Busy Bee

I’ve been very busy lately, too busy to write which is not good. In fact, too busy to even answer emails. What does that mean? My life is too full? I’m doing too much? I need to make drastic cuts?

So exactly what have I been doing?

Some time ago, I voluteered to be a judge for the Chris Evans Breakfast Show 500 WORDS competition. I spent some time reading through children’s competition entries. I’m used to reading stories written by adults, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover the high quality of writing including originality, plot, characterisation, and language. I was constantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Over 74,000 stories were received from children all over the UK. After the volunteer judges had chosen their shortlisted entries, the Literacy Trust helped to whittle it down to a Top 50 shortlist! The winners will be announced Friday June 1st 2012 from 0630 live on Radio 2. You can have a look at the shortlisted entries here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/500words/2012/

What else have I been doing?

I’ve been practising what I preach by getting myself a reputation and raising my writing profile! I’ve entered a few competitions, this also takes enormous amounts of time. First I had to find a finished story, one that was appropriate for the particular theme or style of the competition. Then I had to read, re-read and read (out loud) again and again. But, there does come a time when a story feels finished. Something happens, it’s an interesting process, and then all of sudden, I can let it go, fend for itself in the world. One story that I recently entered for a well known competition, had taken nine years to finish. I’m pleased to report that five of my stories have either been short or longlisted.

The short story, The Locket, with the new Writer
http://www.thenewwriter.com/

The Swimmer, with Flash 500 (flash fiction) http://www.flash500.com/index_files/wfq2012.html

The Tree, by Spilling Ink Flash Fiction Competition

http://spillinginkreview.com/

Fallen Women, by the Yellow Room
http://www.theyellowroom-magazine.co.uk/www.theyellowroom-magazine.co.uk/Welcome.html

Tree Love, by The Word Hut
http://thewordhut.com/

I’ve only just started sending work off to competitions. They have hundreds and hundreds of entrants, so I’m very pleased to have been longlisted. I now need to re-edit and re-read to see how I can improve the writing.