College is off for a whole fortnight and I'm trying to make good use of the time. Two flash pieces subbed so far and another on the cusp. One of them, 'The Doctor's Receptionist', has already been accepted by the Short Humour Site. Having worked hard on that, I'm well-chuffed. Here it is:
http://www.short-humour.org.uk/3writersshowcase/3writersshowcase.htm#CHB
I enjoy appearing in the Short Humour Site. It's very much my sort of place, down to earth, pithy and, like it says on the tin, FUNNY.
Can I have now have a rant about Christmas. I spent most of last week preparing for it! Seeing family, including daughter, son-in-law to be and son was terrific. Seeing other friends and relatives throughout this week is also great. But do we need ALL the razzmatazz? It's all becoming too much, imo. We - all of us - spend far too much on presents, on things the recipients don't want or need, just because we feel we should give them something up to a certain price. I enjoy cooking the traditional Christmas stuff - Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, mincepies, trifle etc - but again, a bit of moderation is required. Do we need all the trimmings, every year?
As for Christmas TV... don't get me started. I personally have only watched one thing, 'The Murder on the Orient Express' with David Suchet on Christmas night and it was RUBBISH!
And white Christmasses? No, I really don't want 'all my Christmasses to be white'.
So, on with the subs!
Tuesday 28 December 2010
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Success... and Failure
Sounds like a Russian novel. Or a Woody Allen spoof.
"A Family Day Out' has been accepted by 'Pig in a Poke'. Hurray! Always one of my favourite stories and featuring my favourite muse (who I hope doesn't recognise himself), it will appear in the January issue.
Got feedback from 'Writers Forum' on 'The Internet Bride'. They were generally quite positive, although I never thought it was good enough to appear in the mag. I'm glad I got the professional feedback. It doesn't hurt to punch above your weight sometimes.
Bit fed up with mags which don't bother to reply. Two stories in particular are going begging: a story about a computer who talks and a children's story about two cats. I am considering resubbing in the next day or two.
My favourite muse has gone on the student demos and come out unscathed. I'm so cross with him for putting himself in danger and yet I'm writing my novel about people who put themselves in much greater danger. I'm trying to tap into my feelings of anxiety as a protester's mother and his frustration at me for being that way.
"A Family Day Out' has been accepted by 'Pig in a Poke'. Hurray! Always one of my favourite stories and featuring my favourite muse (who I hope doesn't recognise himself), it will appear in the January issue.
Got feedback from 'Writers Forum' on 'The Internet Bride'. They were generally quite positive, although I never thought it was good enough to appear in the mag. I'm glad I got the professional feedback. It doesn't hurt to punch above your weight sometimes.
Bit fed up with mags which don't bother to reply. Two stories in particular are going begging: a story about a computer who talks and a children's story about two cats. I am considering resubbing in the next day or two.
My favourite muse has gone on the student demos and come out unscathed. I'm so cross with him for putting himself in danger and yet I'm writing my novel about people who put themselves in much greater danger. I'm trying to tap into my feelings of anxiety as a protester's mother and his frustration at me for being that way.
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Charlie Britten... About Me
I don't often get a chance to write about me... I'm not interesting. That's what my writing's for.
So what do I write? Fiction almost always. I used to think of myself just as a novelist, and that's still what I enjoy doing most. Like most hopeful novelists I have loads of dusty, and pretty awful, manuscripts stuffed in obscure drawers of unused cupboards, growing more yellow and more dog-eared with each year, floppy discs too. More later works (recent enough to be stored on memory stick) include a novel about growing up in middle-England in the 1970s. My current novel, 'And the Wall Came Tumbling Down' (which has been in progressed for far too long and still nowhere near finished) has a Cold War theme.
One of the reasons 'The Wall' has been so slow is that common sense prevailed and I started writing shorts as well. (How was I going to have any cred with a book publisher if I had no backline in short stories?) I particularly enjoy flash fiction, making a point or someone laugh in 200 or 300 words or less. Although I have had mainstream work accepted, I seem to have most success with humorous fiction, and all my work has a funny vein, even when I'm writing something deadly serious.
I've had work published on Fictionatwork, The Short Humour Site, The Linnet's Wings, Delivered (print magazine), Hobo Pancakes and Mslexia.
I belong to two writing groups: Chapter 79 and Writers Dock. The members of these groups, and of Great Writing and the old More Writing site, have taught me a lot.
In the real world, I'm an IT tutor at a college of further education in England. I live with my husband, son and cat, and my daughter lives with her husband to be on the south coast. Other interests are all a bit random: web design, cats, travelling in eastern Europe.
What else do you need to know? Not a lot. Read my work instead.
So what do I write? Fiction almost always. I used to think of myself just as a novelist, and that's still what I enjoy doing most. Like most hopeful novelists I have loads of dusty, and pretty awful, manuscripts stuffed in obscure drawers of unused cupboards, growing more yellow and more dog-eared with each year, floppy discs too. More later works (recent enough to be stored on memory stick) include a novel about growing up in middle-England in the 1970s. My current novel, 'And the Wall Came Tumbling Down' (which has been in progressed for far too long and still nowhere near finished) has a Cold War theme.
One of the reasons 'The Wall' has been so slow is that common sense prevailed and I started writing shorts as well. (How was I going to have any cred with a book publisher if I had no backline in short stories?) I particularly enjoy flash fiction, making a point or someone laugh in 200 or 300 words or less. Although I have had mainstream work accepted, I seem to have most success with humorous fiction, and all my work has a funny vein, even when I'm writing something deadly serious.
I've had work published on Fictionatwork, The Short Humour Site, The Linnet's Wings, Delivered (print magazine), Hobo Pancakes and Mslexia.
I belong to two writing groups: Chapter 79 and Writers Dock. The members of these groups, and of Great Writing and the old More Writing site, have taught me a lot.
In the real world, I'm an IT tutor at a college of further education in England. I live with my husband, son and cat, and my daughter lives with her husband to be on the south coast. Other interests are all a bit random: web design, cats, travelling in eastern Europe.
What else do you need to know? Not a lot. Read my work instead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)