Category: Uncategorized

Cuckoo in the Nest by Fran Hill

~ JacciGoodingAuthor

Having been at the launch of Fran Hill’s Cuckoo in the Nest and also having read the book, I agree with Rosie Canning’s every word. A very moving novel. If you like book reviews please hop over to Rosie’s site to read more of her insightful reviews and interviews https://rb.gy/u5mjy

Rosie Canning's avatarOrphans & Care Experience in Literature

Cuckoo in the Nestis told from the viewpoint of 14-year-old uber intelligent, poet-in-waiting Jackie Chadwick. This is the voice of a young girl whose world is falling apart. Her mother has died from cancer, her father, an alcoholic is rude and at times physically abusive. So much so, Jackie ends up at A&E.

He was face down on the bed, his bulky frame vanquished by the drink: on his face and off his face at the same time. He had his shirt on but no trousers, only grey Y-fronts. The usual late afternoon uniform. At first, I thought he was awake, but then he snored, suddenly, like an engine being revved.

Jackie’s teachers though are observant and determined that Jackie will be looked after despite the girl’s protestations and inform Social Services, after which she is allocated a Social Worker.

Call-me-Bobbie and I were in the kitchen. We’d left…

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Writing Competitions

~ JacciGoodingAuthor

Fancy having a go? Writing comps are a great way to hone your work, use a different voice, try something new, test yourself – 100 word flash anyone?! I’ve rounded up a few here for your delectation. Don’t forget to check the rules – some won’t take stuff already published online for example – and go for it. Everyone loves to win!

Closing on June 30th is the  South Warwickshire Creative Writing Competition Only £3 to enter with a £50 prize in each category, they’re looking for 800 words of fiction, creative non-fiction or 40 lines of poetry, all genres accepted. Still time to get your entry in.

Here’s a free comp to enter, closing date also 30th June. The annual Writers College Short Story Competition is held to acknowledge excellence in creative writing in the short story form. The competition is open to any writer who is unpublished, or has been published fewer than four times. The competition is open the writers just beginning their writing journey. The 2023 theme is ‘Words Have Consequences.’

The Creative Ink Writing Short Story Competition 2023 is open to writers across the globe until July 31st 2023 at 4pm (GMT). Stories do not need to follow any particular theme or genre, but must be written in English. Maximum word count is 3000 words. 1st prize: £1000, plus a free creative writing course of the winner’s choice and publication on their site. 2 runners-up: £200 each. Entry fee: £9.

If you like a bit of flash, try Free Flash Fiction Write, edit and submit by 10 pm Friday 23rd June 2023 a flash fiction piece of between 100 and 300 words, on any theme. 1x Winner will receive £150.00 and publication, 2x Highly Commended will receive £30.00 and publication, 2x Shortlisted will receive £20.00 and publication 
£3.75 fee per entry/story via PayPal or Stripe, £2.25 fee per entry/story via BACS (click here) (UK Bank accounts only ). 

Here’s something a little unusual, or maybe not. If you like witches, then this one’s for you. A Coven of Witches is the next anthology from West Avenue Publishing and this is your chance to have your work included. All submissions must include witches, or a witch, as the main theme of the piece. Each author may submit up to three pieces for consideration. They accept short stories of up to 5,000 words and poetry of any length. Please email your submission as a Word document to westavenuepublishing@outlook.com Submissions will close at midnight GMT on the 30th of June 2023. The list of successful authors will be published on their website no later than 31st of July 2023, so please do keep an eye out. Successful writers will receive a one off payment of £10. Writers will retain all copyrights for their submission/s.

The Old Allotments – a poem

~ JacciGoodingAuthor ~ 2 Comments

Following on from Sue Cook’s @popsytops blog about landscape which I reblogged last week, I too have been on a walk, recently passing the 120 year old St Mary’s Allotments in Leamington Spa. It’s hard to convey the gentle energy in spaces like this, but here goes..

Nourishment, earth fed, where

robins, blackbirds, crows reside,

grows plentiful and rich

beside the banks and riverside

Where working man has striven

long, his brow a sweat of toil

as hands, like spades with aching back

worked hard the heavy soil

To feed, to grow his many

crops, returning home triumphant

as empty mouths and stomachs waited

for succour and for comfort.

Grass, long and green and succulent,

home too for mouse and insect

caresses now the empty pots

as blackbirds, thrush, with perfect

eye, lunge quick and sharp and

faultlessly, each jab around the hedging

another search for sustenance

to feed the growing fledgling.

Autumn apples drop to feed the

dormant springtime flowers,

the earth and all its worms and creatures,

made damp with summer showers.

Make way for compost, de-generation

as winter rests the ground

and sure as night will follow day

the earth will echo with the sound

of working men – and women now

who find a moment’s peace

within the lanes and grassy tracks

where troubles fail,

then

            cease.

This is work, honest

~ JacciGoodingAuthor ~ 1 Comment

Hello Reader
I’ve just read this lovely blog from writer Sue Cook (‘a pessimist’s guide to writing cheerfully’), as she captures the landscape so well and takes us with her on her research journey which author to author is always interesting. And ALSO – sixth pocket novel! Go you, Sue!!

Sue Cook's avatarSue Cook's Writing Blog

Saturday was the first springlike day of the year, so I got out my poles and went for a walk. Of course, I wasn’t just enjoying myself. No, I took some of the older trackways and paths on my way to a particular shop three and a half miles away.

I’m writing my sixth pocket novel. It’s set locally in the early 1790’s, just as the industrial revolution is starting to change life forever. For me, that means understanding what the area was like then so I can paint the landscape and home/work life accurately. Fortunately, there are still lots of old houses around, though relatively few that would have been already old back then. The house pictured below is ostensibly an exception.

It’s called Manor House and the date above the door is in the mid-1600s. Wow, I thought. But this is where you have to be careful. The…

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Festival 2023

~ JacciGoodingAuthor ~ 1 Comment

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was putting together – with the help of some very generous people – the first ever South Warwickshire Literary Festival. And yet here we are again, doing it once more. It’s a bit different this time round; here in the UK life is expensive and the luxuries are usually the first thing to go but hey, we plough on, right? Otherwise what’s the point in doing anything? Exactly.

Still young enough, I hope, to learn new things, one big thing I’ve learnt from organising the festival is the importance of teamwork and even more important, having a happy and cohesive team. Bad teams make bad decisions, unhappy teams make even worse ones. So I’m truly grateful to be working with friends and colleagues I’ve got to know over the years in the world of writing. Even if updating the website or wrangling with payment options or writing begging emails to sponsors prevents me writing my novel, I know the festival wouldn’t exist without the silent, steady input from others. But then humans, despite our multiple failings, are social creatures who like being with others and thrive in communities. It’s just the way we are. No point fighting it. Although maybe, should the opportunity arise, I’m sure there are some of us who’d hop aboard the hermit bus in the blink of an eye.

But anyway, here’s to more planning and scheming for this year’s festival. I hope you’ll come, see what all the fuss is about, spread the word and all that.

September 23rd, 10am to 4.30, Harbury village hall, Harbury, near Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. There’s a seat there with your name on it!

Characters

~ JacciGoodingAuthor

Couldn’t resist this short blog from Banbury Writers’ Cafe. All grist to the writer’s mill. Character profile/planning is integral, wouldn’t you say?

banburywriterscafe's avatarBanbury Writers’ Café

We’re going to be holding a session dedicated to characters – how to get to know them and develop them with some depth in a story.

We’ll be looking at character profiles: what information you should know about your characters to give them some, well, actual character. The more you know about them (up to a point), the easier it is to write from their perspective, to develop their filter for the writing. And readers love characters, so paying attention to getting them right seems to make sense.

While drawing up a template for a character profile, I kept the most important two points at the top. On re-reading it I thought these might come across as a little patronising, like it’s a given with writers and their characters, and I am in fact banging on about that most obsolete of lessons: sucking eggs.

What is their Story goal?

What…

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