Onesie McSingleton

Having been off for a week and a half, I am really, really struggling to get back into my job. To be completely honest I hate it.

On the plus side I went ahead and applied for the £10,000 MMU short story competition. I hold out absolutely no hope that I could win; I did my degree there and I know they will choose a story that is weird for weird's sake. But still I feel like more of a real writer just because I've actually tried.

In other news, not sure if it's good or bad, I've had a sort of idea for a children's story. And I mean children children, like the tiger who came to tea level. 

I don't even like children, never mind think about writing for them. But then I was wallowing in my new single life and updated my status with 'Onesie McSingleton is going to Arta tonight'. Onesie McSingleton. I love the rhythm of it and that must be why it got stuck in my head, repeating over and over until I started to wonder what kind of person would be called Onesie McSingleton.

He's a wee boy in a tartan onesie, who's favourite phrase is "I can do it all by myself". There's also a girl called Tutu (I can't decide on her surname though), and another male character as yet unnamed.

It's strange to be thinking at this level, but at the same time it's nice to know my idea cylinders are still firing.

Inspiration

Last Sunday I took part in the Race for Life. It was incredibly hard and made me feel sick but it was worth it because I raised over £500 for Cancer Research.

It was also worth it because it gave me an idea for a story. Not like a competition brief where I ponder over the idea for days or weeks and then plod through writing the story. A proper, flash of light, couldn't write fast enough to keep up with my imagination, solid idea.

I cannot explain how amazing it felt to be writing like that again. It makes me feel like maybe I am a writer after all.

The inspiration and story both made me cry though. Hopefully next time I get a flash it won't be so personal or painful.

Time for a re-think

While skimming through the competitions on the Writing Magazine website I noticed one small phrase jump out of the modern family competition brief:

'Writing for children'

I do not remember that phrase being in the magazine brief, and I am going to double check the second I get home. Because if that phrase is in there, I have some serious rewriting to do.

Writing for children is so different to writing for adults. There has to be a point for the kids, a moral or lesson to take away from it. You can't just write any old rubbish and call it literary fiction. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if I can write for children. As far as I can remember I have never even tried to write for them, as it's far easier to target those at my mental age (17) so I know what they'll enjoy.

However, after the shambles that was my last attempt at competition-writing I'm going to give it a go anyway. It's definitely free entry so I have nothing to lose.

Who knows, maybe I'll discover that children's writing is actually my calling!

Sod's law

I was planning to enter a writing competition for which the brief was to write about someone who couldn't sleep. After too much thought I bashed out an attempt, which wasn't very good. Because the deadline was so close I decided to abandon the story as I wouldn't have time to properly proof and edit it even if I could fix it.

Deadline day arrived and I was feeling disappointed in myself. I had been so determined to finally enter a competition, but when it came down to it I just couldn't. Then while I was walking home from work I had a sudden flash of inspiration - I could make the story work! And the deadline was midnight so I could still submit in time!

I rushed home, turned my laptop on...and remembered that the story was only saved on my work computer.

Lesson learned: save your work EVERYWHERE.

What's in a name?

I suck at creating titles for my work. Occasionally it just jumps out at me, like it did for my assignment The Meaning of Freedom. But mostly I just sit with the story in front of me, staring at it as though I can force it to give me its name, before giving in and calling it something so unimaginative I'm almost ashamed of myself.

The story about 7-year-old Jack and his modern family is written, hooray! Now I have to name it, not so hooray.  I am starting to wonder if my poor titles affected my marks on my degree, and if they've ever stopped me winning a competition.

How do you even fix that? Is there a 'Title Writing' course out there? I wouldn't be surprised, actually. 

Well I've got at least a month to think about it so maybe something will come to me.

Competition

Yesterday I discovered a short story competition with a prize of £10,000.
Yes, you did read that right. No, I did not accidentally add one too many noughts. It's ten thousand for a maximum of 2,500 words. 

More details here: http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/

There's a part of my brain that thinks a story capable of winning so much money must be epic, and there's no way I can write anything £10,000 good.   There's another part of my brain that's still, almost 24 hours later, going "ten thousand? Ten thousand?? That's just...ten thousand?"  Honestly, I don't know what I would do if I suddenly had that much money. 
And there's that voice again saying I don't need to worry what I would do because I could never write anything good enough.

But I am choosing to ignore that voice. My lovely boyfriend has offered to pay the £17 entry fee for me (apparently it makes him happy when I write) so I have absolutely nothing to lose. I'm going for it!

I'm also going for a slightly less lucrative writing competition in the writing magazine I subscribe to. This month's competition is to write about 7-year-old Jack and his 'modern day' family.  As soon as I read the brief I had an idea for my story, which hasn't happened for a good long while so I'm confident that it will turn out well. Or at least better than my novel.
The prize for this one is only £100 (only!!) but it's free to enter so I may as well.

It's working. I'm starting to feel like a writer again.