Six Sites That Pay For Flash Fiction and Poetry

Check out the sites, my fellow writers! 🙂

A Writer's Path

by Robert Turner

List is current for July 2017.

If like a lot of struggling authors you are desperate to get your work sold, why not downscale a little? Try your hand at writing flash fiction or short stories.

The sites listed below will pay you for your submissions if they are accepted, you’ll get yourself published and you might even be able to afford ribbon for your typewriter.

The sites vary in their submission requirements, so do spend the time looking through these carefully before you submit. Up to 20 percent of submissions don’t comply and get binned immediately. The links will take you to the submission pages.

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Should Writers Help Each Other?

* The above image is from Max Pixel.

Although there are a lot of writers who say that this industry is already as competitive as can be and what a writer doesn’t need is more rivals, I think there is room for cooperation. Especially among self-published writers.

And here, I will talk about the 2 most difficult hurdles a self-published writer has to overcome.

Shops Will Reject You

For starters, brick-and-mortar bookshops usually do not carry self-published books. I worked at a bookshop myself so I know everyone, my shop and our competitors, only carry books published by established companies. A small independent bookshop MIGHT deal with individual self-published authors but independent bookshops are dying so we can’t really depend on them.

So how can a self-published writer get exposure and sell his books? Well, other than bookshops, bookworms also head to writers’ festivals and similar events for their fixes. But these event organizers only invite established writers to hawk their stuff. So if you are an unknown writer with only one self-published title under your belt, you are not likely to be offered a spot at such events.

I thought to myself. Okay, what if a ragtag band of unknown writers pool their resources together and have their own writers’ festival? It’s impossible for one single writer to rent a venue and have his (or her) own writer’s festival. Because the costs will be sky high and who would come to an event that sells only one title published by only one author?

It’s a different story though, if a group of hitherto unknown writers suddenly band together to make their debut at an event. Possibly some gimmick will be needed to promote the event but that shouldn’t pose any sort of difficulty to a group of writers.

Are You That Kid?

The above image is from Property Guru.

Back in the 80s, when the cool kids strutted around with their walkmans and ambitious teenagers aspired to be pager owners when they grow up, I lost a friend.

At Balestier Plaza.

I was probably 6 or 7 years old back then and, if I remember correctly, I was there because my mother wanted to do some shopping and brought me along. But even though you could call Balestier Plaza a “shopping center”, there weren’t really any shop that could hold a child’s interest.

So I wandered around and ran into someone from my age group, who was probably also there due to parental interference.

And naturally, we started a game of hide-and-seek. The entire building was our playground. You could say the game was progressing nicely and maybe, after a good game of hide-and-seek, we could have gone on to become the best of friends.

But that did not come to pass.

Because I cheated.

3 “Sure-win” Moves All Martial Artists Should Watch Out For!

 

In the school courtyard during recess, a preteen hero thrusts out his palms and yells:

“Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms!”

“Arrggh!”

His team of playmates obligingly fall to the ground as if they were just hit by the invisible dragons overflowing from the hero’s palms.

And that’s one of them. The Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. The invisible dragons released from your bare hands can destroy entire armies, making it one of the most deadly “sure-win” skills in the pugilist world.

Okay, fuck no. No. That’s a lie, okay? And a test to see how many of you are gullible enough to believe in the existence of “sure-win” moves.

So what are the 3 “sure-win” moves and why do you have to watch out for them? They are biting, the eye jab and the groin kick. Avoid martial art teachers marketing them as “sure-win” moves because there are more interesting ways to waste your money.

Why? Because.

Eye Jab

First of all, eyes are rather small targets and your opponent is not going to stand still and make things easy for you. He will most likely keep swerving his head from side to side to avoid hits. Or cover up with his arms. And if the fight is taking place in the dark, like an unlit back alley, it gets so much more difficult to see, let alone jab at, your opponent’s eyes.

5 Stresses Security Guards Go Through That The Public Should Know About

In recent years, high profile cases of security guards being abused or abusive have been reported via online media. Well, those few cases were brought into the cold light of day to be commented on by the general public but, as an industry insider, I can assure you that such unhappy incidents happen on an almost daily basis.

So by putting out this list here, I hope that those of you who have never worked as a security guard before can understand our job better. And with this understanding, perhaps we will be treated better by our clients and members of the public.

#1. Threats Of Bodily Harm

We get that a lot, due to the nature of our job.

Security guards, even though they are usually called “security officers” nowadays, do not have the powers of actual peace officers. Such as the power to lay charges. And the public knows this. That’s why we are considered safe targets for abuse and threats. And so, words that your average “beng” will never ever dare say to a real cop can be liberally heaped on security guards.

But despite not having great powers, we are still burdened with responsibilities. If you happen to spot delinquents smoking or exhibiting rowdy behaviour at the mall, who do you call? Yes, the security guards.

#2. Actually Getting Hit

It happens. From time to time. We have all seen the videos. The fare evader hitting a security guard at Enggor Street. The security manager slapping and punching his subordinates at a condominium. The security guard and delinquent fighting at The Cathay. And like I said earlier, unhappy things happen to security guards on an almost daily basis, so there are probably hundreds of such incidents that haven’t seen the light of day.

Also, as if to rub salt into injury, some security guards who were assualted either resigned “voluntarily” or were taken out of their usual stomping grounds and transfered to unfamiliar work assignments.

#3. Delayed Salary Payments

When I started working in this industry back in 1999, I heard a horrible story from a fellow guard who was working at a mall. For nearly a month, his employer had been paying the guards at the mall with nasi lemak. Yes, nasi lemak instead of cash.

See, they were supposed to be paid in cash every week but, somehow, their agency kept delaying payments. If I remember correctly, the reason given was “no cash flow”. But being the nice boss that he was, the agency owner went down to the mall every day to reward his employees with nasi lemak. Compensation for a 12-hour shift.

At least, with that one meal per day, my friend wouldn’t starve so he kept on showing up for work. So yeah, they were just getting strung along with meals of nasi lemak until the boss decided to pay their salaries.

And then in 2009, I myself became the victim of delayed salary payments. I remember I had to beg and pester my Operations Manager for my salary every single week, and it felt like I was working as a debt collector rather than a security guard. Eventually I got fed up and resigned.

We security guards have to put up with long working hours and a lot of unpleasant situations at work, so is it really too much to ask for that our employers pay our salaries ON TIME? I don’t think so.

I Got Into The Papers!

A reporter from the Lianhe Zaobao  interviewed me about my book and plans for the future. The article was printed on Thursday, the 9th of March. Here are photos of the newspaper clipping.

A Summary Of The Article In English:

The article starts off with a quote from me. About how it has always been my dream to become a writer and as long as I haven’t fulfilled my dream, I will never give up.

Then it goes on to say that I quit being a full-time guard back in 2009, to focus on writing my manuscript. And through my stories, I hope to let more people understand the hardships in the security industry.

I graduated from secondary school with O levels, the article says. And in 1999, I started working as a security guard. Since then I have worked as a dishwasher, kitchen cleaner and sales assistant before returning to the security industry.

I loved reading English books ever since I was a kid. And the article quotes me as saying, “Security guards, while they are doing their job, frequently get abused by unreasonable people and for the sake of making a living, even if their working conditions are bad, they will choose to keep silent. I hope that after reading my book, the public would act a little more kindly towards security guards.”

However, things are not going well for me because I have been rejected by 4 publishers.

The publishers probably thought that stories about the security industry are unsaleable. That’s why none of them were willing to pick up my manuscript. But for the sake of realizing my dream and letting more people know about the lives of security guards, I will not give up.

So I will either raise the money to self-publish or continue to submit my manuscript to other publishers.

And finally, the article concludes with a quote from me.

“J.K. Rowling had her Harry Potter manuscript rejected 12 times, but she didn’t give up and went on to become a bestselling author. So as long as I don’t give up, there’s always hope.”

Okay, End of Translation.

P.S.: Bear in mind that the article was written by the reporter in the 3rd person, but I use the 1st person point of view for my translation because only royalty and cute Japanese girls use the 3rd person when talking about themselves.

Loh Teck Yong (罗德荣)

 

Interview with a Security Guard

Here, I would like to say Thank You to Rachel Zeng. Thank you for interviewing me and posting the interview on your blog. 🙂

In 2010, a Singaporean taxi driver, Cai Mingjie, published his bestselling work memoir Diary of a taxi driver : true stories from Singapore’s most educated cabdriver and now a security guard is trying to publish his collection of true stories from the private security industry.

Loh Teck Yong, the security guard who aspires to be a published writer completed his manuscript back in 2015 and it was submitted to 4 publishers based in Singapore. Unfortunately, all 4 publishers turned him down. But he got back on his feet after multiple rejections and is now trying to raise the necessary fund to publish his book, Guards Gone Wild!, through a crowdfunding campaign. The following is an interview with him.

So Mr. Loh, what made you decide to write the book?

Because I have stories to tell. Scams perpetrated by security agencies and guards. Intense confrontations with delinquents and work colleagues…

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