If You Are at a Loose End …

‘If You are at a Loose End …’ by Ms Paige Turner
If you are at a loose end – and aren’t we all one way or another? Then think about writing up to 200 words for the anthology with the working title ‘When This is All Over …’The deadline has been extended until March 31st. The reason is to be found in the title. It just goes on. I have been doing some proof reading on the 300 or so submissions that have come in so far. So here’s some themes:
This Planet and Others, Coffee, The Woe of Weddings, Losing Loved Ones, Hospitals, Theatres, Birthdays, Christmas, Shopping, Domestic Abuse, Being Stranded, Earrings, Dogs, Grandchildren, Being Educated (written by children) Being Alone, Hair, Cyclists and Joggers, Rainbows, Kissing, Bin Days, Key Workers and much much more.
I’ve had fictitious and factual prose, haiku, villanelles, sestinas and sonnets. (I love structured poetry – please have a go.)
I’ve received submissions from California, Mississippi, Scotland, Dublin, Spain, Cape Town, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Cardiff, Belfast, Manchester, Canada, France, New Zealand – almost as many as the collection of global dolls I collected as a child. And from 9-90 year olds. And from mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers, and from award winning script writers and actors and stage managers and nurses and doctors and my sister. I could go on. We are particularly interested to hear about your Covid story, as everyone has one. On that, there is no doubt.
So – in aid of the Rennie Grove Nurses, keep them coming. You don’t have to be a professional writer. Do add a sentence or two about yourself and where you are from. The piece can be published elsewhere and you can mention your word wares if you have them. Just avoid the word ‘unprecedented’.