In a mad rush

cos I'm about to start my bar shift-

but here's where today's story went to: Fiction at Work

And, like yesterday, the story I sent is a very short thing that once thought it was a poem. Or I thought it was a poem. It is now happily, a piece of flash fiction of just 75 words. It's called 'Approaching girls in Dixons' - but I'm concerned that Dixons doesn't exist now - did it merge with Currys and Currys came out victorious (name-wise)?

In other news - I took my laptop out for a write in a cafe garden, and after a while noticed many, many ants anting around near and across it. I'm wondering if any crawled inside...


And so today's sub to Fiction at Work concludes the manifesto (am I using the right word here?) I announced last Friday: 'I shalt sub one piece of work each day for the next four days' (or similarly worded) .

So that's good.

The next four days I will: 'Get something new written for that Guardian Comp'.

Mostly about a film, a bit about writing

A good couple of days. Interesting sleeping patterns, a real-life catch up with a friend and a few email catch ups that have been long overdue. There are some people I need to see this summer, for it has been too long.

And so my 'Waiting to hear back from' list increases by one, with the addition of Flash Fiction Online. They like stories of between 500 and 1000 words, and I've just spent a good couple of hours getting a piece ready to sub. They take between 2 and 3 months to get back to you, so I'll just let this one go into the world of 'Waiting to hear back from' and never think of it again. Apart from whenever I look at that list on this blog. Which is maybe every few minutes.

So my mission for the next 4 days is to sub a story to each day. And I will. I'll post here about where and anything else interesting I find.



In other news, I went to see 'My Sister's Keeper' at the cinema where I work and had a thoroughly draining and edgy time. In the last week I have witnessed many, many people sobbing on their way out of that film. I'm the kind of person who cries at films/TV show/adverts really readily, so I was prepared. And it's bloody good at making you cry, bloody bloody good. You're just on the verge of tears through the whole thing. Montage after montage of shaved heads, days at the beach, moments on a trampoline.

I haven't read the book (or any of Jodi Picoult's books) but underneath all of those emotional slaps across the face there's an interesting story. So that's what I'd say - I like the story. I like the idea of 2 sisters under that kind of pressure and in that weird, horrible, but all-they-know-environment. I like Abigail Breslin because she was ACE in Little Miss Sunshine ('Olive' - isn't that the Best Name Ever?) and, I DID NOT expect this - but I like Cameron Diaz in this film. What a face she has.

And there's a character in it called 'Mark T Wayne' - which, in my world, is not at all a nod to Mark Twain - but the names of my 2 brothers, with my initial in between. My Mum, a big fan of coincidences, will love that when I tell her.

Here's the plan

You see those lists to the right of my blog? I wanna make 'em longer.

In particular, the 'Waiting to hear back from' section - this is for places I've sent stories to which are being judged/considered.

If a piece is accepted it will be moved into the 'Coming Soon' list, and then the 'My stories appear in' bit.

It's quite a good, simple, motivational tool for me. A kind of reminder to keep things moving and flowing, especially as I'm not really working on any new stuff this week.

But I am looking over old stories and seeing (immediately in most cases) how they need to be edited and re-worked into something publishable.

Along with this, I'm looking at new places to sub, big and small.

So today's new thing I found: a neat little place that only publishes stories that are 6 sentences long. I had an interesting time re-working an already written story made of 13 sentences into one made of 6.

I realise that this could be obvious to the editors when they read it, so it will be interesting to see if they go for it. They promise a reply in 6 days, so I'll let you very soon.

Something new and a list of 'to dos' (worse blog title ever?)

You'll see I've ventured towards the 'add image' button with this blog. I'm still learning.


This dog-eared A5 booklet is my 'Writing Year 2009' diary. I don't seem to manage too well with actual-bought-from-the-shop diaries, so I started making my own in 2007, with a page for each month to record short story deadlines, and a section at the back for 'submissions' made.












Here's the 'Submissions' page
from first few months of 2007:












And, not quite as many, but towards the end of 2008 I was doing okay...




















Now, the whole of 2009 (well, so far) and my submissions page looks like this:


There are a few reasons I haven't been as active with submitting work, the main one is that I don't have as much new work to submit. I mentionned my alter-ego in Blog 1. When I'm writing in that character, she can take over a bit. She's been quite prolific in the gaps, and has been published in one or two places herself.

I'm not being deliberately evasive about the alter-ego stuff, I'm not trying to conjure up a mood of expectancy, I'm still working out whether I should tie us in together - me and her, that is - I believe she's very obviously not real when you read her, but I'm not sure whether she's better standing on her own, without being tied to me.


The thing I started this blog about though, the reason part of its title is 'Something new' is because aside from the more obvious target of the Bridport Prize, I sent a story here just now: darktales and it's not at all my usual target.

But I have a few stories I've written around a theme for a specific publication/competition which were not placed, and the story I just subbed to Dark Tales is one of them.

I wrote 'Tipping Her Hips' a few years ago as an alternative/updated 'Snow White' story for Mslexia. It isn't my usual style, and it felt like a challenge to write. I researched fairy tales and the Snow White story. I read 'Snow, Glass, Apples' by Neil Gaiman and wished I could write something nearly as good.

I've been rejected by Mslexia many times and see being published in there as a big writing goal. It's an excellent magazine.

'Tipping Her Hips' wasn't right for Mslexia, but it might have a place somewhere else. Whether or not Dark Tales is that place, I'm pleased to have sent it somewhere - it's a good feeling having work out there, being considered.


Are the places you sub to wide and varying?

Do you try to always have things out there, being judged?