What's in a name?

“Once upon a time,” I begin my story, “there lived a king whose name was…” Here I stop. Henry? No, too common. John? Too short. George? Nah, I keep misspelling it while typing fast. Besides, why am I limiting this to English names? The story certainly doesn’t require it.

Let’s begin again. “His name was…” Mbwango? Hmm, a bit of a tongue twister. Kwon Yun Ming Chan? Too long. Muhammad? Not exclusive enough, too prolific and popular. Dmitri? Suddenly I’m trying too hard – and am still stuck on the first page of what was supposed to be my masterpiece.

One of my major problems when writing any story isn’t...
Read the full article in the March/April 2010 issue of Writer's Digest

or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

950 words
Humour
US publication
Includes exclusive quotes from best-selling authors David Baldacci, David Nobbs, Debby Holt, Jeffrey Archer and Jonathan Kellerman!

***********************

Words from the Wise

"I definitely enjoyed it!"

Moira Allen

Publisher

Writing World

"I thought your article was great fun and it was a pleasure to be involved in it! All (the) best, Debby"

Debby Holt

Best-selling Author

The Ex-Wife's Survival Guide, etc.

"(Your) article (was) very interesting"

David Nobbs

Best-selling Author

The Reginald Perrin books series, etc.

Who are you? (How to write a good bio)

“Please provide a short third-person bio along with your submission.” The usual polite request beams up at me cheerfully from the guidelines of a well-known magazine. It is just what I have been dreading.

If you are the type who breaks out in sweat when asked to introduce yourself infront of a sea of strange questioning faces, then you are not alone. It is the single worst request in the world guaranteed to put anyone in an anxious quandary. What to reveal? How much of it? Why do they want to know anyway? Now visualise the number of onlookers multiplied by a few thousands, as in the readership of a...
Read the full article in the March/April 2010 issue of New Writer

or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

2270 words
Humour
UK publication
***********************

Words from the Wise

"It has some solid points and some good humor"

Zachary Petit

Managing Editor

Writer's Digest

Confessions of a stamp murderer

30 May 1931. An unremarkable date. The British Raj is still lording over the Indian populace as revolts are cropping up like angry acne all over the country.

It is an unremarkable day in an unremarkable remote village of India. On the main road, cycles trill shrilly and overbalance into pedestrians. A cow squatting on the footpath is placidly chewing the lungi of the newspaperman established on the wayside. A radio teetering on the edge of his table blares out classical music between bursts of static. With every knock it receives, it emits a fresh outburst of indignant squawking.

Adding to...
Read the full article in the Vol. 20 No. 4 March 2010 issue of Eureka Street


or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

1160 words
Drama
Australia publication
***********************

Words from the Wise

"A lovely piece"

Tim Kroenert

Assistant Editor

Eureka Street

"I really enjoyed reading your piece. It is a thought-provoking look at history. You're a very talented writer with good instincts for intriguing stories."

Paula Jolin

Manuscript Reader

Sun

"I like it - (it's) different..."

Mairin Holmes

Assistant Editor

Stamp News

"It's well written"

Guy Thomas

Editor

Stamp

"It is very well written, and the opening scene is especially well evoked"

Melinda Selmys

Editor

Vulgata

"It is a really good read, and very evocative"

Helen Tovey

Editor

Family Tree Magazine

T(h)reading the water

When my sister, a busy Project Manager, went away to a conference – for busy project managers – she left me in charge of her daughter. Specifically, her daughter’s school assignment.

‘Sophie has to do a history project for school and I thought who better to help than you?’ my sister had said as she bustled about at the last minute.

‘But I thought you were the ‘project manager’,’ I had protested, holding up a perfectly good dress that she had earlier discarded and offering it to her again.

‘Ah, but you’re the writer, the arty one,’ she had countered, dismissing the dress with a disdainful wave. I had...
Read the full article in the March 2010 issue of Aqua Zone


or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

1230 words
Humour
UK publication

Includes nine stunning colour illustrations!

Against the grain

Retirement hits some people hard. And when my father retired, no one was harder hit than my mother and us two sisters. With time hanging heavy on his hands and nothing much to do but try Mum’s patience and dole out long-winded advice much too often on Shirley’s legal cases, Dad had soon picked up the not-so-subtle hints about doing something better with himself than just being Man of the House. Tiring of the charms of daytime television, he had begun to hunt in earnest for a proper little hobby with which to keep himself occupied. After having steadily taken up and discarded solitaire (too slow)...
Read the full article in the February 2010 issue of Work Life Group's Career Stories 2010 Competition

or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

2050 words
Humour
US publication
***********************

Words from the Wise

"It is an entertaining story"

Jennifer Stackhouse

Editor

ABC Gardening Australia

"We enjoyed it"

Sandra Costich

Associate Editor

American Scholar

"Yours is a charming story--lively and whimsical... I enjoyed the story of your father's post-retirement 'employment' "

H. Emerson Blake

Editor

Orion

"Nice story. I enjoyed it"

Pat Stone

Editor

GreenPrints

"This was very enjoyable to read"

Lorna Loveless

Editor

BackHome

"I really enjoyed reading your piece... It is quite funny - I especially liked the ending, I too could picture those pain-spattered walls. You're a very talented writer with good instincts for intriguing stories"

Paula Jolin

Manuscript Reader

Sun

"You are clearly a talented writer"

Alison Weaver

Founding Editor

H.O.W. Journal

The unlikely saviour

It tottered on its emaciated legs trying to regain some semblance of balance. It shook its head from side to side, as if unsure which way to go. Horns blasted at it from all sides, people shouted, waved, pointed, ignored, went about their work with no time to spare a thought for the confused unfortunate creature caught in the midst of their traffic snarl.

For the tenth time, the calf turned around to get back to where it had come from, and realised that the road back home had long faded into a mass of scurrying vehicles and humans. There seemed no beginning or end to it. It shivered and shook. The rain...
Read the full article in the February 2010 issue of Joyful!

or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

510 words
Drama
US publication
***********************

Words from the Wise

"I am impressed with your interesting work"

Pamela Tyree Griffin

Publisher

Joyful!

Confessions of a stamp murderer

30th May 1931.

An unremarkable date. The British Raj is still lording over the Indian populace even as revolts are cropping up like angry acne in pockets all over the country.

It is an unremarkable day in a small village in the remotest interiors of Cawnpore, the industrial capital city of the United Provinces in north India. On the main road pull-rickshaws ply to and fro, shrilly trilling cycles overbalance into pedestrians and bullock-carts sway along slowly. The cow scrunching on the footpath is placidly chewing the end of the lungi of an irate passer-by who is red in the face from trying to...
Read the full article in the November 2009 issue of Stamp News

or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

1625 words
Drama
Australia publication