Monday, 16 April 2018

Nose to the Grindstone

Many of you will already know about Grindstone. For a while now, I've been entering writing comps on its site, because they are reasonably priced, they don't go on for ever and the results are posted promptly. Best of all, though, everyone who enters gets feedback on what they submitted. I've yet to be a winner, but I have received some very useful comments on my submissions.

I'm mentioning this because Grindstone has had a face lift and has a new website that makes it easier to enter competitions and promises to offer all sorts of other useful stuff for writers. If you're interested, you can find the site here.

I have a story that's been sitting around for a while that I'm going to refresh and enter into Grindstone's next comp. It's a tale I'm rather fond of, but as yet I haven't been able to find a home for it. I hope there's nothing fundamentally wrong with it - but no doubt the team at Grindstone will tell me if there is.

How old is too old for a story, do you think? When is it time to accept that it's never going to appear in print and simply let go of it?
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9 comments:

  1. MELODY JACOB16 April 2018 at 17:52

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  2. Calensariel17 April 2018 at 04:49

    Hm... Well even if it never appears in print, if you enjoy working on it why quit? Some of us are happy being "recreational writers." I am. Don't have much of a desire to publish anything, but I have two or three stories I just love to get out and add to. Thanks for this post, btw, Julia. I will have to take a look at that site. Never heard of it. Maybe your story will find a home there?

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    1. Julia Thorley17 April 2018 at 09:08

      Thanks for your words of encouragement, Calen. You're right, of course. Success comes in many forms.

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  3. Wendy's Writing17 April 2018 at 06:42

    I recently sold a story that had been rejected several times in 2013!

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    1. Julia Thorley17 April 2018 at 09:08

      Is that a record, Wendy? There's hope for me yet!

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  4. Anonymous17 April 2018 at 12:37

    I've never heard of Grindstone before. Thanks for the heads-up - I'm going to investigate!

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  5. Patsy19 April 2018 at 19:58

    I've just sold a story I wrote ten years ago – is that old?

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    1. Julia Thorley20 April 2018 at 15:55

      I'd say so, Patsy, but congratulations, all the same.

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