Only three days until NaNoWriMo, and I need to decide what to do this year.

1. Write a shiny new novel which will sit in a drawer for the next year.

2. Write 50,000 more words on last year's NaNo novel.

3. Focus on the time rather than the word count - spend a solid two hours a night working on my collection of stories.


VOTE VOTE VOTE.

I've just won a New Writers Award!

I'm going to use the £2,000 prize to complete 'Slacker Love Songs', a collection of city-set stories using mythical and fairytale tropes. The prize also includes mentoring and networking with agents and publishers - Canongate, here I come!

In selecting work for my portfolio, I had to read a lot of my own writing. There's an awkward, self-conscious, masturbatory pleasure in doing this, so I tried to read it in a critical way, as if someone else had written it. This led to me noticing a lot of repetition.

( Kirsty Tropes )

Maybe I should try to write a dialogue-heavy, metaphor-free, action-packed story about a married, middle-aged, heterosexual man who likes guns and sports. Or a long, meandering, historically-accurate story about a young boy living on a farm and dealing with his relationship with his father.

Or maybe I should just embrace my personal clichés and write about genderqueer and cities at night and confused girls and awkward sex. But maybe I'll add some sea monsters and dialogue.

What are YOUR personal clichés? Do you embrace them or try to write against them?

Just got my MLitt grades back - Pass with Distinction, woop woop!

Writers! Don't forget to submit to the Hint Fiction anthology.

P.S. It's the one I mentioned here.

Best version of I Kissed A Girl ever!

I have a very short story in the Novelette contest - please feel free to vote for it.

Stolen Stories @ Glasgow Uni

From October I will be teaching an evening class at Glasgow University on writing original fiction from myths, legends, fairytales, history and classic literature The class is called "Stolen stories" (a title which I, appropriately enough, stole) and will run on Thursday nights from 7pm to 9pm. More info here, or you can email me: hello@kirstylogan.com.

I know that most people don't have £75 to throw around, but I think that £75 for 10 weeks of classes is a bargain - particularly as I paid THREE GRAND for my writing classes, and I shall be passing on every single penny of that writing knowledge on to my students. Oh, and if you earn less than £22,000 you can get a £200 grant to cover the fee.

I need to get at least 12 sign-ups for the class to go ahead, and it would be so amazing to see a familiar face there! If you've been thinking about taking a writing class then please do consider this one.

New story up at Moondance: circuses, joyriding, a tall man with stretched earlobes... and all on the Isle of Skye. Even if you've read the story before, you should visit to see the gorgeous trapeze artwork.

Susie and I are spending the weekend at the kitchen table, working on on our matching MacBooks.



SO GAY.

I've been shortlisted for the Glasgow Student Short Story Prize, yaaaaay! At the very least, that means I'll be in the anthology.

I was excited enough about the prospect of A.L. Kennedy reading my story, but it's even better to know that she liked it!

After two years, I am finally finishing my Creative Writing MLitt. All I have to do now is hand in my final portfolio. It's pretty much done; but I've read it so many times that I don't even know which parts make sense any more.

Any volunteers to read over it and give me any last-minute criticisms? It's 16,000 words.

My erotic flash fiction, 'Afterwards', is up at Circlet Press!

I've already had a complimentary email from Shanna Germain, which is very exciting to me as she's one of the reasons I decided to try writing erotica in the first place. She even linked to the story from her blog!

It's too much excitement for a Monday morning.

I like butch girls and I cannot lie
you other femmes can't deny
when a butch walks in all the femmes make a fuss
because there's like one of them and thirty of us...

anthology for 25 word or less stories

( more info )

Submissions will open on the 1st of August, so I will post the email address for submissions then.

I'm a finalist in the Crossed Genres flash fiction contest. Please vote for my story, 'Primogeniture'.

Remember kids, it's 'Primogeniture'! Vote for any of the others and I will be forced to bite off your mouse-clicking finger.

I know it's only an $8 prize, but it's always nice to win things.

I've been sorting through old boxes and drawers in preparation for moving, and I found this:



I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who Pedro is. I've never met anyone called Pedro in my life. Who is this man? Why do I have his photo? Why does he say he loves me? Was I at some point a mail-order bride, and I have now forgotten?

Not only has this caused me to question Pedro's identity, but my own as well.

Kitty Low rocks the party that rocks the party.

I know there are a few writers on my friends list, so I thought this might be of interest:

( short fiction wanted for .Cent, a fashion/art magazine )

Let me know if you submit anything!