Freelance Writing

Well - it's back to real life and hard work now that the weekend conference is over for another year. Very enjoyable as always. This one was different for me as I was adjudicating the Woman's Short Story Comp (55 entries), and doing a seminar on markets. It was very good for me to have so many stories to read and consider, although extremely tiring. It's always a slight worry as to how the winning story will sound when read out, as opposed to being read on the page, but I still think I made the right choice. And it was beautifully read. The seminar was well attended and I shared lots of market information with those present. Daughter won third prize in the novel competition - so both very pleased.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the evening talk and day seminars of RJ Ellory - a shining light in the crime novel world. What an inspirational and motivational man. While working an 80 hour week, he wrote 22 novels but wasn't published until his 23rd - and now he's among the top authors. No procrastination for him, and his study is very organised so he can spend time writing instead of searching for things. What a good idea!

So, after a much needed catch-up sleep on Sunday night, I began yesterday full of good intentions in the organising department. Then I received an email from B Higgins at The Weekly News, to whom I had sent a story near the beginning of February. Could I change it from first person to third person and he would consider it again as he liked the story, but doesn't like 1st person. Well, of course I could - especially when I was getting this chance. So I dropped everything and rewrote the story. Emailed the new version just before lunch and by mid afternoon I had an acceptance from him! Very nice man. Ended up sending stories to three other publications, and did ironing and washing!

Also had an email from Richard Bell at Writers' News the day before the conference to say I've won second prize in one of their story competitions. Hurrah! It's a new one and I like it because it's quite different from my usual kind of story. Hope the successes keep coming, so I can really earn a living from my writing.

Rosemary

I'm delighted that Greg McQueen, the force behind 100 Stories for Haiti, has written the following guest post (also on my readingandwriting blog). He's been doing a blog tour all week and includes an extract here from one of the varied stories in the book.

I am not going to rattle on today about how the book was made ... Well, maybe a bit.

Maureen Vincent-Northam refers to herself (mostly) as a non-fiction author. She co-wrote The Writer's ABC Checklist, and wrote The Greatest Genealogy Tips in the World. What follows is an extract from her award-winning children's story, Betsy Fudge & the Big Silence.

Like all the writers included in 100 Stories for Haiti, Maureen donated her story to the book for free. The paperback costs £11.99 + P&P. Like all books, it's a big clump of paper and glue, it costs money to make, costs P&P to send it in the mail. This one costs £3.80 to make. PayPal and banks take a cut for sending money back and forth, nothing we can do about that. So approximately £7.50 goes to charity if you order it directly on the website.

I say approximately because ... Bank fees change. PayPal fees change. The price of making a book can change. In our case, I hope for the better ... The more people who order the book, the less it costs to make. You're already familiar with that concept, right? Of course, it's called "bulk buying." More orders means Bridge House Publishing order more copies from the printers, which means they cost less.

If you buy the book on Amazon, or order it in a shop, there are more links in the chain, so to speak, more companies taking fees for selling the book. It's difficult to be exact, but it could be as little as £1.50 going to charity if you buy it from a retailer.

I don't want you to feel bad about that. Buy the book where you feel comfortable. I started this project with the aim of raising money. Somewhere along the way it also became about raising awareness. Haiti will need our help for a long time to come. Every time someone sees the book, whether it's on their shelf at home or online or in a shop or library, they'll be reminded of why 100 writers gave their stories for free to help one of the most poverty-stricken places on the planet.

Okay. Enough from me. Enjoy a bit of Betsy Fudge!

-----

Betsy Fudge & the Big Silence

By Maureen Vincent-Northam

Well okay, so I talk a little.

Fact is, I totally have to tell all my friends everything about my life. There is SO much interesting stuff they absolutely need to know. For example, how I am an almost-mega-famous-actress and also how my little brother invented pizza-flavoured ice-cream (do NOT ask).

Oh, all right. I admit it. I do find it close to impossible to keep it totally zipped, even when Miss

Wiley says: ‘HUSH! Betsy Fudge, this is QUIET time’.

But it’s not like I chatter non-stop.

So it is totally unfair when know-it-all Neville Nugent tells everyone I could win prizes for yakety-yakking. He also says I could never win a bean for keeping silent. I’ll bet you anything that is what put The Idea into Miss Wiley’s head.

‘We are having a Big Silence on Monday,’ she announced ever so casually. ‘The winner will be the pupil who can remain silent for the whole school day. The prize…’

(There had to be some good news).

‘…will be tickets to Amazing Mazes Mania.’

I could hardly believe it. Amazing Mazes Mania! Sweet!

I also could hardly believe this. Silent for a WHOLE DAY!

What was Miss Wiley thinking? She totally must have flipped her lid, gone bonkers and lost every single one of her marbles.

I mean, no talking. At all. How was I supposed to communicate? I would need to have a fool-proof plan because I absolutely had to win those Amazing Mazes Mania tickets.

Only a crazy person could waste a TOTAL weekend thinking about school. So okay, call me crazy. But getting my hands on that prize was going to be worth it.

I snuck a look at my brother’s Code Book for some inspiration (Toby is a secret agent in his spare time).

There was a chapter on Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. You know the sort of thing: 2 birds, a triangle, some squiggles and a goat = this pyramid is private – keep out. The pharaohs and mummies were clever at reading little pictures (which was handy for them). But there is a total shortage of clever pharaohs and mummies in my class (which is not handy for me).

Then there were the secret tapping codes. Dot – blip – dash – dot – blop. But the blips and the blops all sounded the same and could easily get mixed up. And not only that. Tapping codes can seriously damage your free time. For example, when Toby sent dot-dash messages through the bedroom wall Mum got totally spooked and thought his room was haunted. She refused go in there for ages, even to make his bed. Toby was NOT amused because making beds takes up a lot of valuable secret agent time.

No, blips, blops and dots were not a good idea. So I scrapped that one, too.

I liked the semaphore flags. In fact I like flags, full stop. We got to wave a Union Flag on a stick last year when the Queen visited our town. She waved back. But she didn’t have a flag on a stick. Maybe Her Majesty looks in a mirror and waves a Union Flag at herself in private.

Yes, semaphore flags might be a good way to communicate. But would Miss Wiley understand that I was signalling ‘the answer is 27’ and NOT ‘I am dying to go to the toilet’.

Then it dawned on me. The absolutely perfect answer. And it was totally brilliant. I would no longer be just an almost-mega-famous-actress; I would become the greatest mime artist in the history of the universe.

Know-it-all Neville had brought the hugest writing pad ever. He wrote: I am going to win.

I mimed: On your bike!

He wrote: The Amazing Mazes Mania tickets are mine.

I mimed: In your dreams!

He wrote: You don’t stand a chance, blabbermouth.

I mimed a pig.

All day long he wrote messages. He posted them everywhere. For example, on my locker. And in my book bag. And inside my lunchbox.

Neville Nugent had totally taken a wrong turning on the road to maturity.

On the other hand, Jessica Dooley is the politest girl in our class. She was also the first one to break the silence. Sometimes being polite isn’t the cleverest thing to be, especially when Miss Wiley is handing out the reading books. Saying ‘Thank you’ was Jessica’s BIG mistake.

No, this keeping silent lark was NOT going to be easy.

-----

Ah, don't you hate it when that happens?! Well, click here, do some good, and you'll get to read the end of this story very, very soon.

Next stop: Teresa Ashby's blog, A Likely Story

Thanks for allowing me on your site, Rosemary. I am enjoying this blog tour a whole-heck-of-a-bunch!

Thanks very much, Greg. Look forward to reading the rest of the story and all the others.

Just back from a couple of days in Edinburgh, where I was adjudicating a General Short Story competition for the writing group there last night. Good to see the capital again, even though hubby walked me off my feet, as usual. Spent a lovely morning wandering around the National Gallery admiring the art and sculpture. I love paintings, but there is something so appealling about figurines made from bronze or marble - they are so intricately fashioned and I can imagine they were created with great passion.

Really enjoyed reading all the stories for the competition as the standard was high and there was a great variety of themes. I even got to talk about short story writing and tried to cover structure and 'show not tell', always a stumbling block for newer writers. However, I reckon it's essential for a story writer to read as much published work as possible to see how it's done. I do wish I could have commended many more of the stories but it's a bit unfair to the ones which stand out in a smaller competition. Hopefully the critiques will be helpful and many of the writers will get their stories published eventually.

Now it's on with the final decision about the SAW stories - just the order of the winners and commended to decide!

Rosemary

In the midst of the concentrated work in adjudicating other people's writing, I managed to escape to two inspirational events, which certainly fired up my own creativity.

The first was a play by a writing friend at Oran Mor in Glasgow. The venue itself is interesting. A converted church, it has been given over to the arts and eating (there are a couple of restaurants)! The novel idea of a Play, a Pie and a Pint runs at lunch time in the downstairs area. You buy the combined ticket for the play, pie and a drink, take it to the long tables and seats and that's where you both eat and watch the play.

The play I saw, 'The Secret Commonwealth' by Catherine Czerkawska, was a sort of storytelling monologue by the actor. He played Robert Kirk, a 17th century Scottish minister who is torn between the church, new ideas and the old traditions, where fairies live beneath the hills. It was thought-provoking and beautifully written and acted (with energy). An added pleasure was the haunting Gaelic music sung softly now and then by a young woman.

Yesterday at the writing group, we had a wonderful award-winning poet, Sheila Templeton, to speak on, and read, her poetry, in preparation for the competition she will judge for us. What an inspiring day, with insight into writing poetry and allowing memories to surface from the subconscious. No wonder Sheila is the new Makar for the Federation of Scottish Writers. Some of her own poems moved us almost to tears, while others had all the women laughing and nodding in agreement.

Now it's back to the remainder of the adjudications with renewed interest.

Rosemary 

I am absolutely delighted to discover that one of my stories, 'Reshaping the Past', is to be included in the fundraising book 100 Stories for Haiti. This will be published as an e-book and in print to raise funds for the Red Cross, to help with the work in Haiti after the devastating earthquake. Hopefully, it should be available for purchase during the next week or two. I shall update with details of where to buy when I know the publication date.

I was also delighted to have a short story accepted by New Love Stories magazine in the US. They take longer stories and this is my first one for them. Good rates of pay and authors have to sign a contract with them. Can't wait to see both my stories in print!

Meanwhile, it's back to the enjoyable, but difficult, task of adjudicating other writers' stories. Now well through the second reading of the 55 SAW entries and it's all the more difficult because of the good standard of stories. Also have 15 stories to read and critique for another group - these are more general stories rather than for the women's magazine market.

On with the work!

Rosemary

Delighted to be told that I've evidently won the December txtlit competition (see link to their website on my reading and writing blog). Had to write a tiny story with beginning, middle and end in only 160 characters, including the word Story, with the theme of 'snow'. Great fun and quite a challenge - now there's an instance where no word should be wasted!

On the same day, I found out I'd won the writing group One Act Play competition, with my first attempt at writing one. Not many entries but the adjudicator, Joyce, said she may be able to put it on with her AmDram group, if I add another 5 minutes to it. What a buzz and encouragement.

Have received 55 stories for the SAW adjudication (first weekend in March). Wow - a lot of reading, and writing of critiques! And I've still to receive stories from another group to be adjudicated during February. It really is a privilege though. I'm enjoying the stories I've read so far, which makes it a pleasure, but more difficult to choose at the same time. Long way to go with the reading yet, and then I'll read the best ones again. Also doing a seminar at the SAW, so have to prepare for that, and the adjudication presentation. What an excuse for reading lots of stories.

Finally finished the husband's travel website and it's now live, but it will be updated regularly. Guess I'm now his P/T admin assistant and webmaster!

On with the show,

Rosemary

This must surely be one of the coldest winters for a very long time. It's so beautiful, with the snow and ice covering the grime and decay of autumn, but fairly lethal underfoot at times. Our village hill has been more or less gritted regularly but getting from our house to the hill was like crossing a skating rink for a few days, once the snow turned icy. And the pavements are still not a good idea.

The new blog is going well - with six postings to date and some information to encourage other writers to send out work. I entered a couple of the flash fiction comps myself. I love sending things by email as it's so much easier than having to post things out and wait for the reply.

Received an email back from the agent I'd approached and she doesn't think she could find a market for my novel. I'm not too disappointed as I know it's a difficult time. Think I'll start sending it straight to publishers from now on. Also want to finish rewriting two children's novels - and to do some more articles for Suite101. Husband's website nearly finished, but I have two big story adjudications to start later this month. I do like being busy!

Rosemary

I've finally taken the jump and started a new, separate blog! For a while, I've wanted somewhere to write practical information for anyone else who might be interested in trying to get published, or who is looking for new markets. Since I do talks about market research, it makes sense to share some of this with a wider audience (hopefully).

But I also love books and reading, so decided to combine the two in one blog - that keeps it fun for me and, again, some of my choices might encourage others to read a book or author they might not know. I'll see how it goes!

I'm still intending using this page as a more personal update - the other blog will be more practical. The new blog is about reading and writing - just click on this link.

Hope to see you there!

Rosemary

A Very Happy and Healthy New Year!

What a week for snow and ice - made getting around very difficult. The family managed down (just) for Christmas and we had a good time together. However, there was a mad rush for son and girlfriend to get back down the hill on Boxing Day before being snowed in - and they had a long drive. We did manage an icy walk in the village late on Christmas afternoon!

Still working on husband's website in between the festivities - new business about to start very soon! Also have church newsletter to do for this weekend; almost forgot about it in amongst the holiday comings and goings. Managed to do one article for Suite101 and it has been given an Editor's Choice Award! Really delighted as it's about writing romantic short stories, using the five senses.

Daughter, son and girlfriend are coming for Hogmanay (meal at local restaurant) and New Year's Day, when I'll do my usual home-made steak pie.

Looking forward as always to beginning a brand new year. There is such a sense of expectation in wondering what it will bring. And I love getting organised with a new diary - if only I could attain all the the writing goals I set with such optimism!

Rosemary

A Very Happy Christmas and Successful New Year to one and all!

It's been a mixed time since last I blogged. It was our friendly and happy writing group Christmas 'party' to end our sessions for 2009. Only tea/coffee and mince pies and such like for a couple of hours in the afternoon, but it put us in the right spirit (non-alcoholic!). Then I had a scrumptuous Christmas lunch with my good friend - an annual event we both look forward to at a local restaurant.

In between, husband's computer died on him - always a fraught event! Since he's finishing up one job by the end of 2009, and trying to start a new business by the beginning of 2010, it was not good timing. However, we did promise ourselves a laptop between us for Christmas, so it came early. Only problem is it has Windows 7 and Word 7 - why on earth does it have to be changed quite so much? Quick lesson in finding the essentials and we can now carry on working happily in our separate rooms! Glad I still have XP.

Wonder if we'll get a white Christmas? It's been snowing so much here that we've been snowbound twice since Sunday and it's almost worse tonight. Beautiful up here, but a nuisance when trying to get all the food shopping done. It did let me get on with sending several competition entries away over the last couple of days (by email). And I did manage to get the turkey and all the trimmings this morning while the hill was gritted, and before the next heavy fall of snow this afternoon, so Christmas dinner is still on!

Best of everything to all,

Rosemary