My first audiobook!

So - I've made my very first audiobook! Produced by the excellent SoundByte Recording, you can listen to me reading stories from my first collection, The White Road & Other Stories (Salt Modern Fiction, 2008). Available from Audible and Amazon -   click here to hear me reading a sample story, my flash story, Plaits.

The White Road Audiobook!

Today's the 10th birthday of my first book, The White Road & Other Stories, published in 2008 by the fab Salt Publishing! To celebrate, I've made an audiobook with the wonderful Soundbite Recording, which will be out later this month. Here's a teaser:  



 More info on the book here>>

And the winners are...

Yes, you are all very clever, I was in Reyjyavik, Iceland, - and it was COLD! So, picked by a random number generator, the winners of the 8 books and lit mags are:

Andrew

Ade

Miriam

Grace

Sursanchari

Sonya

Nora

Miriam

Dear all, please email me your postal address, to taniah(at)gmail(dot)com and I will dispatch your goodies at random!

Two videos

First, another piece of video art by the talented Richard O'Callaghan (watch his video inspired by The White Road), this time inspired both by my story I am a Camera (which you can read here) and by Fellini's La Dolce Vita! Who would have thought...

'iamacamera' from richard ocallaghan on Vimeo.

And this, via Sarah Salway, which is wonderful, Kurt Vonnegut's advice on writing great short stories...

Video art of The White Road

I'm on a writing retreat here right now, but while I am away writing masses (I hope), here's a wonderful thing, an unexpected result of my book. Video artist Richard J O'Callaghan has made a piece inspired by the title story, The White Road. Here it is! I love it, I think it's just fantastic that someone was inspired to create pictures by my words. Thank you, Richard!

'thewhiteroad' from richard ocallaghan on Vimeo.

A tale of how I got published

It's The White Road and Other Stories' 2nd birthday of  this week, time really has flown by. And to commemorate, How Publishing Really Works has posted my "tale" of how I got published. I thought I'd tell it a little differently this time (I wrote it a few months ago...):

1. The girl reads everything. She reads books through every meal. She finishes the entire section in the library for 8 year olds and moves on. One day, she thinks, she will hold a book with her name on it.

2. The girl doesn’t find her English classes very inspiring, but she loves maths. She gets steered by her teachers towards science and away from literature, and ends up studying maths and physics and University. But words are her medium, not bunsen burners. She writes for the University newspaper and then discovers there is such a thing as a science journalist. Ah, she thinks.

3. She studies philosophy of science, then a diploma in journalism, and moves to Israel, where she interviews excited inventors and scientists for American and British magazines for over a decade. But a little voice in her head is saying “You’re reporting on their creativity. Where’s yours? Where’s yours?”

....

Read the rest of the post here >>.

I am very very lucky that, two years later, my book - which has just had its 15th print run -  is still getting reviews, not something I ever dreamed of when I dreamt of having a book. There are so many amazing things that have happened over the past 24 months that I would never have dreamed of!  Alison Wells and Jim Murdoch have shared their thoughts on their blogs recently, Jim's is almost an essay rather than a review, with footnotes. I am very grateful to them both for taking the time to think about and then write about my stories. A writer cannot ask for more!

I have just finished reading Kasia Boddy's excellent The American Short Story Since 1950, and will write more abuot that on the Short Review blog soon. There's so much in there, I felt like I learned an enormous amount about the history of the short story, and it is filled with wonderful quotes from many writers about the form. I met Kasia when she interviewed Lydia Davis at the London Review Bookshop a few weeks ago - a thrilling night it was! I am delighted that Lydia agreed to be interviewed for the Short Review and sent me her answers to my questions yesterday. Now I need to review her 250-story Collected Stories, a mammoth task! I've read it through once already, there is so much in there to delight and provoke. Highly recommended!

On the Clock: Contemporary Short Stories About Work

I am delighted that my story Evie and the Arfids is being reprinted in a brand new anthology, On the Clock: Contemporary Short Stories About Work.

When I heard about this call for submissions I knew I had to send in this story, which is in my book and is about a middle-aged divorced woman who decides she needs to do something with her life and starts work at a company doing something nefarious with RFID tags. I am really happy to see Evie getting out and about even further.

Anyhow, On the Clock, which is edited by Jeff Vande Zande and Josh Maday, will be published by Bottom Dog Press in September and I'm thrilled to discover I am in excellent company: Michael Martone, Sean Lovelace, Matt Bell, Bonnie Jo Campbell are just those names I know already. (It seems that Dustin Hoffman is one of the contributors - another talent of his, or another Dustin?). Click here to download a PDF about the anthology with more information and an excerpt. Great cover, isn't it?

Winners of The White Road & Other Stories!

No time now to talk about the Oxfam Readathon, which was really fun yesterday, but here are the winners of the 3 copies of The White Road & Other Stories I am giving away in honour of Flash! All were picked using this Random Number Generator...

Jo - Day 1 Flash

Marisa - Day 2

Dorothee - Day 3

Congratulations all! Please send me your postal addresses by email (taniah@gmail.com) and I will get those out to you! 

Flash! It's all over... almost

I can't tell you what an amazing feeling it was hearing 16 of my tiny stories being brought to life over three fabulous days on Radio 4. I feel so unbelievably lucky  - what did i do to deserve this? (Rhetorical question, no need to answer!). I feel like I will bask in this glow for quite a while.

And even though I got up at 5.45am this morning to go to London and be a guest on the Radio 4 Off the page program, talking about science (was I coherent? We'll find out when it's broadcast next Thursday!), my utter exhaustion couldn't diminish the delight.

If you'd still like to listen, all three programs are now available on iPlayer, here is the link. I have had some wonderful responses from people I know and from those I don't know - and am not related to in any way - so thank you all for your support, especially my Twitter pals! It has just increased my joy!

And to pass on that joy I am giving away three signed copies of The White Road and Other Stories...I did a giveaway of the first copy on Tuesday, was too tired yesterday, so today I am giving away two more. Here's your fiendishly difficult question:

Which writer is rumoured to have said something like "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter story (or perhaps letter)? [Hint: Google will help.]

Post your answer in the comments and I will pick two winners from today and one from Tuesday and let you all know tomorrow - or perhaps Monday.

Got a very busy four days... I really need a holiday! I am reading as part of the Oxfam 24-hour read-a-thon on Monday at the Oxfam shop on Marylebone High Street in London from 1pm-1.20pm, if you're in the area...I'm squeezed between some Big Names, apparently - I imagine I might be the only author to read 6 short short stories in 20 minutes!

Wheee...Flash comes to Radio 4!!

I have waited a long time to be able to say this... and we're here! Next week, BBC Radio 4 will be broadcasting a whole week of my flash stories on the Afternoon Reading!

Because the stories are so short, there will be 5 or 6 per day in the 15-minute slot which has uptil now only ever broadcast a single story. So: 16 stories in total, on Tuesday June 29th, Wednesday June 30th and Thursday July 1st, first broadcast at 3.30pm UK time and then available online as Listen Again programmes for 7 days afterwards.

The week is aptly titled "Flash!" and more info is here including the list of stories each day - 5 of which are from The White Road and Other Stories, and the rest are newer flashes.

In honour of this exciting event, I am going to be giving away one signed copy of my book on each day of the broadcast, and all you will have to do is answer a very simple question. So stay tuned, pop back on Tuesday, and find out how you can win!

In the meantime, I went to hear my stories being recorded by the ever-wonderful Sweet Talk Productions in London a few weeks ago, here are pictures of the amazing Nicola Walker (soon to be seen on our screens again as "Ruth" in Spooks) and Tom Goodman-Hill doing their thing in the studio!

Memories and future memories

I am in Manchester, getting together with a few friends, chatting about writing and other stuff. And today, before I head back to Bristol, I thought I would go and wander around where I used to live when I was here as a student, 20 (!) years ago. I found the street I lived on in my 2nd and 3rd years, and as I wandered, bizarre snippets of memories came back to me. I couldn't remember exactly which tiny Victorian terraced house we lived in, so I wandered back and off to the Physics department, where I had spent so much of my time.

Manchester has changed almost beyond recognition since I lived here - the Maths Tower where I spent half my time has been torn down! But... in Physics, time stands still. Exactly exactly the same. I sat at the back of one of the lecture halls, dark and silent except for an odd buzzing, and was quite overwhelmed. I let feeling emotional, and not in a good way. The whole experience made me think of the choices I made then and since. Risks I could have taken then but insecurities that held me back. I was so so young. Weren't we all. I think that will be my last trip down that particular memory lane. Done.

Anyway, onto more positive news: The White Road and Other Stories is now available for the Kindle! Yes, I've gone all e-book-ish. I have no Kindle, never even seen one, so if you do have one and fancy purchasing TWR, I'd love to know how it looks, how it reads....







A Few Writers' Service Announcements:
The V S Pritchett Memorial Prize is looking for entries: 2000-5000 word short story, postal entry, deadline 30th June. Ist prize £1000. (I just wrote to them suggesting they follow the Sunday Times short story competition's lead and publish a longlist, so fingers crossed...)

The BBC Short Story Award closes this Friday, June 18th... and the Bridport Prize, which this year has a FLASH category for the first time, closes on June 30th.

If you want some stimulation and guidance to get you writing that winning story, my friend and writing colleague Vicky Grut, is running just the workshop you need on June 26th, just in time!

WRITING SHORT STORIES: June 26, 10.30-4pm

What makes a great short story? Do short stories need a plot? What about a ‘twist’ at the end? Where can you publish? We’ll look at these and other questions, and, using writing exercises, will explore elements of short-form storytelling in practice. Participants will be asked to read a couple of short stories in advance (texts will be supplied).

What people said about this workshop last year:

· Somehow, seeing the variety and quality of what other people – and you yourself! – can come up with on the spur of the moment, restores one’s faith in the human ability to be immensely creative.

· Vicky’s chairmanship was excellent. She kept firm hold of what we were doing and where we were going (so we didn’t waste time), at the same time as drawing everyone out and getting us all participating fully. She knows her stuff.

· A very supportive environment. Great balance between practical and talking and discussing - feel I learned a lot from both. You were probably altering what you did to fit the group and choreographing madly but were so calm and effortless that there was no pressure to do things or feelings of being rushed / incompleteness

· Thank you for today's class. I wish we had one every Saturday!

Workshop leader Vicky Grut’s awards for short fiction include the Chapter One International Short Story prize in 2006, and an Asham Award in 2009. Her stories have appeared in magazines and collections including Random Factor (Pulp Books, 1997), Reshape Whilst Damp (Serpent’s Tail, 2000), Valentine’s Day: Stories of Revenge (Duckworth, 2000), two volumes of the British Council anthology New Writing: 13 (Picador 2005) and 14 (Granta, 2006), and Waving at the Gardener (Bloomsbury, 2009). She is a reader for The Literary Consultancy and has taught for the Open University, The Arvon Foundation and London South Bank University.

The workshop costs £70, which includes tea, coffee and a sandwich lunch. Central London venue. Small group.

For moreinformation or to book visit the website or e-mail londonwritingworkshops@googlemail.com

I'd better sort my submissions out. Just getting used to my new laptop! (Cleo is doing well, improving every day, thank goodness). And the sun is shining! Not the Manchester I remember :)

A great week

I was feeling a bit bleurgh last week, partly due to feeling a little lost after deciding that I wasn't going to work at night, partly due to a couple of rejections all on the same day, and January looking like a Rejection Zone, what a way to start the year etc... etc... But then on Wednesday I headed down on the train to the Arvon Foundation's beautiful Devon writing centre, Totleigh Barton and things started looking much brighter. I didn't really know quite what I had been invited to do - I knew it was a school group, I knew I'd read and answer questions, but apart from that I wasn't sure.

I discovered when I got there that during the months they are not open to the public, Arvon run courses for many different groups which are similar in structure to the public ones: a group of 16 or so participants live in, with two writers who run a 6 day writing course, and there is a guest writer who comes half way through for one evening's reading. There are workshops in the mornings, and the participants cook dinner!

I have been on two Arvon courses in the last 8 years and it is no exaggeration to say that they were life changing. The first course, in 2002, was Writing & Science, a new topic for Arvon. When I saw it advertised I couldn't believe that there were other people who wanted to do what I wanted to do! The thing was: I didn't know how. And that 6-day course showed me how to let myself be inspired by science fact and turn it into fiction. It also showed me that I could write on demand - the tutors said, "Go off, write something, and come back and read", and what do you know? I could. Amazing. (I also met my partner J there, so it really was life-changing in all respects...)!

The second course, a few years later, was on short stories, and the tutors were Ali Smith and Toby Litt. Ali Smith was one of the reasons I wanted to write short stories in the first place. And so when we had a one-on-one tutorial and she told me to give up the day job and write full time because I was "the real thing", it blew my mind. Another milestone.

Coming back to Totleigh Barton, where this second course was held, was very moving for me. It's amazing to mark the passing of time: 2006 - me paying to come on a course; 2010 - me being invited and paid for, book in hand!

The reading went very well - I think. I say that because it was in a big barn and I didn't wear my glasses (ah, time...!) and so couldn't see the faces of the sixth-formers from 2 Bristol schools who were having a wonderful writing week with their teachers! I talked about my journey, read some flash stories and the beginning of a story from my book that I'd started writing there in 2006, and answered excellent questions, such as "How come you seem so happy?"! I liked that one. "Because I get to come here and talk about short stories," was the simple answer. The students were all very interested in writing, they are writing themselves, and I was really inspired by being with them, by answering their questions and listening to them talk about writing. And -they bought 10 books, all the copies I brought with me, that was quite a surprise too.

I also had a great time meeting the two excellent tutors, playwright Diane Samuels and Bristol-based novelist Chris Wakling, the teachers from the two schools, and Totleigh Barton centre directors Claire and Ollie. Looking forward to seeing them all again. I came back to Bristol the next day feeling re-energised and re-inspired. Hope I get to go back.

And then yesterday, just slipping in there before January left, some very lovely news. I think I mentioned that my play, Exchange Rates, which I adapted from my short story, was shortlisted for the Total Beast 6-Minute Play competition, and that all the shortlisted plays were being performed. We went to London for the performance, and I was really moved by how well the actors performed my play. It was just wonderful seeing it brought to life so well. (Of course I wanted to tweak it a little, but there you are!). After the performances, the director asked any of the writers in the audience to come onstage. I was a little freaked out by that, suddenly getting shy, but then we stood there and he announced the winner.

Me.

Yup! Big big shock. Really. Just having the play performed was a thrill. But a lovely cheque, which is greatly appreciated, as well as a critique of whatever script I choose to give her by a professional editor, which is a wonderful prize.

So now I am doubly, triply inspired! Now I want to write a play from scratch... and, after a fabulous creative brainstorming meeting with Philipa from the University's Centre for Public Engagement today, I want to write a science play, and maybe a film... and maybe something animated... and...

So, February dawns and 2010 is looking brighter. No snow this week, yet. And more inspirational events to keep my spirits up - am going to talk to undergrad Creative Writing students at Bath Spa Uni next week, where I did my MA. Don't tell anyone, but I think I might get more out of doing these events than they do. Shhhhh.

And the winners are...

I assigned everyone a number, and then used a random number generator (honestly, I did) to pick the winners. And... drum roll... the winners of a birthday signed copy of The White Road and Other Stories are:

• Andrew Philip
• Richard Osgood
• Nadiya

Congratulations! Email me at taniah@gmail.com and give me your addresses, I'll pop the books in the post.

For those of you that didn't win, a very special birthday offer: I am happy to send you a signed copy from my personal stash, for £6/$10, which includes p&p. You won't find it cheaper anywhere! If you'd like one, please email me at taniah@gmail.com . I will do my best to write an original and witty dedication to each person!

PS Funnily enough, I just got an email saying I'd won a book, The Einstein Girl, in a prize draw over at How Publishing Really Works. What goes around...

First Birthday Book Giveaway

It's The White Road and Other Stories' first birthday today. Wow. What a year! And here I am, sitting at my new desk in my new study in our new city. Who would have thought?

My great writer/blogger colleague and friend Nik Perring. has interviewed me about that first year over at his blog. A few tantalising snippets, and then down to the Free Book stuff...

Because I am published by a small press, Salt, even though they are amazing and they made me this beautiful book, most of the marketing and promotion was and is down to me. And I have no clue about selling a book! Well, perhaps now I have a bit more of a clue. So, basically, I made it up as I went along. I built a website for the book, I set up a Facebook Page, I organised a hectic 11-stop Virtual Book Tour where I was interviewed on 11 blogs over 11 weeks about everything from my love for science to writing and religion.... I cajoled as many people as possible into writing reviews....I obsessively checked my Amazon rankings, searching for some indication of whether what I was doing was working. And whirring through my mind, all the time, was: “How can I sell the book? How can I sell the book?”

To find out the biggest surprises of the last 12 months, and more, pop in to Nik's blog. And thanks to Eco-libris, I have planted a tree for every copy printed, which is more than I expected (mother buying 100+ 10 friends!) although not quite a forest yet.

FREE BOOKS!

Ok, in celebration, I am giving away THREE signed copies of The White Road and Other Stories - to anyone, anywhere in the world. If you'd like one, just leave a comment here saying "Pick me!" (inspired by Caroline!) or something similar. You have until Sept 8th, and then I'll pick three winners out of a hat.

Happy birthday also too to Nuala Ní Chonchúir's wondrous short story collection, Nude, which is published today by Salt! Nuala's Nude Not Naked Virtual Book Tour kicks off today, and I will be hosting her here next week, Sept 8th, talking about writing, art, and perhaps a little about nudity!

So, anyone want a free book??

We've landed

Yes, we're here! And we have Internet, which arrived the day after we did, miracle of miracles. Bristol is lovely, although rather damp and half the temperature (celsius) of where we moved from. It's delightful, confusing, disorienting, I am finding that my English isn't quite what I thought it was... they say that after 5 years in a country where your mother tongue isn't the native language, you are no longer a native speaker of that language. I can understand that now. I like to think it makes my writing more "colourful"!

I won't write too much more now, just to say that it is lovely to be in a place where people's default expression when they meet you on the street is a smile. I like that. I am sure there will be other things I find harder, and many aspects of Israel that I miss. Give me time, I will moan. And will take pictures of our new home when our stuff arrives on Tuesday.

Other things to report: got a rejection from the New Yorker, there's a surprise. Also, deadlines tomorrow for Norton Hint Fiction and the Juked short story and poetry competition, so get your entries in. And congratulations to Petina Gappah, whose short story collection, An Elegy for Easterly, is shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. (See the Short Review blog for more, including a link to my review of the book.)

And... and....

It's the 1st birthday of The White Road and Other Stories on Sept 1st! (Did I mention the book at all, at all, all the time...??!) One year. I can't believe it. In celebration, I will be reflecting on the year-that-has-been over at Nik Perring's blog, and also giving away several signed copies of the book here, should you need some reading material for your loo, or an Autumnal gift for a loved one, that kind of thing.

OK, off out to experience a real Sunday. In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the work week, something you almost never get used to, coming from a weekendy kind of culture. We will seek out brunch, armed with large newspapers with many sections.

Ending the day on a high note

I just found out, and it's crazy for me to even write it...that The White Road and Other Stories is current Salt's bestselling book. Number 1. Madness. Not sure what time period this refers to or anything... Of course, I took a screenshot...


can you see? Click on it to get a larger pic. There's Shaindel Beers' wonderful poetry collection, A Brief History of Time, at Number 3, Luke Kennard's excellent The Migraine Hotel at #4, and Alex Keegan's stunning stories, Ballistics, at #20. And 16 books that I have yet to read and love...And a gorgeous photo of Nuala and her brand new short story collection, Nude, which you will hear more about here shortly.

This most definitely is the result of Salt's Just One Book campaign, so many people rallied round, thank you all so so much for supporting Salt - and thank you to those of you who showed their support by buying my book. It is really moving and thrilling, I never thought I would find myself at this point. But please: don't stop. Salt is doing alright for the moment, but this needs to continue. There are new titles being published, and a wealth of existing titles that are excellent, both poetry and short stories. Have a wander, all books are 33% off for the whole of August (enter the coupon code HU693FB2 at checkout)... or sign up for the Story Bank or Poetry Bank and get sent beautiful books on a regular basis. What better present for a reader?

Ok, off to bed now with a big grin.

Early morning post

I don't normally blog in the morning. I don't normally do much in the morning, but this one started off so well I thought I'd jot it down. First, I wake up, open Facebook, and see a lovely status update from a new writer friend, Nicola Morgan, who "doesn't normally read short stories", saying, to my delight, that she is "blown away" by The White Road and Other Stories! A convert... how fabulous. Once you start dipping into short-story-land, you're hooked.

Boyd Tonkin certainly is, bless you Boyd. In today's Independent newspaper, in an article entitled "Short-haul fiction, long-term benefits", he says:

Here's a star-spangled shortlist of leading writers who have published, or soon will publish, works of fiction since the last Man Booker contest: Kazuo Ishiguro, AL Kennedy, Ali Smith, Will Self, Chimamanda Adichie, Alice Munro. None of them could have featured on this week's long-list. Of course, the final name gives the game away. Canada's doyenne of the story that packs an entire life, and world, into 20 pages might already have won the Man Booker International Prize for career achievement. But the annual competition still shuns volumes of short fiction. Which means as well that first-rank debut collections, such as (this year) Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, never stand a fighting chance. Should that rule now change?

Yes, Boyd, yes! And then, if it couldn't get any better, he says:

In the Manchester-based Comma Press and Salt Publishing in Cambridgeshire, Britain has two high-performing specialist imprints with a robust commitment to the briefer forms.

Oh, Boyd! Sending much love to the Indy today. I will leave you with his parting shot:

"The only rule is to write originally and well - whether the result takes two, five or twenty thousand words."

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. (New prize for 2-word stories, anyone??)
Read the full article here.

Small/Big Moments of Joy

This came in the post this morning from my delicious publisher, Jen, at Salt.

Can you see what it says at the top? It's the new print run, and it says "Commended by the Orange Award for New Writers 2009"! Click on the pic and you get the enormous version.

My little/big thrill of the day.

Wheee!

Still Hot But Smiling

Let's not dwell on the heat, which is all-consuming, distracting... oops, there I am dwelling. No, it is just here, it is only heat. Enough.

The niceness of the day is summed up by both a lovely new review on my Amazon UK page and by the astonishing fact that I sent three flash stories and a poem to a lit zine yesterday and they'd like to publish all of them! Well, very nice. Will post the links as they happen.

Third nicety is the discovery that the great and wondrous Margaret Atwood is coming to speak in Bristol, our soon-to-be new hometown, so tickets have been booked for that, how thrilling. Very very few of those sorts of names come through Jerusalem, be they writers, artists, musicians, and there is always a big hoo-ha when they do. I am looking forward to being in a place where these kinds of events happen more than once every few years. Where I might actually participate in something, too. Not with Ms A of course, although I have been invited to the 11th Conference on the Short Story in Toronto next June (can I plan that far in advance??) and she is scheduled to be there too, with some other wonderful names, so, well, there you are.

I haven't done any writing today, but writing-related things. Yesterday I sat for an hour very early in the morning in certain government offices waiting for something which was not, of course, granted, but taking in my fellow applicants, the shoddy surroundings, certain bizarre juxtapositions which started my mind wandering. I am hoping that the (very early) hour was not wasted, that it may lead to a short story. It is maturating right now. Will see what emerges. I also finished the screenplay adaptation of a short story of mine for the Waterford Film Festival competition (see link on right, Waiting to Hear from...). It is such fun adapting your own stories - the story is there but you need to make changes so it works visually. I also submitted a new story to the Manchester Fiction Prize, so fingers crossed. Only a week or so left for that - get your entry in.

In other news, the plagiarism discussion in which various of us had been very careful not to "name names" has now progressed, a name has been mentioned and the person in question has been asked to explain, if he can. If you'd like to find out more, visit the thread on How Publishing Really Works.

The fallout for me with all this discussion has been a heightened sensitivity, perhaps even insecurity, when I write as to whether I am really writing my own story, or has something from somewhere else slipped in. I just have to trust that I am, but try and still remain aware. It is a delicate balance.

I am being surprised and delighted

When I started this new habit of announcing, to the day or whatever higher power, "Surprise and delight me!"as I got out of bed, I didn't really believe it would happen. At least not on a daily basis. But it has. Someone could argue that I am now noticing things more, or allowing myself to be delighted where I might not have been - but whatever the case, I am surprised and delighted pretty much on a daily basis! Today's surprise came in the form of a blog post over at the Emerging Writers Network. I had submitted a review to the EWN of Alexandra Chasin's short story collection, Kissed By... , as a guest post for Short Story Month, which was published on the blog two days ago. I thought that was it for my appearances over there.

Then just now I got one of those most useful Google Alerts, I check out EWN, and there I am again - but this time I - or one of my short stories - am the subject! Dan Wickett is discussing On A Roll, one of the stories in The White Road and Other Stories. He discusses a particular aspect of the story, and I won't give it away here, pop over there and see what he has to say. He is most kind about my book, which is the delightful part! He asked me a question at the end and so I broke with protocol and left a comment to explain a little about how the story came about.

I would also like to mention here that it hasn't all been roses and delightful surprises in Tania's Writing World. I have received a number of rejections and failed to get anywhere in quite a few competitions. I don't normally mention these, but in the interests of not skewing the statistics, I thought it was time I did. These always bring about a short, sharp stab of disappointment, but this gets fainter over time, and I just start thinking about where next to send the stories. I'm always submitting stories - now only to paying markets, as I mentioned in an earlier post. I've submitted stories to places I never even considered - Tin House, Ploughshares, A Public Space - and am expecting rejections any day now! (Although also open to being surprised and delighted, of course, but a girl's gotta be realistic...)

So, another week starts and now that I have broken through the 1000-word barrier (I wrote a short story last week which is a mammoth 1200 words), I am expecting to push that a little further, and perhaps not write any flash stories for a while, to try and wean myself off the thrill of instant gratification. We will see how that goes.