Thursday 3 August 2017

Captains Log 3rd August 2017

Captain's Log 3rd August 2017

Crew Assembled for Mathew’s Monthly session:

Tracey, KT, Julee, Janeen, Terry and including our leader, Les. Apologies from Sonia, Judy and Kevin.

Today, we had a general chit chat about the contracts some of us went into at Mathew’s last session. Tracey is firing with both barrels, shooting off her first chapter for some time, ready for critique next week. Yahoo. And I’m on track to complete the first draft of The Covent Garden Nun by December.
We touched on Mathew’s challenge to put some short stories into various competitions. Several members have submitted stories, let’s see what happens there. Good luck everyone.

Mathew pointed out that the Melton Word Fest is running from the 19th to 26th August. Lots to see and do. Keep the evening of Monday the 21st free as Tracey is going to try to book us in for a trivia night at the Caroline Springs Library.

The session finished with a flash fiction task to write something to the theme of: ‘My Happy Piece’ and we had ten minutes to complete. We had mixed results, all of them good. Some of us have our stories published on our Members Stories blog page. Today was an afternoon with lots of fun and good fellowship.

I am attaching my next chapter and we already have Tracey’s offering, so that gives us two to critique for next week.

So, until then - An tsíocháin a bheith in éineacht leat.

Regards Les





Thursday 27 July 2017

Captains Log 26th July 2017

Crew Assembled for Mathew’s Monthly session: 
Tracey, KT, Julee, Janeen, Terry including our Captain, Les. Apologies from Sonia, Judy and Kevin.

Today, we had a general chit chat about the contracts some of us went into at Mathew’s last session. Tracey is firing with both barrels, shooting off her first chapter for some time, ready for critique next week. Yahoo. And I’m on track to complete the first draft of The Covent Garden Nun by December.
We touched on Mathew’s challenge to put some short stories into various competitions. Several members have submitted stories, let’s see what happens there. Good luck everyone.

Mathew pointed out that the Melton Word Fest is running from the 19th to 26th August. Lots to see and do. Keep the evening of Monday the 21st free as Tracey is going to try to book us in for a trivia night at the Caroline Springs Library.

The session finished with a flash fiction task to write something to the theme of: ‘My Happy Piece’ and we had ten minutes to complete. We had mixed results, all of them good. Some of us have our stories published on our Members Stories blog page. Today was an afternoon with lots of fun and good fellowship.

I am attaching my next chapter and we already have Tracey’s offering, so that gives us two to critique for next week.

So, until then - An tsíocháin a bheith in éineacht leat.

Regards Les









Captain's Log 26th July 2017


G’day Everyone,

It was a small group today, with Julee, Janeen, Terry and me attending.

Sonia, Judy, Tracey and KT were apologies and Kevin was missing in action. Lena will be off the books until October as she has managed to secure a part time job for the next three months.

First up, we had a chat about Janeen’s story. It appears to be coming along nicely and she has some interesting new layout developments, which I think will add an exciting twist to her story.

Then we worked through the three critiques, one each from Julee, Terry and me.
Each chapter was discussed and critiques given. There were many good suggestions given and small errors highlighted, all designed to help the writer improve their story.

Mathew's week next week, so no critiques.'

Hope to see you all there.


Until then, amar amgalan ta nartai khamt baikh.

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Judy Rigby does us proud

Wordsmiths of Melton love nothing more than sharing in the glory of one of our member's successes and today we are pleased to share Judy Rigby's latest triumph.

Judy left, has followed her City of Melton Short Story Competition glory with her short story, Overboard accepted in the latest edition of literary journal, Backstory.

To read Overboard, click on the link below:


To find more articles and stories, go to Judy's website via the following link.

Thursday 16 March 2017

Captains Log 20th July 2017

My Dear Fellow Writers,

An interesting day yesterday. Apologies from Sonia, Kevin, Lena and KT.
Tracey, Julee, Judy, Janeen, Terry and I discussed our three critiques:

Julee’s Chapter thirty-four, Janeen’s Chapter One, and my Chapter seven.

As always, lively comments and much good advice was passed on to the writers to use or disregard as they see fit.
I would like to thank everyone for the effort put into each critique, not an easy task as we all know.
On a personal note, I’d like to give an extra big ‘Thank You,’ for the good advice and kind words I was given about Lennie’s demise. His funeral is… Well, perhaps we won’t dwell on that.

We went a little overtime and were forcibly evicted by a group of ladies storming the room with cutlass and boarding pikes (well they knocked politely and were very nice. But doesn’t it sound better the other way?).

I’ve e-mailed my latest offering for your dissection. So, sharpen ya swords, load and cock ya muskets and prepare for battle. ‘Har, har, Me Hearties. We’ll pluck a crow.’


Regards Les




G’day Wordies,

Almost a full house today, with Tracey, Sonia, Julee, Janeen, Lena, Terry and me in attendance. Apologies from JT, Judy and Kevin.
We had three critiques today:
Sonia’s long-awaited critique of her Haiku piece went down well, with Tracey standing on the table and demanding, in fluent Japanese, that we include Haiku in a fun day. You little pocket rocket Tracey.

This proved a big hit
Was enjoyed by all today
Much more is required

Arigatō, Sonia. Well done.

Next was Julee’s chapter 33.
This splendid chapter caused much debate, with Robin being told to ‘Get your act together, or get out of the book.’ And Julee saying, ‘No. I need him. He’ll do better next chapter. I promise.’ I think her fingers were crossed behind her back, but I’m not sure.
Great chapter Julee, keep them rolling in.

Last in line was Lena’s Prologue.
A worthy piece of writing, dragged from another dimension to titillate our senses. This also caused much debate with sensible advice freely given from everyone.
Wow Lena, you certainly have everyone’s attention. Let’s see some more soon.

As to next week:

Julee’s next chapter is attached. Hot off the press.
Janeen will be submitting her revamped first chapter. I’ll send it on as soon as it hits my inbox.
And, once I get a few minutes, I’ll submit my next chapter.
That will give us three, which should keep us all busy.

As you all know, several of us went into contact mode with Mathew last week.
I would like to report that Tracey is up and running again, so we should be seeing some chapters rolling in there, ‘Yay, Tracey’.
And I am well on my way to completing my deadline of the first of December.

Look forward to seeing (nearly) everyone next Wednesday.

Regards Les








Almost a full house yesterday, with only Julee absent from place of parade.

We had one critique on the table. Danny’s first effort. A 5,000-word crime/comedy short story.
He received a lot of help and support and I do believe it was also a good exercise in critiquing for everyone. Well done Danny, we all look forward to seeing the rewrite in due course. I’d like to thank the Wordsmiths for once again, taking time out to read, critique and help to improve someone’s work.

After the critique, we did a fifteen-minute writing exercise, which, as per usual, produced some very interesting stories. In fact, I think that several of them could be expanded into competition pieces.

In the general discussion that followed, Sonia mentioned that she would like to do some more exercises, as well as fun days. I won’t try to hide the fact that I disagreed. I feel we are getting away from our core principal of critiquing. However, as I was the only dissenter, that is what we will do. I’ll work a new calendar out in the next day or so and email it out. Then Judy said we should do poetry. I shuddered, pouted and cried, but she was most insistent. So, be it on your own head (drum roll), I’m going to throw in a poetry exercise.

Next week (22nd) is a fun week, with both Tracey and Janeen bringing in an interesting exercise each for us.

See you all (except the ones I won’t) next week.

So, until then, Pax tibi Wordsmiths

Les


Thursday 9 February 2017

Les' First report or 2017


G’day Wordsmiths,
The second session for the year today, but my first. Tracey, Terry, Judy and Kevin were in attendance. Sonia and Kirsten put in their apologies and Joleen was missing in action.
We had a general chat, to catch up on everyone’s writing progress and what we’ve been reading over the break. Tracey has suggested that we start work on a new anthology and everyone though it a great idea. We threw around a few ideas and then, as is generally the case, we found ourselves talking about a dozen other things, all unrelated to an anthology. This conversation is – ‘To be continued’.
We only had one critique to do. My ‘Contemplation’.
Tracey is suffering from battle fatigue from her cruise, so she didn’t do it (she promised to do it over the next day or so and email it to me). Thank you, Tracey, I look forward to seeing your critique in due course.
Judy took me at my word and didn’t do it because it was way too long (I don’t blame her).
We had one from Terry and one from Kevin, so it didn’t take too long. Thank you boys, much appreciated. I look forward to reviewing your comments and improving my story. It wasn’t a long session today, but it was good to catch up with everyone.
Julee, Judy, Terry and I will be away next week, so it will only be Tracey, Kevin, Kristen and possibly Joleen next week.
Hope to see you all the following week.


Regards Les

Thursday 29 December 2016

The 2017 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children's Writing

Open from the 3rd of January the 2017 entry form with terms and conditions is open to be downloaded now.

Find the entry form here:   http://text-publishing-production.s3.amazonaws.com/text-publishing/assets/39/0bee20164011e6bd695593dbaaab7f/TextPrizeEntryForm2017.pdf


Good luck with your submissions.

2017 WRITING COMPETITIONS

Voiceworks

Voiceworks is for the first time in recent history seeking submissions for long-form short stories. For more information click on the link below:

http://www.voiceworksmag.com.au/2017/03/longform-fiction-submissions/

Lord Mayors Creative Writing Awards 2017
This competition has a prize pool of $12,000 and is now open to Victorian writers it closes on the 31st of August, for more information, click on the link below:
melbourne.vic.gov.au/writingawards



Prize: US$2000 will be awarded the winner of each genre
Open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish a book.
Entries open on 1 March and close 15 May.

Raymond Carver Short Story Contest

First prize is US$1500
Open to writers from around the world and the guest judge for 2016 was Caitlin Horrocks.
Entries open on 1 April and close on 15 May.


Prize is US$1500 and publication.
Dedicated to recognising and supporting the work of emerging writers whose fiction has not yet achieved success. Entries must be less than 3500 words and the competition is open to writers based anywhere is the world. The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition first ran in 1981.
Entries close on 15th May
Website:         http://shortstorycompetition.com/


Prize: The authors of the two winning manuscripts will receive US$1000 and publication by the University of Georgia Press under a standard book contract.
Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction is a competition for unpublished manuscripts of between 40,000 and 75,000 words. Long stories or novellas may be included. Writers must be residents of North America.
Entries close on 31 May.


The winner of the fiction section receives $1500 and publication in the magazine; second place receives $500 and publication. Prizes are also offered for non-fiction.
Run by December magazine, a magazine whose many accomplishments include being the first to publish the work of Raymond Carver.
Open to stories up to 8000 words in length.
Entries close 15 June.


First prize of $2000.
Only open to writers who have not published a book and submissions may be up to 6000 words. This contest is held multiple times throughout the year.
Summer entries close on 15 July.


First prize is €2000 publication in the literary journal Southword, and a week-long residency at Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat.
Open to writers from around the world the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition.
Entries close 31 July.


First prize of US$1000 and publication.
Writers can submit up to three pieces of writing of up to 500 words. There are no genre or form restrictions.
Entries open on in July and are expected to close on 15 August.


The world’s richest short story competition, with the winner receiving £30,000
The 2016 prize was won by Jonathan Tel for his story ‘The Human Phonograph’. The six stories shortlisted for the 2016 prize are available here.
Entries for the next prize are expected to open at the end of June and close at the end of September.


The winner receives a cash prize of £10,000 (US$15,000).
A major international literary competition open to anyone aged 16 or over. Stories can be up to 2500 words in length. The organisers also offer a Manchester Poetry Prize.
Entries will open in February and close in September.


A first prize of US$1000
This contest is aimed at seeking out and encouraging talented writers. The winning and runners-up entries will be forwarded to leading literary agents. Stories can be up to 5000 words.
Entries open on 1st July and close 1st October.
Website:         http://www.all-story.com/contests.cgi


The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5000 and the remaining four regional winners receive £2500.
Continues with its aim to bring stories from new and emerging voices, often from countries with little or no publishing infrastructure, to the attention of an international audience. Open to all citizens of the 53 Commonwealth countries, the prize covers the five Commonwealth regions: Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean and Pacific.
One winner will be selected from each region, with one regional winner to be selected as the overall winner.
Entries for the 2018 are expected to close on 1 November.


The winner of the John Steinbeck Short Story Award receives a cash prize of US$1000 and all entries are considered for publication
One of three prizes offered by Reed Magazine, this award is for a work of fiction up to 5000 words.
Entries open on 1 June and close 1 November.
Website:         http://www.reedmag.org/submit


Prize: US$1500 and the story will be published in the magazine.
Competition is open writers who have not yet published a book of fiction, poetry or creative non-fiction with a nationally distributed press. Stories may be up to 8000 words and must be previously unpublished.
Entries close 31 December.