Everyone’s got a novel in them, right?  Not sure about that one, but I’m currently in the process of finding out whether or not I do.  For the second time. I’m hacking away (technical term, that) at the novel I’ve wanted to write for a long time.  We’ll see where it goes — but for now, at least it’s going. In 2020, the completed manuscript of my first novel was shortlisted in the Novel London award, which was a real honour.

I really appreciated the recent opportunity to reflect on the process — and the goal — of writing a historical novel based on the life of a real person in a guest blog on P K Adams’ website.  I very much enjoyed reading her debut novel The Greenest Branch.

I’ve had some short fiction published.  A story called “Expecting,” based around Matthew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach,” was published by the (now sadly defunct) Vintage Script magazine, and a story called “Contract,” inspired by Dr Faustus, was published in Darker Times (now also sadly defunct).  See a theme here?  Turns out I’m the kiss of death for small literary magazines.

And not just magazines.  A story of mine called “End of Term” recently made the top 40 list in the 2018 Words and Women competition — after which Words and Women decided to “go quiet for a while.”

On a happier note, I was ‘Writer in Residence’ (January 2018) at the deliciously quiet Stiwdio Maelor — and they’re going from strength to strength!  I loved my all-too-short time there, and really appreciated the opportunity to concentrate on my own work as well as to meet and get to know the artists I met there. I returned there in June 2019 — much warmer! — and, again, loved the quiet and the focus I found there. Following the inevitable Covid break, I’ve returned there in March and August 2023, and I’ll be back there in October 2023 as well. I’m hoping — fingers crossed — to run some workshops there, too, in the new year.

I was fortunate to have a short story called “Stranger” included in Flights of Fancy, the first short story anthology published the Tring Writers Circle; and I was also very proud to contribute a poem — “Purple” — to an extraordinary project by artist Gino d’Artali, which culminated in the publication of I Love You: 65 International Poets United Against Violence Against Women.  My short story, titled “Valentine’s Day,” was included in the local Your Berkhamsted magazine, despite being a lot longer than their usual pieces.  I was also ‘Miss November’… no, I had a story called “End of Season” included on one of the November pages in the Rhyme and Reason: Seasons desk diary 2013.

I was shortlisted in the Grindstone Literary flash fiction competition, with my story of 17th-century witchcraft now published on their blog.  Just in case there was any confusion, the picture they chose to publish alongside the story isn’t me.  Although some days it might as well be.

More recently, I’ve had short fiction published online: a historical story about Frances, the wife of Matthew Arnold, ‘Marguerite‘ in Sundial Magazine, a short piece about a woman and her missing son, ‘An Ambiguous Loss‘ in Virtual Magazine, and a much more cheerful story about Grandad finding someone to use the other mug, ‘Tea for Two,’ in Funny Pearls. My poem ‘Torre de Belem,’ written at Stiwdio Maelor but based in Lisbon was published in Fall 2023 issue of Quartet journal — and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize — and my story ‘The Glistening Sea’ is also available to read on ShortStoryLovers.com.

And that’s more or less it, creative-writing-wise.  I’ve had lots of academic articles in print, but they seem like an age ago now — and I’m quite sure they’ve been superseded by much cleverer people saying much more interesting things on the same topics.  As well they should be.