Reciprocity

Reciprocity is 'the condition of being reciprocal'. It's doing something in return, mutual actions, give and take, inversely correspondent, complementary. 

After I plant flower seeds, they reciprocate by blooming. This act of reciprocation is then follwed by another – bees visit to collect food, pollinate my plants and continue a recrocating cycle.

Have you ever behaved reciprocally?  

If you win the £16,000 first prize, or even one of the three £8,000 awards for this free to enter playwriting competition, as a result of seeing it here, I hope you'll reciprocate my kindness in posting about it by buying me a cake. A big one. With a cherry on top.

p.s. I have a new collection of short stories out. Family Feeling is currently on sale for the reduced price of 99p (99c)

Lichen

Lichen is the variously coloured mossy type stuff you often see on trees and rocks. It's composed of a fungus and alga in a symbiotic relationship. There are a LOT of different types.

Lichen is also the name of a skin disease, but let's not go there.

Lichenology is the study of lichens and things which have been lichened.

Personally I pronounce the word litch-in (as in litch-gate which I feel is appropriate because churchyards are a good place to see lichen). The alternative is to say it as though it were written liken. 

Lichen forms when something just stands about doing nothing. You can't afford to do that if you want to enter this free crimewriting competition, as it ends at the end of the month. The prize is a two book contract with Avon (an imprint of Harper Collins). 

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?