I can't write long

Nicola Morgan is running a Flash Fiction Competition over at her Wasted blog. This time the prize isn't chocolate, it's a copy of any of her books and she'll also publicise some of the best flash stories.

I thought I'd have a go at it. The challenge is to write a story in up to 50 words on the theme of Chance, Luck or Fate.

I managed twenty words and it's a complete story. Not a good one, but a whole one. What is it with me that I can't write long stories? What's worse is that usually when I edit I end up with something shorter, as I said the other day. Maybe I need to start again with a longer story and edit it down.

Will you be going in for the flash competition? You only need to write 50 words.

A story a day in May

Are you up for writing a story a day in May?

I found the Story a Day site through Inkygirl. The idea is to write one story every day in May although you're invited to make up your own rules, like having Sundays off if you want to. As long as you set the rules in advance!

Your stories can be any length so I thought I might have a go at writing a flash fiction story every weekday. If nothing else, I'll be getting some ideas to work on later.

I've signed up as fairyhedgehog. You can sign up too, here.

Can you let me know in the comments if you do?

Free author website redesign

Do you have an author website? Would you like a professional redesign for free? Hop over to Kate In The Closet and see what she's offering.

It's not a competition; it's the chance for her to display her skills while you get a free web design.

I've found the secret of writing a best seller!

According to an archived article on the BBC website, Agatha Christie's books were unputdownable because she cunningly employed words and phrases that invoked a chemical response in readers' brains, using a technique not unlike hypnotism. (Thanks to Charmaine Clancy for the original link.)

Clearly, we need to know these magical words so that we can slip them into our stories and have readers falling under our spell and clamouring for more. The BBC says

These phrases included "can you keep an eye on this", "more or less", "a day or two" and "something like that".

I can feel my eyelids drooping already.

FAQ

If you visit this blog (not just use a reader) you might have noticed that I've added some pages and I've now worked out how to let you comment on them! It was a difficult process requiring me to tick a single box for each page but I managed to work it out.

So far only one person has found and commented on the FAQ page. If I don't get asked a few more questions then it's going to look a bit bare. If there's something you're dying to ask, why not do that now?

Things my grandmother used to say

We've been having unseasonably sunny weather in my part of the UK and I've been going out without a coat on. It made me think of an old saying of my grandmother's

Ne'er cast a clout till may is out

which being translated means

I am a cantankerous old lady and I love saying things you don't understand

Other sayings of hers included

It's better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick

which never made much sense to me. If you're going to minimise a situation by comparing it with a worse one, why not a sharp stick for goodness sake?

The most obscure one was the injunction to

Keep your hand on your ha'penny

English half penny (ha'penny) coin

She'd say it if I spoke about going out with a boy. I was never sure if she was telling me to make sure I always had my bus fare handy so I wouldn't be stranded, or if she was telling me to keep hold of my virginity. Did she really mean me to keep my hand... you know... there... all the time? Surely not. (I was a bit literal when I was younger. Touch of Aspergers, maybe?)

Did any of your elderly relatives have sayings that confused you?

Win a story critique

I saw Lady Glam's Short Story Contest advertised on Natalie Whipple's blog and thought you might be interested. The closing date is 1st June.

Four years of evil: happy anniversary EE!

For Evil Editor today marks four years of taking the blue pencil to query letters, of providing amusement and fun for onlookers, of causing gnashing of teeth by writers whose work isn't quite ready yet, and of providing a community of wonderful minions.

EE is completely inclusive. All you have to do to be a minion is to come along and join in.

Some of his minions are throwing a party today over at The Fourth BlogEEversary. Maybe I'll see you there.

Book blog launches today

It's the official launch today of Nicola Morgan's blog about her Young Adult book Wasted, which comes out on 3rd May. You may already know Nicola as the Crabbit Old Bat who gives advice to hopeful authors on her blog Help! I Need A Publisher!

Nicola says about the Wasted blog that

During the next few weeks there will be many opportunities to win books - some of them requiring skill (writing competitions) and some pure luck. See, the book is all about luck, chance, randomness, fate, risk, causal determinism, and the odd spot of quantum physics.

If it's got quantum phyisics in it, it must be good. Why not pop over to the Wasted blog and have a look?

Happy Birthday Ello!

Ello is running a competition for her birthday over at Hello Ello 2. It's an unusual contest because the prize is Asian food and even if you don't want to enter you might be interested to see and read about the dried squid and other goodies that are on offer.

Oh, and you might want to wish Ello a happy birthday, seeing that she's stuck in the house with the builders tearing it apart then has to go off and do a full day's work. On her birthday. Oh dear.