LITnIMAGE

My flash, A Shanty for Sawdust and Cotton, is online now at LITnIMAGE. My debut in this venue, and Roland (editor) has been so enthusiastic throughout the process, telling me today that several of his friends have said they love the story. I'm so glad I wrote this (inspired by my new city) and subbed it to LITnIMAGE.

Reasons to be Cheerful

1. Good Things happening to Great People: Tania Hershman won the Grand Prize at the Binnacle Contest - huge congratulations, Tania! Editor's Choice went to Vanessa Gebbie, and honourable mentions to Nik Perring and Anne Brooke, among others.

2. The Weather breaking to Rain: this makes me very happy. It meant we were able to extend our riverside walk to two hours on Friday evening, with a pit-stop for bread and olives (and a chocolate mousse for the child) in a lovely riverside venue.

3. Things for Free in our New City: two very different but equally splendid houses to visit, right on our doorstep, giving us a genuine idea of how our 1760 place would have looked in its day. Then, walking home and finding the child hungry, popping into the riverside venue and being handed a huge loaf of ciabatta 'on the house', as they were about to close for the day. As the child put it: "A whole ARMFUL of free bread!"

4. Shutters and wallpaper: the bedrooms in our place still have the original shutters with iron bars, which is wonderful enough, but even better are the variegated layers of peeling wallpaper in the recessed portions of the wall where the shutters fold when open. There are at least four different layers of paper, floral, colourful, very old. I must write a story about the four generations that chose the papers and hung them here.

5. Reading: Patricia Highsmith's Ripley Under Water. Dry as tinder is Tom Ripley, and Highsmith's prose to match. Of course this makes it all the more explosive when it Goes Up. I'm still trying to work out how such very dry writing can grip the reader so thoroughly. Really, it's not the sort of writing I enjoy, at all. But I keep reading her books, for the craft as much as anything.

6. Writing: It's coming, slowly. I have a handful of flashes coming out over the next few weeks, at venues including Wigleaf, LITnIMAGE, Word Riot and Big Pulp. Oh and a guest blog over at Strictly Writing at the end of the month. Best of all, I'm working on the new novel, at last.

A Shanty for Sawdust and Cotton

I'm celebrating! I wrote my first piece of new fiction since moving home, the writing of which was a milestone in itself (and the story was inspired by my new location, which makes it important in a different sense).

I subbed the story to the editor at LITnIMAGE, who'd read and rejected (quickly, positively) a handful of my other flashes just recently. This being something brand new, I thought I would try it out and it was accepted just a day after I wrote it: 'We think your story is a wonderful addition to our upcoming issue and are very pleased for the opportunity to showcase your work... It's a beautiful and moving piece.'

I'd like to nominate the editor, Roland Goity, for one of Vanessa Gebbie's Best Editor Awards. His response time was super-fast and his comments unfailingly civil and encouraging. He took the trouble to suggest some small changes to my work but made it clear I had the right to accept or decline these as I saw fit. Best of all, he didn't mind me sending fresh flashes by return email for his consideration. Thank you, Roland, you made my morning with the acceptance of A Shanty for Sawdust and Cotton.

Yellow Mama

My flash about Kate Webster, the last woman hanged at Wandsworth, is published in the latest issue of Yellow Mama. This is one of a handful of historical crime flashes I've written. If you're interested in how (or why) I like writing this sort flash, there's a blog about it here.

Sister Morphine

I'm reading this book at the moment, by Catherine Eisner, published by Salt. If anyone else has read it, please can you explain why Salt call it a "novel" rather than a collection of short stories? I don't see how it can be a novel, as it consists of individual 'case studies' of women with mental health issues. I have read about a third of the way through so far, and there is no connecting thread between the individual accounts, or none that I can see. I know there is sometimes a stigma associated with selling short story collections (and this is a debut collection), but since Salt is a great champion of the short story, I can't think they would fall into the trap of believing readers would be put off by the tag 'short stories'.

Please don't misunderstand - I'm enjoying what I've read so far (although I do feel some of the stories are over-written and the individual voices don't always shine through). I just don't see it is as a novel, and wonder why Salt do.

Thursday last week

The sun has shone nearly every day since we moved, which has been very jolly and made a trip to the coast great fun this weekend. I am perverse, perhaps, but my favourite day was Thursday last week, when it rained. We'd been walking by the river every evening in the good weather but on Wednesday I wimped out because the heat and sun was getting too much for my Saxon blood. On Thursday, the rain came and I was happy. I walked up the hill through the squares and gardens, smelling roses and hedges, wet grass. The whole world just washed - you know that smell? I bought a cup of excellent coffee and walked with it to the highest point in the city to see how it all looked, newly clean. The trip restored my equilibrium. I came home ready to write, made copious notes for the new novel, cleared the clouds from my head. Today the sun is back and just as bright. I'm glad because it's the weekend and we can pooter along the coast road, do some more discovering. But I can't wait for the next rainy day.

Moved!

Well, I'm here in the new pad. Nearly all the unpacking has been done and it already feels like home. I've yet to get into my stride with the new regime for writing but that will come. For now I'm enjoying being here, in a two hundred year old apartment filled with light and character, hearing seagulls instead of sparrows, walking up the hill for a coffee in the morning, strolling by the river at the end of the day. It feels expansive, and liberating. I'm the happiest I've been in a long time, lighter on my feet, brighter in my mind, everything sharper and cleaner - in focus. Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes and cards for the move.