I 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.