Monthly Check-in Write1 Sub1

Last year I tried to complete a weekly Write1Sub1, but my Thyroid Gland thwarted my best intentions.

This year I'm aiming for MONTHLY submissions quota.


So far this month I have submitted:

• a vignette for a rolling online competition,
• three 'opening lines' entries to another competition
• One 2,000 word and one 1,000 word short story submitted to two more competitons.
• Sci Fi haiku to scifaikuest, four of which have already been accepted for their 2013 publication
• a true story about my cats for Writers for animals.The editor emailed me to say that it would be accepted for inclusion in the book if I carried out a few edits and this I have done. It's a real boost to my previously flagging morale.

So I'm on a roll, at last...

How often do you submit work to magazines and competitions?

Do you prefer to just work on novels or do you like the experience of writing smaller pieces as well?

Agony

Thanks so much to you all for your well wishes.

While my back has recovered, our male cat, Borage, went missing last night and we hardly slept, couldn't eat and I feel like I've got raw potato in my stomach.

It is completely out of character for him, as he is rather timid and loves his food so he comes home lots. He's inquisitive and likes to play and is comical and affectionate. Last night was one of the coldest this winter...

Don't feel at all like writing...

Can't concentrate on anything...

I'll be back blogging properly soon, I hope.
Our minds imagine all sorts of horrors and scenarios and then we try to tell ourselves he'll be fine. He'll be home soon. And then...

Hoorah he's been found. The neighbour who told us they hadn't been in their garage all day yesterday then found that actually he was in their garage sitting on a pile of cloths on a shelf.  "Sorry they forgot they had been in there, once, in the afternoon"


It's one way to get me to exercise. I haven't walked so much in ages (all around the neighbourhood).

One thing, though, it did give me food for thought for a creepy thriller story...

Back Again!

Sorry, I can't stay on the computer long as my back has been playing up, something awful, again.

I will catch up with all my commenters soon. Promise.

WELCOME to all my NEW SUBSCRIBERS &

Hi to all my existing subscribers.

Non Blog Writing

STOP PRESS!  I've switched back to the pop-up comment window as the embedded comments option was freezing up all the time and preventing access.

I’m so out of condition. I rarely exercise these days and Tuesday I vacuumed and washed my car; then yesterday I went for groceries and after I’d put them away I dismantled my oven door and gave the whole oven a thorough clean, which took an hour as the grime gets in between the glass and sticks on hard. I find using bicarbonate of soda with vinegar works wonders. Then I had to defrost the freezer. Now I’m aching all over!

I've also been doing some non-blog writing and reading. Hoorah!

And I read a Writing Magazine article about whether writers should have a blog or  if it interferes too much with more serious writing time and although the author doesn't have a blog because it interferes too much with more serious writing time, they recommended blogging!

So how's your non-blog writing going?

RFW New Year's Resolution

Now is the time to amaze us all with your New Year's Resolution prose or poem or prosetry! Did you all make a New Year's Resolution? Yes, No, Maybe. It's your character, or the focus of your poem, that we're interested in for this prompt. Did his/her New Year's Resolution get the hero/ine in trouble? Did it set them on a golden path? C'mon, tell us about it.

Check out the other entries at Romantic Friday Writers

Here's mine:

Burning Resolve by Madeleine Maddocks

I chew my lip and stare down at the hand set in my warm palm, willing it to beep or ring, as I sit on the edge of my bed. My bedside lamp gives a yellow glow across the darkened room. The lacy bedspread and curtains are comforting and cosy, but I’d rather be out, instead, with Duncan. Just the sight of him makes my insides quiver like a bouncy castle full of excitement. He said he’d phone. I recall his warm breath against my cheek as he asked me for my number and his warm eyes like soft fudge smiling at me when I sent him the text business card. So why is he taking so long?

I begin gnawing at my lip again, my heart is pattering like a wind-up toy and my stomach feels as though it’s all at sea. My thumb hovers over the buttons of my phone. No, I promised myself I wouldn’t be needy. It's my first ever New Year’s resolution. From now on I’ll never do the chasing ever again. I’m going to play it cool, play hard to  get and this time make Duncan do the running. My heart can’t take another battering, not after James. What is it with people like James? That when you’re kind and considerate they see it as desperate and needy and take advantage.

I recently read that the person with the most power in a relationship is the one that has the least to lose. So I figure I’m going to take control, be the hard-hearted bitch if necessary, rather than get hurt again. If only I felt stronger and more determined. Instead the resolve churns about my insides like a virulent virus and I know the antidote would be to call him now, get it over with. But I mustn’t. I just can't give in. I must try. I’m worth the wait. I’m worth the wait, I chant.

I jump as the phone trills and vibrates in my hand like an excited puppy wagging its tail.

“Hello Duncan” my voice is husky with excitement and anticipation.

“Hello Gorgeous!” he says “Did you miss me?”

My girlish laughter fills the room.“It’s only been a couple of hours since you brought me home!”
“Seems like an eternity to me”

(382 words)

Writers for Animals

Writers For Animals Competition Closing date: 31st March 2012
Here's your chance to get your animal story selected for inclusion in a compilation book that will be sold to raise funds for animal welfare. There are no prizes. If chosen, however, your writing will be published and the proceeds of the book will go to a worthwhile cause.

Wanted: True-life stories about animals who've touched people's hearts, and the people who help them. Plus fiction stories for adults and teenagers that have some kind of animal theme.

For full submission guidelines, please email the editor: Entries before 31st March 2012.The 'Writers For Animals' book will be around 200 pages of stories about animals, animal issues and people who help animals. It will be a balance of true life and fiction and every story will be heart-warming, thought-provoking or just escapist, enjoyable fun. The target audience will be everybody from teenagers to elderly people who care about animals.

Designers and illustrators will also work on the presentation of the book. 'Writers For Animals' are quite well connected with book distributors and attend a lot of events such as animal sanctuary open days, book fairs and vegan festivals, where we can sell the book. It will also be listed on Amazon and sold through campaign groups' merchandise catalogues.

Please save your stories as a Word, Open Office or any plain text file and email as an attachment to this address: writersforanimals@live.co.uk before 31st March 2012. Please don't use docx format or PDF.

Writers For Animals will be a book of short stories published in May 2012 to raise funds for animal rescues. You are invited to suggest any animal rescues/sanctuaries for us to donate the proceeds to (they would not have to put any effort into the project, though we'd ask for some photos of animals for the back cover). The editorial collective are looking for contributions of 800 - 8,000 words.
They want both true-life stories about animals and the people who've helped them, plus fiction for adults and teenagers in every genre. You can write whatever you like, provided it has some animal characters and/or relevance to animal issues. Stories only please, no poetry, essays or political opinions. The closing date is 31st March 2012. 
Have you got an animal story you'd like to submit?

BTW the photo is of Borage, our 2 yr old cat, looking rather woeful for some reason, as he looks out of the kitchen window.

Guest Posting Today

Today I'm over at Misha's Blog HERE: My First Book
doing my first ever Guest Post on
Beginning: What sparks the beginning of your piece of writing?

Do hop over NOW and check out my examples and share your views.
We'd both love to see you there.

I Just had a mega scary moment when blogger deleted my blog and access to my gmail account. The verification words were impossible to decipher, so I kept getting a sorry google couldn't help me message after I'd completed the form.

Eventually I clicked on 'cannot remember password', got verification via another email address and then my mobile and it all came back. Hoorah!
This is what has happened to several of my blog buddies recently and it's a total pain!

Oh and check out Michael Haynes blog for a great idea

Scifihaiku ~ How Novel!

Voices in their heads

The women remain silent

It’s Chaos Walking.

Madeleine Maddocks

Boy in a Spacesuit

Mistaken for an adult

Utterly Cosmic!

Madeleine Maddocks

Hubble telescope

X Factor Technology

Satellite broadcast

Madeleine Maddocks

Do you read or write sci fi?

Maybe you can write a haiku about it?

January Insecure Writers' Support Group #4

My thanks to Alex J Cavanaugh for hosting this monthly blog hop.

Well having been feeling mega insecure over the festive period, I decided to tackle some of my woes:

1. To write at least 200 words daily.

2. To search for short story competitions and enter them.

                   Today I submitted my first 2012 entry. Hoorah!

3. Accept that getting published isn't easy and just get on with it!

4. Focus on getting better by reading and writing more.

5.Don't obsess over each entry sent. Forget about them once they've been submitted.

6. Develop some writing determination.

7. Focus on my stories and plots to blot out other temptation/distractions such as blogging.

8. Enjoy the process rather than stress about the outcome.


Can you relate to any of these?
Oh and having popped over to Alex's blog, I was inspired to add this song:

Leaping Limericks

Ms. Kane sets the first line and the rest is up to you...

Here's mine:

As the new year approaches, gals swear When they face the New Year with a dare That although they may fail They’ll propose to their male Cos it’s leap year, when such things are fair.	As the new year approaches, men swear To dispose of their old underwear As their grubby old briefs Rouse disparaging shrieks From the gals they invite to their lair. This one has received the honourable mention accolade
As the new year approaches, men swear With words that hang blue in the air That they’ll never admit That they’ve been quite a sh*! To their gals through the previous year.	As the new year approaches, gals swear That their hubby’s old socks they’ll repair With some make do and mend They’ll increase their stipend So they’ve more they can spend on their hair.

We've had torrential rain and gales enough to wake the dead these past days and nights or make the awoken, like me, feel like death ! LOL!

I hope this year to ignore my inner demons, good and bad and submit more writing for publication.

How will you leap into the New Year with your writing?

Oh BTW It appears we have a tie for the Cool as a Cucumber Blogfest entries:

So congrats and thanks to everyone.