Wednesday 4 January 2012

Ten-Four Ends with a Bang...

... well, a couple of flashes. But more on those later.

I was far busier than I expected over the Christmas / New Year period, and I didn't get to do the whole "looking back over 2011, looking forward to 2012" bit. Still, other people have done that, and made a pretty good job of it. Suffice to say my resolutions for the next twelve months are pretty basic - I'm giving Twitter a go, and I'm aiming to write at least 1000 words each week, with the majority contributing to an as-yet undecided project. My upcoming week at Arvon will, I hope, help me decide what to direct all those words towards.

But enough of the future, you say, enough of this infuriating attempt to delay the announcement of what went on with the Ten-Four Challenge. Tell us what happened!

Easy, tiger... the short answer (and I'm tired, so a short answer's all you're going to get) is that I made it, with two pieces of flash fiction filling the final slots in the Big Ten. I got the ninth submission into Flash500 just before Christmas, sending in an edited-down version of a story I really like, but that's not had much success in either of the comps it's been to already. It's written in an unusual format and I think that may have counted against it. Maybe the shorter, sharper version will do the trick.

Number ten was almost literally eleventh-hour stuff. I don't think Jools Holland's Hootenanny had actually started on BBC 2, but 2011 was pretty much making its excuses and struggling into its coat and hat in the hallway. I sent a new story to a literary e-zine, somewhere I've not submitted before. They've got an excellent reputation and I think the story I sent would be a good fit for them, but obviously I'll have to wait and see.

The Challenge has been good for me, a bit of a stretch, but not too difficult to find (just) enough time to do the required new writing and editing to get those ten stories out there. It's slightly frustrating that it'll be near enough April by the time I know how many of the pieces I've sent out are coming back empty handed.

Although, one result I do have is that Every Day Fiction will be publishing my superhero story, Just Jeff, later this month. I'll write more about it once it's up there, but suffice to say I'm very pleased it found a home.

Lastly, and most important, a Happy New Year to you all. I hope 2012's treating you well so far.

1 comment:

Patsy said...

Congratulations for the EDF piece.

Glad you think your challenge was good for you as I've set myself some challenging goals this year 0 including getting to grips with twitter, so I'll try and find you there.