekend poems… 2,600+ posts generating 200+ views a day, to-date 220,000+ hits. If you’d like to take part, click here.
