Review of the Year

 

My resources file

New Year's Eve and the sky is blue for once. For how long, I ask? Anyway, it's that time when I look back on my writing year, warts and all. I find this interesting to see how I think year went to what actually happened. Somehow, it's never quite the same. I had to re-check some figures because Rue (the dog) kept wanting to chew my pen, or walked over me and the book I was using to tally submissions made this year. I'd already abandoned the writing room as he just kept standing on the bed behind me and pawing at me. 

So, the year went something like this:

I submitted pieces to 29 different publishers/competitions, which was far more than I thought, bearing in mind I spent a good deal of the year editing my novella. These submissions would have contained between one and three or four pieces. The breakdown of this is as follows:

Poetry: 25 of which 6 were accepted (one of these is still to be published)

Flash:   10 of which 2 were accepted

Short Stories: 3

Novellas: 3 

Poetry Collection: 1

Pending (waiting on their fate!): 3 flash, 1 novella, 2 stories (included in the tally above)

I admit I was surprised, and the end of the year was more successful than the beginning. I'm also surprised by what gets published and I sometimes wonder if I'm the best judge of my own work! I honestly expected a lot less to show for my contribution to the world of writing this year.

It was a sad year for publications as two of my favourites folded. Visual Verse (online) and Popshot (print) departed this year. Both were important in my life. The first time I read Popshot I fell in love with the art work, and the stories and poems seemed to radiate with me. I'd found a magazine that I adored. And after many submissions, finally my dream came true as they published a flash story of mine.

Visual Verse was my go-to place once a month. Their picture prompts stimulated me, and when I wasn't writing anything else, I'd write and submit to them. Over the years I've had around 30 pieces published by them. Mainly I wrote poetry, but there were a few flash stories too.

There are also a number of presses who seem to be in limbo, with nothing published on their websites and no new submission windows advertised. I fear these will also go the way of the others.

This year also saw the demise of Writing Forum magazine and a couple of other big name small press magazines. Yesterday I was going through a folder where I keep articles torn from writing magazines. I keep them for research. I took out all those no longer relevant, and this included websites of small presses I had kept. Most of these have also folded since I collected them. It's a sad fact that there are more writers than readers, that small presses are usually operated by volunteers who have other jobs and are trying to write themselves. They also struggle to gather enough subscribers to support their press. I try to subscribe to two publications. One can't do them all, and some are now very expensive. I also try to buy poetry books and fiction from the publisher direct where I can.

I've already commented in a previous post about the rocketing submissions fees of some competitions now. I have pulled out of submitting to places due to the cost (especially of first chapter comps). More presses are charging reading fees, though this is mainly in the US. I have paid these in the past, but no more.

I took part in a few writing courses this year:

Five Day Hybrid Challenge through Arvon (through email prompts) which was most interesting, and made me think. This was about mashing up genres and situations. Unusual!

A day class in London with The Poetry School looking at abandoning usual form (what I call experimental poetry).

Writing ghost and gothic stories with Writing Magazine.

I also enjoyed attending a few poetry readings at the Southbank, London and a day up there mainly for unrepresented writers, which was free and the best thing I'd attended in a long while.

The best part of the year was taken up with editing my novella, Tinsel Street, and submitting it. I haven't yet heard back from either place I've sent it to. These things can take an age, but after I had submitted it, I found it hard to write for a while. I think I was shattered. This has been a long journey so far.

I bought the Mslexia Diary & Planner with good intentions and barely used it. I cannot find just what I need in a writing diary. For this year I have bought a much cheaper diary and planner through a charity I support and will see how that works for me.

Plans for 2024: A lot of editing! I have so many things on file just sitting there. I am already editing two pieces, so I have made a start. I hope to submit a little more next year too. I have booked a week's holiday at the beginning of March with HF Holidays as they are running a writing and walking week in Bourton-on-the-Water. This is a first for them, so I snapped up a place as soon as it it went on sale! I've holidayed with HF many times for walking or special interest holidays. They are an excellent holiday company. The holiday includes writing in the mornings and walks in the afternoons and will also include some free time to either continue writing or do some self-guided walks. There is also some evening entertainment. I have been to their hotel in Bourton before and it is a lovely setting.

Away from writing I have read many books this year. Eighty-three to be exact! The books that have particularly stood out for me and make it to my top three (four in the case of fiction) are as follows:

Fiction:

Metronome by Tom Watson. Set on an island where two convicts (a couple) are coming to the end of their sentence, but the warden doesn't come. Everything begins to fall apart and all they thought they understood isn't as it seemed. This is a tense story as the two turn on one another. I think you might call this dystopian fiction, if I have to put a genre on it. A tense and brilliant book.

Maureen Fry & The Angel of the North by Rachel Joyce. This is the last in the 'Fry' stories. It is a small book compared to the others, but so good. Humour and sadness. Maureen goes off on a journey of her own to see a garden dedicated to Queenie. She goes with a degree of anger, but finds something else. Beautifully written.

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. This was Michelle's first adult book (I have since read another of hers and loved that too). Full of darkness, ghosts and spirals into madness. A group set out on a scientific mission into a cold place near Norway (I think it is). Accidents happen and one man (main character) is left there on his own waiting for rescue. What he experiences almost sends him mad. Tense and compelling.

Forever Home by Graham Norton. This was my final read of the year. I've love all Graham's books and each time they get better. This one was brilliant. Carol has been living with Declan, whose wife walked out on him and their son and daughter. They become the talk of the village and his children and her mother disapprove. When Declan becomes ill and Carol has an accident, his children take control, having Declan moved to a nursing home and they throw Carol out of the house as they want to sell it. Declan was adamant that he never wanted to sell the house, but the son has a Power of Attorney, and there is nothing Carol can do. Or is there? This story is about dysfunctional family life, secrets and eventually it becomes evident why Declan never wanted the house sold. There are twists (never saw that coming!) and a fair amount of humour. I loved Carol's mother, Moira. I couldn't put this one down. The best yet.

Non-Fiction:

From Source to Sea by Tom Chesshyre. Tom's account of walking the Thames Path is great. I love his humour and because I am walking the path, I recognise some of the places he stayed or saw. This one is a keeper.

Ice:Tales from a disappearing world by Marco Tedesco & Alberto Flores d'Arcais. I don't know why I'm obsessed with cold places, because I hate the cold! But this book was so good and very descriptive. I'll never forget the way the author described the sound of the ice shifting under him when he was in his tent at night. Makes you realise how vulnerable we are. A wake-up call to climate change and what we a losing.

The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry by Dr Gwen Adshead and Eileen Horne. These are interviews with patients who have committed crimes. Some of them are referred because they are suicidal, others just difficult. An insight into the mind of others and why they commit violent crime, including murder. When you read the background to some of the patients, it is no wonder they are disturbed. Nothing is ever straightforward. Some of the patients were helped to come to terms with what they had done and were able to move on, others were not. This is a heartbreaking read at times, but also positive things came out of most of the patients mentioned in the book.

Finally, I found a couple of new authors (to me). Mike Gayle writes feel-good books, and I've just found another of his in a charity shop. My book pile is growing again! Anne Booth is another feel-good writer whose second book I must get hold of sometime. Special mention is made to C J Tudor and her book The Drift. This book was pacey and tense with mixed timelines. Cleverly plotted. I think her books are getting darker, but I love them.

And then for Christmas I received Elly Griffiths' Norfolk. Readers may know how big a fan I am of Elly Griffith's books, and this beautiful full colour coffee table books is filled with spectacular photos of places where some scenes from the Ruth Galloway series take place. I love this book and have been eagerly awaiting its release. It was worth it. This is a keeper.

Well, that's me for 2023. Thank you for continuing to read my blog, and welcome to any newcomers. I'd like to read more independently published books next year. If you have any recommendations (your book or someone you've read), please write me a comment. The only genres I don't read are fantasy and hard core horror.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL

Happy Halloween - free reads!

 

My library haul with dog!

It's that day I don't like. I'm okay with the ghosts, the pagan Samhain, but the commercialisation of it, the trick or treat and people dressing up, I just hate it. You get stupid people doing stupid things, so call me what you like, it's not for me. Writing about ghostly goings on or reading gothic stories, now that's different.

I've just read a very good book entitled Haverscroft by S A Harris which fits the bill. A couple and their twins move into an house and soon noises are heard, dark shadows move on the landing. The bulb on the landing keeps blowing. The husband doesn't believe his wife who is recovering from a breakdown. There are some logical reasons for some of the noises, as there always are. The kids are also aware of the house too, yet their father refuses to listens to them. Of course the house has a past and as Katie tries to figure it out, she also becomes suspicious that her husband (who is away a lot still working in London during the week) is having an affair. The atmosphere is ramped up with ghostly sounds, lingering odours of cigarettes and old rose petals, and laughter. The scene is set well. The previous owner has much to say, but only what she wants Kate to know. She is holding back. Kate is trying to hold on to her sanity while her husband seems to be making out that Kate is lapsing again. Is she fit to look after the children, especially after the boy nearly drowns in the pond? There is a twist in the plot and a climatic ending. What more could you want? This is a page turner. Great stuff.

And if you like thrillers that are pacey reads, you could no worse than the latest from C L Taylor. The Guilty Couple is just that. A woman convicted for attempted murder is released from prison determined to turn the tables on her husband who framed her. Ah, but there is more to it than that. This is another plot twister.

Before I get back to Halloween (must I?), I just wanted to dwell on the demise of Visual Verse. Visual Verse along with Popshot, my two favourite magazines (one online, one digital), are no more. Well, Popshot has gone completely digital, as they cannot afford to produce print copies anymore. It won't be the same. I shall miss holding the physical copy in my hands. Visual Verse finishes today. This online picture prompt monthly anthology has been a lifeline when I couldn't write anything else. The prompts were something to look forward to, a kick in the right direction. The website will stay with all the archive material there (so my page and most of my previous work will remain). And they are not saying never again, but it's hard to lose them. I am privileged to have a poem in the very last edition. Read my poem here.

So, I have written a little flash story for Halloween, along with a fun poem which I thought I'd share with you. I hope you enjoy them!

Blighted

A slithering sound woke me at 2am. I turned on the light. Nothing in the room. I slipped out of bed. The wooden floor was unusually cold beneath my feet as I walked to the bedroom door. As I stepped onto the landing, something squelchy met my foot. I withdrew it quickly and switched on the light. The carpet was slick with slime and at the top of the stairs a slug as fat as my arm and over a foot long was edging forward. It turned at my scream, its antennae’s wriggling. Slowly it slid over the top step, trailing gunge behind it. I couldn’t move. My eyes followed the trail backwards until the slime stopped at the bathroom door. I needed to call Greg. I was house sitting while he was away and because I needed a place to stay until my apartment was made habitable again.

Stepping back into the bedroom, I gasped. Slugs were slithering down the walls and across the floor towards me. Flinging myself on the bed, I reached for my mobile phone and came away with slimy gunk on my hand. I dropped the phone and gazed towards the window. If I could just get there and fling open the window, I might be able to call for help or crawl down the drainpipe. Something wet was crawling up my leg. Kicking out, I moved up the bed, but they were now in my hair. My mind trailed back to my own apartment and the infestation of cockroaches, and the house before that where I lived for a short time and the bed bug problem. Was it me? Did I bring these things with me? Was I the intruder, the infestation? My body went limp while inside I could feel myself changing. I watched in a cross between horror and fascination as my legs fused together, my arms into my sides, and I became one long body of slime.

He came a-calling

 A smart dresser, he was

In a dapper black suit

And a cape lined in red

Shiny black boots

And eyes that said come to bed.

 

A winning way, he had

A cunning bright smile

Always called at midnight

Punctual and tactile

Forever hungry for a bite.

 

What a lovely neck, he said

Nuzzling in close

I laughed, how sweet

And then he froze

As morning was on the greet

 

Irresistible, he might be

With elegant canines

But he hadn’t reckoned on me

Missed all the signs

Of a vampiress, a fellow devotee!

 

 

Review for 2022

 

Mslexia Diary

Well, here we are into another year. It's pouring with rain, so an ideal time to write my review for the last year.

My goal for 2022 was to submit at least five pieces to different publications each month during the year. I began with much enthusiasm, but later things became a struggle, and some months I wondered if I would make it. I did! Some months I sent submitted seven times, but there was no way I could keep that up! So, here is breakdown of what I sent and the results:

Poetry I submitted 59 poems (obviously sometimes I sent two or three at a time as most publications prefer to see a variety of your work). Of those 59, 11 were published and one longlisted. That's about 20% of my work!

Flash I submitted 21 flash stories, and of those 4 were published and one longlisted.

Short Stories Nine were submitted and one was published.

Pamphlets Two submitted. Still waiting on the result of one.

Novellas One submitted on which I am awaiting the result.

I am also waiting to hear on 12 of those poems submitted last year (I heard back on a block of three this month) and waiting on six flash fictions.

At the end of September I published my second Novella, The Chair. 

I took part in several online workshops in writing flash, poetry and horror, as well as a weekend online conference run by Alliance of Independent Authors.

For the second year running I took part in flash-a-day during November and got myself a whole host of new stories to work on.

At the beginning of last year I won Writers' Forum magazine's poetry competition which I had entered in 2021, but the result wasn't printed until early 2022 when I also received my prizes!

The biggest highlight of the year for me was having my flash story published by Popshot, a magazine I admire very much. One of the most beautiful magazine must be Seaborne, in which I was luckily enough to have two poems published in the same issue.

Last year was the most successful for me and the most exciting. So what are my goals for this, I hear you ask. Well, I would like to set up my own website. Over Christmas, I read a book about doing just that. It was a library find, but when I come to look into creating my website, I shall have to borrow the book again! It showed various platforms and the ease of use, as well as what they can or cannot offer. I've more or less decided on which platform to use.

My other goals are to continually review my projects and publish another book. 

What I learned from last year:

• While submitting so much writing helped me gain more successes, I also found I might sometimes submit something that wasn't quite right just to hit my target!
• The Legend Planner I bought for 2022 worked to a certain extent, but there was much I didn't use, and I tailed off half way through the year. It did have lots of pages to write on and I used it to write a list of projects on the go and see where I was at with them and what to do next to move forward. I also worked out my review in it. However, for this year I have purchased the Mslexia Diary as it is written by women writers for women writers. It has listings of publications and competitions at the start of each month and loads more useful stuff depending where you are with your writing. This feels more relevant and useable.
• I over committed myself sometimes by signing up to things with enthusiasm and ending up not being able to give everything my full attention, November being one of those months. I also missed an online workshop I'd signed up for with Mslexia because I totally forgot!

Before I end, I thought I would list my top three reads of last year in the fiction and non-fiction category. I read a lot of books in a year (though not as many as some in a Facebook Book Club I belong  to, but then I also read magazines). I read a total of 72 books and here are my top three:

Fiction

The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shakaf for it's beautiful prose and story set in Cyprus and England. Outstanding read.

Sea Change - Alix Nathan. A mother waves to her child as she sets off in a new contraption called an air balloon. When it crashes in the sea it is thought the mother is lost. Instead, she is rescued and lives in a different part of the country, but the shock of what has happened makes her speechless and for a while unable to remember. Meanwhile, her daughter is brought up by the artist man who loved the mother, but he drinks and suffers from depression. The story follows both mother and daughter until they are brought together.

Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers. An usual story about a woman who claims she had an immaculate conception and a woman news reporter who is asked to follow the story. This brings her into contact with the mother and daughter and also the man who is not the father but loves the little girl. The story has a tragic ending. When I saw it coming I was yelling 'no!' Have the hankies ready.

Non-fiction

The Wicked Boy - Kate Summerscale. I could not put this down. Far better than The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, this is about a young boy who murders his mother and what happens to him during the rest of his life. The murder is gruesome, but there was evidence of parental abuse. The boy was sent to Broadmoor where he turned his life around. I was astounded at the positive way mentally ill patients who had committed crimes were treated. I thought it would be awful, but they were forward thinking, and the boy was finally released and had a whole new positive life, even serving in the war. An incredible story.

The Seven Ages of Death - Dr Richard Shepherd. If you don't like detailed autopsies, this isn't for you. The saddest were the babies. The evidence the doctor gleans, often proved the opposite of what the police hoped because they wanted to pin a conviction on someone they have arrested. It is fascinating and absorbing. The book is split into the seven ages of man (just like Shakespear's poem The Seven Ages of Man, that I so like). I loved this book so much (I have a 'thing' about forensics and death, it seems) that I've borrowed another of his books from the library. 

Bodysnatchers - Suzie Lennox. Do you see a pattern here? I took part in an online author event about a year ago with Suzie Lennox. Her passion for the subject rubbed off on me and I had to buy the book. I'd seen the film Burke & Hare who operated in Edinburgh, but this subject has always interested me (yeah, I'm weird that way). The book is full of events both macabre and funny of how people made a living from digging up the newly dead and selling them to medical students studying autonomy, as well as selling teeth and hair. A lively, informative book, well researched.

Well, that's it for now. I've submitted my first poem today. Let's see where this year will take me.