More competitions

Just entered one more short story competition, and finishing up an entry for another much larger one. Still a few more to look at before the month is done. Missed out on a huge competition, hope I can catch it next year.
Another competition at Glimmer Train, but you know what? They ask you to enter and then demand 15 dollars for a reading fee. What a scam. Why don't they get a sponsor? There are tons of writing competitions, unfortunately you have the pay an entrance fee for most of them.
All quiet on the book front...

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.