I’m looking at my top five books read last year and four of them are written by women. Yass! Seriously though, I’ve had a terrible year for reading, mostly because my freelance business is going well. I’ve also made a conscious effort to write more short stories and start submitting. These are the books that …
A paying market for every story! These look like some exciting competitions and anthologies to submit to. I particularly like the look of the romantic ghost stories. And remember, the only poor story is the one that isn’t written! Timeworn Lit Open 1 – 31 January No fee We accept historical, historical speculative and historical …
Can you believe 2020 is almost here? I’ve had some great blog highlights this year like the True Shelf series of reading interviews, my most-commented post asking Do you read the classics? and having a couple of Pins go viral. My blog views also reached a new peak at 23,000 views for the year. My …
Today’s discussion question asks if you have read a book because of the cover. I have definitely bought a book because of the cover – The Price of Time by Tim Tigner. I love any book that plays with time; time-slip, time travel, alternate realities, flashbacks, glimpses of the future. So I couldn’t resist this …
The class was silent. The Sensei, all 6 foot 2, ultimately disciplined fighting machine of him, clenched and un-clenched his fists. He waited, impatient to order me a hot dish of press-ups. Or the worse fate: press-ups for the rest of the class while I squirmed. My mind raced, whirling off into the distance and …
Tonight she read a book in bed. Folded herself under cool silks and sought out creatures in shady nooks and crowned herself in anemone and galloped free along the stream, wind caressing her cheeks, dangled fingers in the blue and kicked off her shoes, running barefoot in the grass instead. Most nights, she falls hard asleep. …
Andi C. Buchanan is a writer of speculative fiction who has had short stories published in various magazines and won a Sir Julius Vogel Award in 2019. From A Shadow Grave is their new release. The novella is based on a historical murder of a teenager by the Mount Victoria tunnel and combines history, urban fantasy and time …
Welcome writers! It is worthwhile for emerging writers to enter these paid and free competitions to practice writing to deadlines and rules, tighten their prose and hopefully get their name out there. I am based in New Zealand and it is difficult to find these opportunities in a small country, so here is my updated …
Freelance writing is an ideal job for stay-at-home parents. It provides independence and freedom, while allowing us to pick up our kids from school. But how can bloggers get paid to write? It’s not easy to completely change careers. From working in finance, I started a French travel blog five years ago and loved it …
Families make great book fodder: sibling rivalries and love, functional and dysfunctional, family expectations and disloyalty. Being one of four children myself, it is interesting to ponder the interplay between birth order and parental attention. There are so many books that make use of these conflicts but we have chosen the very best books about …