The absolute highlight of my writing year in 2018 was getting to attend the inaugural five-day Creative Writing Winter School held by the University of Limerick in Doolin, Co Clare. I may have mentioned it once or twice. I was so blown away by the experience that I blogged about it. Daily. With extensive references… Read More UL Winter School 2019: return of the Dooligans
Online literary journals are wonderful. Fact. From a readers’ perspective, they’re easily accessible, free to read and – for the most part – packed with quality writing. For writers, they offer an opportunity to get work out into the world (often for the first time), the confidence boost of an acceptance and a credit to… Read More A couple of Best Microfiction 2020 nominations
I’m on a social media break at the moment for family reasons, but I had to do a quick post to tell you about a wonderful charity anthology I’m delighted to have contributed to. No Good Deed is published by literary one-stop shop Retreat West, which is run by publisher and teacher Amanda Saint. She… Read More Retreat West charity anthology ‘No Good Deed’
Today I have a flash published in UK literary journal Lunate. It’s called ‘Mind Games’, and it’s about the worst type of hypnotist. Lunate is a new journal, but the work they’ve been publishing over the past few months is of such consistently high quality that it: 1) inspired me to aim high by trying… Read More ‘Mind Games’ published in Lunate Fiction
Being a writer means that at some point you have to send your work out into the world, whether it’s to agents, publishers, competitions or journals. A large part of that is dealing with the inevitable tsunami of rejections that come your way. It’s hard to accept when you’ve poured your heart and soul into… Read More The rejection game
To be honest, I don’t actually enter that many competitions. It’s an expensive game, and I’m too lazy to write enough material to keep up with the multitude of opportunities out there. But I’ve done alright in the ones I have entered during my few years of writing seriously, with a few wins, shortlistings and… Read More 6 things I’ve learned about entering competitions
I’ve been on a writing/blogging hiatus recently because of family health issues. My mother has been unwell and it’s pushed everything other than day-to-day essentials to the side. But I had to do a short post because of some lovely, surprising news I had today. [Boast alert] A flash fiction piece of mine has been… Read More Best British & Irish Flash Fiction list
