Contest: Win a Signed Copy of Romantic Thriller.

On Thursday, I promised you a contest, with some graphics software as a prize. However, things have not panned out as expected and I’m not able to fulfil this promise now, largely due to events beyond my control.

My apologies for this.

However, I promised a contest. And, whilst I can no longer give the prize originally intended, I can offer a paperback copy of my novel. So, the contest continues, but with a signed copy of Breaking Faith as the prize.

To win a free copy of this novel that has earned many very positive reviews (see the entries under the Published Work tab), here’s what you have to do:

Simple; just answer the following question:

Q: In Breaking Faith, what’s the opening line of Chapter 11?

If you’ve got the book in either paperback or eBook form, you’re laughing. But, if you haven’t, not to worry. The chapter has been posted on the blog. You just have to search for it through the Archive, or by using the ‘Search’ box. Make sure you let me have an email address where I can reach you.

Please do not use the comment box for your answer. Send your answer to me by email to this address and put ‘Breaking Faith Contest’ in the subject line.

You have a week to reply. At the end, i.e. 11:00 GMT on 15 December, I’ll get my daughter to make a random selection from all correct answers, which I’ll print off and place into a box for the draw. I’ll announce the winner the same day, here on the blog.

Good luck. 

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New Contest Details on the Writing Contest Page

Kudos (video game) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have a gander at the Writing Contests page, under the tab above, and you'll find 14 pages of details and links to websites where your writing can bring you cash prizes, kudos and bragging rights.
It's worth remembering than many of the more prestigious contests also draw the interest of agents and publishers to your work. Worth considering entering, isn't it?

Writing Contest Information

Image via Wikipedia

If you have ever thought of trying your hand at a writing contest, please click on the 'Writing Contests' tab above. There, I list the details of hundreds of writing competitions along with the link to the appropriate website.
Most of these are international and open to everyone, but check the details for any restrictions.
Some of the contests are free and online. You don't have to spend a penny (or cent) to enter these and you might just win £1,000s or $1000s simply by entering. What have you to lose?
And if you run a contest yourself and it isn't included, please use the 'Contact Me' link in the Welcome to let me know and I'll include it.

But it'll be Worth it, Won't it?

Having spent the last few days on some domestic labours, I am slowly getting back into the groove of writing. There was the turning bay we had designed for the front garden; a necessity for the future when our daughter, now at university, will no doubt want her own car and somewhere to park it. That little job, requiring the laying of 31 edging stones and 3 tons of gravel, we have now completed.
Then I decided to redecorate and re-organise my study, having been encamped in here for 11 years without change. I've got the new carpet down, the painting all done and the furniture repositioned. Today, I put back the shelves that live two walls and started returning the books to these. But, it struck me that i had lost track of what books I have, so I decided to catalogue them as I was re-shelving them. It's an interesting and worthwhile task as I've discovered books I'd forgotten I had and haven't yet read, and others I have read but had forgotten. So far, I've catalogued just under 300, so a few more to go before the job is done.
Many of you will be aware that I have suffered from ME/CFS for the past 8 years or so, and may be surprised by the amount of physical work I'm doing now. Well, I've suspected that I 'd shrugged off the condition for the past few months, but, having been caught out twice previously only to discover the problem returned with a vengeance, I thought I'd give it a while before I started to test myself. Following the past three weeks, with much physical activity and a week's holiday walking in hilly country, I'm now convinced I have finally defeated the beast. It's a great feeling, as you can imagine. But I've aged 8 years and lost a good deal of strength and fitness along the way, so I need to start a programme of exercise to regain my former physical condition.
But it's truly wonderful to be free of the many symptoms I suffered over those years. I aim to make the best of the years ahead. And, as a start to that, I'm going to join the NaNoWriMo  and attempt to write a popular novel during the month of November. Watch this space for my progress. For those unfamiliar with this challenge, the idea is to write the first 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November.
So, wish me luck and join me here as I detail my progress.

Pic: Wandering way; a public footpath outside Driffield, East Yorkshire.

La Scala Studios Short Story Competition 2011

Pippa Ireland presenting prize in 2010 to E Headland

I took part in this contest last year, and won a prize. The judges are well-selected for this contest and the prizes are many and varied. If you enjoy writing contest, I’d advise a go at this one SA.

Following the success of last year's competition, La Scala Studios is pleased to launch another short story competition this year. Entry is open to all, with special prize sections for Pony Club and Riding Club members, Yorkshire residents and racing themed stories. This is a competition designed to encourage creativity, especially in the young. We are grateful to all those sponsors from last year who have come on board again this year to generously support this important competition, and we welcome the new sponsors that have pledged their support this year. Also, we are delighted that Jefferies Saddlery have taken over as the major sponsor which includes the choice of one of their superb saddles for the winner of the first prize in the equestrian section. Moreover, we are also pleased to announce that the judges will once again include Penny Grubb, the award winning author, and John Fairley of Channel Four Racing. So all you need to do is get writing!

PRIZES FOR OPEN SECTION

1st Prize:£200

2nd Prize:£100

3rd Prize:£50

PRIZES FOR EQUESTRIAN SECTION[/size

1st Prize - A brand new saddle of the winner's choice from the Jefferies Saddlery range

2nd Prize - A brand new English leather bridle from Jeffries Saddlery

3rd Prize - A pass to the Bramham International Horse Trials 2012

Runners up prizes in the major sections include: Insurance vouchers, a polo lesson, a specialist equine infrared treatment, saddlery shop vouchers, a gift pack from renowned artist Susan Alison

Yorkshire residents:

1st Prize - A day bout at the Great Yorkshire Show 2012 plus a signed copy of The Jawbone Gang

Runner up - A day out at Beverley Races  (last year, I won this prize and had a very interesting day out to a venue I wouldn’t normally have visited  SA).

Best entry from a Pony Club and Riding Club member each wins a high quality plastic moulded hay

Best entry from a Yorkshire Pony Club member wins an equine infrared treatment

BEST RACING THEMED STORY PRIZE:

A VIP day out at the races at any of the following racecourses: Doncaster, Folkestone, Lingfield Park, Royal Windsor, Southwell, Worcester or Wolverhampton on a date of the winner's choice (excluding Doncaster's St Ledger Festival, Lingfield's Sportingbet Winter Derby, or Totesport Derby Trial). The prize includes a 3-course lunch or dinner with a bottle of champagne in one of Arena's premiere viewing restaurants, with a table for the day, racecards, premiere badges and car parking. The winner's party will be offered a visit to the paddock with a racecourse executive, and a mini behind the scenes tour of the weighing room and pre-parade room, where they might get to chat with the jockeys.

For more writing contests click this link.

Writing: 3100 Words For Today

Best laid plans....  I completed 3,100 words of the epic fantasy this morning, in a single session. I'd intended returning to do more later in the day, but other things also needed doing. The novel continues to go well and I'm well on target for the 200,000 or so I think will take me to the end of this volume. I need to write 16,314 words to reach that target.
However, in the not-too-distant future, I'm intending to have my annual break from the computer, so I need to build up some of the daily word spots to be scheduled whilst I'm away from the keyboard. So far, with today's efforts, I've got word spots and author interviews scheduled up to and including 30 June. Also, the Writing Contests page needed an update: this is a time-consuming operation, but I managed to add a good 20 or so and removed those where the entry date has passed, so that's now up to date. You know where it is if you're interested in entering competitions.
Emails are more or less up to date, though there are a couple from friends that need a bit more thought before they are answered.
A member of one of the groups I belong to on Facebook is reading my romantic thriller, Breaking Faith, and will be reviewing it once she's finished. So I'm keen to see what she thinks of the book. Watch this space for her review later.

The photograph is one I took in Crete, on my last holiday there.

Should I Enter Writing Contests?

It seems some writers are frightened of entering competitions. There are a number of reasons for this: some believe their ideas will be stolen by the organisers, some think the ‘competition’ will be too strong, some believe results are determined by who you know rather than what you write, and some worry that, without a theme, they’ll never be able to second guess the judges’ preferences.

In reply, I say: no organiser is going to steal your ideas (in which there is no copyright anyway), you can’t compete if you don’t enter and you’ll never know if you don’t try, this may happen in one contest in a thousand but the odds are against it, trying to decide what the judges will like is a waste of time; they’re looking for a strong voice with something new to say, that’s all.

Entry fees are sometimes a worry for some. I know of one USA website, which is very strong on writing contest yet advises writers not to enter if there is an entry fee. Rubbish! How are the organisers going to raise the cash for some of the substantial prizes some of them offer, if they make no charge? My only rule on this is that I would never enter a contest where the top prize was not at least 20 times the value of the entry fee. But you can set your own level. One other point: never, ever enter a contest that demands you sign over copyright to the organisers: no reputable organisation would make such a demand. It’s fine if the organisers wish to produce an anthology for sale and want to include some Highly Commended entries with the prize-winners to make up the numbers. Look on that as a chance to have your work published and to include it on your writer’s CV.

Writing contests are a great way of honing your writing skills and often make an excellent home for those stories or poems you haven’t been able to place anywhere else, no matter how good they are.

As far as trying to decide what the judge will like is concerned: this is a waste of time. I’ve come across judges who are romance specialists in their own writing but who look for anything but romance as prize winners. The only thing you can do is accept that contest writing is always going to be something of a lottery. Just turn in your very best writing; make it fresh and alive and ensure you have a real story to tell, not simply an anecdote wrapped up as a story. Remember; beginning, middle, end. There’s a reason for this rule: it’s been proven to work.

And, finally, many of the competitions will attract the interest of editors and publishers. Don’t you want a leg-up into that magazine or publishing house? If you treat competitions as opportunities and positive challenges rather than as something to avoid or fear, you might just surprise yourself.

I’ve won more money from contest prizes than I have from stories published in magazines. Which reminds me; time to get some more entries in.

Now, if you’re inspired, click on the ‘Writing Contests’ tab above and see if anything amongst the links takes your fancy. I look forward to competing with you for the cash and the kudos. Good luck to all those who try, I say.

Writing: a Slight Pause for Some Character Development

It has been a long day. The morning saw me working on Ch20, which is now to 3370 words and page 190. But I reached a point where, due to story development, I needed to conjure 8 new characters. I generally start such profiles with a picture (I have over 1500 on file, collected at random from the internet during searches for other things). These are classified into the two genders and split into age groups and hair colour, simply to make the filing more manageable. I also have a list of names I made up when I started writing the fantasy. Having settled on 8 names and decided on the mix of genders (5 male and 3 female in this case), I selected the pictures and then began the profiles. So far, I have 4 of the males done. The morning will see the others fleshed out and ready to join the adventure.
Meanwhile, I've been out to town, walking, with my wife. Collected currency for Kate for her holiday in Turkey, and sun tan cream and a new shower head. The fun I have when shopping! Don't know how I cope with the excitement. Also brought the Writing Contests page up to date. It now contains over 130 links to various competitons - if you're interested in such things, take a look under the tab above.
Of course, as I'm still recovering from the current spell of CFS, I've had to rest a few times and will do so again when I've finished this post; that'll be me for today.
And here is a local picture for you.

Writing Contests

A quick note to let my regular readers know I've just updated the Writing Contests page. It now also contains information linking to poetry contests as well as the usual short stories and novels. There are currently 95 links there, so, if you're interested in writing for prizes, pay a visit to the Writing Contest tab above and see if anything there takes your fancy.

Aquill Relle - online magazine

The online magazine, Aquill Relle, has featured one of my blog posts. The link for the title of this post takes you there.  To visit the magazine itself, please follow this link. http://www.aquillrelle.com/magazine.htm#sec1 
This magazine will be of particular interest to poets. Have a look and see what you think.

WHY ENTER A CONTEST?

A short feature taken from C Hope Clarke’s weekly newsletter, with her kind permission.

Reproduced here, as it echoes my own opinion on writing competitions.

 

Some writers abstain from contests. They fear
someone will rob them of their material, or the sponsor seeks
only to make a buck. Contests are no different than markets,
publishers, and agents. Some are bad, some are good, and
some are exceptional and jumpstart your writing career.

Study a contest like you would an agent, publisher or market.
Research all you can about it then trust your gut. Don't be
shortsighted and don't assume anything. Any aspect of the
profession entails doing homework and making informed
decisions.

What can a contest do for you?

1. Make you write.
2. Make you submit.
3. Make you meet a deadline.
4. Make you follow guidelines.
5. Make you test yourself.

Then, of course, contests can:

6. Provide a publishing clip.
7. Provide money.
8. Provide an opportunity with an agent.
9. Provide an opportunity with a publisher.
10. Provide feedback on the quality of your work.

Ninety percent of the time, if you've been scammed by
a contest, you did not do your homework. If people had
simply Googled "POETRY.COM" years ago when it was at the
height of its scamming profession, the company would have
gone under much sooner than it did.

At writing conferences, I coax writers to consider all
types of funding streams in furthering their profession,
to include contests. When I worked in agriculture, I
advised farmers to diversify. In other words, don't put
all your eggs in one basket. In addition to writing
articles for online and features for magazines, consider
freelance jobs, grants, and yes, contests.

The point is to be judged and deemed worthy, and a
contest can do just that.

C. Hope Clark
Editor, FundsforWriters, www.fundsforwriters.com
Writer's Digest 101 Best Web Sites for Writers - 2001-2010
A decade of recognized excellence
Blog - www.hopeclark.blogspot.com
Twitter - www.twitter.com/hopeclark
Facebook - www.facebook.com/chopeclark

Flash 500 website.

The Flash 500 website runs quarterly flash fiction competitions with cash prizes for a reasonable fee. The winning entry is also published in their sister magazine, Words with Jam, which is available to read online or as a pdf every 2 months. The competitions are for stories up to 500 words (surprise, surprise) and the closing dates are end of March, June, September and December each year. You must be over 18 to enter and all entries are by email, which makes the whole thing so much easier. The judges are always well known writers with experience of the short story.

Words With Jam is a great little magazine, containing articles, tips, contest winning stories and other submitted stories and poems. As a free magazine, this is excellently produced and very readable. You can get a flavour by trying one of the earlier editions and you can easily sign up for the magazine to be sent to your inbox in pdf format. I’ve done so and am very pleased with the quality of this publication. If you have an interest in improving your writing, or if your interest is in reading good quality stories, have a look at this one.

http://flash500.com/index.html

Word of the Day: imitation – counterfeiting, copying, mimicking. ‘Commenting on his book, a less than thrilling piece of work, she detected his fragility and made a face in imitation of a smile to avoid damaging his self esteem.’

Prizemagic – a place to find current writing contests.

The idiosyncratic and amusing presentation of the Prize Magic site belies its serious purpose. Michael Shenton, the website owner, has a great sense of humour and dishes out his advice, tips and warnings with tongue in cheek. His lists of contests, both for writers and for ordinary folk not obsessed with words like we are, is extensive. But he doesn’t just give details of what’s available; he makes judgements based on experience, gives warnings and provides tips on how to win. Here’s a man who has won rather a lot of contest of various types and who is willing to share his secrets with visitors. Of course, there’s the inevitable sales pitch for his books, but this is unobtrusive and you can completely by-pass it if you go straight to the Writing Comps button at the foot of the front page. He’s a  man after my own heart, who obviously believes that knowledge, like money and muck, is best spread as widely as possible. Give him a go; you know you want to.

http://www.prizemagic.co.uk/index.html

Word of the day: Edition; a version, sometimes new and following revision, usually of a book but also of other things, including people, when used metaphorically. ‘The revised edition of Karen had all the men turning their heads with admiration.’

Sally Quilford, Writing Contests

Sally Quilford features monthly in Writers’ Forum Magazine, giving details about writing competitions for readers. Her website is quite varied, providing writers’ resources with links to other websites of interest. There is a link to Sally’s own Writing Calendar, http://www.writingcalendar.com/ which gives details of writing contests in monthly form with closing dates and enough details for aspiring entrants to decide whether to have a go without having to trawl through pages of detail. There’s also a very useful section called ‘Competition Tips, which I’d advise any would-be winner to read and absorb. Very useful and one I’ve bookmarked.

Sally’s website is aimed mainly at writers interested in the womag market and has a good deal of information, advice and links for that particular genre. There are links to articles about writing for women’s magazines and guidelines for specific magazines.

If you’re stuck for a story idea, have a look at her story generator; very useful for those who need inspiration.

There is also a page full of links to other writers, writing organisations and other writing communities. She lists her own contest successes and publications, and recommends books for writers.

All in all, a very useful site.

http://www.sallyquilford.co.uk/index.htm

Today's word: 

Bathos: an unintended drop into the ridiculous or trivial when trying to convey passion, pathos or elevation. It usually causes unintended amusement as did William Wordsworth with these few lines, intended to curry sympathy:

Synopsis complete

After much discussion at my writing group, I've finally come up with a synopsis I feel confident (well, fairly) about sending off to agents. Now it's the dreaded letter to go with it. A start, having researched those UK agents who just might be interested and learned what their requirements are. But I think this will be every bit as taxing as the synopsis. Meanwhile, I'm doing that last edit of the chapters; checking the spelling of character and place names for consistency and that sort of thing.
Updated my website as well this evening. Now 270 links to other sites of interest to writers.