Tag: Seeing The Other Side – 3rd flash collection from Allison Symes

Postcards Home and Authors/Story Links

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to friends from Swanwick for taking some images of me signing books etc at a previous Swanwick. Also thanks to Adrian Symes for taking a photo of me holding Creativity Matters.
Hope you had a good weekend. Had a lovely trip out to see a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester with editing colleagues. Good fun and a fascinating place to visit. Want to go back as I didn’t get to see half of what was there. The Austen exhibition was good too. But oh how tiny the waists were back then!
Meantime back at home, Lady has got to see her two best buddies for the first time in a few days so all is well now. Part 3 of my serialisation of Seeing The Other Side came out over the weekend on CafeLit too. Link given below. All go here but in a great way!

Facebook – General

It’s my turn once again on More Than Writers, the blog spot for the Association of Christian Writers. This time I look at Postcards Home and set a few exercises for people to try. Hope you have fun with them. I especially hope the ACW Flash Fiction Group gives them a go!

Hope you enjoy the post. This is an apt topic for me as flash fiction has been known by many names, including postcard fiction.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lady has had a lovely day. She played with her two best friends, the Rhodesian Ridgeback and Hungarian Vizler. All is well in their world!

As promised the other day, I thought I would give a quick reminder now to say I will be quizzing Rosemary Johnson about her new book, Past and Present (Bridge House Publishing) later this week. There is an online book launch via Eventbrite, hosted by Bridge House Publishing, on Friday 1st August from 7.15 pm (UK time). The event will last for an hour. Hope to see you there.

Marketing Tip: Whenever you are sharing information about your latest story or book, think about what is in this for your readers. This is where sharing an odd story or two is handy because it makes perfect sense to say hello, this is what I write, and then share a sample of it. Nobody minds a free sample. If you have an author newsletter, it is a useful thing to include as part of that.

So enjoyed my trip to the Dorset Museum yesterday. Didn’t even see half of what they have there so a return trip is called for. The ticket from the museum lasts for a year so I hope to take full advantage of that. Pleasant run on the train too – and useful writing time of course. Will shortly be getting on with flash fiction Sunday today, naturally.

Writing wise, will have a busy week ahead with plenty going on the blogs front. Plus I will be sending out my author newsletter again on Friday (and taking part in Rosemary Johnson’s book launch for Past and Present the same day so Friday will be fun but busy).

Also it is almost time for the next edition of Writers’ Narrative so do look out for that too. You won’t be short of reading material this week!

Glad to see it is almost time for The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick once again. So looking forward to that.

Writing Tip: If you can get to writing events, be they online or in person, a one day thing or longer, try and go. One huge advantage to them is you get to meet other writers. Not only do you make friends, writers share information with each other all of the time.

You never know when (a) that could prove useful to you and (b) what you can share will prove useful to someone else. The writing community is generally a hugely supportive one and it is lovely to be part of it.

Was on my travels today down to Dorchester to visit the Jane Austen exhibition at the Dorset Museum. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at the great author’s links with the coast. I met editing colleagues here from the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). A great time was had by all and I plan to write more about the exhibition for Chandler’s Ford Today soon.

Talking of which, a huge thank you for the fabulous comments which have come in on Esther Chilton’s interview yesterday.

Next week’s post will be a review of the play of Notes From A Small Island, which was performed by The Chameleon Theatre Company this week.

Next week will be busy too as the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group will be meeting on Wednesday. Plus I’m also looking forward to Rosemary Johnson’s online book launch for her Past and Present collection on Friday. Host is Bridge House Publishing via Eventbrite. Will repost the link in next couple of days. Have done so above.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Lady has had an especially nice day as she got to play with Bear, a wonderful Aussie Shepherd, who is the nearest thing she has ever had to a boyfriend.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group meeting tomorrow on Zoom. We’ll be looking at the theme of summer. Plenty of good ideas to come from using a season in your writing. For one thing, they make an excellent backdrop.

Flash Tip: When you have a theme to hand for a story, take some time to jot down as many possibilities from it as you can think of. There will be more than you think. Play Word Association here. What you come up with may well generate words to put in a story, even the basic outline of what a character might see or do in your story.

For example with the theme of summer, you could think of things like tennis (story set against that back drop perhaps). You could think of ice cream (lovely old soul looks for a favourite flavour for someone he cares about) and that is just two basic ideas from two words associated with the theme.

Am sure you could come up with many more. Have fun!

It’s Monday. It has been hectic. It’s story time once again but this time I’ve produced something a little different. The program I use to produce my videos was unfortunately down when I needed to use it for my usual weekly tale though I am glad to say it is back up and running again.

Having said that (and given I have other writing commitments today), I took a story, recorded it on Zoom and have uploaded that to YouTube. Hope you enjoy my Work To Rule read by yours truly.


Flash Fiction Sunday is with me again so am looking forward to cracking on with that shortly.

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group on Zoom next week.

And now it’s time for part 3 of the serialisation of my Seeing The Other Side on CafeLit. Hope you like the latest selection of tales.

Getting out and about on the train, as I have done today, gives great opportunities for discreet people watching. I have occasionally heard intriguing snippets of conversation I have put my own spin on to create stories. The original speakers would genuinely never know.

This is true for any kind of prompt – it is what you do with it which transforms it into something with exciting story possibilities. The prompt is only ever to get you started, which can often be the difficult bit.

Goodreads Author Blog – Authors and Story Links

By the time I post this, I will have returned from a Jane Austen exhibition at The Dorset Museum in Dorchester. This was called Jane Austen – Down To The Sea and looked at her links with the coast.

Confession time – I was only aware of the one link, that being The Cobb at Lyme Regis. It is a major scene in Austen’s Persuasion. I’ve not read The French Lieutenant’s Woman which I believe also uses The Cobb as a setting.

I do always think of Persuasion whenever I visit Lyme Regis though.

The exhibition was an eye opener, fun, and I am so glad I went. So if a favourite author of yours has an exhibition on, why not check it out? They can be another way of helping you enjoy even more from the books you love. That has to be a good thing!

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Publication News: Third Flash Fiction Book and New and Old Books

Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Image Credits:-
All images from Pixabay/Pexels unless otherwise stated with many created in Book Brush. Book cover images from Chapeltown Books and Bridge House Publishing. Photos of me with my two flash fiction collections and Creativity Matters were taken by Adrian Symes. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes.
Hope you had a great weekend. I had splendid news – details below and with more to come in due course. Mind you, the title of this post is a big clue! Lady had her usual big walks and had a lovely time too. Weather not bad either and my roses are looking fabulous and smelling as fragrant as ever. When all is definitely not right with the world, little things like this help. (Plus an especially nice church service with some lovely singing also helps me!).

Facebook – General

Phew, a hot one today but Lady kept nice and cool. Was able to see her Hungarian Vizler pal too. Plenty of shade where we are, thankfully. I have a nice spot in the back garden (on the patio where it gets direct sunlight) where I can test the pavement temperature before I take Lady anywhere and that is handy at the moment. Will be for the next week or so if the forecast is to be believed.

Don’t forget I’ll be sharing Celebrating 60 Years of Drama with The Chameleons – A Look Back at The Open Evening for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday.

It won’t be too long before my next author newsletter will be out again. To sign up do head over to my landing page at https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com

Last but not least I’ll be back on Authors Electric tomorrow with my latest blog for them on the topic of Themes. More details tomorrow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Hope you have had a good day. On the plus side, Lady got to play with her Rhodesian Ridgeback friend and saw her Hungarian Vizler pal too. On the less positive side, it has been a particularly hectic Monday so am relieved to get to my desk to get on with writing and editing. Creativity really is good for you even if, just for a while, it takes you out of whatever chaos you have been dealing with for a while! (It wasn’t Lady behind the chaos, it just has been one of those full on, non-stop, things going wrong kind of days).

Writing Tip: When you get chaotic days like this take time to be kind to yourself. I know I won’t get so much done writing wise tonight. That’s fine. I’ll make up for it later in the week. My focus this evening will be to enjoy what I can get done in the time I’ve got. That matters even when things haven’t gone wrong!

Enjoying writing (and editing) will help keep you going when the going does get tough and it does sometimes. Happens to us all.

A huge thank you to everyone for the congratulations received on my sharing the news my Seeing The Other Side will be coming out in May 2026. The support is very much appreciated. As you can imagine, I feel the weekend has gone rather well!

Writing wise, I’ll be sharing Celebrating 60 Years of Drama with The Chameleons – A Look Back at The Open Evening for Chandler’s Ford Today on Friday. One of the things I love about going to see their shows is I get to take in stories I would never otherwise have come across. Full report, including revealing who the unexpected visitors were at the Ritchie Hall when I visited, will be shared on my post next week.

 

Big News – 14th June 2025

I am thrilled to be able to tell you I signed and sent back to my publisher today the contract for my third flash fiction book, Seeing The Other Side. It is due out in May 2026 (so will be in time for The Writers Summer School, Swanwick in August 2026, fellow Swanwickers).

BUT

Prior to that, this coming July in fact, part of the book will be serialised on CafeLit. I will send the links as soon as I can but the serialisation of part of the book will give you a good taster. It will also be the first time anything of mine has been serialised in this way so am excited about that too, as you can imagine. I can’t wait to share those tales with you.

And it is lovely to be able to start thinking about book launches again.

More to come as time goes on but so delighted to be able to confirm this news now.

Facebook – From Light to Dark and Back Again

Have picked a potential story to enter for a competition this weekend though it’s not a flash one. Indeed I could write up to 2000 words for this one, twice the flash limit. Having said that, there are plenty of flash competitions out there and I need to get around to picking one or two to have a try at (nothing ventured, nothing gained etc).

Looking forward to the Association of Christian Writers Flash Fiction Group next week.

I now know the serialisation of stories from my Seeing The Other Side will start in the second week of July. I will share the links as and when I get them. So excited about this as I’ve never had anything serialised before.

It’s Monday. It has been more busy than usual for me. I definitely feel it is time for a story. Hope you like my latest on YouTube – Working Outfit.

Is Mary right to be concerned her husband, who is due to judge a village fete, has decided to wear his best suit AND an apron? What makes her give him her old hat as well? Find out here.

 

Again, may I say a huge thanks to all for the wonderful support when I revealed my Seeing The Other Side will be out in May 2026. It was most kind of you and much appreciated by me. Writers spend so much time alone at their desks. We are all aware of the downs of the writing life and it is fabulous to be able to share a definite “up” moment!

Back on with flash fiction Sunday shortly. I like to mix up the moods of my stories for my regular submissions (Friday Flash Fiction and my own YouTube channel). Especially right now, I feel some light-hearted work is probably over due.

When I decide to start with the mood of the story above everything else, I then look at what kind of character would be most likely to deliver on this and then flesh them out from there.

When I start with the character, I work out what kind of mood they are likely to be in and that will influence the mood of the story. Themes can sometimes give strong indications of what the tale mood should be/is likely to be so it is a good idea to practice writing to a certain mood. It will come up in competitions at some point.


14th June – Publication News
I make no apologies for repeating my good news that I have signed and returned the contract for my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, today. The book will be out in May 2026 but some of the stories will be serialised on CafeLit from this July. More to come as I have it.

Looking forward to flash fiction Sunday tomorrow as usual. Need to start thinking about another writing competition soon but have understandably been a bit distracted by my big news! Hope to look into this tomorrow too.

Have got an idea for the competition I want to have a go at but it is a question of selecting a suitable story. I often draft pieces and save them for competitions. If I’ve got the idea, I will just get on and write it and polish it up even if I don’t initially know where I’ll try and place it. By the time I know which competition I’d like to try, the story has rested long enough for me to be able to judge it objectively enough.

Goodreads Author Blog – New Books and Old Books

I expect, like me, you have a good mixture of books on your shelves. I have new books, old books, classics, contemporaries, and, what is especially nice, books written by friends of mine (and signed for me too). I treasure them all.

I have books inherited from my late mother, who was a tremendous reader and encouraged me so much here. I have my own collections of books. The first series I went for, as an adult, was the Odhams Agatha Christie collection. Lovely red and gold hardback books. Fabulous stories, as you know.

Prior to that I collected the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton as these used to be on sale at my local newsagent, back in the days when many of those had a reasonable book selection you could buy. I miss those days! A new edition of the series had been brought out to tie in with Southern TV’s adaptation of the series for their Sunday teatime slot. That only stopped when Southern lost their franchise. (A big mistake but there you go and at least it got me reading the books!).

I do believe it is a great idea to have a health “reading diet” and for me that has always included contemporary as well as classic books. A great story is a great story whenever it came out after all.

MailerLite – Allison Symes – Newsletter Sign Up

WRITERS NARRATIVE SUBSCRIBER LINK 

AMAZON AUTHOR CENTRAL – ALLISON SYMES

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js