"Worms" in Hand Job Zine

My story "Worms" has been accepted for publication in the next edition of the excellent UK-based alt lit zine Hand Job.

The link to their site, where the issue will soon be available, is on the right.

"Small Fires" accepted for publication in Elbow Room Broadsheet

A new initiative at Elbow Room  - a broadsheet to be given away free to subscribers and at events  - is going to feature my poem "Small Fires". Have to wait until June or December to see it - I'll post the link to their site on the right.

The Space Beside at Negative Assets

A poem I developed from a flash piece recently has been accepted for print publication in issue 3 of Negative Assets zine. There's a link on the right to their site, where the issue will be available for purchase on release.

I enjoyed the process of cutting the flash piece, originally almost four hundred words, into a poem of about twenty short lines. It's a great exercise for learning about poetry, about words, about brevity, economy of expression, for learning about your own writing.

"Snow" wins first prize at www.theshortstory.co.uk

My flash fiction piece "Snow" has won 1st prize, £50, in the monthly competition at The Short Story website.

Link to the story on the right.

Almost Invisible at SickLit

A short flash of mine called Almost Invisible has been accepted for publication at up-n-coming writers' lit ezine SickLitMagazine.com 

I'll post a link on the right when it's up at the site (should be soon).

three poems and a story accepted at jawline, plus two at 101words

ending the year with some success - www.thejawlinereview.com have accepted three poem for paper publication in their inaugural issue, as well as a story for their site.

more details on publication, when i'll put the links on the right.

i also recently had two very short stories published at www.101words.org - the link is on the right

nice to end the year with some success.

in 2016, i'm aiming for much, much more.

"How We Made the Weird Thing" published at Paper and Ink

Issue #6 of Paper and Ink literary zine is out, and it features my story "How We Made the Weird Thing"

A link to the website where you can buy a copy is on the right.

"Song" at 101words

101words.org accepted a rewritten version of my short-short story, "Song"

It'll be on their site and possibly emailed out to subscribers this week.

Cool site and a really helpful editor.

I'll post the link on the right when it's up.

Rejections

I've been submitting quite a lot of writing to various places, and that leads to a few rejections as well as the odd acceptance.

Synaesthesia, Structo, Hobart, Elbow Room...

The point is to accept these with good grace, look at the work again, and...

keep writing...

keep subbing.

"Giving Up Alcohol" at Talking Soup

My story "Not Drinking" now retitled "Giving up Alcohol", is up at www.talkingsoup.com.

It's a great looking site, and the content is really strong too.

The link to the story is on the right.

Highly Commended at Borderlines

My story "Wall" has been highly commended (3rd place runner-up) in the Borderlines festival, judged by writer David Gaffney, a writer I very much admire.

Story shortlisted at Borderlines

The Borderlines short story competition, based in Carlisle, is judged by David Gaffney. I have a story on the shortlist...

Find out on Saturday...

"Not Drinking" Talking Soup

My story "Not Drinking" has been accepted for publication at fantastic ezine www.talkingsoup.com

I'll put the link on the right when the story goes up.

"How We Made The Weird Thing" about to be published in Paper and Ink literary zine

I should have posted this earlier...

I found out recently that Paper and Ink zine had accepted a recent story of mine called "How We Made The Weird Thing"

I'm  really pleased to have a paper-publication again...it's been a little while since I saw my words on the page not the screen.

I'll link on the right when the zine comes out later this month.

Three poems at Underground Books

I'm thrilled to have three of my poems featured at undergroundbooks, an inspirational alternative literature website...

The featured poems are 'I Will Not Stop Until I Have Written Everything I Know" "St. Michael's Maternity Ward, Alone" and "summit embraced"

The link is on the right.

'Graveyard' up at The Lake

The link is in the box on the right to my poem 'Graveyard' at quality poetry e-journal The Lake

Thrilled to get this poem published.

'Graveyard' accepted for publication by The Lake

A poem of mine called 'Graveyard' has been accepted by The Lake poetry ezine.

It'll' be on the July edition of the site.

I'll link on the right when its on-line.

I also received another very pleasant rejection, this time from Vine Leaves - a cool site, and I'll be submitting work to them again.

'Angels' performed at Liars' League Hong Kong; twitter, near miss

Once again, I should have posted this earlier...but 'Angels' was performed in Hong Kong at a Liars' League event last month.

If there's a video of the performance uploaded, I'll link to it on the right.

Also, I jumped on board the good ship twitter this evening...

@jj_fiction

Also, I had a rejection - but a lovely one (only the lovely ones get a mention) from Synaesthesia magazine

Been writing and subbing a lot this last month...so I'm expecting lots more rejections (and hopefully the odd acceptance) over the coming weeks...

Two small poetry successes

I should have posted this earlier...

A poem called 'Brothers' was the featured poem for February at poetry website Fiddles and Scribbles - the link is in the box on the right.

Also, a poem called 'Apple White' made the long-list in a big competition at yorkmix.com

I'm enjoying trying to write poetry.

 A really different process to my usual short fiction, and very challenging.

'Song' shorltisted at Fylde Brighter Writers

A flash (credited to my female alter-ego Jenny Jackson) called 'Song' made the shortlist at Fylde Brighter Writers competition.

I took a break from writing for November, so it's good to come back to a (small) success.

'Climbing' published online.

'Climbing', a shortlisted story at the Room To Write 2014 competition is published on line here.

Publication for shortlisted "Climbing"

It seems that all of the shortlisted stories from the recent Room to Write competition are to be published, initially online, with a view to print publication at a later date.

It'll be good to see the story published, in whatever form.

Near Miss at Liars' League New York

My story 'Fingers'  narrowly missed out on inclusion for the October theme night at Liars' League New York, but they sent me a nice email saying how the story was ' wonderfully Twilight Zone' - high praise indeed - and asked if they could keep the story for inclusion in a future event.

So, success of a sort.

Liars' League is a wonderful thing - it's great to watch (on youtube) as an American actor performs your story to an American audience, and it's more than a little surreal. I've had stories performed in London, Hong Kong and New York thanks to Liars' League (see the sidebar) and I've attended a couple of the London evenings.

Haven't quite cracked Leicester yet, though...

Bootcamp blast

Over at Alex Keegan's Bootcamp - the online writing community I'm a member of - we're having a 'blast' - a period of time, usually a month, where we try to write a complete piece every day and offer it up to our peers for constructive criticism.

This 'forces' us to write, and often pushes us into writing pieces which become fully realised stories (or poems) and find publication or competition success.

We're three days in, and I've only written two pieces...but there are still a couple of hours of Sunday left.

"Climbing" misses out at Room To Write

The results of the Room To Write" short story competition were announced yesterday, and "Climbing" - which had made the ten-strong shortlist - failed to place.

Congratulations to the winners, and I look forward to hearing the judges' comments on all of the stories on the shortlist.

As always with a piece that I rate, I'll be sending "Climbing" elsewhere as soon as a suitable competition comes up.