September 24, 2022
Along with my best friend and the world’s most amazing critique partner, Bonnie Jacoby, I attended the PNW writer’s conference award banquet in Washington State on Saturday night. Absolutley thrilled and honored to have placed 2nd for an earlier draft of my new manuscript, The Unraveling of Emma Hill. Even better, I won money!
September 20, 2022
Another happy email today from Mythulu magazine.
Dear Leslie Wibberley,
Congratulations! Your piece “Only the Kindest of Hearts and Purest of Souls” delighted us and we’d like to offer you a contract for publication.
I originally wrote this story for the NYC Midnight short story challenge with the prompts: fairy tale, coal miner, and wage cut.
My story will appear in Mythulu magazine, Issue #5 Wildly Original Fairy Tales, coming out next year sometime.
September 01, 2022
A little good news this morning. I’ve been entering this contest since 2015, and I’ve been fortunate to have placed every year (twice in one year) except for 2020. I thought I’d been skunked this year, as the results usually come out at the beginning of August. But I just received this email. 
Subject: 91st Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition Results
Dear Leslie,
Congratulations! Your entry, Home is Where Your Roots Grow, was awarded Honorable Mention in the Genre Short Story (Mystery, Romance, etc.) category of the 91st Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition.
Again, many congratulations from all of us on the Writer’s Digest team!
August 09, 2022
I entered a short story I’m still revising in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest for the 2nd quarter of 2022, to test it out, so to speak. I’ve since made many changes, but still very happy to have received an Honorable mention for The Truth of Black Annis.
June 22, 2022
Thrilled that my story, Frieda’s Blessings will be featured in this wonderful anthology from Praire Soul Press, to be released this fall
March 23, 2022
A few years ago I entered this contest with 10,000 words of an early (and rough) draft of a YA novel, plus a one-page synopsis. I received detailed feedback from four different editors, each one marked my manuscript out of 250 points.
I was happy to have placed 12 out of 156 with a total of 893 points out of a possible 1000.
The feedback was brilliant and very helpful as I revised this manuscript
Last year, I decided to enter again, with a very early and incomplete version of my new manuscript, (plus a messy synopsis of this book I hadn’t finished writing yet—and we all know how much a story changes as we write it.)
Receiving feedback from four different editors allows you to look for common issues, and those are typically the things that need to be resolved. This contest gives you so much for such a small cost, right now it’s only $40, and is a great way to see if your draft is working.
I received my marks and feedback fairly quickly, but it took over a year to get my final placement in the contest, and I couldn’t be happier.
Well, that’s not exactly true, lol, I missed the money (for the top 3 entries) by one placement, but considering how rough this draft was, I’m thrilled.
Writer friends, this might be a contest worth checking out for your WIP.
My results for 2021:
Submission #: 019A
Title: Just a Little Push (This title has now been changed to The Unravelling of Emma Hill—which I like much better)
Possible points for each scoresheet: 250
Total possible points: 1,000
Judge #1: 245 pts.
Judge #2: 239 pts.
Judge #3: 227 pts.
Judge #4: 232 pts.
Point total for this manuscript: 943
Placement in contest: 4 out of 125
This is the manuscript I signed with my agent for and these results, of such an early draft, give me hope this book will one day be on a bookshelf for you all to read.
January 29, 2022
A while back I received an email from a woman, CeCe Williams, who runs a digital magazine called Where it Begins in Atlanta Georgia. Apparently, she read a piece of mine in the Be You edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul and asked if I would be willing to be interviewed for the magazine. I was both surprised and flattered, and thought, why not?
My interview is in the latest issue. You can find it on page 24.
January 10, 2022
2022 is off to a fabulous start. I’m beyond thrilled to announce that I’m now represented by @NaomisLitPix at @bookendslit, one of the most positive lights in publishing, for my upmarket, messy, multigenerational WF with a splash of magic!
January 01, 2022
Writing is a powerful passion of mine, and something I can’t imagine not doing, but…it can also be a lonely, thankless job, filled with endless rejections and the crushing weight of imposter syndrome. But every now and then something happens that reminds you of the reason you write.
This is now the fifth time someone has reached out to thank me for something I’ve written for a Chicken Soup for the Soul edition, and it brings me to tears each time it happens.
I received this email from a reader today:
Happy New Year Leslie
I am reading the book THe Blessings of Christmas (part of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series) and just read your story and am writing to say thanks for sharing it with me, a reader. It brought back memories that caused me to remember moments when others had been warmly kind to me in similar unexpected ways over the years as a single parent with two young boys.
While still reading this book, I feel that the wonderful stories inside the covers have kept that feeling of Christmas alive and well for days after all the other presents have been opened, the food eaten etc.
Your story is one of my Christmas blessings for 2021.
Don’t give up, my fellow writers. Keep writing those stories, and keep sending them out. Your words matter.
October 28, 2021
Pulp Literature
Join us this Saturday at noon PDT for the launch of Pulp Literature Issue 32! With readings from Dan MacIsaac, Leslie Wibberley, DK Perlmutter, Frances Boyle, Robin Malcolm, Aldona Dziedziejko, Matthew Nuclear Jackal Nielsen, Kelsey Hutton, and JM Landels.
Join the Pulp Lit Launches Discord Server now to enter for door prizes and chat with authors https://discord.gg/3J6JAHtg
https://youtu.be/lhYSDBsWiGE
August 04, 2021
Celebrating another little win for me this morning. Gotta hang on to these small ones to make up for all the rejections, right?
Congratulations! Your entry, Her Choice, was awarded Honorable Mention in the Genre Short Story category of the 90th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition.
I’ve been so incredibly lucky with this contest.
Check it out, writing peeps, and perhaps consider entering next year. Remember, to quote a Canadian hockey hero, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
I take so many shots, and 99% of them don’t even come close to the net, but every once in a while, I get a lucky bounce off a post or a skate, and I score. https://www.writersdigest.com/…/annual-writing-competition
August 02, 2021
So excited to have a new story in this wonderful edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul, my seventh.
July 17, 2021
Yay, a little bit of good news to balance out the rejections. Made it into my 7th edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
Dear Leslie
Your story “The Girl Who Came for Christmas ” has made it to the final selection round for Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Blessings of Christmas. We are so appreciative of your participation and very excited about this book
June 28, 2021
A nice little surprise today in the midst of this intense “heat dome” we’re suffering through.
the 2021 Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize Longlist!
Small but Mighty
This year’s Hummingbird contenders packed their powerful literary punch in petite literary packets!
We’re delighted to announce the longlisted authors, shown alphabetically by first name. Those with a (2) have two stories up for the next round.
Alex Reece Abbot
Ashton Russell
Christine Breede
David Lewis
Debbi Hofsink-Borst
Edeana Malcolm
Hannah van Didden
Kevin Sandefur
Kimberley Aslett
Leslie Wibberley
Maria Marchese
Mary Jill Malleck
Megan W Shaw (2)
Natalie Harris-Spencer (2)
Robert Edward
Shanda Connolly
Congratulations! And thank you to all of our submitting authors for sharing your words and supporting Pulp Literature!
October 30, 2020
For good or for bad, I’m reading a brief excerpt from my story, The Poison Garden, released on December 4th. Join us to hear these amazing authors read snippets of their wonderful stories.
October 27, 2020 NOT ALL MONSTERS trade paperback is now live! CRADLELAND OF PARASITES is on its way soon. Though if you’re interested in BOTH plus extra goodies, I recommend reading the article below from the publisher and following the breadcrumbs…
https://roosterrepublicpress.com/…/not-all-monsters…/
Interview with Mindy McGuiness of Writer Writer Pants on Fire
lesliewibberley.com 