It’s hard to believe that I last posted here in February and we are now into June. All of the projects I was involved in have now been completed or are about to complete, and I’m looking forward to the next six months. More on that later, but first here’s a mini round-up of what I’ve been up to.

The National Flash Fiction Day ‘Freedom’ Anthology

This week, the cover reveal for this year’s annual anthology took place on social media. It was a thrill to hear NFFD tell me that they thought my painting was ‘perfect’ for the ‘Freedom’ theme. John at Ad Hoc Fiction chose the border and text colours, which I think compliment my work beautifully. The response on social media has been very positive, which is always a joy. And a relief! 

My flash fiction, Step In, Step Out is also between the covers, so that’s even more joy. NFFD are holding a Facebook launch for the anthology on the day of the celebrations, Sat 18th June. You don’t need to be on Facebook to join in.

Flash Flood – National Flash Fiction Day

It was also great news to know that my flash fiction, Sugar, will appear at 9am on the 18th, as part of the annual Flash Flood. This event always has a real buzz about it, with the submissions’ window only open for three days in May. The publication slots are highly sort after, so I’m thrilled to be in this year, amongst many writers I admire, and many of my friends in the flash fiction community. A flash fiction will be posted every ten minutes. You can see how the event earned its name!

Sybilla – Publication 

June is always an exciting month because of all that’s going on at National Flash Fiction Day, but this year there’s added excitement for me because it’s the month Joanna Campbell’s Sybilla, winner of the NFFD Novella-in-Flash Award will be published. I launched the competition with Stephanie Carty, back in February 2021, and I’ve been working on the book production with Joanna since January, when she was announced as the winner.  We’ve now fixed Joanna’s publication day as Thursday 16 June. On the day, if you are having a coffee break, why not listen to the two stories that Joanna has recorded for us on our YouTube channel. Each story will last around 2 or 3 minutes. My interview with Joanna will also be available on the website. Sybilla will be available to buy from the National Flash Fiction Day bookshop. 

Flash Fiction Festival

July will be an equally exciting month because it means the Flash Fiction Festival is back in Bristol! It has been online during Covid, but is now live again. Several of the workshops will also be available to attend online.  I’m very excited about it! It’s such an inspiring and welcoming event. I’m looking forward to taking part in some amazing workshops, meeting up with old friends, and making new ones. The festival takes place at Trinity College and there is still time to buy day or weekend tickets Flash Fiction Festival

Writing Projects

My own writing has taken a backseat in the last six months, although I did manage to write and edit a few flash, including the ones I’ve mentioned above, and I have two out on submission. I’m a very slow submitter anyway, so I’m happy with that. My main priority has been to think about and pull together an idea I have for a second flash fiction collection. I plan to write some new ones in the coming weeks and hopefully have the collection ready to sub before the end of summer. Fingers crossed. I still have a novella-in-flash on the back burner, but I’m taking a step back from it for the time being while I think about whether or not to extend it. 

That’s about it for the moment, except to say that I’m planning on writing the occasional blog post about flash fiction in the coming months. My first post will focus on endings in flash, which are extremely difficult to get right. Having judged four competitions in the last year I’ve read a lot of submissions that were so close to being placed, but fell at the last hurdle because of a weak ending, so I thought it might be helpful to offer my thoughts on what makes an ending successful.  

Watch this space.

Bye for now.