I have begun 2018 with a renewed determination to write, to edit, and to get a few pieces out there, and it hasn't been an altogether unsuccessful start.
I have noted the various competition and submission deadlines of flash fictions and short stories, and though I cannot hope to submit to each and every one, I do want to broaden my horizons and get more work out there.
Weekly flash competitions have proved to be a useful exercise. I don't claim to be expert by any means; there are considerably talented writers out there, deservedly mopping up the plaudits, but I am enjoying the form - it encourages discipline and economy of expression, and I am starting to hone my skills, gradually.
I entered a local one on a blog the other week, a website now relaunched as www.writingwriters.co.uk, and was both amused and rather perturbed to find that mine was only one of three submissions. My (apparently rather unanimous win) brought a small modicum of pride, considerable relief given the unfortunate lack of competition, and my first actual monetary earnings as a writer. Cannot retire just yet, but it will get a celebratory round in...
It's a pyrrhic victory, but a success all the same, and I take heart from it, while looking to push on to pit my wits against broader fields and other accomplished writers. As ever, there are more irons in the fire, and I am feeling the will, on a regular basis, to get tapping away to produce something of genuine merit. That cannot be bad.
I have noted the various competition and submission deadlines of flash fictions and short stories, and though I cannot hope to submit to each and every one, I do want to broaden my horizons and get more work out there.
Weekly flash competitions have proved to be a useful exercise. I don't claim to be expert by any means; there are considerably talented writers out there, deservedly mopping up the plaudits, but I am enjoying the form - it encourages discipline and economy of expression, and I am starting to hone my skills, gradually.
I entered a local one on a blog the other week, a website now relaunched as www.writingwriters.co.uk, and was both amused and rather perturbed to find that mine was only one of three submissions. My (apparently rather unanimous win) brought a small modicum of pride, considerable relief given the unfortunate lack of competition, and my first actual monetary earnings as a writer. Cannot retire just yet, but it will get a celebratory round in...
It's a pyrrhic victory, but a success all the same, and I take heart from it, while looking to push on to pit my wits against broader fields and other accomplished writers. As ever, there are more irons in the fire, and I am feeling the will, on a regular basis, to get tapping away to produce something of genuine merit. That cannot be bad.