• Last week’s challenge was to tell a story in five words. It was clearly no problem for you. So how about telling a story in five words – but somewhere in the story, you must use the word red. Here are you fabulous five-word stories from last week: The Bag Lady: Dressed, coffee poured, reading…

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  • Markets For Writers

    You still have time to enter The Writers Bureau’s 2019 Short Story Competition (well, only just as the closing date is Sunday!) Here is a reminder of the details: Prizes: 1st: £300 2nd: £200 3rd: £100 4th: £50 Plus all winners receive a Writers Bureau course of their choice (worth over £374). Entry fee: £5…

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  • I’m thrilled to announce that my latest book of short stories, A Walk In The Woods, is due to be released on April 20th 2019 – and it’s available to pre-order on Amazon now. Here’s a little bit more about it: An autumnal stroll through the woods, colourful leaves crunching underfoot, the air fresh on…

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  • Entering a short story competition? Think outside the box. When I ran my last short story competition, a lot of entries focused on death and an apocalyptic world. Jot down several ideas. The first few will probably be themes a lot of entrants will write about. Ignore these and let your mind push you forward…

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  • Book Cover Reveal!

    A few weeks ago, I announced that I had a new book of short stories coming out soon. I promised you a sneak peek at my book cover – and here it is. I’m extremely proud to announce that it’s also been designed by my very talented daughter, Charlotte, who is an illustrator. The launch…

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  • Well, you clearly found last week’s twenty-word story challenge a doddle. So I’m going to be mean again! Can you tell a story in only five words? Here’s one: Yipee! Time to leave. Friday! Here are last week’s brilliant twenty-word stories: Kristian: https://talesfromthemindofkristian.wordpress.com/2019/03/14/a-tale-in-20-words-caught-in-the-act/ K Morris: “Power flows from the barrel of a gun,” Mao said.…

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  • Markets For Writers

    How would you like to win £20,000? If you would, then you’ll need to publish a book with Kindle Direct Publishing – and it’ll need to be published between 1st May 2019 and 31st August 2019. Here’s some information from Kindle Direct Publishing on their Storyteller competition: ‘The Kindle Storyteller Award 2019 is a literary…

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  • I love this sign! It would definitely get me wanting to go and take a look.

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  • Fabulous Photographs If you’re writing an article for a magazine, always make sure you have clear, high quality photographs to accompany it. These can often be a deciding factor in an editor accepting your article. Even if you have written an entertaining and informative piece, if you only have drab, grainy photos to accompany it,…

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  • There was a young writer called Sam, Who as he typed, ate berries and ham, He wrote about pigs, Wearing bright pink wigs, Rolling in puddles of jam. ***

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