Trevor's Tales

A day of mixed emotions

Author: tbelshaw (add to friends)

January 28th, 2009 (209 views )

I received a letter today from Woman's Weekly informing me that my short story 'Desperate Measures' wasn't what they were looking for at this time. I was a little disappointed with that as they had previously said they were interested.
However, at lunchtime I received this email from Best of British Magazine.

Dear Trevor

Thank you for your articles Early Years, The Early Shift and Winter of 1963.

You'll be pleased to hear that we would like retain the articles for possible publication in a future issue of the Best of British magazine. Although acceptance of articles does not guarantee publication, a letter of confirmation will be sent to you if it is published.

Further to our earlier email discussion, the Editor is happy to accept the articles at their present length, so there is no need to resubmit shortened versions.

Also, do you have any pictures we could use to illustrate all three articles? Please can you send the images for ‘The Early Shift’ through as jpegs, rather than embedded in the document.

If at any stage you want to know what is happening with your articles or you wish them to be returned to you please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your interest in Best of British.

They want ALL THREE! and one of them is over 3,000 words, so much for guidelines lol.
Sorry if this is a bit OTT but I just had to share.

Currently 3.30/5
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12 feedbacks

Comments:

Comment from: sue kendrick [Member]

· http://www.suekendrick.co.uk

That's great news Trevor. I thought they would go for those. They fit BOB remit perfectly. Let us know when they get published.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 15:31

Comment from: maureen [Member] · http://www.maureen-vincent-northam.co.uk

Many congrats, Trevor, that's great news.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 15:33

Comment from: tbelshaw [Member]

There may an issue over pictures to go with the articles. All my early years stuff was lost in the flood that finally led to those houses being demolished.( a work in progress :) ) I got a lot of pictures from an internet website, including, amazingly, pictures of our house and the 'back's where we used to play. They have given me persmission to use them, but i've been told BOB like personal photo's to go with these type of articles. Seeing as I have none of my own that may be a sticking point. Even if that ends up being a problem, I know my work was up to sratch and is publishable. That's the big kick.

Thanks for the kind words.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 15:46

Comment from: wordsmith [Member]

· www.adbwilliams.co.uk

Great news, Trevor. BOB do like to use reader input a lot and always ask for pictures but do publish items where they are unavailable too.

Do be aware they sometimes keep items for some time before they are used. I think somtimes they try to tie stories into a theme for an issue too. Let us know when your appear.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 16:01

Comment from: davidr [Member] · http://www.freewebs.com/dwrob/

Well done Trevor. I shall look out for the articles in BOB.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 16:15

Comment from: tbelshaw [Member]

I found pictures even better than I would have had before the flood. They show condition of the houses and the close proximity to the coke ovens and iron works. There's even one with a kid swinging on a gate on the 'backs' A pastime I mentioned in the story, so they'll hopefully use those pictures.

They say they can find pictures to suit the other two articles themselves.

Thanks David and Wordsmith

I can't tell you how excited I am about this. It's something i dreamt about for so long. It wouldn't matter if it was the local free sheet, to see your words in print for the first time has to be one of life's highlights.

It hasn't happened yet though lol. Things could still go awry so I'll just cross my fingers and everything else, for now.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 16:19

Comment from: daffni [Member]

· http://www.merilang.co.uk.shop.htm

Congratulations. Three at once! You must be really cock-o-hoop.
Daffni

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 18:18

Comment from: linda d [Member]

· http://www.writelink.co.uk/blogs/linda

Well done!
I've just been listening to the news - according to the BBC it's all doom and gloom out there - so your news cheered me up, too!
And this should just be the beginning. When you come back to Earth start writing your next piece.

Permalink 2009-01-28 @ 19:02

Comment from: bob scotney [Member]

Tremendous news! Well done, Trevor.

Please let us know when they decide to publish - I want to make sure I get a copy, if you don't buy them all up.

Permalink 2009-01-29 @ 11:18

Comment from: tbelshaw [Member]

I should buy you a copy Bob as the early years piece was reworked after I was inspired to finish my part done piece, after reading yours. :)

Permalink 2009-01-29 @ 11:46

Comment from: jak [Member] · jakill-jeansmusings.blogspot.com

Super news Bob. Someone else mentioned they often keep pieces for a long time before publishing. Here's an additional word of warning. After they'd had one of mine for fourteen months I emailed to ask if they were still considering it, and they sent it back by return. So if you are happy to leave stuff with them, I wouldn't chase it.

Permalink 2009-01-29 @ 11:55

Comment from: tbelshaw [Member]

Thanks for the advice Jak. It would be great to see them all published, but just having them all accepted got me over a big hurdle as I haven't had anything accepted before. That's done now so the confidence in my writing ability has increased. I know I have reached an acceptable standard now and that means almost as much as seeing the work in print. Not quite as much LOL but it's a big kick nonetheless.

Permalink 2009-01-29 @ 12:13

A day of mixed emotions

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