A month ago, I uploaded my story ’A Twist in the Tale’ for you all to have a look at. I hope that you enjoyed reading it. I promised that I would post another story at the beginning of each month. Sorry this one is a bit late, but my life tends to go on hold in the school holidays, whilst I entertain my children and fight them for time on the computer! This story is very special to me. Again an entry in the Gateshead short story competition, the theme was ’Reach for the Stars’. It evoked for me a scene from my memorable trip to Malawi, when my son and I were privileged to stay for two nights in a remote village on the shores of Lake Malawi. No electricity. No furniture. No English speakers. And for many inhabitants of the village, we were the first white people they had ever seen. It blew my mind! I couldn’t stop thinking about this particular lady and her two little children long after I had returned to the UK. I hope that you get a flavour of this visit from the story that I constructed around that brief encounter.
Category Archives: Short Stories
A little gift from me to you
Posted onI guess if you are visiting this website, it is because you have either read my book and enjoyed it or are wondering about giving it a go. Either way, I thought over the next three months, I would share with you three stories I have written and submitted to the Gateshead Council Short Story Competition over the years. This particular story is the first piece of fiction I had written as an adult. I had been writing Sunday School material, school assemblies and catalogue copy for some years, but yearned to take the plunge into fiction. So in 2008, I did.
Imagine my excitement when I received a phone call to say that I had been short listed for a prize. I was to appear at a prize giving event and read my story aloud. The problem was that the joy of my story is in the reading on the page, so the organisers had to make a special concession and print a copy out for every person in the room! (only I could make things so awkward!). I was awarded the Second Prize that evening and bought a solar fountain for my pond with the prize money. A great encouragement for my first ever attempt at a short story!
The theme was ‘A Twist in the Tale’. Looking back, I have no idea how I came up with this tale. It still makes me smile to read it. I hope you enjoy it too.