About Me

My journey:

My name is Daisy Blacklock, and I'm a young writer from Cumbria.

I've always been an avid reader and have thoroughly enjoyed both reading and writing from a young age. In year 7, during lockdown, my English teacher encouraged me to enter the Scottish Book Trust 50 Word Fiction Monthly Competition. I didn't win, but I had discovered something I loved.

I loved perfecting my piece. The thrill of submitting. The anticipation of waiting. And then most of the time getting rejections. In fact, I got a lot of helpful and really nice rejections. I would like to both apologise and say thank you to all the magazines that had to read my terrible work, but then went on to send me encouraging rejections and plenty of feedback and tips. They are what kept me going and are what helped me improve so much.

When I got a piece accepted by Young Writers in early 2021, I couldn't believe it. I continued working hard and writing as much and as well as I possibly could. I submitted to so many magazines and competitions, I lost count. That then led to placing third in a competition in the middle of the year and eventually winning one towards the end of the year.

I'm not going to lie and say that from then onwards everything clicked into place. I still get tons and tons of rejections, but when I do get an acceptance it's the best feeling ever.

Last year, I was commended in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. I had to re-read the email three times - I couldn't believe it. It still hasn't quite sunk in, but the Awards Ceremony at the beginning of November was absolutely incredible. The guests included the wonderful Mona Arshi (one of this year's judges), Simon Armitage (UK Poet Laureate) and Clare Pollard (one of last year's judges). I met so many amazing, talented and like-minded people. A handful of us have been meeting up each week on discord to talk about and share poems.

They say that nothing worth doing is easy. Like every one of us, I’ve had my bumps in the road. But if you ask me, I’ll always tell you that I wouldn’t change a thing. Why? Because throughout my journey I’ve improved so much, and I've loved every second.


A Quick List Of My Writing Achievements (so far):

At the top of the list, of course, must be being commended in the Foyle Young Poets Of The Year Award. Closely followed by winning the Wordhound Creative Writing Competition (a monthly, international writing competition), 3rd place in the Bright Light Education Writing Competition 2021 (an annual, national short story competition) and also being one of three winners in a national funny writing competition run by Young Writers. I've also been the Star Letter in Writing Magazine. Some of the places I've been published include Secret Attic and Metastellar. Previously, I also used to run Your Fire Magazine.