Book Giveaway!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books on July 9, 2012
A few months ago I won a copy of Writing the Paranormal Novel by Steven Harper in one of those ‘Win a Book’ competitions in 
Writing Magazine. It’s sat unopened on my bookshelf ever since. That’s no reflection on the book itself – it’s just that I’m not into the paranormal. I prefer to read and write about reality.
But there is a booming market in paranormal tales so I’d like to give my copy of Writing the Paranormal Novel away to someone who either already writes in this genre or someone who is interested in trying it out for the first time or someone who just wants to know more about it.
The strap line for the book is ‘Techniques and Exercises for Weaving Supernatural Elements into Your Story’. The chapter headings include things such as:
- Magic and the Superhero
- The Paranormal at Large
- Arc, Plot and Subplot
And that last heading sounds like it could be useful to any writer.
Steven is an English teacher in Michigan, USA and has written several novels. He also uses the pseudonyms Steven Piziks and Penny Drake.
All you have to do to win the book is leave a comment on this blog post before midnight on Monday 16th July 2012 and indicate that you want to be included in the prize draw. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, ‘Please put me in the draw’ will suffice. Unfortunately postage costs mean that I have to restrict entries to UK addresses only.
Good Luck!
On a completely different subject, any mother who has ever torn her hair out trying to concoct a suitable ‘literary’ costume for her child to wear to school on World Book Day, will love this link to a mother who dressed her child as a Kindle – click here.
CAKE!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Markets, Short Story on July 2, 2012
No, not the spongy, creamy, totally bad for you kind – CAKE is a project to help unpublished writers get their work in front of
the public. It’s based in Manchester and distributes short stories free of charge via a network of cafes and bars. Each issue of CAKE is also available to download from the website.
There’s no payment for the stories printed (as you would expect since no-one appears to be making any money out of this) but CAKE will do their best to give feedback on any stories submitted plus, if your story is selected for publication, you will also get a plug for your website/blog.
Stories up to 2200 words will be considered and there are no rules about having to live in Manchester to submit. Full details of the submission process are here.
Sadly, those of us who have been published in magazines are not eligible to submit stories but there is still something useful for us to take away from the FAQs on the website. Apparently over half the submissions they receive are about death in one form or another, so if this is the subject of your story then you need to find a unique way of making your tale stand out from the crowd or write about something completely different. I’m sure this advice will apply equally well to any short story competition that you choose to enter.
By the way – did you know that this is Love Your Local Bookshop Week? It runs from 30th June to 7th July. Reading about it made my conscience prick about the purchases of both traditional and e-books that I make at Amazon. So I used my postcode here and was amazed to find that I would have to travel 15.66 miles to get to my nearest independent book seller, even though I live close to a large city. These shops have suffered badly from the growth of internet and supermarket purchasing and, sadly, there doesn’t seem to be any way back for them now.
Unbound Live!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Events, Promotion on June 25, 2012
Here’s a new way of getting your book published. Pitch your idea to a group of readers and ask them to stump up the cash to get it into print. The Unbound website goes into more detail saying:
“If you back a project before it reaches its funding target, you get your name printed in the back of every copy and immediate behind-the-scenes access to the author’s shed. If any project fails to hit its funding target, you get refunded in full.”
The ‘author’s shed’ includes access to interviews, draft chapters and progress reports on the book, amongst other things.
Readers can pledge differing amounts from £10 to £250 and earn similarly varying rewards from an e-book edition of the book to lunch with the author, invites to the launch party and goodie bags. Details are here.
The website has details of the authors and books currently looking for publication funding.
But the pitching is not all virtual. Unbound Live! events allow the authors to stand up and pitch directly to an audience (I can’t imagine anything more nerve-wracking than trying to explain my idea for a book to a room full of people!). Birmingham is to host the first library Unbound Live! event. It’s on July 10th 7pm at the Library Theatre. I’m disappointed that I can’t make it but for anybody that can, the details are here. (And thanks to Frances for alerting me to this event).
Publishing is a gamble so it makes sense to ensure that there is an audience willing to pay for your work in advance.
What do you think? Could you be tempted to fund a book in this way? Would you like to pitch in this way?
Related articles
- Unbound Live: Readers decide which books get written (theculturecut.wordpress.com)
Demise of Emerald Writing Workshops
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Short Story on June 18, 2012
Those of you who’ve been following this blog for a while will know that I have promoted the competitions organised by Eddie Walsh of Emerald Writing Workshops several times. I felt these contests had a cheap entry fee and were run by someone genuinely interested in writing (and not just out to make a quick buck!).
Recently Angela Greenwood contacted me to point out that the Emerald Writing Workshops website no longer existed and she wondered if I knew what had happened.
When I asked him, Eddie gave me the following sad news:
“In early May I tried to change servers which was a big disaster as the new server is too technical and did not help me log in so site is in limbo. As I have lost the momentum I have decided that the NOBODY comp will be the last one for which I have had about 65 entries. I will refund fees for other comps by end June after judging this comp. Updates will be on www.kerbsidebooks.co.uk (type this into Google – for some reason it doesn’t work as a direct link) as well as results in due course. I will email ALL entrants after judging Thanks for your past support.”
So unfortunately there will be no more competitions – but Eddie is doing the honourable thing and refunding everyone.
I would like to thank Eddie for his competitions and his encouragement to new writers over the last couple of years.
Hope everything goes well for you in the future, Eddie!
Postcard Prompts
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Writing Exercises on June 14, 2012
We’ve all done those writing exercises with postcards, where you use the picture to provide stimulation for a story or a poem. Last week at my writers’ group we took a different angle on this well-worn activity.
Back of a postcard postmarked 1908; old postcard. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Frances ran an interesting workshop which got us looking at the writing on the back of the card instead of the photo on the front. She provided us with a selection of postcards which were from and to people we didn’t know. Then she broke the activity down into 3 steps:
- Create a pen portrait of the sender of the card by analysing what he/she has written, the handwriting style and the picture they chose.
- Create a pen portrait of the recipient of the card by looking at what information the sender chose to tell them, the manner in which the recipient was addressed etc.
- Create a short scene of what might happen when the sender returns from holiday and meets up with the recipient.
I found this a difficult exercise but it certainly gets the brain cells working when the only clues to your main characters and their relationship with each other, are a few brief, scribbled words. So Frances, thanks for getting the old grey matter working!
In coming years it may get more and more difficult to use postcards as prompts. According to a piece in the Daily Mail, forty years ago one-third of Britons sent a card home from holiday but now only 3% of us pick up a pen whilst we’re on the beach. Instead we tweet, text and Facebook.
When I go away I like to cut all links with ‘reality’ and the fast pace of electronic communication so I send postcards. I like to receive them too – they brighten up my kitchen wall.
What about anyone else?
An Acceptance from People’s Friend!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Short Story, Successes on June 7, 2012
I had a lovely email from People’s Friend this week accepting a story.
The story was one of my favourites (you know how you get those sometimes – no matter how many rejections a story attracts, you keep tweaking and re-submitting because you think there’s something special about it and all you need to do is find the right market). This one started life as a competition entry and has been almost completely rewritten on its journey via Woman’s Weekly and My Weekly. Finally, People’s Friend asked for two lots of changes to make it fit their readership.
The acceptance email said it now had ‘the perfect balance of romance and emotion’. So all that remains is to recreate that same balancing act in another story!
I’ve no idea when it will appear in print – it’s gone into the magazine’s ‘story stock drawer’.
Maiden Names and Married Names
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Writing on June 4, 2012
I have an unusual maiden name – ‘Mumby’ – and it’s rare that I stumble across it anywhere else but I found it on a tiny war memorial in the small church at Croft Castle, near Leominster. I was so surprised that I had to take a picture of it (it’s in the bottom right-hand corner).
This got me thinking about creating female characters by looking at what they choose to do with their surname when they get married and what motivates them to behave in this way. I think we women fall into one of several camps when we walk down the aisle:
- The majority of us go with convention and take our husband’s name – so maybe we don’t want to rock the boat or stand out from the crowd
- Keeping our maiden name – this is the course usually followed by the famous but I know ‘ordinary’ women who have done this and get quite cross when they get lumped together with their husband as Mr & Mrs ‘Husband’s surname’. Could this be the basis for a fictional character desperate to carve her own way in the world or afraid of living in her husband’s shadow?
- Going double-barrelled – some couples choose to join their surnames together when they tie the knot. Could this a social-climbing couple? Double-barrelled names always sound quite posh to me.
- And there’s the choice of Mrs or Ms, if you don’t want the whole world to know you’re married. Why does a character who’s married want to keep it hidden?
Plus don’t forget until quite recently married women were often addressed by their husband’s Christian name as well as his surname, for example Mrs John Smith. An elderly lady in a story might unintentionally annoy her daughter-in-law by sending birthday cards addressed in this way.
Then what happens when we get divorced? Many of us (understandably) decide to revert back to our maiden names but those with young children might choose to keep their married name to avoid confusion. Or what about the high-flyer who’s made a name for herself in her married name – does she drop it or resentfully keep it?
So next time you’re dreaming up a female character think about her marital status and the surname and title she’s chosen to use – it might make you think about her in a whole new way.
Ireland’s Own
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Markets on May 28, 2012
I’ve never submitted a story to Ireland’s Own. It’s a magazine I’ve seen mentioned in womag circles but until I spotted it in my local WH Smith’s a couple of weeks ago, I’d never actually seen a copy.
The magazine has a very traditional feel, appealing mainly to the older generation. It contains lots of features, some of which are Ireland specific and a much smaller number that don’t have an Irish connection. In the edition I have in front of me, there are four 1-page articles in the ‘Just a Memory’ section – so if you grew up in Ireland there may be an opening here for your work.
There is one short story published each week. I’ve read two of these and they strike me as being quite gentle. One was about an old married couple where the husband had retreated into a silent world. His wife (from whose point of view the story was written) adopts a stray dog and this animal finds his way into the man’s heart and gives him a reason for living again. The second story was written from a child’s point of view and tells how she finds a new friend for her grandfather. Neither story featured anything particularly Irish other than the character names.
I’ve done a quick trawl of the internet and the only submission guidelines I can find for the magazine are those on the trusty Womag’s blog. Take a look here – the guidelines for articles and fillers are also included.
If any of you have recent experience of being published by Ireland’s Own, do let me know.
Meanwhile, I’m going to try emailing the magazine for Writers’ Guidelines and tweak a story previously rejected by People’s Friend – maybe by changing a few names to Patrick and Bridget!
Competition Round-Up
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Poetry, Short Story on May 24, 2012
Some competition news for you today:
Balsall Writers’ Competition 2012
Balsall Writers’ Competition 2012 is open for submissions of short stories (up to 2200 words) and/or poems (up to 42 lines).
There is a £100 first prize, £75 second and £50 third prize. The entry fee is £4. It is an open theme with a closing date of 31/10/2012 and the results will be announced a month later.
An entry form is required and this can be found here along with full details about the competition.
Erewash Writers’ Group Competition Update
Debbie has been in touch from Erewash Writers’ Group with an update on the charitable donation part of their 2012 competition – this donation has now reached £50.00. Entrants to the competition can nominate a favourite charity to receive this money, the names will be put into a hat and drawn at the end of the competition. The closing date for the competition is 27th June 2012 and details are here.
5minutefiction First Birthday Competition
And a quick reminder that the 5minutefiction First Birthday competition closes on 1st June 2012. Entry is only £2 and the first prize is £100 plus e-anthology publication for the top entries. The e-anthology from the site’s earlier competition is now available here – for less than the price of a magazine!
Good Luck if you decide to enter any of these!
Email Antics
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Computers & Technical on May 21, 2012
I’m in the middle of switching email addresses – and it’s causing me a lot of grief!
I’ve used the same web mail address since we got our first home PC back in 1999 and for most of that time it’s worked fine. But over the last few months the service has been crashing out, refusing to load my inbox and freezing when I press ‘send’. I’ve been reluctant to switch to a new provider because:
- I liked my email address (it didn’t include any annoying numbers or dots to make it unique from every other person with my name)
- Like most writers I always have ‘stuff out there’ which obviously has the old address on as a contact point
- I guessed it would be a lot of hassle to change
However, there was only so many times I could put up with losing a carefully drafted email plus we’ve recently upgraded to BT Infinity at home – so I decided to bite the bullet and join the @btinternet.com clan.
I was lucky with my new email address – all I had to do was slip in my middle initial to make it unique and still appear businesslike. Then I jumped for joy when I saw that it was possible to import contacts from other email providers – but sat down heavily again when I realised my old provider was not amongst those listed as compatible. It looked like I had a long ‘copy & paste’ job ahead of me.
But there was good news when I found an option to get mail forwarded from other email addresses. I filled in the prompts and clicked ‘new mail only’. At least now it wouldn’t matter if I forgot to keep monitoring my old email – all those competition wins that are bound to come in over the next few months would be automatically forwarded to @btinternet.com!
Then, before my very eyes, my new inbox filled up with over 2,000 emails.
Every single email from my old address had been imported to the new!
This had advantages and disadvantages. I could open messages and click to add the sender to my new contacts list but a massive deletion job is now necessary. And I’m not finding it easy to delete whole page after whole page because I keep spotting something that might be useful…just like when I try sorting out books for the charity shop.
Somehow I reckon this job is going to drag on and on. Maybe it would be easier to go back to sending messages via pigeon or even in a bottle (which explains the odd illustration to this post – just in case you were wondering!)
Despite all this I can still be contacted via the ‘About Sally Jenkins’ page of this blog or please leave a comment below.
Sally Jenkins 