Very nice news

Lovely news that I can now share with you all - I am one of three winners of the Biscuit Flash Fiction competition! When I entered I was desperately hoping I might get somewhere because the prize is a week's writing retreat in a small town in Belgium, plus 200 pounds spending money. A cash prize is always very welcome, don't get me wrong, but it's very unlikely that were they to have just given cash I would have decided to spend it on a week's writing retreat. Now I simply must go to Belgium, and I can't wait! (I think I have a year in which to go.)

Another lovely aspect to this is that I sent a very new story in which I tried a different writing technique/style from anything I had done before. It could be called "minimalist" I suppose - I was inspired by read Roy Kesey's amazing collection, All Over, for review for The Short Review. His writing is very minimalist, dispensing with names, places, making the reader do quite a lot of work. I loved reading them and I thought, well, why don't I make my reader (if there ever is one) work a little? Why don't I try not providing so much background for a change? Seems like someone liked it, at least.

Other nice news just in today: two more of my flash stories have been selected by Rethink Daily, for their short story podcast, Sharp Things. The stories will be recorded by actors and broadcast in July. It's always a wonderful experience for me to hear my stories brought to life, I am really looking forward to it. Two very different short short stories - one involving a creme egg and one a rabbi in Sainsbury's car park. That should whet your appetite!