short stories
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As it’s half-term next week and I’ll be dividing my time between work and motherhood duties, it’s been a frantic week to say the least. I haven’t managed to send out seven pieces of work, as I did this time last week, but I’m up to five so that’s not bad going. My market…
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By the end of Monday, my shoulders were right up by my ears and I was shaking my head, sure that this week was going to be one of those weeks. But, up bright and early Tuesday morning, I took a deep breath and decided to forget about Monday and to start afresh. It’s not…
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Slow down! With life as hectic as it is, writing often has to be slotted in around the day job, family life, housework etc. So sending pieces of writing off is often something of a rush. Slow it down. If you’re hoping to catch the last post and send your competition entry off, or are…
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What can I say? Third week into January and things are going pretty well, with deadlines met and some new writing opportunities in the pipeline. Only another 49 weeks to go and then I’ll have had a cracking year! I hope your year is going well so far. As promised, I’ve started a new page,…
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Don’t Aim Too High It’s the beginning of January and a time for New Year resolutions. How many times, as a writer, have you thought along the following lines, This is it – this is going to be the year I write my best-selling novel, win the Bridport Prize, have critics clamoring about my collection…
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After the excitement of Father Christmas and parties for New Year, I thought it would take me a while to dust off my writing hat and set to work again. But it’s actually been quite refreshing to get back to it and the break has given me the opportunity to let my mind work at…
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No one likes a clever clogs! We’ve all read stories where we’re left thinking, ‘Is it just me or does this ending not make the slightest bit of sense?’ So don’t try to be too clever with your story. If your reader has to keep going over the ending to understand it, it could ruin…
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With Christmas just around the corner and heads full of cards, wrapping paper, lists, present buying, Christmas dos and much much more, ideas for stories, articles and poems with a Christmas theme easily come to mind. If they do, great, jot them down but save them for late summer/early autumn next year. It’s no good…
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I’ve a few interesting projects on the go at the moment and at the start of the week they weren’t going well, but fingers crossed, things seem to be coming together. My market of the week for you is ‘Writers’ Forum’: You can find a copy of this monthly publication in selected newsagents, but if…
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In my blog, I’ve mentioned the importance of checking your work through for mistakes. It’s so easy to miss a full stop off the end of a sentence, misspell a word, place speech marks in the wrong place, leave a word out or add one in where there shouldn’t be one and so on. Some…
Esther Chilton 