Athelstone

Wow, that’s fantastic! Sorry, I’ve just seen this, but congratulations – a fabulous achievement. 😍

Aaah, that makes sense! Yes, now you mention it I think I recall more attention on that aspect. I think it worked. Good on you, lovely to see your writing get more recognition

@Daedalus, it was mainly making the manifests more fleshed out (so to speak) so they felt more real and the way they worked made more sense. So small tweaks throughout rather than a big edit. And totally justified, I think. I am prone to the vagueness, as you know!!

That’s interesting @raine, the story seemed pretty much exactly as I remembered it so I don’t suppose too much can have changed? Really glad to see my writing friends appearing in my favourite sources

Thank you @Daedalus. It’s a great mag & the editorial team were fantastic throughout. The acceptance followed on from a revise & resubmit, so it took a while but I’m delighted it’s out.

I treated myself to the podcast this morning. Wonderful story, lovely to hear it being read. SH is a fantastic home for it, one of my very favourite mags

Well done, Janette!

Well done,J!
And well done to you too, Ath for setting the comp ☺️

Yay indeed – well done Janette! And well done for choosing from such a disparate selection, Athers.

The Softness Of Untouched Snow

‘I say, Lilian, there’s a fair covering out there. Fancy a walk – a slide?’
‘Silly old beggar.’ I shook my head and carried on knitting. ‘Out there, in that? Slipping and shivering – at our age?’
‘Shivering means you’re alive. Come on, old lass, it’s been a long time indoors. Lets make some footprints afore anyone…[Read more]

Just Another Night at the Theatre.

Suspenders. Check.
Stockings. Check.
Corset and lacy panties. Check.
Stilettos.Check.
Pearl necklace. Make up to die for. Check.
Lab coat. Check.
Rubber gloves. Check.
Rice, torch, water pistol, newspaper, confetti, party hat, rubber gloves. Check.
Sense of humour. Check.
Willingness to participate.…[Read more]

As per Neil Gaiman’s fifth rule of writing:

‘Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.’

I heard an interesting podcast a while ago by Sophie Hannah. She mentioned agents who reject with more than the standard brush-off. They are generally finding there is something the matter with the submission but can’t or won’t put their finger on it so instead may jump to an “obvious” criticism and give you that. Her suggestion was that you…[Read more]