Competition Entries for 2011!!

  Thanks to a very late bus (well, only five minutes or so, but late is late!), I found myself wandering into WH Smiths and spying a familiar magazine...

In September my subscription to Writers Forum - a magazine that has given me a lot of encouragement - came to an end.  Sadly I was unable to continue the subscription at the time due to money issues, and since then one thing cropped up, then another, and another.  It seems on the eighth day, God was stuck for something to do, and so came up with the excuse!  In the new year Writers Forum will be receiving my subscription for sure.

In all honesty, what made me sieze a helpless copy and dash to the counter (where I bought chocolate, which had been the original intention for visiting the shop) was the promise of an article regarding greetings card verses.  That was an industry I had considered trying to enter when I was seventeen, but completely forgot about never got round to realising it.  It may interest people to know that ironically I am now working for a national greetings card company as an auditor.  Certainly I have my boot in the door, as it were, so watch this space...

However, whilst in conversation with my colleague as we got on the bus, I picked up a leaflet that fell from my magazine.  The leaflet advertised a writing competition for Mslexia magazine.  Rather than being a disease (as I thought when I first encountered it) Mslexia is a magazine aimed specifically at female writers.  I confess to having never read the magazine because I have never seen it before!  To be quite honest, I didn't know Writing magazines existed until I picked up Writers forum two years ago, and I certatinly didn't think they would appeal to fan-fiction writers like me!

To cut a long story short, I have been inspired to try this Mslexia competition (which offers handsome prizes for the right ladies - see http://mslexia.co.uk/whatson/msbusiness/scomp_active.php for more details.).  It's probable that little will come of this, but I think it's worth a go.  At worse, it's practice and a step away from fan-fiction.  Whilst I love that as a hobby (and hope to continue even if I am lucky enough to get published) I also want to try at original work.

In other news, I am also going to make a third attempt at the Write Space competition.  Vanda Inman is not going to get me down so easily!  As both competitions deadline at the end of January along with my renewed interest in my blog, I'm hoping the festive period and new year will be busy for me!

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