It is after 10pm on Tuesday the 5th of May 2006. I have finally finished my collection of short stories, that have been working on and off for some years. Amazingly I’m only 5 days later than I anticipated. I needed to finish them by the end of April and I have a month to do all the PEPs (pruning editing and polishing) before I send them to my editor at the end of May.
Back in 2006 I made the transition from writing articles for magazines and journals, and from being a journalist to a writer or author. I spent a couple of years putting together a collection of short stories which came out in 2008 under the title Madness Lies and Other Stories. Each story was accompanied by a black and white illustration or line drawing, most of which I did myself.
I have always loved short stories and throughout my life I have read many collections by many authors – one of my favourite short story writers is Alice Monro. So, it was inevitable when I turned my hand to writing fiction, that I would begin with stories. I then moved on to write 3 novels (2009 – 2019), which I did whilst I was still working, so inevitably the gap between each book was longer than it would have been had I been a full-time author. I am now retired and have enjoyed myself writing my first children’s book entitled The Blue Mirror for my grandchildren. I’m endeavouring to find someone to illustrate it, before I get it published. I am also an artist and have been focusing on painting with the result that I have given less time to my writing.
When I finished my children’s book a year ago in 2005, I began to get back into writing. I have finally put together another collection of short stories, some of which I wrote a few years back but most of which have been written in the last nine months. Over fifteen years ago, I also started to write Flash Fiction. You may ask ‘What is Flash Fiction?’ Sometimes known as micro-fiction, it is a term often used to describe a short story of less than 500 words. I was intrigued by this pared-down form of storytelling where every word must count. Full of humour and insight, they aim to entertain and startle the reader. They take only five minutes to read! I have included quite a few of these in my forthcoming book of fiction – short stories.
One of my stories is entitled ‘Nectarine’. When I was searching for a name for the new collection, I realised that stories can be a little like a bowl of fruit – enticing, colourful, delicious, each with their own individual flavour, colour and shape, some sweet, and some sour. So I have decided to call my new book – my sixth book – NECTARINES. Having finished the writing, I now have a few months ahead of me, when the publishing process gets into full swing. The book will be polished, edited, formatted, and then printed, marketed and published as a paperback. There will also be an e-book. Dryad Books are aiming for a publication date at the end of September.
Keep a look out for my ‘Nectarines’ – they will taste good!