Writing Archives - Liz Tuckwell

Latest News March 2024

I haven’t posted anything for a while so here’s the latest news.

I haven’t sent out any email newsletters recently because I’ve had technical difficulties with complying with the new Google and Yahoo requirements for emails. Hopefully, normal service can now be resumed (once I get to grips with the new version of Mailerlite).

I’ve come back today from the last day of the London Book Fair’s three-day event. It’s the first time I’ve attended this. I was due to go last year but sadly, I was ill and couldn’t go. I went to some good talks for indie authors but one particular highlight was Richard Osman’s talk. Another highlight was meeting other indie authors.

The good news is attending the London Book Fair’s motivated me to set deadlines to finish some writing projects this year.

Latest News End June 2023

My latest news is that I have a story in another publication! My story “The Baby Machine” is in Flash!Mob: Into the Future: A Collection of Tiny Stories Written and Published in a Week published by Sixth Element Publishing.

I was emailed by Gillie Hatton, who runs Sixth Element Publishing who I’ve worked with before. She asked me if I wanted to write a 300 word story for this anthology. I only had two days to do it in. Actually, I wrote it in about two hours. So, I think I can claim it as my quickest story ever!

Sixth Element published this book in a week as part of the Teesside TechNExt Festival Fringe.

Flash!Mob: Into the Future is a collection of flash fiction stories where authors had the brief of Go Wild With The What Ifs. They looked at current day emerging tech and came up with some wild and wonderful 300 word stories on what could go wrong, what could go right, what could be just around the corner…

All proceeds go to develop writing in the Teeside area.

Latest News About Submissions May 2023

My latest news is good news. I’ve had three submissions recently accepted for publication.

The first is my short horror story, “The Collector” has been accepted for Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 13 (unofficially known as the Teddy Bear Edition). This volume will hopefully be published in June 2023.

The second is I’ve had three science fiction haikus accepted for Eccentric Orbits Volume 4, an anthology of SF poetry. This too should be coming out in June 2023. It’s my first time of submitting SF poetry so I’m very thrilled at the success of my first attempt. I’m really looking forward to seeing my poems in print.

And the third is my short story, “Blueberries” has been accepted for the “Mineral, Vegetable & Animal” edition of the online magazine, Sein Und Werden. This too should be out in a couple of months.

Naturally, I’m pleased and delighted that my submissions are doing so well. I actually submitted five pieces recently. That doesn’t include the teddy bear story by the way. A success rate of two out of five submissions is pretty good. I had one story rejected. The editor liked the story but didn’t want a fairy tale. Since I also submitted another fairy tale to him, I’m pretty pessimistic about the outcome. However, I’m still waiting to hear about the other one. Fingers crossed!

2021 Writing and Publishing Plan

I’m writing this at the end of February 2021 so I hope everyone is doing as well as they can. In the UK, the vaccination programme is going well and 21st June is the date that we hope to be able to move about freely again. Definitely something to look forward to.

2020 was a busy year for me, book wise at least, I had five stories published in anthologies, three of them in Harvey Duckman Presents books. They were Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 5, Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 6 and Harvey Duckman Presents … Special Pirates.

2021 is probably going to be a much quieter year for me. I’ve had one urban fantasy novella, The Raven King, published by Demain Publishing in January 2021, my very first novella to be published. I have, or will be, submitting a couple of short stories to anthologies but I’m planning to spend most of 2021 writing a novella or possibly a couple of novellas.

When I say writing, I really mean rewriting as there are two short novels that I completed as part of Nanowrimo that I want to look at again and see if I can turn them into novellas worth publishing. But before I do that, I’m taking part in an Imaginary Worlds worldbuilding course run by Megan Kerr of The Writers’ Greenhouse – www.thewritersgreenhouse.co.uk It’s a six week course and I’m enjoying it very much so far. It’s certainly given me some ideas for my stories.

I’m also planning to publish a print version of Quirky Christmas Stories later on in the year and perhaps a couple of Christmas themed short stories.

Short Stories Accepted April 2020

The Chinese have a curse, “May you live in interesting times” and it certainly applies now with all the fear, grief and uncertainty caused by the Corona virus. I’m staying at home and trying to be productive. I’ve recently had some good news about a couple of short stories, which cheered me up enormously.

The first story, “Scared of Girls,” a short horror story has been accepted by Demain Publishing for the second series of Short! Sharp! Shocks! and should be appearing sometime later this year. I’ve also been told that my story, “A Monster Met”, which is Short! Sharp! Shocks! No 7, will be appearing in print form sometime fairly soon this year. The print version will include an extra one, “Mason’s Story”, a horror story about a minor character in “Jane Eyre”.

I’ve also recently heard that another short story, “The Perfect Ham Sandwich”, a comic alternative history story, has been accepted by Sixth Element Publishing for the fifth volume of the “Harvey Duckman Presents” anthology.

I have two more stories out on submission at the moment so will update when I have further news, good or bad. Don’t hold your breath. The Corona virus is taking its toll on the publishing industry too.

Latest News on Stories February 2020

Several things have changed since my last post, so this is the latest news on my stories. My story, “Moonsleep” has now appeared in the BSF (British Fantasy Society’s) Monthly Story Project as the Story of the Month. It was due to be published in January 2020 but there’d been some delays.

Sadly, I’ve heard that my story, “Mirror in Her Hand” will not now be appearing in the “Heroes and Villains” anthology by the Facebook Fantasy & Science Fiction Support Group as it has had to halt the production of this anthology for various reasons. I’m be looking for opportunities to submit this elsewhere though.

I’ve heard that my story, “A Monster Met” will be appearing in print by Demain Publishing at some point during this year. They’re issuing all of Series 1 of Short ! Sharp! ShockS! as paperbacks this year. I’m very excited about that. Will update about the exact date.

I’ve had an article on online writing critique groups accepted for Focus, the BFSA (British Science Fiction Association’s) magazine and I’ve heard that it will be published in March 2020.

That’s all the latest news from me.

Update on stories February 2020

Time for an update on what’s been happening with my stories since the beginning of the year.

I’m sorry to say that my short story, Moonsleep wasn’t published as the British Fantasy Society’s Monthly Story Project for January 2020. I was told it had been delayed. I’m trying to find out when it will be coming out.

I’ve had a short story, Mirror In Her Hand, accepted for Facebook’s Fantasy and Science Fiction Authors’ Support Group anthology, Heroes and Villains. The expected date of publication is 1 April 2020 but I expect that this may be subject to change. Mirror In Her Hand is a modern adaptation of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fairy tale.