Out of the Blue

I was delighted to hear last week that one of my short stories was longlisted in a UK competition. Today I found out the story was also commended in the Bradt New Travel Writer of the Year 2019 competition.

You can read my story 'For those left at home' here https://www.bradtguides.com/media/wysiwyg/pdfs/travel_writing_entries/For_those_left_at_home.pdf

along with some of the other top stories https://www.bradtguides.com/articles/travel-writing-2019-shortlist/

It's a great start to a new writing year!

The game of writing

Back at Coney yesterday, for the first time this year, it was good to get the creative juices flowing again after the holidays and to try something new. Coffee and cranberry and chocolate muffins (new recipe) helped on a grey, cold day.

 

We shared our writing news. In the last few weeks I've received news that one of my short stories has been shortlisted in a local competition and another one longlisted in a UK wide competition - fingers, toes and everything else crossed for the outcomes in both of these!

We engaged in fun writing exercises to help warm up our brains as we composed a few limericks before thinking about writing in a new environment for all of us - in Gaming. It's big business now.

And like a story, for a game to be successful, there has to be a hook which draws you in, keeps your attention and makes you want to keep engaging in the story, identifying with the characters and trying to solve the problem. At the start of a new writing year it was good to think of writing in a new way.

Happy New Writing Year! Here's to more fun!

Looking back, 2018 was a really good writing year.

I continued to submit stories and poems to publishers and competitions on a regular basis during the year, resulting in 100 rejections. I achieved the magic number again, along with some successes. One of my short stories was runner up in a UK competition, one was runner up in an Irish competition and one was published. One of my poems won a competition in Northern Ireland and one was published in a UK anthology.

The highpoints haven't just been these successes, which have been very enjoyable, particularly where there have been celebratory events related to the competitions and I've made new writing friends. The day I spent in Longford library in October particularly stands out.

I've attended a number of great book launches and events during the year. The most memorable one was the one which was the most fun - Kelly McCaughrain's launch of 'Flying Tips for Flightless Birds' in Belfast in March definitely set the bar for how to launch a book!

Most importantly it's been a fun writing year. There's lots of support and camaraderie when I meet up with the two writing groups I'm involved in, where cake is usually involved. Jenny's book-themed cup cakes in December were the eating highlight at a writing-related gathering.

Aside from eating cake, we discuss serious writing topics. Where creative minds meet it's guaranteed there will be lots of adventures (evictions) and giggles (exploding eggs).  I'm looking forward to continuing having fun writing in 2019!

I'll be continuing to refine my draft novel. This year will see the launch of my children's story about St David with Sainted Media https://www.saintedmedia.com/ and I'm going to have lots of fun writing!

Happy New Writing Year!