• I asked for chills last week with my challenge for a ghost story or poem. Thank you to all those who entered. You can see the results below. This week’s challenge takes you from a ghostly theme to a humorous one. I’d like you to make me smile or laugh out loud. You can send…

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  • Markets For Writers

    Markets For Writers

    You’ll need to get your skates on if you want to take advantage of this week’s market, ‘The Costa Short Story Award‘. The annual competition has a closing date of Friday 1st August 2014 and the entry must be sent by 4pm. Stories on any theme are invited and there’s a word limit of 4000…

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  • Well, that’s good to know!

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  • Monday Motivations/The ABC of Short Story Ideas Part Four

    Another week and it’s onto J,K and L. I hope these ideas kick-start your short story writing week: J is for job: The job of your main character opens up all sorts of story possibilities. Your character could be a spy but his family think he’s a boring office worker. Perhaps the family’s lives are…

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  • Top Tip Of The Week

    Bashing the background on the head! When you’re writing a short story, it’s easy to get sucked into telling the reader too much about your characters’ backgrounds. This slows the pace of the story down. The reader wants a story so it’s important to only include any background information that’s essential to the story. You…

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  • Last week’s ‘last line’ challenge caused a few problems with some writers contacting me to say they’d sit this one out. So I thought I’d keep this week’s new challenge simple and give you a theme: A ghost story/poem. I want to feel goosebumps as I read it so the scarier the better! Huge congratulations…

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  • Markets For Writers

    Markets For Writers

    This week’s market is for those of you who enjoy writing reader’s letters. Or even if you don’t, consider writing some. Some publications pay up to £100 for a reader’s letter so they’re a great way to earn some extra income. They also slot in well with other, larger writing projects. Woman’s Weekly used to…

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  • I love the explanation for how to get to the restrooms:    

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  • Monday Motivations/The ABC Of Short Story Ideas Part Three

    This week, G, H, and I receive the short story treatment: G is for grotto: For many of us, the idea of a grotto conjures up a rosy cheeked Father Christmas sitting in his grotto, waiting to greet children and agree to their dreams of the latest toy or gadget. Now is the perfect time…

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  • Top Tip Of The Week

    Top Tip Of The Week

    Last week, I was guest blogger on ‘The Writers Bureau’ weekly blog. My tip advised writers not to throw away old work. You might be able to tweak an article or story and send it to a different market. Even if you look at a piece of work and think Yes, I can see why…

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