Bold Types is Glasgow Women’s Library’s annual competition for budding writers. Be bold and submit your short stories and poems around the theme of 25 years (in celebration of our important anniversary!) to us by 10th November 2016 and you could read your work at our Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Showcase.
To help you put pen to paper we’re running three fun and fear-free Bold Types Fearties Workshops looking at Fiction for Fearties, Poetry for Fearties and an Editing Mistress-Class to help you get competition ready. But don’t just take our word for it! Here Ethyl Smith, three-time finalist and previous winner of our Bold Types Writing Competition, shares her own experience of the competition and of our inspiring writing workshops.
Wondering about entering this year’s ‘Bold Types’ short story competition? I suggest you give it a go. A few years ago I did just that and have no regrets.
The library offers workshops. If you’re able to attend, do. Here you’ll discover ideas, support, and ways of writing you possibly haven’t considered.
This happened to me. I’d often thought about writing in Scots but always chickened out. At one of the workshops I tried this then read out my wee attempt at dialect. The others in the group liked it so I gave it a proper go, was a finalist in the competition, and had the opportunity to read before an audience. It was daunting but encouraging. They liked the Scots too.
After that each time I entered I went for what was steadily becoming my voice.
Now as a published author of Scottish Historical Fiction my dialogue is always in Scots. Would I have done this without that first workshop experience? I doubt it.
What I really mean is … No matter your experience or level of writing skill try to listen to your own voice, whatever it happens to be. You’ll be pleasantly surprised and who knows where it’ll take you.
This year Ethyl will be experiencing the competition from a new perspective – as one of our supportive judges! We’re also delighted to welcome Ethyl to our Story Café on 24th November, where she’ll be chatting about her debut novel, Changed Times.
To enter this year’s Bold Types Writing Competition, e-mail your short stories and poems of up to 1000 words (either in a Word Document or typed in the body of the e-mail) to info@womenslibrary.org.uk with Bold Types Competition Entry in the subject line. You can enter once in each category and the closing date for entries is 10th November 2016.
