Well, this was a pretty epic milestone on my writing journey: The completed (ish) book has now temporarily left my hands, and is being read by a wise and experienced first reader, who will come back to me in due course with feedback. The inevitable corrections will probably bring on a Bridget Jones-type sulky meltdown… Read More Book report: the beginning of the…
From time to time, I do a round-up of competitions that have no entry fees because heaven knows it’s a costly business. Right at the moment, there aren’t that many available, but I think the list below is nonetheless an interesting mix. I’ll add to it as and when new opportunities arise, and I hope… Read More Free-to-enter competitions 2020
I am deeply immersed in novel edits at the moment, but I had to put down my quill and open the door of my artist’s garret for a moment to yell out a bit of good writing news. A story of mine has made the longlist of this year’s Cambridge Short Story Prize (list is… Read More Cambridge Short Story Prize longlist
After two weeks and industrial amounts of red ink, I have finished a first paper edit of my book. There is still a lot of work to do, but the gaps are slowly being filled in, or at least identified. The next step is to get back on the keyboard to take in the many,… Read More Book report: red and read
This is what 94,000 words of a manuscript look like. It’s surprisingly heavy: I have cheated a bit because this thing is rife with notes in the copy like THIS MAKES NO SENSE! and EXPOSITION!! Plus there’s at least one chapter that still needs to be written from scratch once I get a better overview… Read More Book report: words and more words
Progress! I have had such a writing block recently, but a WhatsApp chat with some writer friends over the weekend has given me a fresh perspective. They were discussing the use of index cards to organise/rearrange the chapters of a WIP. One person said that if they can’t sum up what happens in a chapter… Read More Book report: psychics and nannies and Post-its
I hope you’re all well, regular readers, and occasional ones too. From my writing friends, I gather that everyone is experiencing the same difficulty with concentration. I suppose we all just have to trust that it will return in time. My MS is currently moving at a snail’s pace, though it is moving. I’ve completed… Read More Book report, week who knows: heaven and earth and Youtube
In honour of Star Wars Day – May the Fourth – I thought I’d share a nostalgic short story that was published back in 2016 in the Sunday People newspaper. It’s one of the few stories I’ve written where the title came first – and it amused me. Sadly, the title was shortened to something… Read More Waiting in line for The Empire Strikes Back
[UPDATED 25/7] I generally update my competition listings as I see new opportunities pop up, but I thought I’d do a new post because the last one was a while back. Quite a few competions have extended their deadlines or amended their prizes due to the Covid-19 crisis, so there may be a few things… Read More Short story competitions April-December
It’s been a while since I’ve had something published, but today a flash fiction of mine has appeared in UK literary journal Ellipsis zine. ‘Saviour’ is a theatrical tale about the joys of auditioning, told with something of a Greek chorus slant. It originated as a writing class exercise on voice, and I was interested… Read More ‘Saviour’ in Ellipsis zine
