National Bookshop Day

Tags

Bookshops, Daunt's Bookshop, Libraries, London

Let’s all raise a glass in praise of our wonderful bookshops. Along with libraries, they are the best friends of all readers and writers.

My other half and I spent time (and a modest amount of money) in Daunt’s Bookshop in London yesterday. A magical place in Marylebone..

It is tempting to save a pound or two by buying books from Amazon – though by the time you’ve added postage, the difference may not be great – but let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot by making book selling on the high street uneconomic. We don’t want to deny ourselves the thrill of one day seeing our own efforts on public display, do we?

 

Advertisements

Writing Competitions to Enter in October

Tags

2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award, 2020 Debra Rogers Foundation Writers Award, Cinnamon Pencil Mentoring Competition, Dalkey Creates Writing Festival, Lichfield Cathedral Poetry Festival Poetry Competition, McKitterick Prize, Retreat West, SWC International Short Story Competition, Tom Gallon Trust Awards

Light in Our Darkness is the theme for The Word Poetry Competition, which is part of the first Lichfield Cathedral Poetry Festival, inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Moon landings. The first prize is £100, second prize of £50 and third of £25 in the age categories of 17-25 and 26 and over. The winners will also be displayed in Lichfield Cathedral. Poems should be original, unpublished poems that use ideas around creation, cosmology, space travel and astronomical discovery and reflect the origins of the universe and space, light and time. All poems must have a title. Entry is free. The deadline is 3 October and details can be found at: http://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/journeys/the-word-poetry-competition

The Dalkey Creates Writing Festival international contest is for short stories up to 2,000 words and poems up to 30 lines, with winners in each category receiving 1,000 Euros. The entry fee is 15 Euros and the closing date 6 October. Details: http://www.dalkeycreates.com

Virginia Prize for Fiction, for unpublished novels, at least 45,000 words, by women. Prizes: Development and publication of the winning novel. Entry fee: £25. Closing date: 1 October. TODAY! Details: https://aurorametro-com/virginia-prize-for-fiction/

Imison Award for original radio plays by writers new to radio. Prizes: £3,000. Closing date: 6 October. FREE ENTRY. Details: http://www.societyofauthors.org

London Short Story Prize for stories up to 5,000 words by writers with London postcodes. Prizes: £1,000, 2x£250. Entry fee: £10. Closing date: 7 October. Details: http://www.spreadtheword.org.uk

Bath Flash Fiction Award for up to 300 words. Prizes: £1,000, £300, £100, 2x£30. Entry fee: £7.50, £12 for 2, £18 for 3. Closing date: 13 October. Details: bathflashfictionaward.com

Retreat West fiction for up to 500 words; short stories 1,500-5,000 words. Prizes: flash: £350, £200, £100, £15 for each shortlisted; short stories: £400, £250, £150, £20 each shortlisted. Entry fee: £8 flash; £10 short story. Closing date: 27 October. Details: http://www.retreatwest.co.uk

Cinnamon Pencil Mentoring Competition. 10 poems, two short stories, or the first 10,000 words of a novel. Prize: a place on the Cinnamon Pencil mentoring scheme. Entry fee: £12. Closing date: 30 October. Details: http://www.cinnamonpress.com

The 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award has a first prize of £10,000 for an unpublished book by a first time writer. Runners up will receive £1,000. This bi-annual competition, in memory of the agent who founded the agency that became Rogers Coleridge White, wants the first 20,000-25,000 words of a work in progress, plus a synopsis and a biographical note. There is no entry fee, but writers must reside in the United Kingdom or the British Commonwealth. They can submit one work only and must not have published a full-length work or be under contract to a publisher. The deadline is 31 October and details can be found at http://www.deborahrogersfoundation.org

Bedford International Writing Competition for short stories up to 3,000 words, poems up to 40 lines. Prizes: each category £300, £150, £100. Entry fee: £6, £12 for three. Closing date: 31 October. Details: http://www.bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk

McKitterick Prize for the best first novel, published or unpublished, by an author over the age of 40 on 31 December. Prizes: £4,000. FREE ENTRY. Deadline: 31 October. Details: http://www.societyofauthors.org

Southport Writers’ Circle is inviting entries for their SWC International Short Story Competition for stories up to 2,000 words on any theme. As well as the first prize of £150, there are second and third prizes of £80 and £30. Entry is £3 per story, or four for £10. Closing date is 31 October. Details: http://www.swconline.co.uk

Tom Gallon Trust Awards for short stories up to 5,000 words by authors who have had at least one story accepted for publication. Prizes: £1,000, £500 runner-up. FREE ENTRY. Details: http://www.societyofauthors.org

Carmarthen Book Fair Short Story Competition. Short stories for adults, 1,200-1,500 words. Prizes: £100, £50. Entry fee: £3, £5 for two. Closing date: 31 October. Details: http://www.facebook.com/CarmarthenBookFair 2016/

Please, as ever, check that I have all the entry details correct. Entering competitions is a good thing – even if you don’t win, you hone your craft and, hopefully, have fun.

With regard to our own competition, we are busily reading entries and will soon be able to give a date when we will announce the result of our deliberations. With Skipper insisting we be dogged in our efforts. Many thanks to those who entered. 

 

 

The Gun at Your Head. The Knife at Your Throat.

There is only ONE DAY left for you to enter our short story competition and carry off that £250 prize. Or perhaps the £50 for being runner-up.

Not that we’re trying to strong arm you, or anything…but this is in a good cause, and writing a short story is always an excellent way to hone your craft.

ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT…!

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

Of spiders big as saucers in the shower,

And woozy wasps bombarding barbecues.

 

Skipper, our beta-reader, says that since summer is over it is TIME to send in your entry to our short story competition.

There are only TWO DAYS left in which to sink your teeth into our £250 first prize. Think how many yummy dog biscuits that would buy!

He’s relying on you.

 

Polishing Your Entry to our Short Story Competition?

One of our beta-readers, Skipper, thinks that sometimes you can over-edit. He suggests you give that entry a final polish and send it in today, before the deadline on the 28th…!

A rainy day is the perfect time for us to get on with reading the entries already received, but we’re greedy for even more. It’s in a good cause. And most of us could find something useful to do with that £250 first prize.

 

 

 

How to Write a Short Story?

Tags

Entering Competitions, Mixing the past and present, Short story competitions, the Battle of Hastings, Tunbridge Wells, Winning Competitions

One summer, long ago, while I was devouring a sandwich at my desk, a colleague brandished the local paper at me.

‘Something for you?’ she said.

Write us a short story, the paper challenged. There will be prizes.

At the time I composed occasional pieces for our staff magazine, but was procrastinating about getting down to serious writing. My friend was calling my bluff.

There is nothing like a deadline for concentrating the mind, but there were just a couple of weeks in which to produce an entry that wouldn’t embarrass me if it was ever published.

I scratched a head of hair, the colour of which, in those days, needed no help from Garnier Nutrisse. What the hell to write? Short of inspiration, I resorted to gathering random thoughts in the way one rustles-up a scratch supper from leftovers in the fridge.

The story had to be set in East Sussex or Kent. Should I write something about the famous Pantiles? About our regency past, with Beau Nash and goings-on at the Assembly Rooms? But wouldn’t lots of people do that?

Local but different was surely the answer.

My default position was to use what I knew. My husband rides and at that time often cantered across the glorious commons with which Tunbridge Wells and neighbouring Southborough are blessed. He owned a spirited grey mare, so I decided to put the two of them at the centre of my story. Calypso had a a mind of her own, so she became Madam. She also had an alarming tendency to spook. That morning I’d driven to work through the woods myself, car windows open, shivering in one of those eerie mists you can get at the end of summer.

So it had to be a ghost story, didn’t it? Everyone loves them.

And didn’t people say that a mere arrow’s flight from Southborough Common is the patch of land where Harold’s army camped the night before the battle of Hastings? Isn’t it still called Camp Field, in honour of the tradition?

I decided that mixing past and present was my answer, using that invaluable resource of the writer: What if…?? All I needed was a way to link 1066 with the end of the twentieth century (Yes, it was that long ago). It was then that I noticed a small ad in the paper for a metal detector. If an army in a hurry really did pass that way, wouldn’t they have dropped things? Might something unearthed from long ago conjure up a fleeting glimpse of a ghostly army?

Reader, to my surprise I won the competition. The prize was books from Waterstones, and a calligraphy set, but better than that was the acknowledgement that maybe, just maybe, I could one day become a proper writer.

I dragged up this recollection to encourage those thinking of entering our own current short story competition. Short of inspiration, I used things my husband had said about riding on the Common, the feistiness of his mare – who saw monstrous apparitions behind every bank of fern – and myths I’d heard about Harold’s having passed this way. Then I noticed that advertisement for a metal detector. Threw in my impressions of driving under the trees through wisps of fog. And wrote, and rewrote, until it was done.

So how is your story getting on? We are loving reading those already received, but hungry for more. No ghost stories yet – but we’d love to get some… Or a summer crime or murder, perhaps? Whatever your fertile writers’ minds can come up with, BUT YOU’VE ONLY GOT UNTIL SEPTEMBER 28th.

 

 

Writing Competitions to Enter in September

Tags

Bedford International Writing Competition, Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize, Grindstone Literary Services Novel Prize, HWA & Sharpe Books Unpublished Novel Award, Imison Award, Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition, Mslexia Novel Competition, Mslexia Short Story Competition, Retreat West Novel Prize, The Caterpillar Story for Children Prize, The London Short Story Prize, The Manchester Prize, Val Wood Prize

September, of course, is your final chance to enter our own competition for a story on the theme of ‘summer‘ – and don’t forget, you only have until the 28th, not the end of the month. The first prize is £250, with £50 going to one runner-up. Entry is £5 and all profits will be going to the cinderella arthritis charity, PMRGCAuk.

We have chosen to limit entry to those who didn’t earn more than £300 from their writing in the past year. So you won’t have to compete with people like Ian Rankin, Hilary Mantel or Stephen King (all of whom are, no doubt, gnashing their teeth with frustration).

Mslexia Competitions. Details from http://www.mslexia.co.uk/competitions. Deadline for all three competitions: 30 September.

Mslexia Novel Competition. For novels of at least 50,000 words in any genre for adult and/or young adult readers by currently unpublished women writers. The winner gets £5,000, together with the option of representation by agent Charlotte Robertson. In addition, finalists are invited to a pitching and networking event with agents and editors, and will receive manuscript feedback from TLC. Submit the first 5,000 words (great news – they don’t appear to require a synopsis!). Entry fee: £25.

Mslexia Flash Fiction Competition for up to 300 words. The winning entry will get £500 and they, together with three finalists will be published in Mslexia magazine. Entry fee: £5.

Mslexia Short Story Competition for up to 3,000 words. The first prize is £3,000, plus an optional Moniack Mhor writing retreat and mentoring by an editor at Virago Press. Their story, together with those of three finalists, will also be published in Mslexia magazine. Entry fee: £10

Retreat West Novel Prize for unpublished novels. Prize: Retreat West publishing contract and £500 advance. Manuscript critique and editorial report. Entry fee: £15. Deadline 1 September. Details: http://www.retreatwest.co.uk

The London Short Story Prize, for writers with a London postcode. Up to 5,000 words. Prizes: £1,000. Entry fee: £6. Deadline 17 September. Details: http://www.spreadtheword.org.uk

The Manchester Prize for short stories up to 2,500 words, or portfolio of 3-5 poems, max 120 lines each. Prizes: £10,000 in each category. Entry fee: £17.50. Closing date: 20 September. Details: www2.mmu.ac.uk/writingcompetition/

Imison Award for original radio plays by writers new to radio. Prizes: £2,000. Entry fee: £30. Closing date: 30 September. Details: http://www.societyofauthors.org/imison-award

The Caterpillar Story for Children Prize. Short stories of up to 2,000 words for children aged 7-11. Entrants must be over 16. Prizes: 1,000 Euros. Entry fee: 12 Euros. Closing date: 30 September. Details: http://www.thecaterpillar-magazine.com

Grindstone Literary Services Novel Prize. Opening chapter of 3,000-words, plus synopsis. Entry: £22. Prizes: £1,000; £100; publication; course coupon. Deadline: 28 September.

Bedford International Writing Competition for short stories of up to 3,000 words, poems up to 40 lines, on any theme. Prizes: £300, £150, £100 in each category. Entry fee: £6, £12 for three. Closing date: 30 September. Details: http://www.bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk

Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize for stories up to 6,000 words. Prizes: £1,000 or a year’s editorial support, £150 for shortlisted authors, £50 bookshop vouchers and four GBP titles for those longlisted. Entry fee: £10. Closing date: 30 September. Details: http://galleybeggar.co.uk

Romance is in the air, for the Val Wood Prize for a love letter. Each entry can contain several letters (to the same person, or several), but must be no more than 1,500 words. First prize is £100 and publication on their website. The runner-up will receive £50, and two other commendations of £25. Entry appears to be free, and that prize would enable you to treat your own dearly beloved to a meal, or a slap-up cream tea. The deadline is September 21st., But please read all the conditions of entry carefully on the website: http://www.valeriewood.co.uk

HWA & Sharpe Books Unpublished Novel Award is for an unpublished novel set at least 35 years in the past. Imogen Robertson, Chair of the Historical Writers Association, is one of the judges. They require a completed manuscript between 40,000-words and 100,000-words, together with a synopsis of between 500-1,000-words. The prize is a publishing contract with Sharpe Books and £500. There are two further cash prizes of £100. Important note: all entrants will be offered a consultation with Richard Foreman, Managing Director of Sharpe Books, by phone or email on how to find an agent and routes into mainstream publishing or, if they wish, advice on how to self-publish their work and the companies which can support self-published authors. This is helpful advice, bearing in mind some rather doubtful companies advertising for unwary writers. The entry fee is £20, and the deadline 30 September. Details: https://historicalwriters.org/unpublished-novel-competition/

Please always double-check all details in case of error on my part. It is, after all, rather hot for crouching over a keyboard.

Final thought. If you feel spoilt for choice, enter several…

Good luck!

Writing Competitions to Enter in August

Tags

Curtis Brown First Novel Peize, Exeter Flash Competition, Exeter Story Prize, Ilkley Literature Festival Short Story Competition, Prima magazine short story competition, Retreat West Novel Prize, The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award

                                       (All pictures courtesy of Elizabeth and Maggie)

I spent time recently in Southwark, Shakespeare’s old stamping grounds, and took time to visit Southwark Cathedral, with its memorial to the man himself and also its beautiful Harvard Chapel, the favoured napping spot of the wonderfully-named resident feline, Doorkins Magnificat.

August, of course, is the middle of the SUMMER. A perfect time to pen a short story for our own ninevoices competition, which closes on 28 September. We know you’re busy, but please take time to compose something. You might win £250. Not quite enough for a new laptop, but well worth having…

In the meantime, however:-

The Curtis Brown First Novel Prize has a deadline of August 1st, so is imminent. Entry is FREE, but you are only allowed the one entry, which is for up to 10,000 words of an unpublished novel (which doesn’t need to be finished), plus a synopsis of up to 400 words. First prize is agency representation and £3,000. The runner-up will be offered a place on their three-month online novel writing course and a mentoring session with a Curtis Brown agent. Four shortlisted authors will be offered a six-week online course, and an agent mentoring session. Details: http://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/first-novel-prize/

Ilkley Literature Festival Short Story Competition, maximum 3,000 words. Entry fee: £5. Prize: £200. Deadline August 1st. Full details: http://www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk/join-in/competitions

The Costa Short Story Award is for stories up to 4,000-words, with generous prizes of £3,500; £1,000 and £500. The deadline is August 1st and entry is free. Details: http://www.costabookawards.com  Please study the entry requirements, which are rather complex. You need, for example, to have been resident in the UK for a stipulated period of time.

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, deadline 31 August, has prizes of £1,000 for each category winner for poetry and short fiction, with publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology, a one year print subscription to Granta, a selection of books courtesy of Bloodaxe & Vintage, full membership of The Poetry Society (for poetry) and consultation with Redhammer (for short fiction). Entry appears to be free, but check details from: http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/cwa

Retreat West Novel Prize is for the first 7,500 words of an unpublished novel, plus synopsis of 500 words. Entry fee: £15. Prizes: publication plus £500 advance; critique and editorial support; one year’s gold author membership to Retreat West. Must be unagented. Details: http://www.retreat-west.co.uk/the-retreat-west-novel-prize. Deadline 18 August.

Exeter Story Prize and Trisha Ashley Award for a story of 10,000 words maximum. Entry fee £12, with optional critique at £20. Prizes: £500, plus trophy; £150; £100. Trisha Ashley Award of £200, plus trophy. Details from: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk/competitions.html

Exeter Flash Fiction Competition. Maximum 750 words. Entry fee: £6. Prizes: £200 plus trophy: £100; £50. Details: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk/competitions.html

For something a little different, Prima monthly magazine has a regular short story competition, with a £100 prize, for a maximum 800-word story. Email to: yourwinningstory@hearst.co.uk  Worth perhaps buying a copy of the magazine to get a feel for what they might like.

Please, as always, check all details before entering any competition.

Finally – with no apologies for being a bore – do consider starting that summer-themed story for us. Summer doesn’t necessarily mean extreme heat, or a beach. It may remind you of a wet tent in the middle of a bog. Of romantic or disastrous wedding ceremonies. Of music festivals, or a juvenile fumble in the long grass…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of local days out…

…or expeditions to Peru…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of lazy days…

…fantastical ones,

…or spooky ones that make the flesh creep.

 

 

We really don’t mind.

JUST WRITE US THE STORY…!

Our Sarah wins Colm Tóibín award

Tags

Colm Toibin International Short Story Competition 2019

One of our nine voices is frustratingly modest, but the other eight are BURSTING WITH PRIDE.

Our much-loved and madly talented Sarah has just won…..the Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award!

She won with her warm-hearted and poignant story, ‘Dinosaurs Rule’.  The Wexford Literary Festival judges clearly saw what we see – the lucidity, insightfulness and generosity of her writing.

Oh, we are so proud and so happy for her!  It will be extra crisps and chocolate cake at our next get-together…

Here she is: Sarah Dawson

Writing Competitions to Enter in July

 

Just the weeniest nudge to kick off with: you can now enter our very own short story competition. Details are pinned at the top of this blog and while the closing date isn’t until September 28th, our own experience has proved that allowing plenty of ‘polishing’ time gives you the best chance of winning.

The Scottish Book Trust is inviting applications for its New Writers Awards 2020 in three categories: Narrative Fiction and Non-Fiction, Poetry and Children’s and Young Adult Fiction. Each award recipient will get £2,000, tailored personal development opportunities which may include mentoring, PR, presentation and performance training, the opportunity to showcase work to agents and publishers, and a week-long writing retreat. Entries must, however, be from writers based in Scotland who have not yet published a novel, full-length work of narrative non-fiction, or collection of short stories. The closing date is 3rd July and entry appears to be free. Full details: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com

H G Wells Short Story Competition for stories between 1,500-5,000 words on the theme of ‘time’. Prizes: £1,000 for writers under 21; £250 for writers over 21. Entry fee: £10. £5 if under 21.Deadline 8 July. Details: hgwellscompetition.com

Fitzcarraldo Editions is accepting submissions for the Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize. The prize is an advance of £3,000 against publication by them and is for original, unpublished full-length fiction that is innovative imaginative and tackles themes relevant to the world we live in. To enter, send the full manuscript of a novel of at least 30,000 words. Deadline 15 July. There is no entry fee, but only one novel may be submitted. Check full details: http://www.fitzcarraldoeditions.com

Norwich Writers’ Circle’s 2019 Olga Sinclair Open Short Story Competition has the theme of ‘spooks’. There is a first prize of £400, a second of £250, and a third of £100. The winners and seven shortlisted stories will be published in an anthology. Entries, which should be unpublished, should be up to 2,000 words and the entry fee is £8. Closing date is 16 July for postal entries and 30 July for email entries.  Details: Ian Andrews, 12 Malten Close, Poringland, Norwich NR14 7RW and, online, at norwichwriters.wordpress.com/

Exeter Literary Festival 2019 is inviting entries for stories up to 500 words by writers aged 8 and under; prizes of £25 and £15. Stories up to 1,000 words by writers aged 16 and over; prizes of £100 and £50. Stories up to 1,000 words by writers aged 16 and over; prizes of £100 and £50. The theme is open, but stories must be unpublished. Details: http://www.exelitfest.com

To Hull and Back Humorous Writing Competition for funny stories up to 4,000 words. Prizes: £1,000, £200, £100, plus publication. Entry fee: £13, £21 for 2; £26 for 3. Closing date 31 July. Details: http://www.christopherfielden.com

HISSAC Annual Open Short Story Award for short stories up to 2,000 words or flash fiction up to 500 words. No connection to Scotland required. Prizes: £200; £75 £50, in both categories. Entry fees: £5. £12 for 3.; £18 for 5. Deadline 31 July. Details: http://www.hissac.co.uk

Sustainable Societies: Radio Play Dramas/Comedy Series. Radio plays and comedy series touching on ideas of sustainable societies. Prizes: £500; £100; 3 x £50. FREE entry. Deadline 31 July. Details: http://www.greenstories.org.uk

As always, may I urge you to check details before entering. If you have read my post of earlier today about Margaret Kirk’s latest crime novel, What Lies Buried, you will have been reminded that her career was kick-started by winning the Good Housekeeping New Novel Competition, back in 2016. Entering competitions really can make a difference, and even a shortlisting can inspire you to keep going.

Good Luck!