Boing!

Word of the week is spring. (I've spent the day gardening and it felt springlike out there today)

Spring can mean, jump, move rapidly, release from prison, a water supply, a season, resilient device if coiled metal etc etc.

I don't think I'll be springing a surprise if I announce I have a free to enter writing competition for you.
Here you can win £5,000 for a story, poem. video or song which offers advice for staying safe online.

Cafelit are accepting submissions for their calendar. Selected pieces will earn a share of the profits.

What are you waiting for? Spring into action!

Catch Fire blog party

Alex is having a party and we're all invited! He's doing a blog tour from now until 9th of March to promote the release of his latest book, CassaFire. 

Anyone who comments on his blog posts during that time is in with a chance of winning this package, which includes copies of his books CassaFire and CassaStar, a large tote bag, and a mug.  

You can learn more about the book, which is also available as an ebook, from this trailer.

Reply to: Reply to Alex J. Cavanaugh

Send

Free Chocolate!

I was going to illustrate this post with a photo of lots of choccie things but by the time I got the plate in focus there were only a few crumbs left. Can't think what can have happened.

Want $1,000 and publication? Then enter this fiction competition - but be quick!

Can't decide on a genre? Scf-fi, horror and/or fantasy are all welcome here. Top prize is $400


Prefer sticking to the truth but not staying put? This travel writing competition might suit you.



If you want your stories 'out there' but can't be bothered to write them down then this might be just the thing for you.

Just here for the chocolate?

Did I leave anyone out?

Let's play tag

 I've been tagged by Annalisa which means I have to answer the 11 random questions she's asked, then tag 11 other people with my own 11 random questions.

First though, here's a competition. You're asked to write a piece of flash fiction (up to 500 words) by 14th June. The winner will get a £20 book token. (If you need suggetions on how to spend it, I can help!)

1. Which book, that you're supposed to love, do you actually hate?

I don't think I hate any books - if I'm not enjoying one I stop reading it and start on another.

2. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

Sherlock 

3. Name four people (dead or alive) you would like to invite for dinner. 

Any members of my family.

4. Can you remember your first teacher?

Mrs Atack (although I'm not sure of the spelling)

5. In which order should Star Wars be watched: IV, V, VI, I, II, III or I, II, III, IV, V, VI?

There was more than one Star Wars film?

6. Which fictional character would you like to be for a day?

One from my current WIP - that way the day will go exactly as I want it to.

7. Sweet or savoury?

You have a typo in that question 'or' should read 'and'. The answer is yes.

8. Do you have a tattoo? How many?

No. No piercings either, not even in my ears.

9. Do you still have your first teddy bear? (I do.)

I have several teddies still from when I was a kid.

10. Oggy, oggy, oggy... Does anyone know what comes next? (hehehe)

Oi! Oi! Oi! (I was in Kingfisher patrol)

11. What are you reading right now?

My own novel 'Escape to the Country' as I have to do line edits.

I'm tagging Kitty, Linda, Milo, Alex, Keith, Maggie, Sarah, Marion, Frances, Teresa and JJ with these questions -

1. Do you have a favourite word or phrase?

2. What do you like on your pizza?
3. Where do you get you books from?
4. Favourite drink?
5. Who would you most like to meet?
6. And why?
7. Favourite colour?
8. Where have you never visited but would like to go?
9. Do you like hats?
10. What weather do you like best?
11. Were these questions random enough?

Free cake!

Wednesday's word of the week is mardy. It means sulky, whining or spoilt. Hardly seems right to mention it in the presence of my lovely blog friends - but maybe it'll come in useful to describe a character.

A manuscript critique over tea and cake sounds just the thing to spoil a writer, she here's your chance to win this great prize. No need to sulk if you're a short story writer rather than a novelist as I have a paying market here that you might like to submit to.

Maybe you'd rather win a new notebook? That'd be just the thing to read my book and short stories on once these become available electronically.

If we believe the papers then tomorrow we'll be having Mardi Gras weather so here's a flower for your hair (do I spoil you or what?)

Free books, iPad and other stuff

Thought I'd better write her blog today as she's still a bit odd. Besides, I'm sure you've all realised by now that I'm the brains and power behind her success.


This is a picture of me trying to sort out the mess she considers a first draft. Sometimes I wish a draught would take it away, but do I complain? What Gary and I have to put up with you just wouldn't believe. She reckons she's too busy with line edits to do anything else, but if that's true why does she keep moving away from the computer?

Anyway, enough about me and on with the competitions.
Here's the chance to win an iPad, this link allows you to enter draws for free books, and this one is for an electric gizmo to organise all your other electric gizmos. Be sure to think round thoughts as you enter and I'll bless you with the power of The Sphere.

What happened was ...

... I entered a novel writing competition (one I'd blogged about here) and beat 600+ other entrants. As a result my novel 'Escape to the Country' will be published at the end of March.

As you can see, I'm taking the news very calmly.

Moving Swiftly On

Wednesday's word of the week is celerity. I hadn't heard of it until a couple of days ago. I was at the day job doing the crossword (it was lunchtime, honest) and my colleague made up this word. When we consulted the dictionary we found it was a real word - that's not the first time such a thing has happened. The word means swiftness, especially of a living creature. I'm guessing it might be connected to the word accelerate in some way, but I'm not sure.

Write with speed and you'll have time to enter this free to enter writing competition and win yourself a safari in Botswana (where you're sure to see living creatures) or this also free one where the prize is £250 plus publication. Don't go making stuff up though as both these are for non fiction.

Sometimes moving swiftly isn't the best plan - we'd be better advised to slow down and look properly so we can see the dangers ahead. Winning these will allow you to take a good look at what you're doing.

It's the dog's *******

Rosemary Kind has set up a company that offers an exciting opportunity for writers as well as a good deal for readers. I said she could tell you all about it if she produced a cute puppy picture as well. She's kept her side of the deal with Aristotle's photo, so let's hear from her.

"When I was 10 my sister bought me a birthday card with the quote ‘Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’ I took that slogan to heart and have carried it with me through every turn of life.

As with so many fiction writers, I'm frustrated by the reduction in markets for short stories. I’m also frustrated with an industry which thinks it is only women over 55 who want to read short stories. There's a whole new market of people filling their travel time by reading i-phones, Kindles and e-readers. Of course writers can publish through Amazon or Smashwords, but not everyone has the time or knowhow and not everyone has a whole book to submit. Nor does Amazon lend itself to a pricing set up for short stories.

I got to thinking what if we could develop a new way of buying short stories. What if people could download short stories as they would music? Just one track or the equivalent of an album. That’s where Alfie Dog Limited comes in, a download site that puts writers and readers at the heart of our publishing. We aim to become THE place on the web to find short stories in a wide range of genres. www.alfiedog.com will be a site that keeps itself simple and never forgets that without authors there would be nothing worth reading. This is the beginning of an exciting project. Please see here for submission guidelines. "

If you're a writer, do consider subbing something (I already have). If you're a reader then please dowload a story or two once they become available (you'll be able to read them on a computer if you don't have an e-reader.)

update 14/2/12 Just to clarify - this is a paying market, but it's royalty based rather than a flat fee.

That's the Spirit!

You know me, always working tirelessly ... in the quest for free champagne! I managed to get myself invited on the maiden crossing of P&O's newest ferry Spirit of France the other day. I did have to carry a photographer's bag, but luckily I know one of those. (If you're interested in pictures of ships, or proper shipping news do check out Gary's snazzy new website)

It was a smooth, quick crossing. By the time I'd eaten the nice steak dinner we'd reached France and were on the way back. That's when they dished out champagne to journalistic types. I must look like I know my way round a keyboard because they gave me a couple of glasses of the stuff (yes, that is the tenuous link to writing that gets this post into this blog!)

Here's me with the captain (I know what you're thinking - if we're both there posing who was driving the thing?)


There's barely time to read a short story on the Dover/Calais crossing, so I'm not sure I can tie in a link to a competition to win the entire works of Dickens or even this collection of classics. Maybe I'd better stick with this one for an iPad (the ferry has free wifi so you'd be able to use it onboard)

On Monday I went to a one-to-one poetry session with Andrew McMillan and as threatened I'm going to tell you about it. (And, even though I didn't warn you, here's a picture of me doing an impression of a poet. That expression is because I'm cogitating on the beauty of nature.)

I emailed four poems in advance and Andrew told me (very nicely) what he thought of them and how I might improve. I'm sometimes a bit scared of poetry because, to me, it's not always clear if I've actually written a poem. As I don't know the rules, I don't know if I'm sticking to them. He assured me my efforts really are poems (phew) and said this isn't something we need worry about too much. Seems a poem is a poem if the poet says so.

Another problem I have is with rhythm. He suggested reading my poems aloud several times. Andrew is convinced if I do that enough then I'll see where it's not quite right so I'll give that a try.

My titles are good! Hussah! It's a good plan, he says, to chose titles that add to the poem rather than simply saying what it's about. Seems I do that.

Rhymes are something else I do quite well ... except Andrew didn't think I always needed them. I do agree they suit some subjects and styles better than others, so I'll be thinking more carefully about whether I use them in future.

One suggestion that surprised me was not to always make everything incredibly poetic. If every line deals with high emotion, big concepts and beautiful phrases it can be a bit much to take in. Give the reader a few plainer lines and they'll be able to catch their breath a little. Makes sense when you think about it.

Andrew was very encouraging and said some lovely things about my poems, yet also gave plenty of pointers for improvement. The main message, for everyone, is to write more poetry and try different styles and subjects. Just because you've written a great sonnet about cats doesn't mean all your poems should be sonnets about cats.

He gave me homework! I'm to try rewriting one of my poems but to ... actually I'll try the exercise and post up both so you can see what happens.

Andrew is running poetry workshops in Basingstoke next month. Do go if you can.

Links for poetry competitions would be appropriate now, I think. Here's one, and here's another.

Creativity

Thanks to Annalisa for this lovely award. Seems my acceptance speech is to consist of a few random facts about myself before I pass this award on to other worthy bloggers.

First the randomness -
1. I'm not really into clothes or shoes, but I have an extensive scarf collection (many of which are gifts from my soon to be mother-in-law)
2. I now know more about poetry than I did last week (my next blog post will explain)
3. My favourite pizza is the one with spinach and an egg on top. (Florentine?)
4. Once I get started using brackets, I tend to overdo it (I'll try to restrain myself)
5. I'm planning to make my own wedding bouquet from flowers I'll grow myself.
6. I've just discovered the Blogger spell check feature doesn't recognise 'blog' as a word!

I'm passing this award on to - Jessica, Sarah, Maria, Gail, Alex and Madeleine.  

Suppose you want a competition? This is for novels - a different genre each month. If you have a historical or mythological novel get it in quick, next month they want Westerns and in April it's Horror and Supernatural.

Not got a novel ready? Then try winning yourself a notebook or iPad or laptop instead.

Pretentious, moi?

Darling, do you see how, with this image, I've captured the essence of creative writing? It's symbolic simplicity is an ironic challenge to the complexities of both the English language and the editorial process. The plot is, oh so clearly, represented by the buoys themselves, offering as they do the illusion of a safe harbour. Intrinsically implied, as I'm sure you've noticed, is the fluid nature of literary fashion and rippling in from the East are tiny wavelets of inspiration.

Ah, sorry about that - I was looking for new competitions and came across this. (I really took the picture because I was getting bored waiting for a ferry and thought the colours clashed nicely)

Actually, I didn't find anything new, so I'll remind you of a couple of ongoing monthly competitions. That'll be this one and this.

Cafelit, as well as still being open for submissions, have a book out. A couple of my stories are in there, so I'm sure it's a sublime blend of creative passion, adventurous prose and ... Ooops, went all lovey again there for a minute.

Cold and Lusty

I had another photography lesson today. The portrait part went reasonably well (because I did as instructed) the video bit went really, really badly (because I didn't). Which would you like to see? Yeah, that's what I thought - here it is.

Probably the only way I can apologise for making you watch that is with lots of writing related links - so here's a call for submissions, the chance to win an ebook, a poetry competition, another poetry competition, the opportunity to visit Shakespeare's birthplace and something for the recklessly romantic.

btw, the February 4th issue of The Weekly News contains one of my stories. Ironically, in light of my videoing, it's called 'Doing the Right Thing'.

Mwa ha ha I'm taking over the world

Hmmm, maybe my post title doesn't seem quite appropriate for the Insecure Writer's Support Group monthly post? Truth is, I've had a few acceptances this month, including one to a new market - South African magazine YOU and I'm not actually feeling insecure. Who could feel insecure after selling work in 7 countries?

Well ... any minute now I'll get another reject (or bunch of them) and I'll be feeling much less confident than I am now. That leads me on to the word of the week.

Reject. 1. To send back as not used 2. refuse to accept 3. rebuff or snub 4. vomit or 5. Imune response to an organ. Lots of definitions - none of them good. They can seem like a snub, refusal to accept us, make us feel sick or even seem a catastrophic failure, but really they're just a message saying that particular piece hasn't been accepted by that particular market at this time.

As I've had so many, rejects no longer hurt like they once did, but I'll never like them and I'll never stop getting them until I stop sending work out.

Was your application for Olympic tickets rejected? If so get poetic revenge here.

I doubt James Patterson gets many rejects these days, but I'm sure he's had them in the past. Here's a chance to get hold of three of his books.