Friday, May 02, 2008

Writing shed update No. 1 & some competition news

Well, this is more of a pre-shed update. Here is the area of our tiny garden that my writing shed is destined for:


This is after several weeks of digging and redistribution of soil around the flower beds. J is out there digging as we speak (I am cooking dinner, we are fitting into gender stereotypes for once).

The aim is to remove the whole "rockery" (for rockery read "pile of earth filled with many annoying small stones"), level the ground, and cut down that (small) tree you see to the right of the picture. Then the shed should fit nicely in here and actually be a larger working space then my current study area - with a Door. Yay! I can't wait! Although when it is there, then what will my excuse for not writing be?

Competition news:

The news is that I didn't win: neither the Fish One Page short story prize - though I did make the shortlist of 24 stories chosen from over 900 - nor the StoryQuarterly Love Story contest. Congrats to the winners of both - the StoryQuarterly contest winner, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, had a special resonance for me. She taught me on my first writing course at the Iowa Summer Writers Workshop ten or so years ago. She basically led me through the process of writing my first ever story, complete with dialogue, flashbacks, beginningmiddleend. That changed everything for me. So, congratulations Elizabeth, I owe you a lot. I hope you do something nice with the $2500!

3 comments:

Sarah Hilary said...

The garden shed looks so exciting! I've always an "outdoor" space (indoors!) to write. And, yes, I like the new layout very much. It makes me think of the sea.

Nik Perring said...

Thrilled to hear the shed project has commenced! Just think of all that peace and quiet...

Nik

Vanessa Gebbie said...

ah that reminds me... must go and find the keys to my writing shed... I know I had them here somewhere...