All Blogposts

  • Writing Flash-Fiction Workshop at Trowbridge Museum, 16th May, 2012

    Writing Flash-Fiction Workshop at Trowbridge Museum, 16th May, 2012

    This post outlines all the writing prompts and exercises used in my two-hour writing workshop.  You might find it useful if you run writing workshops yourself  (I have included all credits, where possible, so please acknowledge this blog if appropriate).  You might like to use the exercises as writing prompts for your own writing or, Read more

  • ‘Jawbreakers’: Small and scrumptious sips of fiction

    ‘Jawbreakers’: Small and scrumptious sips of fiction

    In our age of sound-bites, pop-up shops, instant on-line publishing and short attention spans, it is entirely fitting that Calum Kerr has launched a national day to celebrate the art of the short, short-story, National Flash-Fiction Day, taking place on Wednesday, 16th May, 2012. From my first furry-tongued breath on New Year’s Day, and daily Read more

  • Thanks to 1000words for publishing my flash-fiction, ‘Friday’

    Thanks to 1000words for publishing my flash-fiction, ‘Friday’

    Delighted to have a 200 word story on 1000words today.  1000words is a National Flash-Fiction day project managed by writer Natalie Bowers.  It features stories of 1000 words and under, inspired by Pinterest images. My story, ‘Friday’, is deeply autobiographical and entirely fictional. If you look closely at the Pinterest image which inspired my story, Read more

  • Trowbridge, West Wiltshire, is on the map for National Flash-Fiction Day on May 16th, 2012

    “Flash-fictions are short, short stories, small but perfectly formed, packing a huge punch in a small number of words.  On 16th May, all over the UK, events will be being held to celebrate these tiny gems.”   National Flash-Fiction Day Trowbridge, a town with a population of about 28,000 people, in West Wiltshire, doesn’t have a cinema (yet Read more

  • In memory of Marmalade, a rescued street cat with attitude, who inspired a tiny story

    In memory of Marmalade, a rescued street cat with attitude, who inspired a tiny story

    My brother and I lived with an older sister when we were young.  One day my teenage brother carried home a battered cardboard box  from an East London building site he was working on as an apprentice.  Inside was a scrawny kitten with matted, marmalade-coloured fur.  Someone had brought the kitten to the site.  If Read more

  • My thoughts on being a finalist in The Bridport Prize 2010

    My thoughts on being a finalist in The Bridport Prize 2010

    Reading Teresa Stenson’s recent blog post on The Bridport Prize has come as a timely reminder to polish my own entry for  this year’s Bridport, and it also reminded me of 2010 when my poem, ‘Honeymoon’,  was a runner-up in the Poetry Category. At the awards ceremony in the Bridport Arts Centre, one of the topics Read more