Yearly Archives: 2018
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19th December 2018
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My story that won the Plymouth Short Story Competition (It’s not what you are thinking!).Here’s the link: Writing Competition 2018
(This piece of flash fiction originated as an exercise in a creative writing class. The task was to tell about a barn and a man whose son has been killed without saying it is a barn or that the son has died in the war.) I push open the great doors. They groan, echoing my pain. This ... Read More
How Do Authors Over 60 Define Career Success? by Marylee MacDonald Career success for writers over 60 looks quite different from the success of writers profiled in such places as The New Yorker’s 20 Best Writers Under 40 or Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. Writers in their 60s, 70s, and 80s can’t enter these literary ... Read More
“Feelgood ” refers to films or books that portray people and life in a way that makes us feel happy or optimistic. “Uplit” – a new term which I found in The Guardian and which is derived from “uplifting literature” – seems to mean the same thing. It works best when there is some sadness, some realism, to ... Read More
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3rd February 2018
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Does anyone recognise this? If you do, please let me know. Years ago I used to perform it as a sort of party piece, but I’ve no idea where I got it from. A Russian peasant is trudging through the snow. He finds a poor little frozen bird, still breathing – just. He picks it ... Read More
I may be an old lady but I’m on Facebook and I know how to tweet and blog. But there are some contemporary terms that I cannot bring myself to use. These make me wince – and I have no excuses to offer. Do others feel the same? When I began this post I was greeted ... Read More