Christmas

We all know what the word Christmas means – it's the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is 25th December, the twelve days of Christmas run from then until Epiphany, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding are both delicious breakfast foods, a Christmas card is a pretty picture sent to prove both you're not dead yet and that you don't hate the recipient.










A Christmas rose isn't a rose at all – it's a hellebore. They don't usually flower on Christmas Day, but do bloom soon after and are very pretty.

The true meaning of Christmas is far less clear. Mostly it seems to be a festival dedicated to spending money, overeating and getting stressed. Or maybe I'm just cynical and it has a more positive meaning for you?




Whatever your feelings about Christmas, if you can express them in a story you could enter the first of Wordsmag's 2019 short story competitions. These are free to enter and offer cash prizes. (I won the Christmas one last year.) If the festive season really annoys you, maybe you'll prefer the theme of the second competition?

Quid

A quid is one pound sterling, although the term is sometimes used to refer to other currencies. Historically it also referred to chewing tobacco. Eugh.

To make a quick quid is to earn some money in an easy manner, either honestly or otherwise. eg When Fred saw what John was up to he realised he could make a quick quid by promising to keep quiet.

To be quids in is to be in a position to profit from something, usually in a finacial manner, but it can refer to other benefits. eg Being the only taxi driver who owned snow chains meant Cheryl was quids in during the bad weather.

Anyone described as not the full quid isn't considered very bright.

Thanks to Alyson (whose support of this blog is beyond price) for passing on the details of this flash fiction competition. It's free to enter and the prizes are membership of The Writers' HQ and places on one day writing retreats (with alternatives if you can't attend). Reading the competition details I was startled when I saw the first mention of money as it was in quids, not dollars. Until then I was sure I was reading about a U.S. organisation.

I can remember when a quid could be folded and was considered proper money, not loose change – can you?

Romance

I thought I knew what romance meant, so hadn't previously looked it up. According to my dictionary it's a feeling of excitement and mystery, most usually associated with love. Does that surprise you? It did me a little – not the excitement part so much as the mystery element, and it's not that these form part of the definition, but that they're all of it.

I've always thought of romance as being at least partly 'nice', pink and fluffy, sugar sweet. Maybe I've been romanticising the word? To romanticise (or romanticize) is to deal with, look at, or describe things in an idealised fashion or make them seem better or more appealing than they really are.

Romance can also mean feelings of excitement, mystery and remoteness associated with other things, such as the romance of travel, the wild or the sea.

If a person is romanced then they'll be the subject of actions intended to gain their love. If you're the one doing this then you're romancing the other party – good luck with that!

My latest collection Lots Of Love contains 25 short stories all connected in some way with love or romance.

Vote

A vote is an expression of your choice or decision, often via a ballot or show of hands. Whichever option or candidate gains the most support is said to have won the vote or to have been voted in.

On the other hand, a person or option can be voted down, or voted off, if the majority of votes show disapproval. Eg the biased judge was voted off the selection panel.

In some companies shareholders own voting stock, allowing them to vote at meetings. Voting with your feet is to express an opinion by your presence or absence.

Those who vote, or have the option to do so, are voters. Something which can be decided by a vote is votable.

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group time again. Each month writers share their insecurities and/or offer support to other writers who feel insecure. To join up, just click here and add your name.

Like most writers I sometimes feel insecure about my writing. Doubts that a story will sell, or be placed in a competition can hamper my attempts to get them written at times.

Currently I'm taking part in a writing challenge, which focusses solely on words written. It's like a less challenging version of NaNoWrMo. I'm doing it alongside editing and submitting – and finding it helpful. Even if I haven't achieved that day's target total, and despite still sometimes having doubts about the destiny of each piece of writing, entering a figure in the spreadsheet feels like progress (which it is).

What things have you tried to help you keep writing despite your insecurities – and did they work?

I'd like to give a vote of thanks to Carol Bevitt for passing on the details of this poetry competition. You'll need to be quick to enter, but it's free and you could win a £50 book token.

The winner of this drabble competition will be decided by votes and writers are encouraged to seek these via social media. That's not my favourite way to judge a competition, but as it's free to enter and there's a prize of £35 each month I decided to have a go. My entry is STORY 5. Will you vote for me so I'm not totally voteless?

Green

Green is of course the colour made by combining blue and yellow pigments. A green is an area of grass, often used for sports or recreation (putting green, village green). Greens are vegetables of any colour (eat your greens if you want to stay healthy).






Green can be used negatively to mean unripe or unseasoned (green apples are sour and green wood is unsuitable for most carpentry) naive or envious.







More positively being green is to attempt to care for our environment in numerous ways including adopting sustainable practises, limiting waste, planting trees, collecting litter and avoiding plastics,.

The University of Southampton are running a variety of free to enter writing competitions with the theme of sustainable societies. They're looking for novels, film, stage and radio plays, interactive fiction and a TV series.



I'll be green with envy if you wn this playwriting competition from Papatango – the prize is £6,000! UK and Irish residents only. There's an option to get feedback on your work, which I'm sure would be very useful.

Are you green in any way?

True

The word true has several meanings – in accordance with fact, genuine (as opposed to counterfeit), conforming to a standard, loyal, accurate, correctly balanced, honest and without variation (a true-bred Hereford cow always has a white face). It's truly a valuable word!

If you're truing something, you'll bring it into the correct form required e.g. aligning a wheel, so it runs true. One who does this trues, and afterwards they can be said to have trued. If this is done incorrectly, the result will be out of true.

Something which comes true actually happens, true ribs are attached to the breast bone (floating ribs are not) true north is determined by the earth's axis and magnetic north is somewhere else (I may travel a lot, but that hasn't improved my navigation skills! Those aren't even trueish.)

This competition from Spread the Word is for life writing – meaning it should be true. Write something full of trueness and you could win £1,500, an Arvon course and support with your writing. That's a truly great prize package!

No truth is required for this competition (except when complying with the rules). There's £1,000 on offer for writers and illustrators of children's books.

Want to read about true love? You can do that with my latest short story collection.

Cockatrice

A cockatrice (or basilisk) is a mythical reptile whose breath and look can kill. It's also a fabulous heraldic animal composed of a cock with a serpent's tail.

Unfortunately, although I've photographed may heraldic creatures I'm yet to capture a cockatrice. I'll be looking out for one on this year's trips, mostly so I can inform innocent bystanders what it is, but also to take a picture.

Thanks to Bea Charles for telling me about a free competition in Prima magazine. They're looking for 800 word stories and offering a Writer's Bureau course for the winner. You have until the end of March to enter. I couldn't find details online, but you should be able to get the magazine in most UK newsagents. It's also often held in libraries.




Another free to enter competition offereing help and support to writers is this one from Spotlight Books. They're looking for fiction and poetry from authors from underepresented backgrounds (as defined on the entry form). Winning entrants will get help with editing and polishing and recieve a publishing contract.




If you can work the word cockatrice into entries for either of these I'll be very impressed.

Do you think you'll be using today's Wednesday word of the week in any way at all?

Cat

I'm sure you're already aware that a cat is a grown up kitten, or any other member of the Felis family, such as a lion or tiger (often referred to as big cats). The term cat can also be applied to members of other species which have a catlike appearance.



If a person is described as a cat they'll almost certainly be female and definitely malicious or spiteful. To be catty is to behave as this kind of cat, not the furry four-legged version.

At one time I had a day job in which I used a cat. A cat-o'-nine-tails that is. This was a rope whip, used historically to punish sailors. It got its name from the nine knotted tails and the belief that cats have nine lives. I was gentle when I demonstrated. Well gentle-ish! (These cats were carried in bags – you didn't want to be around when the cat was let out of the bag.)

If you're a cat's paw then you're someone who is used by another, a cat burglar enters a building by climbing up to a window, balcony or roof and a cat and dog relationship is an argumentative one.

A person or thing described as the cat's whiskers or cat's pyjamas will be excellent in some way.

Here's a free to enter competition to win a three book deal with Choc Lit Publishing. The entry must feature a cat in some way. The snag is you only have until the end of next month to enter – now that's put the cat among the pigeons!

There are other phrases containing the word cat – can you think of any?

Soon

Happy New Year and happy Insecure Writer's Support Group posting day. 2019 and the first Wednesday of the month soon came round, didn't they?

I'm not actually feeling insecure right now. I refuse to dwell on anything which didn't go perfectly last year, instead I'm looking forward to all the good writing I might get done and the successes and sales which might result. I hope you too are starting the year with a certain amount of optimism?

The word soon means after a short interval of time. Eg if you'd like to enter this free competition from Forestry Commission England which offers unique access to the forests, support for your writing and £2,500 you should do so soon, as it closes on 14th January. Another free competition which closes fairly soon is the Nine Dots Prize, which offers $100,000 to write a short book answering the question, 'Is there still no place like home?'

There's no place like our camper van, which is home to us for several months each year. Here she is parked in the New Forest. (I can't tell you how smug I feel for finding a picture to represent both competitions at once!)

Or it can mean relatively early. Eg two minutes after submitting a piece of writing is too soon to
expect a reply.

Another use of soon is to show willingness or preference. Eg would you sooner write a poem or a story?

The phrase as soon as means at the moment of, or immediately Eg as soon as I start writing the typos appear. Sooner or later refers to a future unspecified time, as does soonish. They appear to imply something will happen soon, but generally that's not what's meant.

I'll be back with more free to enter writing competitions soon – hopefully with longer deadlines.