My name is Helen and I’m addicted to quality stationery.
There you go, I’ve admitted it publically.
And one of my annual highlights is always starting a fresh diary (I know
it’s sad). This year’s object of my affection is a lovely Writer’s Diary
(thankfully my eldest son responded to repeated hints (I don’t do subtle) for a
Xmas present I would actually use. The diary is produced by Mslexia and is
packed full of ideas and info for women writers. On one of the first pages it has a Submissions
section for you to record when and where you’ve sent your precious masterpieces.
There’s nothing quite like pages of blank columns to make me feel under
pressure. And as the publisher,
Bloomsbury has dubbed 2012 as the year of the short story, I felt that I should
get cracking and enter a short story competition.
I've not got a lot of experience of writing short stories
and I know it’s not easy. With strict word limits you can’t afford to waste a
single word. I’m in awe of writers who
can pull off a powerful story succinctly. The ultimate in flash fiction, a short form of storytelling, has got
to be Ernest Hemingway’s work of genius, “For sale: baby shoes, never
worn." Wow! How can six words be so evocative? Maybe stunning examples
like that are why I’ve avoided the genre, but it was time to face my fear.
I needed a theme and a deadline to motivate me. And I found
it on a trip to visit the newly refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery
in Edinburgh. Hubby and I went as part
of a festive trip to Auld Reekie. The
gallery is a fantastic neo-gothic red sandstone building and has something to
suit everyone’s taste whether you like traditional paintings of Scottish lairds
or photographs of Glaswegian slums. It’s
well worth a visit and it’s free entry! On the way out, I picked up a leaflet
for a competition called, ‘Inspired? Get Writing!’ There’s still time to enter!
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/education/competitions I chose to write about a striking (and a bit scary) portrait
of the acclaimed writer, committed feminist and social activist, Naomi
Mitchison, painted by Percy Wyndham Lewis. She sounded like my kind of woman!
 |
| A very clever lady but what a dour faced looking besom! |
I sent off my submission this week and felt quite
smug at being able to make my first entry under the Submissions section of my
new diary. Entering the competition has fired me up to enter as many as
I can in the hope of being published. Read a lot, write a lot is my new mantra
and the competitions will give me a goal and the chance to practise, practise, and
practise my writing skills. The chances of winning are slim but as they say, if
you’re not in it, you can’t win it. Watch this space…
1 comment:
mmm, lovely stationery is one of those glorious things. I'm very lucky down here in Oxford - one of my friends is an artisan stationer (http://www.immaginacija.com/ - she does mail order if you dare look and be tempted!) and her workshop is located largely at a huge table (decorated with painted quotations from Howl - some piccies at http://lastmanoutofeden.tumblr.com/post/15784831319/words-in-pictures-number-2-the-albion-beatnik) - sometimes she even marbles her endpapers there - it's fabulous to watch.
Very very best with the competition - I hope it's the first of many this year
:)
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