This is an update of my post originally entitled A Diversion, published – would you believe – in 2013 ! Challenges from Chris Fielden and Friends I’ve been following Chris Fielden’s challenges for many moons, at https://www.christopherfielden.com/ I enter short stories in his two-yearly To Hull and Back competitions and have even been shortlisted. (My story, … Continue reading Still Diverting
Category: writing challenges
101 Word Flash Fiction
I'm please to announce my flash fiction story The Last Night is published today on Flash Fiction Magazine's 101 words website. ### ### What do you have to celebrate today? ###
Why Am I Writing This Boring Story?
I struggle to find story ideas. Occasionally, I find myself re-imagining something that happened in my family (as do all writers). Or something that might have happened, prompted by a remark somebody made. As I carry on along one of these drab avenues, I might think to myself, Nobody is going to be interested in … Continue reading Why Am I Writing This Boring Story?
A Cheat’s #Bloganuary week 3
Since I don’t aspire to blog daily, I’m only offering my first thoughts about the week's prompts. 15th Jan: What is a life lesson you feel everyone can benefit from learning? Whoever told you life would be fair? They lied. Life isn't fair. It's never going to be fair, but this doesn't mean you have … Continue reading A Cheat’s #Bloganuary week 3
Ekphrastic
One prompt for 12 poems in 12 months earlier this year was Ekphrastic. No I didn't know what it meant either until I looked it up. The Christmas Crackerby W H Tweed (1840-1899) Apparently it means talking about stuff to do with art. My poem is below. It started as blank verse but kind of … Continue reading Ekphrastic
Diversion
Since I have no idea what to write about this week, here's another poem from the 12 poems in 12 months challenge at deadlinesforwriters.com The prompt for this one was found. Diversion I thought I knew the way. I’ve not renewed my SatNav sub – it ran out back in May. The road was closed. … Continue reading Diversion
How Do I Miss Thee?
One recent challenge for 12 poems in 12 months (at deadlinesforwriters.com) was to write a sonnet. I chose the Shakespearean sonnet form. How do I miss you? Let me count the ways now we’re apart. I woke up late this morn, No pillowed head beside me this fine day, To snore throughout the night till … Continue reading How Do I Miss Thee?
But is it poetry?
The challenge was to write blank verse: not something I really understand, but - hey, I joined this challenge to learn, didn't I? My poems scan, their lines carefully rhymed and of a length, with syllables aligned. Its beats are bars in a melody’s score. Its rules are like bars of a cage. If words … Continue reading But is it poetry?
Broken Blue
The invitation from Carol J Forrester in her blog, was to find an object lying around me and write a verse about it. I bought it as an outdoor clockwith blue tit perching on a log, intending it for garden use.But when I took it from the boxit threw itself upon the floorand in four pieces … Continue reading Broken Blue
Recapturing the Muse
It's easy to get out of the writing habit. If you've been busy with other things, it can take an effort to get back into writing mode. Last week we were visiting relations in Cornwall, and I let go of my muse. The result was similar to letting go of our puppy on the beach: … Continue reading Recapturing the Muse
Writing Wrinkles, and Random Ramblings 