February 14^th is marked by effusions of gauzy froth in shop windows, rose-tinted Prosecco, truffles with just a blush of strawberry, raspberry, in fact, anything pinkish that can be blobbed onto chocolate, with the possible exception of salmon. And then there are the cards: slushy, cutesy, jokey and the predictable ‘pornucopia’ range. We buy for lovers, mates and children so that a big red envelope plops onto the doormats of those we care about or want to tease. For years I sent all my friends’ children jolly Valentine cards (a habit picked up in the US where cards for this most Hallmark of holidays came in in boxed sets of 24 with one for teacher too). Continue reading →

You’re a writer, so you read. A lot. Right? We all know how important it is, it’s one of the mantras. You want to write short stories, you need to read them. Find out how they work, what you like, what sparks you? Read outside your comfort zone, read what you love, read what others recommend. Read everything! But how are you reading? Are you paying attention? Are you noticing what the writer is doing? When I teach short story courses, alongside the writing exercises, we read a story a week, looking at how it works. We take the story apart, if you like, examine the craft (it used to be called practical criticism when I was at school) and then we try it out in our own writing. Continue reading →

Congratulations again on your wonderful story, ‘In Bed With My Sister’, which was awarded a very well deserved first place in our 2021 competition. Could you tell us a little about the story’s journey; how it started out, whether it changed much along the way?

Thank-you. This story is very important to me and I’m overwhelmed that it won first prize in this wonderful competition, and proud to be in such talented company in the anthology.
In Bed With My Sister is a fictional narrative that was seeded in scrawled notes I made at a time when someone close to me was in crisis. I’ve always been curious about the roles we take up in families and other relationships – who looks after who – and the tensions between personal and professional, especially what happens when those in the so-called ‘caring professions’ become patients.
Returning to these notes months later, I began to imagine and sketch out ‘scenes’ which formed the basis of the narrative. I always take drafts of stories to my writing workshops – I’m part of two with writers I met on the MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck – and use their feedback to inform the editing process. The story struck a chord in the workshops immediately, described as both ‘painful’ and ‘compelling’. Editing involved much re-shaping and tweaking, improving specificity of detail, pruning back prose to facilitate emotional impact, and paying attention to the balance of humour and darkness. Time management and chronology have always been big challenges for me and much of my editing involves chopping up and moving scenes around.
I worked on the story – alongside other stories-in-progress – for around a year before considering it ready to submit to competitions.
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A few weeks ago, on December 3^rd , we held a party with cakes, wine and guests from all over the world, crammed together in a writerly buzz ─ separate, yet connected, on two full Zoom screens. For the second year running our anthology launch was online but, although nothing beats the quirky conviviality of an evening at Mr B’s (officially one of the world’s best bookshops, according to The Guardian), with Covid still around it wasn’t an option.

Jude welcomed our authors, guests and Norah Perkins, the 2021 judge. Norah, an agent at Curtis Brown, spoke about the quality of the stories on the shortlist and was full of praise for the authors. 2^nd Prize winner Stephanie Carty kicked off the readings with a lively extract from Davey, Plastic Jesus and the Holy Spirit, followed by Seattle-based Kristen Loesch (3^rd Prize) who read from Important Letters. Further readings were from Lynda Mason’s Highly Commended The Great Pretender, which also won The Acorn Award for an Unpublished Writer of Fiction, The Pheasant by Ruth Bateson which won the Local Prize (sponsored by Mr B’s) and Rosaleen Lynch’s Hail. Continue reading →