I came back from holiday on Monday to find this month’s issue of Writing Magazine in our post box. On flicking through, I discovered I had been shortlisted in their Real Time Short Story Competition, which was a nice surprise. I’m particularly pleased because the story I submitted was science-fiction, which they don’t often reward, […]
Category: News
In Print – Prize To Come?
My story, The Decision, has been printed in this quarter’s Scribble Magazine! Each issue has ten stories on any theme, and the readers write in with their comments, including their top three picks for that issue. The comment letters get printed in the next issue, and the three stories with the most votes get a prize, […]
Subscriber Spotlight
I’ve been featured in the Subscriber Spotlight section of this month’s Writing Magazine, which is a delightfully circular experience. My short story publications are largely due to opportunities listed in Writing Magazine, which now has a piece advertising this site, where I am advertising that piece within Writing Magazine!
Urban Flash – Competition Win!
The Photo Republic of London have launched a new project, called Urban Flash, which is taking place over the next year. It involves text and photographic prompts, which members can respond to either by submitting a photograph or a piece of flash fiction. I entered the Warm-Up Prompt Competition, submitting a short piece based on […]
Donations now open for Narrathon!
I’m part of a collaborative writing project this year, called Narrathon. It’s being organised by NAWG and involves 19 writers completing a chapter each to produce a children’s novel for publication in the second half of the year. The project is now open for donations, and all the money will go towards the upkeep of […]
It Pays to Follow Up
Back in November, I entered a competition to have one of my stories recorded by a company called Soundwork. I forgort all about it until this week, when I was tracking my outstanding submissions. I spotted a note I’d left for myself, saying I would need to check their website for the results – and, […]
Just when you think you’re out of the running…
The very day I pretty much decided to abandon my novel as a ‘useful first experiment’, I got an email telling me I’ve been long-listed in the UK Novel Writing Competition! Out of 3,112, mine has been selected along with 249 others to go forwards to the next stage of the competition. So, yay! I’ll […]
Gratifying Competition Result
This month’s issue of Writing Magazine arrived in the post today, and I was shortlisted in the Tight Situation Short Story Competition! I’m particularly pleased with this result, because the story I entered went through a development process I’m planning to cultivate more often in my writing this year. I worked on it in several stages, […]
Preparing to be eviscerated!
There’s a regular column in Writing Magazine, called Under the Microscope, in which author James McCreet analyses the first few hundred words of a reader’s novel. He’s notoriously unflinching in his critique and really gets into the nitty-gritty of what works – and mostly what doesn’t – in those all-important opening paragraphs. Aaaaand, in the November […]