Competition Result - 2nd Place in Ravenous Monster's Spreading The Plague Flash Comp

My story 'What a Display!' placed 2nd in Ravenous Monster's Spreading The Plague flash fiction contest. If you like zombie stories, you can read it along with the other winners here.

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Dark Fiction - Inheritance and Four Flash tales in Print

You can now find five more of my dark tales in two new Darker Times Collections. They were printed as a reward for placing in the Darker Times competitions during last year and into this one.

• Darker Times Anthology Volume 7 : My short Cthulian horror Inheritance.
• Darker Times Collection Volume 2 : Four pieces of Flash Fiction - Original, Mirror, Deep & Distance.

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Dark Fiction - Two Honourable Mentions in Darker Times Feb Flash Competition

My two entries to the Darker Times Feb Flash competition both gained honourable mentions. Gross and Stalked can be read by clicking their names.

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Dark Distractions is Two Years Old Today!

My blog is officially two today, and just like last year, I thought it would be interesting to do a post that is more for me than anyone else. A post that will let me see what I did in the last year, and how that improved on the year before. It will also include some shout-outs and thanks, as I didn't do it alone.

The year before last I wrote 43 blog posts. This past year I did 75. I’m pleased that I almost doubled my output, even though I know quantity is no assurance of quality. I will aim to double it again this year.

I went from around 25 Twitter followers to around 300. I’m not chasing numbers as it’s all about quality followers, not just slack-jawed “I’ll follow you if you follow me’ers.” Twitter is nice but I don’t think I’m social enough to really take full advantage. Even so, my goal for this year is to pass the 1000 follower mark.

My blog traffic went from around 2,000 hits to around 21,000. It’s nice to see some traffic, even if a lot of it is just automated bots and crawlers. I think this year my goal will be another 10X increase to around 200,000 hits.

I managed to get an article into every edition of the Geek Syndicate Magazine, and thirteen articles/reviews for the website. I will aim to continue that level of contribution to the magazine (as it is beyond my power to make it come out more frequently) but I will try to increase my website contributions.

I wrote 9 film reviews for the Generic Movie and TV blog before I decided to part company with them and put my effort into my other areas of interest. I did have a look at letterboxd but think that I will just keep the odd film review to my blog.

I wrote 17 pieces of flash fiction for #fridayflash. Fridayflash is a great community of writers and it has only really been the second half of the year that I have been able to fully take part and commit to publishing a story each week. I think it has helped my writing a good degree to have something weekly to aim for.

I entered 5 competitions gaining various places/mentions in each, which won me a free ebook (Grey Matter Press) and my stories featuring in 3 print and ebook anthologies (Darker Times). I had only entered one competition before these, and that was before this blog even existed. I am committed to keeping the competition entries flowing as I feel that they are the main way to gauge my progress and, if won, the main way to get my name out more. It was also very nice to be able to hold my work in printed form, something physical to show for the effort. On a larger note, I aim to plan and complete a novel of some kind in the next 12 months.

I joined the Horror Blogger Alliance, which has led to three review requests from people that found my blog and asked me if I fancied reviewing their books/films. 

I was given a Liebster award by Steve Green which was very kind of him. It wasn’t my first but the first one I was able to accept. Paul Dail gave me my first but it came at a time where I couldn’t meet the criteria for accepting it and so it fell from my mind. I appreciated the gesture though.

One low point was that I did sign up to do NaNoWriMo but just couldn’t get started with it. I had a couple of ideas for novels that I wanted to follow and the indecision ended up putting too much pressure on me so I just let it drop.

As usual, I would like to thank my good friend Paul Brewer, who has tirelessly commented on my posts when I'm sure he has had much more interesting things to be getting on with. Thanks as always Paul :).

Thanks to everyone who knows me, reads my stuff and lets me know that I am not writing in a vacuum.

Casey.

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Competition Result - Honourable Mention in Grey Matter Press Flash Comp

I entered the Grey Matter Press Flash fiction competition a few days ago and was surprised to see that I was given an honourable mention and a free ebook. Thanks to everyone who voted for me, I really appreciate it. You can read my own and the other winners tales here. Just click their names.

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Dark Fiction - Pollywocker in Print

The Darker Times Anthology Volume Six is now out in paperback and ebook format on Amazon. My story Pollywocker is inside, as I placed in the Darker Times competition and my prize was to be included. It's not like having my own book out but it's a step in the right direction at least. It's nice to know my work is out there in a physical form, which is refreshing when it has all been digital to date.

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Dark Fiction - Inheritance

My submission for the Darker Times January short story competition was Inheritance, a tale of lonely halls and deep shadows. You can read it here on the Darker Times website.

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Dark Fiction - Pollywocker (Darker Times Competition Honourable Mention)

My entry to the December 2013 Darker Times Competition, Pollywocker, achieved an honourable mention. Anyone who would like to read my strange story can read it here.

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Dark Pondering - My Second Competition Result

I entered the August Flash Fiction Competition on Darker Times and received two honourable mentions, which I am quite happy with. I'm a bit disappointed to have not improved on my last attempt but I`ll settle for that. Winners, runners up and honourable mentions can be seen here.

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Dark Pondering - My First Writing Competition Result

I entered my first paid entry writing competition last month. The reason it has taken me so long isn't due to any aversion to paying, just that I didn't really feel ready until now. I had entered a couple of free to enter competitions over the last few years but didn't place in those.

When I found Darker Times, I felt that I could write the kind of story that I really enjoyed and so felt it was definitely worth a go. A few days ago the results for July 2013 were published and I was very happy to see that both of my flash fiction stories were placed. One as a runner up, one as an honourable mention. I was disappointed not to win of course, but to have two get a mention was almost just as good for me. Even better, they will hopefully be published later in the year as part of the Darker Times Anthology, which I can actually buy from Amazon as a paperback! I know it's not quite the same as having your own book published but mentally, I feel that I am another step along the path that I want to travel with my writing.

I will certainly be entering again, and other competitions too. If I can repeat or better that result, I will feel more able to push ahead and to at least have some confidence in the idea that I might not be deluding myself as to my abilities or my feasibility as a writer.

The winning entries, along with the runner up and honourable mentions can all be seen here, and are well worth a read if you like dark things.

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