Archive for category Non-fiction
Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition 2014
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Non-fiction, Short Story on January 12, 2014
This week I’ve been thinking about my entry for the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition. 
As I’m sure most of you know, the first prize is £500 and an Arvon writing course. So it’s a prize worth winning and it’s also free entry – which makes it doubly good! But the closing date is 15th February 2014 – so it’s time to start getting my entry together.
In preparation I’ve been flicking through my copy of ‘Writing Competitions the Way to Win’ by Iain Pattison and Alison Chisholm.
Iain judges a lot of competitions. In the book he gives the following reason for why a lot of stories fail in competitions:
The stories were obviously written for a women’s magazine and failed to find a home. Therefore they often have a domestic setting, a female protagonist, a twist ending and the plot is a variation on a theme. The stories lack an individual voice.
As a judge, Iain wants to be taken somewhere he’s never been before. He doesn’t want to read about office life and how the junior is plotting revenge on the boss who passed her over for promotion.
So, it seems there’s no point in me going through my rejected womag stories to find one that might fit a theme of ‘The Visit’.
Incidentally, Iain suggests that this may be why men might seem to do better in writing competitions. Fewer of them write for women’s magazines and therefore they compose a fresh story for a competition without the restrictions of womag writing.
What does anyone else think? Have you ever won/been shortlisted in a competition with a story originally written for a womag?
And talking of competitions, Nick Daws is running a Guest Post Competition over on his blog. First prize is $50 (or the equivalent in UK pounds). The post must be on a topic of interest to writers and be 500 – 1000 words long. Closing date is 31st January 2014 and entry is free. He ran a similar competition last year and then I was lucky enough to be the winner – this time it could be you!
Finally, the first anniversary of the publication of One Day for Me is almost upon us and next week I will be announcing a special offer …
First World War Centenary 1914 to 2014
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Markets, Non-fiction, Poetry, Short Story on September 22, 2013
A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles in a communication trench during the Battle of the Somme. The date is believed to be 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, and the unit is possibly the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (25th Brigade, 8th Division). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As you’re probably all aware, next year is the centenary of the start of the First World War.
I’m sure that as the date gets closer there will be a lot of publicity about the multitude of events arranged to mark the occasion.
There’s going to be plenty of opportunity for us, as writers, to get involved with this anniversary – as long as we don’t leave it too late to get started!
I’ve just done a quick trawl of the internet and found the four writing competitions listed below with a ‘war’ theme.
- Mardibooks First World War Centenary Short Story Competition – winners will be published in an anthology and up to 12 entrants will receive feedback on their stories. Word count 1,200 to 5,000. Closing date 29th November, 2013. Entry is FREE.
- Bard and Muse War Poetry Competition – prize money is currently under review and the closing date is March 24, 2014. Line count: 40
- Tower Theatre First World War Play Writing Competition – closing date is September 27th, 2013 – so you need to get your skates on! The winning play will be performed in London in November 2014.
- Curry Mallet First World War Short Story Competition – this competition is not yet open for entries but watch the website or use the contact form on there, to get more details. But this gives you plenty of time to do some research!
Also, don’t forget all the opportunities for magazine articles with a nostalgia or unusual factual slant.
Why not pick up your pen and have a go?
Remember all those men who gave their lives in muddy, wet, stinking trenches so that we might live in peace.
Related articles
- Harrogate’s Lessons from the First World War (weayorkshireandhumbertutorblog.wordpress.com)
- News story: One year to go to First World War centenary (gov.uk)
- The poppy: still a potent symbol after all these years (telegraph.co.uk)
Women’s Walking Magazine
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Markets, Non-fiction on March 3, 2013
I bought Women’s Walking magazine this week, for two reasons:
- It’s a new magazine (the current issue is only no. 2) and I thought it might contain a market opportunity
- I like walking but didn’t realise that such a simple exercise could need a whole magazine devoted to it
As far as market opportunities go, I’m not too hopeful:
Flicking through the pages and looking at the credentials of some of the magazine’s contributors tells me that I’m not qualified to pitch anything remotely related to the Health, Nutrition, Workout and Fitness sections of the magazine.
There’s a couple of ‘Real-Life’ features, one about a woman who lost seven stone by walking and another about a woman who walked her way back to health after an accident. Nothing so dramatic has happened to me (thank goodness!) so no openings there.
There’s a ‘My Life’ page, which tells the part that walking plays in the life of one individual woman. This month it is Pippa Kendrick, a published food writer – so I don’t think they’re looking for any Tom, Dick or Sally.
That leaves me to dream up a more general article. The magazine includes one this month on charity fundraising (for sponsored walks) plus a list of the best walking marathons. I’ve done a few 26 mile walks, so I wonder if I could do something along those lines…
But I think the best place to start is with the letters page – there’s a pair of walking shoes worth £90 for the star letter, nothing for the others. Nine letters were published in issue 2, mostly praising the magazine and describing what walking means to the writer. I’m going to think of something different!
And is it possible to devote a whole magazine to women’s walking? It appears so but there’s also lots of stuff in there about general fitness and equipment too. I particularly liked one of their tips for getting a flatter stomach – apparently a good night’s sleep is essential, people getting between five and six hours sleep have bigger waistlines than those sleeping for seven or eight hours – I like the idea of toning up whilst I’m dreaming!
So what do the rest of you do to combat the sedentary life of a writer? I go to the occasional BodyCombat class – lots of kicking and punching at an imaginary partner is great for getting rid of aggression – and I find swimming helps me think.
A Blogging Competition to win £1,000
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Non-fiction on January 15, 2013
Apologies to those of you who, like me, have your blogs registered with the Mumsnet Bloggers Network – because you’ve probably already seen this competition, but for those of you not in the know:
Moneysupermarket.com is running a blogging competition with a prize of £1,000. All you have to do is create a blog post about your dream holiday and include costings (excluding flights) – but keep the total cost under £1,000. Include a picture of your destination too. Mention the competition in your post and then email your entry to competitions@moneysupermarket.com. Closing date is 28th January 2013. Before you start have a look at the full details here.
And if you’re interested in registering your blog with Mumsnet have a look here. Basically, it’s a way of telling more people that your blog exists – and you don’t have to be a mum to join.
The Museum of Broken Relationships
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Non-fiction, Resources, Successes, Travel, Writing on December 20, 2012
I was leafing through the Independent on Sunday and came across a travel article on Zagreb. It mentioned the Museum of Broken Relationships which immediately fired my writer’s imagination.
The museum contains exhibits that each recall the breakup of a relationship. Each object is accompanied by a narrative telling its story such as:
- A lover’s mobile phone, given to the girlfriend he’d just broken up with, so that she couldn’t call him anymore
- An axe that was used on the furniture of an unfaithful partner
- A garden dwarf that was thrown at an ex’s windscreen on divorce day
The place sounds like a building full of writing prompts with a whole wealth of relationship stories, just waiting to be written. There’s a cafe there too – so somewhere to sit and jot down notes whilst enjoying mulled wine and pepper cookies (the house specialities according to the website).
The museum also accepts new exhibits from people wishing to get rid of stuff that reminds them of a painful breakup. What would your hero or heroine donate?
Look out for the museum’s touring exhibitions, there was one in Lincolnshire earlier this year and one in London in 2011 – if only I’d known I could’ve collected enough ideas to last a lifetime! Instead I’ll have to save up for a flight to Zagreb …
P.S. I had an acceptance from People’s Friend this week – hurrah, a great way to end the year!
Christmas Round Robin Letters plus a Competition
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Non-fiction, Writing on December 6, 2012
Christmas Round Robin Letters – do you love them or loathe them?
I don’t usually write one but this year I did and it’s currently winging its way to those I rarely see. The cost of postage drove me to include the letter with my cards. I begrudge paying 50p (second class postage) just to stick a card in an envelope so I decided that people were going to hear what my family did in 2012 – whether they wanted to or not. After all, I’m supposed to be a writer so it shouldn’t be difficult to make a round-up of the last 12 months sound interesting.
It was a lot harder than I expected!
I tried to be mindful of the fact that no-one wants to read a list of my daughters’ achievements and their plans for the future. I’ve received letters like that and they leave me feeling totally inadequate. So I skirted over that and moved onto how the recession has impacted the working lives of my husband and me. Then I decided that talk of redundancies was too depressing so I moved on to the interesting things we’ve done in our spare time – and came up with nothing!
Writing a round robin letter is like trying to have a one-sided conversation in the dark. It’s impossible to gauge whether you are boring people because there’s no facial expressions to read and no feedback in the way of comments. So I did my best and sent it out . It’s up to the recipients whether they read it or bin it and from now on I’ll be much less dismissive of the letters I receive because I know how difficult they are to write!
Competition
If you’ve had any letters printed in a newspaper or magazine during 2012 you might be interested in a competition run by the Association of Christian Writers. ACW’s UK letter writing competition is looking for the best letters published in any national, regional or local magazine or newspaper during 2012. There is a prize of £50 for the best single letter published and prizes of £100, £50 and £25 for collections of 6 letters published in 6 different publications. Closing date is 31/12/2012. Full details are here.
Letters and Libraries
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Non-fiction, Writing on September 25, 2012
After a pep talk with Helen, my writing buddy, I’ve set myself some writing targets to get me through to the end of the year.
English: David Wilson Library, University of Leicester (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of them is to write a letter a week for publication in a magazine. There are several benefits to this:
- The satisfaction of something quickly written and submitted
- Lots of potential markets – so hopefully the possibility of success
- I will need to scan the magazines available in the newsagent and might spot new markets for other types of writing
I told Peter Hinchcliffe, editor of Open Writing, about my new goal and he suggested a further benefit of letter writing. Many years ago, as a young man, he was trying to break into journalism and started writing letters to his local newspaper every week, with a good ‘hit’ rate. Then he wrote and asked to join them for work experience – the editor recognised Peter’s name from the letters and he was taken on. A successful career in newspapers followed.
I don’t expect to land a job on a glossy magazine through the letters page – but occasionally letters can get followed up…
At the weekend I went with my daughter to Leicester University – she’ll be sending in her UCAS application for a Zoology degree in a few weeks time. Whilst we were there we went round the David Wilson Library (pictured). It is a wonderful, light, airy building, opened in 2008 by the Queen. At the time students waxed lyrical about their new library’s toilets. One was quoted in the Independent as saying, “If these toilets were a bird, they would be an eagle as they soar above the rest of the competition.” The toilets were nice – but not that outstanding! Although if I was living in grotty student house, I might think differently…
So it seems that whilst our public libraries are cutting opening hours or shutting down altogether, university libraries are thriving. Let’s hope that these wonderful facilities make young adults value the benefit of libraries so that as they start work and settle down, they might join in the campaigning to save and improve our public library system.
Finally, am I going mad or do the current and previous edition of Writers’ Forum magazine both say ‘October’ on them?
Is Your Life Story Worth £10,000?
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Non-fiction on September 13, 2012
Woman and Home magazine are running a ‘Life Story’ writing competition. They say:
“If your life has ever felt like it could be a novel, then we want to hear from you….perhaps you grew up in unusual circumstances…or maybe your job threw you into extraordinary situations…this is your chance to share your personal journey.”
First prize is an advance of £10,000 and publication by Hodder and Stoughton. There are also 3 Kindles and an introduction to a literary agent for the runners-up.
Send a full synopsis of your life story in a maximum of 1,500 words plus 2 sample chapters of 10,000 words maximum.
Your entry must be accompanied by an entry form, which is available in the October issue of the magazine (in the shops now!). I can’t find the entry form or details of the competition on-line, so you’re going to have to buy Woman and Home in order to enter. There’s also some tips in there about how to go about writing your memoirs.
Closing date is 31st October 2012.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for the Non-fiction category.
Sally Jenkins 