Surrounded by criminal masterminds!

I'll be spending all of today amongst people who have crime on their minds, as I'm a participating author in a crime literary festival in Lee-on-the-Solent. 

Free entry writing competitions

 Thanks to Alyson for sending me the details of this playwriting competition. We've both had a good look and as far as we can tell it's free to enter. The theme is the climate change. The prize package includes £15,000 and an option to produce yor play at The Globe. You'll need to be UK based and have 'demonstrated a commitment to script-based mediums'. 

Thanks to both Fiona and Sharon B for this poetry competition with a £25 book token as the prizes in different categories.  The want funny poems, which can either be written, or performed and videod.  (Is videod a word? The red line underneath suggests not!)

Womag news

For those of us who don't use Twitter, Alyson and HB have passed on these tweets from The People's Friend - Get writing! We're looking for stories from July onwards for 'People's Friend' weekly, and from September onwards for our Specials. We're always looking for stories for our little annual! And Christmas stories can be accepted from April onwards...

Remember to put all your details on the manuscript. If it's a period story, please put the year it's set. Pay attention to word counts and don't go over.

My news

It's my birthday on Monday. I can't decide what kind of cake to have – what do you suggest?

 Free entry writing competitions

On the Premises have a new mini competition. This time they want two stories, but even if you use the maximum word count for both, it's still only 150. The first prize is $45.

Other publication opportunities

If you're a Scottish writer of romance novels, or a writer from anywhere writing romance set in or inspired by Scotland, then this might be of interest. Thanks to my friend Pauline for passing on the details. She's not a writer, yet is still looking out for interesting opportunities for us.

UPDATE - Sorry, I didn't get around to finishing off this post. There's been 'stuff' - you might know how it is. Still, my plan of adding stuff when I can and scheduling seems to be sort of working. 

Here are some tulips by way of apology.

Just a couple of things

Short post this week, as I've been busy with non writing stuff. 

Alyson Hilbourne suggested sharing this blog post from Kath McGurl on writing dual timelines as she thought it might be of interest to some of us.  I've never attempted writing anything dual timeline. I've read some good pieces written in that style and can see it's a very useful device for the right story, so I'm not ruling it out. How about you? Have you used, or considered using, dual timelines?

I wonder how many of you remember when Kath ran this blog? I don't recall how long ago that was.

Sometime ago, Fiona told us about her experiences on a Hawthornden retreat. You can read the details here, but to sum up, it's a month living in a castle for free, and with help towards transport costs, with nothing to do but write. Applications for next year can be made here.

Looking again

We're making plans for our next trip away in the van (which is why you've got pictures of a previous one). Most of the places we intend to go will be return visits. Things will look different though, as we've always gone in the second half of the year. The biggest changes will be in the gardens and landscape, but even a castle can appear very different depending on factors such as the light, weather and number of visitors.

Writing can be like that too. What we spot when editing just after we've drafted it will be different from what we notice much later - especially if it's been submitted and rejected in that time. Thinking about our intended audience or market, or expected time of publication can also make us read and edit our work differently.

What are you looking for when you read your own work?

Free entry competition news 

Thanks to Dee for telling us about this sonnet competition from New Writers. To enter, you need to sign up to their newsletter, which you can do here. 

Their site is interesting and includes details of lots of other writing competitions and opportunities. Most have fees, but there are some excellent prizes, so you might feel it's worth a try.

And thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for info on the Meetcute competition for romance novel writers from the Kate Nash agency. They want the first chapter and offer a prize of £500 plus representation. UPDATE - We've since discovered that although there's no mention of it until you get to the submissions page, there's a £12 entry fee. Sorry I didn't spot that!

Other publication opportunities

Here's a wrtiing challenge from Chris Fielden. He wants 100 words, with as many as possible being adverbs. Entries,  plus a short bio, will be published in an anthologu which will be sold for charity.

Eleventh Hour are looking for prose which has been previously rejected and since revised. We've all got some of those, haven't we? I'm not entirely sure what you get out of submitting your work there (sorry, I did look but I'm very short of time at the moment.) 

I'm mostly mentioning it because it makes the point that a rejection, or several, doesn't have to mean the end for that particular piece of writing. That was always the case, but with there now being more competition for every fiction slot, there must be loads of great womag submissions which don't get accepted.

My news

I'm taking part in a couple more promotions. This time they're both for books available through kindle unlimited (although they're also on sale). This one is for sweet romances and this one is has a mixture of genres.

What's Best?

This probably makes me sound old, but... It's March tomorrow. How can that be happening so soon? On the plus side, that makes it semi-officially spring now.

Free Entry competition news

Creative Futures have a competition for 'underrepresented writers' with classes for poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction. There will be fifteen winners who will share £2,500 and have their work published. The list of people considered underrepresented, including some I wouldn't have expected, so it's worth looking to see if you qualify.

Here's a short story competition for those who want a better world. The main prize is a year of 'writing guidance by a experienced writer / publisher'.

Womag / competition news

If you're thinking of entering Best's crime story competition, and as there's a £500 prize I expect most of have at least considered it, then you might want to take a look at this post by Simon Whaley. Thanks to Alyson for bringing it to my attention. 

btw, Simon is a useful source of information on many aspects of the business side of writing. It's worth signing up for his emails - unless you're one of those weir people who keep going of for months at a time in a campervan with limited data and internet access.

My news

As a very tiny part of Portsmouth Bookfest, I'll be at the Community Kettle in Cosham on Monday, selling books. If you happen to be in the area please pop in and say hello. No hard sell from me, I promise – and there will be cake available.

Three freeebies

Back to coloured sticks this week! 

Free entry writing competition news

Here's a flash fiction competition. In this case, flash means up to 1,000 words. It's for women writers only. The prize is publication and an invitation to join the group who are running the competition. 

On The Premises have a vey short story competition on the theme of circles. With a top prize of $35 you could earn more than a dollar a word! Thanks to Ruth for mentioning this in the comments to last week's post.

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for the link to this short story competition on the theme of hidden treasures. The prize is book tokens and possible publication. I may have mentioned this one before. Apologies if I have, but twice seems better than not at all.

My news

I've got two stories in womags this week. There are more details on my website.

Happy Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's! I've picked you some flowers (from my photo archives).

We're away in our campervan for a couple of days – just because we can. Hopefully I'll be surrounded by flowers today, as we're going to Kingston Lacy to look at the snowdrops. I'm becoming a galanthophile! We're doing something for Gary too, which will involve a bracing and character building walk.

Free entry writing competitions

This month, The Scottish Book Trust want 50 words about a fox, and offer an appropriately small prize. Thanks to Alyson for the reminder about that one. I know it's a regular thing, but keep forgetting both to mention it her, and to enter.

The Libraro Prize is somewhat bigger, being valued at £50,000 and including a publishing contract with Hatchette. They do want a whole book though - fiction or crossover YA, and you'd need to have finished it already as it's just about to close. Sorry for the late notice. I'm hoping late is better than never. There are reader prizes too, so it might be worth looking at even if your novel isn't quite ready (or not yet started) as it looks as though this is an annual competition.

The Jay Yes competition is for stories of 2,500 to 4,000 words, by unpublished writers. The prize is publication and publicity. There's plenty of time to get something written for this one.

Here's a romance novel writing competition for UK writers from a Black, Asian, mixed heritage and/or multiple ethnic background. The prize package includes £1,000 cash and help to get your book written and published.

Womag / competition news

Best have a new competition, this time with the theme of cosy crime. Thanks to Hazel (HB) for the picure with the details. Best take all writes for winning and runner up stories.

Dead cheap!

Today's treat (in addition to the bargain book mentioned below) is some coloured sticks. You weren't expecting that, were you?

Free entry writing competition news

I entered the tree to my door Valentine's competition, and got an acknowledgement wishing me luck. Then I got another email thanking me foe entering and spotted the words 'We regret to inform you'. I thought it was going to say I hadn't won, but it actually said they've decided not to run the competition. That's much worse! I'm rather cross, as I wrote something specifically after seeing the competition advertised on their site.

Story Glory has a free monthly fiction competition. You have to create an account with them, but it's free to do that. The prize this month is publication and a book. From next month there will be a choice of a book or Amazon voucher.

Thanks to Sharon Boothroyd for this nice sounding writing competition with eight cash prizes. They're looking for a piece of fiction, non-fiction or 'something in between' of up to 1,000 words on how you see the world. Anyone can enter. Closing date is Easter Sunday. If you've not entered a competition before, on account of feeling a bit apprehensive, this might be a good one to try.

Call for submissions

Thanks to Alyson Hilbourne for passing on this from Bridge House Publishing. The theme is 'Room at the Inn' and you have between 1,000 and 5,000 words to create something for inclusion in the anthology. In theory you could earn royalties, but don't count on it.

My news

My romantic murder mystery Acting Like A Killer is currently on sale for 99p / 99c. I think that's dead cheap! ;-) Anything you can do to help spread the word will be greatly appreciated.

Blue sky thinking

Free entry writing competitions.

The Jim Baen memorial short story competition is for 'a short story of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration.'

The prize package includes paid publication.

The Creative Futures competition is for 'underrepresented writers' (there's a long list of people who qualify). There are classes for fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction and offers £25,000 worth of 'cash and professional development prizes'. 

Other publication opportunities

Thanks to Alyson Hilbourne for the link to Fiction On The Web. The publish two stories a week, which can be from 1,000 to 10,000 words. The pay is £15 (or $15 or €15). They'll consider reprints as long as they're not currently available anywhere online, including ebooks.

I thought I'd test them out for you, by sending a story I'd previously had published in a magazine. Submission is by Submittable, so you'll need to set up a (free) account if you don't have one. 

The story I sent had been previously published in a womag. It was rejected within days. The feedback suggested they'd have preferred something less light. Feedback is optional. There's a thing to click when submitting if you'd rather not have it.

Bluesky

Alyson saw the above market mentioned on Bluesky. That's a platform I feel could be very useful, but which I'm not currently making the best of. If you're on there, please share your profile and/or that of others you find useful or interesting with regards writing, and I'll add them to the list.

For those unfamiliar with Bluesky, it's just like Twitter used to be, before it got swamped with adverts and bots. If you feel you already have enough social media platforms you're happy with, I wouldn't advise you to add more, as they all take up time, but if you want to add one, or make a switch, it might be worth you taking a look.

Alyson Hilbourne             J Lenni Dorner

Kathy Steinemann

Patsy Collins

Womagwriter

Elizabeth McGinty

And another one

Free entry writing competitions

In case you missed it, here's a link to the extra post I made on Tuesday, with three free to enter competitions, all with a Scottish flavour.

Thanks to Alyson for this 350 word story competition. There's no theme. First prize is $200, with two further prizes of $50.

My news

Here's another promotion I'm involved in. If you like cosy mysteries, do take a look.

How's your writing going?

Scottish selection

 

This week's post is much earlier than usual, due to the limited amount of time left to enter one of the competitions coinciding with me actually having something ready!

I'll probably still post something on Saturday - if you'll forgive me for not finding more competitions by then.

Free entry competitions

Thanks to Eirin for telling us about this crime story competition from Glencairn Glass. The word count max is 2,000 words and your protagonist must be from Scotland. In the past a cash prize has been offered - that's not mentioned this time. Even without it might be worth a go, as the publicity for the winner is likely to be very good.

I've entered this competition before. I didn't win, but have still had good results. My first attempt gave me a character and part of the plot for the first novel in my cosy crime series. Another attempt was eventually published in TAB.

Oooh, I've mentioned Scotland. That makes it OK*, to sprinkle the post with photos from my latest trip!

*According to my own, totally made up, rules.

The current theme of the Scottish Book Trust flash fiction competition is gingerbread. The prize is only little, but it's free to enter and they only want 50 words, so that seems fair enough.

Thanks to Fiona for this short story competition from Aberdeen Performing Arts. You're asked for 1,500 to 2,000 words on the themes of anniversaries, milestones and the number ten. There's an interesting prize package – but shortlisted finalists must attend the festival. Of, and the closing date is this Sunday!

We do intend to go back to Scotland this year, and were hoping to do it earlier than our more usual autumn visit, but I'm not sure I can persuade Gary to go quite so soon.

.

Looking forward

Womag news

HB spotted this from The People's Friend on X recently "We're thinking of summer! Especially summer fiction! Kick off your flip flops and get writing! All our genres and our word counts, please!"

Thinking about summer is very tempting at the moment. I'm sharing some sunny pictures to get you in the mood.

Free entry competitions

Here's a verse and/or spoken word competition. They want pieces prompted by the objects in the photos. Winners will share £2,000. 

I stumbled across this site, which offers free competitions and other potential benefits to members. I can't actually recommend them as I'd never heard of them before, but they make the claim that entering will 'Get your work in front of industry professionals and a wider audience. Stand out with podcast interviews and biographies on a platform where people are looking for new talent.' 

My news

I'm going to make more effort at marketing my books this year. So far I've signed up for some online promotions (if you use KU you might like to take a look at this one) and am booked to take part in a small literary crime festival in Lee-on-the-Solent on 28th March.

Anyone got any brilliant book marketing tips?

More publication opportunities and free competitions

Free entry competitions

Parsec are running a sci-fi short story competition on the theme of metamorphosis. I thought I'd already mentioned it, but didn't recognise the image, so maybe that was a previous competeion from them? Or I could just be getting even more forgetful. Anyway, the prize is $200.

Thanks to Alyson Hilbourne for both of these - 

Toasted Cheese are running three free entry competitions this year. They all offer publication and Amazon gift vouchers as prizes. General rules are here, then click the links at the bottom for details of each individual competition.

The Tom Grass Spirit of Adventure literary prize is for fiction or non-fiction of 1,500 to 3,000 on the spirit of adventure. Entrants must not have agent representation or have a book under contract with a mainstream publisher. First prize is £1,000.

And thanks to Aly Rhodes for this one -

Deeping Literary have a short story competition with the theme of Hidden Treasures. The prize is a £30 book token and the opportunity to be published. There's also a children's category.

Other publication opportunities

I recently found this site, which lists lots of places you might like to send your work. Scroll down a bit and you'll find tables with links the the appropriate websites, pay rates (ifthey do pay) and notes on what each publication is looking for. There is a small overlap with my own database, but also lots of markets I was unaware of.

Getting going in 2026

Have you finished all the festive cheese and chocolate, and got used to writing 26 instead of 25 yet? I've been doing better with one of those than the other.

Have you got back to writing again, or perhaps didn't stop? I've committed to taking part in a mini crime litfest, submitted a womag story, an article, and competition entry – although I confess nearly all the actual writing of those was done in 2025.

Free entry writing competitions

Thanks to Aly Rhodes for sending me a link to this short story competition from Story Unlikely. There's $5,000 in prizes on offer, you have up to 7,000 words, and they say there are no restrictions on genre (but do mention sci-fi and fantasy).

A reminder about competitions which I (probably) mentioned before and are still open...

The W&AYB short story prize offers publication and a place on an Arvon residential course to the winner. There's still a month to go until it closes.

The Wergle Flomp humorous poetry competition offers cash prizes and publication to the best 13 entries. Top prize is $2,000.  It closes on the 1st of April.

The Tree To My Door Valentine's poetry competition offers a £100 voucher as first prize. There's a month to go for that one too. At the time of writing this blog, I hadn't written any poetry all year, possibly all decade, but that could change.

The Parsec short story competition has a first prize of $200. That doesn't close until the end of March.

Best wishes for 2026

Do you have writing plans for 2026? 

My aims are to enter a few more competitions, complete the next novel in my cosy mystery series, get back to writing occasional articles – and to continue writing womag short stories.

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to this blog by providing information and/or leaving comments. The support is hugely appreciated and makes womagwriter a far more useful resource than it would be if I were doing everything myself. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, and lots of good things during 2026.

I've got a request. I'm working on an article and would like to hear from anyone who had their first womag acceptance this year, after many attempts (first ever, or first for that magazine) and is willing to be quoted. If that's you, please email me at patsycollins53@yahoo.com