I am pleased to say that a short story taken from the novel I have recently finished was longlisted for the Write Idea 2014 Short Story prize, part of East London's reading festival.
The story I submitted is called The Tide Turned, and focuses on Martha who is coming to terms with her husband's dementia.
I'm pleased to say that I've just finished another book, After the End of England.
I wrote this one in a very different way. Whereas normally I would spend months planning the story out, with this one, I wrote it chapter by chapter with no set idea of what was going to happen before I started writing.
The novel was inspired by a short story that was inspired by a painting a friend of mine did. And over the course of the winter, I sent him chapters as I wrote them, also unusual as I don't normally let anybody read my work until I'm certain it's finished. It was an interesting and very freeing way of working and I'm quite pleased with the results.
After the End of England is a love story to the sea. Set it Dover, it is told using split narratives though the voice of Martha Roberts and those closest to her. It explores themes of womanhood, family, relationships and community, as well as the devastating onslaught of physical and mental illness that test those caught in the undertow.
When Martha fell off the pier in Dover, aged eight, she had no idea how it would come to shape and define her. The sea becomes the place where she first proves herself, where she demonstrates that she is remarkable, that she can make the ordinary extraordinary, where she will first attempts to swim the Channel.
A constant companion, the seam moves in and out of view, from the 1940s to present day, from her first accidental baptism, to her last wet.
The sea is an escape from Martha's responsibilities as a wife and mother, causing her to question her marriage, her home, and the choices she makes. The sea creates distance, separating her from her husband and children. Yet, it consoles her when she is diagnosed with cancer, and comforts her when dementia unravels her husband's mind. The sea is also a bridge, connecting her with the granddaughter she almost didn't meet.
Through the lens of Martha's life, we see the loss of one woman's position and how she reclaimed it. We see an England that was or perhaps never was. What binds the different first-person narratives is the overpowering presence of nature and time, the power of the seam to make connections and undo them over generations.
It's great to have had an email saying I'd been shortlisted, but it's even better to see my name on the list of those who've been shortlisted for the 2013 short story prize.
“Mention the Bridport Prize and the eyes of writers everywhere light up. It's not just the money - though that's not to be sneezed at - it's a prize really worth fighting for in terms of prestige and genuine literary accomplishment”
Fay Weldon CBE, patron of the Bridport Prize
As I was waiting in the queue at the Wetherspoon's at Gatwick, I happened to check my email and was delighted to find that a story I'd submitted has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize.
This year they had about 5,800 entries and around 100 were shortlisted. The story I submitted, called Safety in Numbers, is based on the novel I'm currently writing about a woman who hires a stalker.
The Bridport Prize International Creative Writing Competition was founded in 1973 and receives entries from all over the world.
If you're interested in reading about the way my mother and I come up with ways to be funny on our blog, Hey Ma, I'm Home, click over to Mslexia's site and read on.
My mother and I have been interviewing each other about our process of writing our daily blog together.
In this installment, we discuss how we settle on subject matter. Click here if you'd care to read.
This was originally posted on 4 March, but I've been busy working on a book proposal (with my mother) and have only just now had time to re-post it.
I mentioned in an earlier post that my mother, Laurie, and I are guest-blogging on Mslexia's site for the next three months.
We'll be interviewing each other about the processes we go through writing our blog, Hey Ma, I'm Home.
The first interview is up today, and it focuses on how our blog came to be. If you'd like to read it, click here.
Last night, as I was making dinner, I got an email from the Homestretch radio programme in Calgary. They wanted to interview me about the essay that was published in The Globe & Mail. Who could say no?
You can listen to it here.
Today, an essay I've written has been published in The Globe and Mail.
You can read it here.
Not everything I write is fiction.
After I finished my PhD, I was dead broke and unemployed. While I figured things out and looked (desperately) for work, I went home to live with my mother. I'd planned on staying the summer, but it took me a year and a half to get back on my feet.
While I languished on her couch, she and I started writing a blog together, called Hey Ma, I'm Home.
I'm very pleased to announce that we'll be guest-blogging on Mslexia.co.uk from February. We're interviewing each other on what it's like to write a blog together, the challenges we face and how we keep doing it, even though I finally moved out.
I'll post a link to our first post once it's up, so stay tuned...