None the wiser

I am congratulating myself on managing to add a photo at the side etc. This is a simple task yet has baffled me since I started blogging. Eeh. Oh well, I hope you like the piccy of Mischa on the back seat.

On another subject, I emailed Fast Fiction magazine as they've had two stories of mine for a while now and I wasn't sure about whether to consider them rejected. I got an email back straight away (which is always nice) saying, a definate 'no' to story one, but that story 2 had not yet been written off, which of course was good news for me. However, it was also mentioned that six months should be considered the cut-off point. Well as story 2 has been there for seven months, this is obviously a rather loose cut off point. So yes, I'm really none the wiser!

I entered a flash fiction comp at Spikethecat, the winners were announced last week, Congratulations to them! Then, I just had a look at the artwork for the Flash Fiction stories and lo and behold, my story seems to have been selected for the anthology!
I know I've mentioned the writers website before, but really I think Spikethecat is great for giving new writers a chance at publication. It is generally detective stories, murder stories and sci fi, so if that's your cup of tea and you haven't already had a look, I'd recommend it.

Lovely Cover Art

This is the cover art for the anthology 'The Last Laugh' from Spikethecat, which will have my story in! It's based on the winning story, I can't wait to read all the stories and see the book. The e book will be available soon, I'm so excited! :)

I've also just read the excellent 'How to write a synopsis' by Cindy Davis, over at Minxes of Romance and am determined to re write the synopsis of the children's novel and get on with sending it somewhere else.

Have a great weekend everyone, best be off, little tabby is really misbehaving today, must be something in the air! x

ask the author -great endings

For anyone who is unfamiliar with Spikethecat, Richard Hallows has a regular post 'ask the author'. Sue Moorcroft, Sharon Bolton and Adrian Magson give some insight into their writing. Latest post here
Also, there is a flash fiction comp at the moment, 200 words, £1 entry fee, winning entries to go in an e book, there are also several books to win, more details here
I once had a 60 word story in Chat magazine, they don't do them anymore, but that was thrilling at the time, unfortunately I never actually saw it as I missed the copy by the time I was informed my contribution had gone in! I've kept the letter though for my very thin portfolio. I have a very fat folder also, filled with rejection letters, just so I can read the many different ways I have been told 'No thanks'.

Thanks to the cats

I've managed to re write a third attempt for a PF story, which came back as having too predictable an outcome. I suppose I'd have to agree, so I'm posting it off again tomorrow, I hope it's an improvement.

However, something has just cheered me up immensely, I just mooched over to Spikethecat only to find the results are out already for the comp, they weren't due until 31 March, and although I didn't win, I'm one of ten selected for publication in the book! I'm so pleased. Thanks to my cats who were the inspiration for the story!

Give competitions a go!

I've only ever entered four competitions.
One I heard nothing about.
Another was a writers forum one, which came with a very helpful critique from Sue Moorcroft, which was great.
One was for childrens writers academy and didn't come anywhere, but did get a letter asking if I was interested in their writing course as my entry was in the top 300 of 2000. Wasn't really sure whether to take heart in that as the cynic in me suspects that they merely want to sell their course. Which is fair enough. I can't afford a writing course, so merely filed the letter away with my huge file full of rejection letter etc.
I also entered a poem in Animal Antics Comp last year. Didn't win , but my poem has been selected to go in the Crazy for Creatures anthology, which is due out this month I believe. So that feels good, can't wait to see that!
Anyway, I just decided to enter a Spike-the-cat comp found on Sally's Competition Calendar, which I recommend checking out, a brilliant list with lots of info and entry due by dates.
Might as well have a try. Got to be in it to win it as my Mum would say.