A FISH-y story

I've sneaked on here while LitPig is snoozing in the spring sunshine. The theme of this brief post is NEVER give up. I try never to give up on a short story if I truly love it and keep trying with competitions even when there's no hint of success. One such writing competition is the annual Fish International Short Story Prize. I've been submitting entries to that one since 2010. The winners and listed came out last week for 2014/2015 - read them here. I wasn't hopeful of getting anywher ... but there I am on the shortlist (the last name!). And when I saw it I almost cried. Didn't win (or come close) but I didn't care. For me this was one very personal measure of success. We all judge our progress in different ways and that's what makes us unique. For me this was a particularly special moment in my writing career to date.

Another big deal for me was that the Fish shortlisted story is the second story taken from my novel. The first story was shortlisted for the 2014 Commonwealth Writers Short Story prize. So I'm taking that as a positive sign ...

What have been the special moments for you? Please share ...

The Last Rose by Wendy Clarke

With only one week to go have you sorted your present for Mother's Day? If your mum is a reader then why not give her Wendy Clarke's latest short story collection, The Last Rose.

In his hand is the rose, as beautiful as I have ever seen - its creamy apricot petals curling inwards from his palm. He holds it out as one might a precious gift.

“The Last Rose is for you,” he says.

The Last Rose, is a collection of short stories of family and friendship. All thirteen stories have previously been published in either The People's Friend, Woman’s Weekly or Take a Break Fiction Feast Magazines. If you like stories with emotional depth and a satisfying ending, then these stories will not fail to leave you unmoved. 

The stories in this collection explore the intricate family relationships of thirteen ordinary people. In them, we discover the sorrow, love and joy that is shared... but not always spoken.

What LitPig has to say about the collection:

All of these stories are uplifting and will make you smile. Some will resonate and you may blink back a few tears. Wendy captures the true feelings between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and brilliantly evokes the love between grandparents and their grandchildren. I loved how she also effectively writes about fostering and the challenge of loving a child with Asperger's. These stories are also about friendship and finding new friends in new places. One of my favourites was the title story 'The Last Rose', a gentle and effective tale on the true meaning of friendship.

Wendy Clarke is a full time writer of women's fiction. Her work regularly appears in national women's magazines such as The People's Friend, Take a Break Fiction Feast and Woman's Weekly. She has also written serials and a number of non-fiction magazine articles.

Wendy has published two collections of short stories, Room in Your Heart and The Last Rose.

Wendy lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food! 

You can find The Last Rose here: Paperback, Kindle. Why not treat your mum and yourself to a copy. 

If you fancy a collection chock full of romance then check out Wendy's first collection Room in Your Heart available here: Paperback, Kindle.

From short stories to novel: Tracy Fells talks with Jo Derrick

The Indoor Writer was recently talking with fellow writer, Jo Derrick, on the transition from writing short stories to writing a novel. You can read the whole interview on Jo's blog here.

Lit Live: Open Mic

If you live close to Farnham (Surrey) then why not pop along to this event on 9 March (7.30pm start) ...

One of the organisers is Melanie Whipman - you can contact her if you would like to read at the event.
Melanie has kindly come along today to share some advice if you fancy reading at this or any other Open Mic.

LIT LIVE NIGHT FARNHAM AT THE HOP BLOSSOM

ADVICE FOR READERS:

Ten minute slots, to include an introduction, so three poems or about 1000 words of prose as a maximum.

(Work out your own WPM (words per minute) speed. But 1500 words is generally about ten minutes.)

Don’t forget the old (somewhat sexist) adage: ‘A speech is like a woman’s skirt: it needs to be long enough to cover the subject matter but short enough to hold the audience’s attention.’  

Avoid too much dialogue – unless you have a flair for drama and can differentiate your characters. If there is an extended area of dialogue you can’t avoid, then you may need to add more speech tags. What’s obvious on the written page, might not be so clear when read aloud.

Don’t overdo the profanities…

You’re here to entertain your audience. So avoid dark, harrowing themes. Remember there’s a massive difference between ‘poignant’ and ‘depressing’.

Practice – with cotton wool in your ears. It works, honest!

Melanie Whipman is a PhD student and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Chichester. Her prose and poetry has been broadcast on Radio 4 and published in various anthologies and magazines. Her short story collection, Llama Sutra, will be published by Ink Tears Press later this year. You can find her at www.melaniewhipman.com