Winner, Fish Short Fiction Prize 2018
A golden day, a day of blue skies and autumn colour. A snatched day, squeezed between endless cold, grey, rainy November days. I meet Chris and Jude Gibson for another of their popular Bug and Botany walks (Chris Gibson Wildlife). Today it’s Trees and Fungi, and I’m definitely here to learn about trees – the fungi don’t interest me very much at all…
Photo: me as the Goddess Diana in Pericles, 2017
In June 2020, I’m directing A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Wivenhoe Open Air Shakespeare.
The following is an article which appeared in the Summer 2019 edition of Wivenhoe News (number
Getting Started: Is All Our Company Here?
Having served an apprenticeship with two different and talented masters, I am now let loose on my own. Continue reading “Director’s Notes: 1”
Photo: Joshua Niedermayer for Fictive Dream
I am delighted that my short story The Bicycle Orchestra is published here by Fictive Dream. I wrote the first (much longer) draft three years ago, when I’d just stopped teaching and was completing my MA. The story, loosely titled Bicycle Race, marked a break, a change in my circumstances, and also the first piece of more independent writing for some time. I’d spotted a small summary in the paper about an unnamed fifty-something woman in West Yorkshire who’d headed out for a short bike ride and ended tangled up in a race.
The most famous short-short story is supposedly Hemingway’s 6-worder:
For sale, baby shoes, never worn.
I have hyperthyroidism (in the form of Graves Disease) and I’ve recently had RadioActive Iodine treatment for it. I’ve blogged extensively about the process (and my feelings about it) over at My Big, Fat Thyroid.
Do read it if you’re interested!
My short story The Buzzard was used by Liar’s League Hong Kong, read by Fraser McPhie (click here to watch and listen).
Buzzard photo by kind permission of Glyn Evans
Read on for a transcript of the story:
How to Win the Fish Short Story Prize 2018, in six easy steps:
(This article first appeared in the Autumn 2018 Wivenhoe News, No. 77)
1: Ages 0 – 10
Be a quiet child who reads voraciously and daydreams (warning: the latter can get you into trouble at school). Look forward to Fridays, after break (once the terrifying ‘Twenty Mental’ is out of the way) when you can come in after playtime to choose from three titles on the blackboard for an hour’s uninterrupted silent daydreaming and writing. Bliss! Continue reading “How to win the Fish Prize…”
