Competitions

...it's all gone a bit quiet...
Had a look at the writing competitions available, with free entry, of course. There are quite a few, and I entered 2 tonight, 1 was the Six-word-story, the other the LAA 100 word story.
Hemingway wrote the first 6-worder to win a bet (For sale: baby shoes, never worn). Mine aren't Hemingway, but I had a go. The 100 word story is called "Girl from the East Country", the title is a spin of JJ Burnel's 'Girl from the Snow Country', a great piece of music (forgetting the drums, JJ, why don't you re-do it?)
And there's a few biggies I'll have to write for, the 1st being the Costa Book Awards (7th September deadline) and the 2nd the Shortsentence (end of August). And of course, I can enter the Hubbard with a short piece based on my fantasy universe. So, head down, and write.
Competition: First one to contact me on my website (http://djc.yolasite.com/) and give me their address will receive a signed copy of 'Man by a tree' (original version).

Szia magyar! (for English translate with Google:-))

Szia magyar!
Nos, a fordítás az "The Bethlehem Fiasco" jól megy, a legújabb részeket ellenőrzik az egy hegy tetején Kínában mellett egy taoista templomban. "Man by a tree" fordítás nagyon lassan megy. És kértem valakit, hogy vessen egy pillantást a "The Rage".
Ha a fordítás elkészült, meg fogom keresni egy kiadó. Ha ez nem működik, én saját közzé.
Nézd ezt a helyet ...

Это для русских ...(for English retranslate with Google)

Перевод через Google.
Вы, ребята получили это тяжело, я знаю. Я не чувствую, потому что я английский, но я жил в Восточной Европе уже более 10 лет, и это тяжело. Я не пью водку, хотя. Вы читали все мои письма? Что вы думаете об этом? Скажи мне.
Жаль, если вы не русский. Это было весело, хотя :-)

Ordering, submitting, resubmitting...

Just ordered a few copies of 'Rage' for people, It'll be nice to see it actually in print.
Last night got a rejection letter from one of the Penguin Group saying they think my 1st book isn't financially viable in today's market, so I sent them the first 10 pages of my 2nd book 5 minutes later, with the same cover letter, just changing the details of the 1st to the 2nd book. Editors can give set replies, I can give set submissions.
Also submitted a strange little story to another online magazine, waiting for that one. And I have a few more ideas for shorts. It's great how one idea springs another.

Slow week, some small submissions

Not much happening this week, sent a few short story submissions to some online magazines, and thinking of writing a few more, I've got tons of ideas. One of the best needs a lot of research though, which would take much longer to read up about than write the story. I read a few examples from other people which were already 'published', maybe my stuff just isn't mainstreamly dull enough. Who knows? Poems I don't really do, and the ones I saw on the online magazines were awful.
A few more new countries these few weeks, too. Sweden, Latvia (again, I think), Macedonia, and Bangladesh and Indonesia. Just got a little push from France, 11 hits.
That 'Name's Jack' thing? Made a little soap-opera argument about dialects/accents and grammar on authonomy.com. Finally re-wrote it and finished it as a short story. Well, finished means gave it an ending, but it could easily be just a scene from a novel, so tinkering with that thought ATM.

First person present or past?

Just started a thread on authonomy.com about writing in first person present or first person past and it brought up / is bringing up a lot of interesting stuff. The majority of books you read are written in the past tense, my 1st 3 were, it suited the 3rd person multiple POV style. But there are a hell of lot of them written in FPP (first person present) and readers don't even realise. Those books which used / use it are GREAT books, I'll just ring off a few...The Hunger Games, The Help, Trainspotting, and even Fifty Shades of Gray(I think perhaps I meant GREAT in terms of sales). I even found FPP in 'Disgrace' by Coetzee. If that ain't a stamp of approval, I don't know what is.
So, I'm experimenting. It's interesting. Some actions by my new Main Character (MC) seemed right in present, so I made the MC's action present, while all other actions past. It's strange but it seems to work.
...mmm, maybe I know why...YOU do something now, it happens in the present, whereas what YOU see has already been 'decided' before you see it, so it's in the past, even if it's a continuing process. Get it? I think I'll continue on, perhaps I'll crack it or not.

A 4th book? Come on! You're kidding me!

Well, maybe. I'm writing something at the moment which might just be a short story or novelle or maybe even another full novel. Not in the same style as the first 3 but something closer to home, from my 'old life'. Reading some of 'Vernon God Little' and 'Disgrace' for my paper got me in the mood for some serious stuff.
I've put a little on a forum on authonomy.com, but those mothers won't bite. Too busy congratulating each other on how fantastic or not they write. So I'm putting a bit on jottify.com here, see who has a look. It's a quieter site, but maybe someone will have a read.
I think it might turn into a novel, definitely a play. Someone said the other day 'Bethlehem Fiasco' would be good as a radio play. Will have to look into that.