Prima

New week, same – er…stuff ;-)

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What with the weather deciding to skip autumn and go directly to winter without passing go, it’s been a cold and soggy few days in Cambridgeshire (and in Kent, where I was to be found at the weekend). Not very inspiring…sigh.

I’ve had a stack of work to do for Proper Job A (I never have to do any ‘homework’ for Proper Job B – it’s not that kind of gig, LOL). And this week is just as busy as last week – or perhaps a bit worse!

Never mind. I may have missed the deadline for 50 Stories For Pakistan because I wasn’t paying attention (grr), nearly disowned Google (because, despite doing some things very well, their Google Sites set-up is RUBBISH and I am condemned to use it for 2 miserable years) , and lost three pieces of paperwork that I need for work…
But! on the plus side I have:

  • done more work on the Proper Job website (eventually! See Above!!)
  • attended my daughter’s presentation ceremony – she won awards for Ancient History and Science, and was recognised for her achievement in getting her GCSE Media Studies 2 years early (after doing a two year course in one year) and for scoring highly overall in the core subjects. We were a very proud Mum and Dad 🙂
  • sent two poems out for scrutiny (oh please be kind judges/editors!). One is called Colleagues and was submitted for the Writers’ News ‘Generation Gap’ theme competition. The other, Dining Room, has been submitted to Prima  because I thought it was right up their street; a poem about family and what brings us together. I wrote the original for the first part of my Diploma, but it underwent a fairly drastic rewrite before I sent it off.

Fingers crossed. Anyone know if and when Prima let you know if your poetry has been accepted? Is it like the Wise Words column – you only find out when you get the cheque and/or see your work in the magazine, LOL?

I’ve also just requested a writers’ pack from Take A Break, because I’m keen to submit to TAB and Fiction Feast – I may also have a go at The Weekly News, too.

Off to the dental hygienist after work tomorrow. What a thrill…

Just Another Manic Monday

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When the Bangles have already summarised my day so well, why would I spend time looking for a better phrase?!
The manic element was introduced by a lack of sleep (weekend cold caused the Dreaded Tickly Cough that Only Comes in the Night), a lack of remembering to set the alrm clock (although I remembered to change the time! Credit where it’s due, please!), and an attempt to work at both my Proper Jobs whilst fitting a doctor’s appointment for Arty Daughter in the middle.

Until 2 p.m, all I had eaten today was a small banana, a Milky Way and one of those miniscule Go Ahead strawberry cereal bars.

Meanwhile I have:

  • slapped a book reviews page up and swiped a review from my old blog
  • read the rest of the Prima issue I was published in and decided to submit a poem for their poetry column – it’s one I wrote for a previous OU course
  • searched my inbox in vain for a reply to an email I sent to an editor eleven days ago
  • spent a lot of time doing paperwork etc for one of my Proper Jobs
  • been gifted with the permanent smell of swimming pools up my nose (I’m guessing this is a sympton of whatever lurgy’s given me the cold, rather than a sign that a parallel-universe-me is a lifeguard).

The rest of the week is already looking much the same, because there’s a lot going on. My brain is fried by over-activity, germs and high-frequency sneezing attacks of great velocity.

I am going to lay down in a darkened room.

Woo-hoo! “The man from Del Monte – he say yes!”

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OK, it wasn’t exactly the man from Del Monte, it was whoever it is that looks at the submissions for the WiseWords page in Prima.

So now I have proof for myself that, as other writers have commented, you never know you’ve been published in WiseWords until you receive the cheque (no letter, just a sheet with in-house codes and a cheque attached at the bottom!).

I’m glad I didn’t know though, because one of the Proper Jobs has been pretty stressful over the last couple of days, and when I got in at 3.30 pm it was the nicest kind of surprise to find a cheque waiting for me 🙂

Right, need to go and finish a poem for a Writers’ News competition – it has to be posted tomorrow. I never really think of myself as a poet – but of the two poetry comps I’ve entered, one was tiny with no shortlist or even runner-up, the other was a standard Writing Magazine competition and I made the short-list. So I must sometimes have it in me to Rite a decent Rime 😉 – I’ll give it a go.