Trumpet Blowing!

I am thrilled to report that I won last week's Write-Invite competition with my story, The Fledgling. I've been entering these weekly competitions since last August and thoroughly enjoy the adrenalin rush of writing a complete story in under thirty minutes. I've been placed 2nd and 3rd a few times, but unfortunately there isn't a prize for runners-up, so to win the £50 first prize was a real boost, especially as the winner is chosen by fellow participants. The competition is quite tough, as there are some very talented writers entering each week and some well-known names in the womag fiction world.

I also came second in The Cazart Flash Fiction Competition with my story, The Lie, which you can read here. Unfortunately, there wasn't any prize money for the runners-up, which I was a little miffed about considering the entry fee was £5. It has taught me to look more carefully at writing competition entry fees and the prize money offered.

Enough trumpet blowing for now! It certainly pays to be persistent and to write every day. I entered eleven competitions in January with about 16 stories, so we'll see whether persistence has paid off this month. There aren't quite as many competitions to enter in February, but I have earmarked ten so far.

More good news in that I have found another print company (Antony Rowe) willing to publish the next issue of The Yellow Room Magazine. Issue 7 is currently with the typesetter, so should be available from the end of this month. I hope it's worth the wait!

Entries are slowly trickling in to The Yellow Room Short Story Competition. Don't forget to enter. The closing date is 31st March. Email entries only from now on.

The sun has just come out to melt the last of the snow, so it should be an enjoyable walk up to the school to collect my daughter today.

Oh, and remember I said I wasn't reading as much? I couldn't resist starting My Last Duchess by Daisy Goodwin at the weekend.