This blog was officially 12 months old at the weekend. My first post, dated May 1st 2009, looked like this:

After a long Easter break it is time to get cracking. With my current OU course about to end, things are ramping up. I have a TMA (Teacher Marked Assessment) due soon and my ECA (End of Course Assessment) to finish in seven weeks or so. Add to that my urge to send out short fiction manuscripts to literary journals, magazines and websites to see what sticks and it is easy to see that the run to the summer will be busy.

Last week, as a first step on the path to publication, I entered my first competition, run by the Writers Forum magazine and The Weekly News, sending in a redraft of a TMA I wrote back in October last year. Sending stories to The Weekly News is how Paul Abbott started out, so I won’t be in bad company if it sees print.

One year on, what’s new?

The more things stay the same

Not surprisingly as I signed up for the followup course, this week I have been working on my ECA, which is a bigger, tougher, and altogether different beast to last year’s, being the opening of a novel rather than a piece of short fiction. I have sent out a load of submissions this last week, which resonates with my activities a year ago. And I started watching the first season of Shameless this week, having managed to have missed it since its original airing, which ties in to the Paul Abbot comment weirdly.

The more things change

Since starting this blog I have published two online flash fiction horror stories, two flash fiction stories in print anthologies, snagged a place at the Chinese Whisperings table for 2010, and just two days ago had a short story accepted at The View From Here, which will be published on the site in June and in the print journal in July. Add to that placing 2nd in last year’s Winchester Writers’ Conference short story competition, and making the shortlist in both the March Flash500 competition and the Six Sentences Love Book competition.

I know that my writing has improved greatly in the last twelve months and hopefully this blog has too. While the next two weeks are to be taken up with completing my ECA and the months ahead are due to be filled with the arrival of our baby girl, the plan is to keep plugging away. I have a body of short fiction work now that needs to find homes, plans for entries to the upcoming literary competitions and the small matter of redrafting my YA novel, finishing the first draft of my half complete (don’t say unfinished) novella.

In the meantime, I have finally got round to sorting out my .co.uk website and thought the first anniversary of danpowell-fiction was a fitting time to unveil it. Take a look and pop back here to let me know what you think.