Monthly Archives: February 2023

Submit tiny flashes to Paragraph Planet

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Hot Water by Judy DarleyI’m growing increasingly addicted to Paragraph Planet. This fabulous website publishes a single 75-word flash fiction every day (word count includes title). The stories selected are brilliantly varied and thought-provoking. Visiting each day feels like pond dipping – you never quite know what wonders will appear.

They’re also a great place to submit to. Their online submission form is easy, and free, to use, and while there isn’t payment for writers, there is notoriety up for grabs. Each story is shared via Twitter to more than 3,600 followers.

The picture above is the one I created for my story Leavings, which is available to read in the Paragraph Planet archive section – just scroll to December 30th.

Isn’t there something satisfying about crafting a piece that exactly hits 75 words, including title, and ensuring it’s still meaningful? If you write, I urge you to give it a try, and if you read, swing by to read today’s tiny yet powerful offering.

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw my attention to? Send me an email at JudyDarley (@) iCloud (dot) com.

Writing prompt – look up

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Look up cloud formation shaped like a hand with a pointing finger against a blue sky

You know how it is when you’re meandering along with your head full of stress, your ear-buds filling your ears with chatter, your feet kicking along the leaf-sludgy pavement, and a random cloud formation catches your eye and demands you look up?

Yeah, that.

It happened to me the other day and lifted me from my concerns for a moment.

A frothy, cloud-sculpted hand pointed into a perfect blue sky.

So I followed the finger’s instruction and looked up.

And I saw….

You decide. Write this scenario into a short story and choose whether this hand is divine intervention, or a simply a naturally occurring clump of water droplets. What implications does it hold for your character? Does it change their life, or add a fresh stress to their existence? Or could this be the start of an unusual meet-cute?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

The Forward Prizes for Poetry invites entries

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Arnos Vale trees cr Judy Darley

More than thirty years after its launch by Bookmark, the Forward Prizes for Poetry welcome submissions from editors and publishers of books, magazines, online journals and competitions, published in the UK or Republic of Ireland, including works from the British Isles. There is also now one self-submittable category – ‘Best Single Poem – Performed.’

The submission deadline for all online entries is 5th March 2023.

Publishers entering the Forward Prizes for Best Collection and Best First Collection will have a further ten days to send physical copies of books, by 17th March 2023.

There are four prizes:

The Forward Prize for Best Collection

A prize of £10,000 will be given to the author of the best collection of poetry published in the UK or Republic of Ireland between 19 September 2022 and 18 September 2023.

The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection

A prize of £5,000 will be given to the author of the best debut collection of poetry published in the UK or Republic of Ireland between 19 September 2022 and 18 September 2023.

This year there are also two new prizes for single poems:

The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem – Written
A prize of £1,000 will be given to the author of the best written single poem that has been published in a newspaper, periodical or magazine in the UK or Republic of Ireland between 5 March 2022 and 4 March 2023, or has been the winner of a poetry competition with a prize awarded between the same dates.

The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem – Performed
A prize of £1,000 will be given to the author of the best new performance or a new poem to camera performed or produced between 5 March 2022 and 4 March 2023.

Find the full entry guidance here.

Find full details here of how to enter.

Got an event, challenge, competition, opportunity or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send me an email at JudyDarley (@) ICloud (dot) com.

Writing prompt – embrace

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Rainbow by Judy Darley

Recently, someone I value highly let me know that they identify as pan-sexual and pan-gender. To me that sounds like the most magical way to be – open to all the possibilities the beauty of humanity has to offer.

And yet, of course, not all of humanity can offer beauty and light. Some hide fear and uncertainty behind aggression.

This Valentine’s Day, can you write a story that brims with love of all varieties or shows a character overcoming their own fear and uncertainty to embrace possibilities?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Writing prompt – ledge

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Cat on a ledge2 by Judy Darley

When walking in my neighbourhood I often look out for window cats – those pets enjoying the warmth of indoors while gazing out at a wintery world.

Occasionally I see the opposite – a cat who is outside peering in and presumably wishing to gain entry to that cosy world, rather like a frostbitten Victorian urchin gawping at a rich family’s dinner and japes. Or maybe these are cats who were simply passing and felt the urge to feed their famous curiosity.

This cat looks a bit embarrassed to be photographed. What has it glimpsed through that window? Is it just feeding its curiosity, or has it seen something incredible?

And what is that reflected in the glass?

Can you use this to prompt a tale (or tail)?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.

Enter National Flash Fiction Day’s microfiction competition

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Sweets by Judy DarleyNational Flash Fiction Day’s 100-word microfiction competition invites your submissions. Send something funny, something that resonates, is fresh and exciting, and leaves the judges lost for words.

The deadline is 15th February 2023. You’re invited to submit up to three flash fictions on any theme at no more than 100 words each. Titles aren’t included in the word count.

Last year’s winner was Jan Kaneen with her beautiful mini-tale ‘Just a Word to the Snowblind.’ Read it and the other winners here.

The microfiction competition prizes are:

  • £150 for first place
  • £100 for second place
  • £50 for third place

There are also seven awards of £20 for highly commended pieces. The winning and highly commended authors will be published in the National Flash Fiction Day 2023 anthology, and will receive a free print copy of this anthology.

This year’s judges are:

  • Tim Craig
  • Amanda Huggins
  • Fiona J. Mackintosh
  • Johanna Robinson

Read more about the judges here.

Please only submit work that is not and will not be under consideration elsewhere before 15 March 2023.  By submitting work to the NFFD Microfiction Competition, you are agreeing to publication online and in the 2023 NFFD Anthology if your work is selected as a prizewinner or highly commended flash.

Find full details here.

This year, National Flash Fiction Day is on Saturday 24th June. How will you celebrate?

Got an event, challenge, competition or call for submissions you’d like to draw attention to? Send me an email at JudyDarley (@) iCloud (dot) com.

Writing prompt – empty

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Bird feeder_Photo by Judy Darley

This bird feeder has been hanging empty from a local tree for more than a year. It feels a bit like a ‘cost of living crisis’ metaphor, or maybe just a reminder that we need to be resourceful to provide for ourselves in difficult times.

Of course, the creatures who come here and are disappointed may not be birds at all. What other hungry mouths might it attract? How could they respond to the emptiness?

Can you use this as the prompt for a dark fairytale or satirical story?

If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.