Withershins

To go withershins means to travel in a direction contrary to the sun's course and is sometimes thought to be unlucky. Another meaning of withershins is anticlockwise.

Withershins can also be wrtten as widdershins. I'm not sure which version I like best – do you have a preference?

Did you leave a comment on this post to be in the draw for a paperback copy of Escape To The Country? You have until midnight to try.

Cosy

Cosy, as I'm sure you know, means comfortable and warm. It can also mean friendly, as in a cosy relationship. 

Less favourably the word can be used to imply complacency. It probably is a good plan to leave the cosiness of the easy and familiar to try something different occasionally.

A cosy can be a canopied seat for two, or something intended to keep something else warm – usually a pot of tea or a boiled egg. My friend Anne Rainbow gave me this lovely tea cosy.

Cosy crime is a genre of writing, which although it may deal with terrible crimes avoids gore and gruesomely graphic details. I think this book qualifies – it's warm too.

The prize for this free to enter short story competition is a cosy pair of writing gloves. I've absolutely nothing against cash as a competition prize, but I have a soft spot for those which offer something more unusual. Perhaps that's because my first ever writing success (17 years ago!) earned me cake and books tokens.

What's the cosiest thing you can think of?

Assuage

To assuage is to calm or soothe a person or issue. It also means to relieve or appease an appetite or desire. 

My wish to travel around in our campervan and visit castles and stuff can only be assuaged by travelling around in our campervan and visiting castles and stuff. If Gary reads this post and takes the hint then he'll be an assuager and the resulting trip will be a form of assuagement.

If like me you enjoy travelling, then don't forget the 'Just Back' travel writing competition. It's free to enter and there's a weekly £250 prize – winning that might assuage your guilt over how much you spent on ice creams!


And if you fancy trying other non-fiction writing competitions, you'll find lots here. (Unlike the ones I feature here, not all these are free to enter.)

I'm not at all keen on promoting my books, but having them on price promotion helps assuage my reluctance. Keep It In The Family, a collection of 25 family themed stories, is currently available for 99p/99c. 

Scene and IWSG

A scene is a place where events (real or fictional) take place. It can also be a description of an event, or a continuous portion of a play, film or book  – those are usually what we mean be a scene in writing.

If you display strong emotions in public then you could be accused of making a scene. The view or landscape can also be considered a scene. Is the photo a tranquil woodland scene, or about to become the scene of the crime?

A scene can also be a way of life, subculture or interest.

Today, I'm one of the Insecure Writer's Support Group co-hosts along with J.H. Moncrieff , Natalie Aguirre and Chemist Ken who're all supporting our Ninja Captain Alex.

This month's optional question is –  If you could use a wish to help you write just ONE scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be? (examples: fight scene / first kiss scene / death scene / chase scene / first chapter / middle chapter / end chapter, etc.)

I have several free to enter writing competitions for you today. Whether you enter this sci-fi/horror short story competition, these stage and radio play competitions, this one for prose up to 17,000 words or even the monologue competition, you'll probably need scenes in your work.

Is entering writing competitions your scene? (If it is, keep coming back – I add more free entry ones most weeks.)

Thalassic

If something is thalassic then it's of the sea or seas. The view from our campervan is often thalassic.

A thalossophile is someone who loves the sea. Do you think I qualify?

Allide

Allide isn't a word you hear much. I don't think I'd have come across it myself if I didn't happen to be married to a handsome and extremely talented maritime photographer (that's me in Brownie points for a while!)

You know what collide means, I expect. Well, allide is like that, but only one of the objects is moving. Just as you can witness a collision when two moving objects strike each other, an allision is the action of a moving object hitting a stationary object.

Allision seems to be used almost exclusively in connection with ships. Sometimes one allides against another, more commonly a pier or mooring pontoon is involved.

This is Norwegian Epic. She recently allided with a pier in Puerto Rico. (And you thought I was making this up, didn't you?)

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.