Visits, Illness & Christmas

I'm sorry if any of you have felt neglected.  But the few weeks leading up to Christmas were rammed with unforeseen events and mishaps.

My Mum came to stay for a few days which was nice sot I put my writing to one side so I could spend some real time with her.  I took her out for a wander around Stony Stratford which she seemed to enjoy especially when we stopped for coffee and cake.  The day after she went home, I became quite ill.  I will spare you the details but as a result I couldn't move my neck for a few days and as I'm sure you can imagine it was incredibly painful too.  I missed a few events I had been looking forward to and missed a competition deadline but hey-ho, I'm still here.

Then of course cam the big event itself - Christmas.  It was a good Christmas and it was nice that all three children were home and nobody had to leave to go elsewhere Boxing Day or drive anywhere.  Today is the first day I have felt able to sit and catch up on things.

Being ill gave me time to reflect on many things, primarily my writing.  There is a manuscript for a romance competition sitting beside me and I know without reading it that it is all wrong.  Still, tomorrow is a new day.  I will leave it until then and dedicate some real time to it.  I am not sure I am heading the right direction at all.

Agatha Christie

Well, that's my entry for the "Agatha Christie" competition in the post, let's hope the bad weather doesn't impede the postal service.

I still have the romance story on the back burner, it's resting at present as I've been editing it quite roughly of late.  I have looked around at other competition and discovered a few flash fiction ones.  Flash fiction isn't something I have taken very seriously before but there is already an idea buzzing around my head.  One of the competitions is for 500 words - if I'm lucky the idea tramping around in my head, might just be  a good fit.

As always, I will keep you all informed.

It's December...

Well not a great start to the month for me.

 I checked the results for the Christmas story competition I entered and I haven't been placed.  I didn't expect to be top of the  class but as there were 19 runners-up, I had hoped to squeeze in there.  But every cloud and all that.  At least I have a story ready to send out to magazines ready for next Christmas.

You may think me arrogant, expecting to be placed in a competition.  But, I think if you don't believe in yourself it will show in your writing.  So, I have allowed myself 5 minutes of self pity, a mars bar and a cup of tea.  Now to pick myself up, brush myself down and get my stuff back out there.