Anyone who may take an occasional look at this website will have rightfully concluded that I have not had much in the way of news over the past couple of years.
Unlike the earlier days of my writing from about 2012 onwards, where I would be fairly prolific in terms of writing both accomplished and published, I have fair slowed down in more recent times.
This has been a deliberate move. Rather than simply write (which, as writers, we're forever being told we must always do otherwise we would not be writers... Quatsch, as the Germans say) I found it necessary to take a breather, experience some other things for a while, and when it came to writing again, decide what precisely I eventually wanted to do, and how. Although it was never the intention to stop entirely, to step away from the keyboard can be no bad thing. But that break became a year, and then two...
During this time I also took a career break from my day job, and engaged myself in a few other creative pursuits: modern languages, literary translations, and even turning off the computer altogether and making things, like bags and belts. I did also do a bit of fiction writing, although unlike how I would have been in the earlier days, I was in no hurry to chalk up more publication credits.
However, there has been one consistent element running through all this time - the genesis of which, I was surprised to be told, began five whole years ago. And that is, of course, the wonderfully batty and gloriously fun flash fiction challenges that Chris Fielden runs on his website. It was my own loose talk in an article for his website that started the initial "adverbs" challenge. Now, half a decade on, there have been no less than eight different challenges (in which anyone is welcome to take part), fifteen anthologies published, and in excess of £5,000 raised for charity.
Because I have been somewhat lax in keeping up this website, I have failed to give the most recent five "challenged" collections a mention. But here they are, better late than never, below: click on each for the details.
Unlike the earlier days of my writing from about 2012 onwards, where I would be fairly prolific in terms of writing both accomplished and published, I have fair slowed down in more recent times.
This has been a deliberate move. Rather than simply write (which, as writers, we're forever being told we must always do otherwise we would not be writers... Quatsch, as the Germans say) I found it necessary to take a breather, experience some other things for a while, and when it came to writing again, decide what precisely I eventually wanted to do, and how. Although it was never the intention to stop entirely, to step away from the keyboard can be no bad thing. But that break became a year, and then two...
During this time I also took a career break from my day job, and engaged myself in a few other creative pursuits: modern languages, literary translations, and even turning off the computer altogether and making things, like bags and belts. I did also do a bit of fiction writing, although unlike how I would have been in the earlier days, I was in no hurry to chalk up more publication credits.
However, there has been one consistent element running through all this time - the genesis of which, I was surprised to be told, began five whole years ago. And that is, of course, the wonderfully batty and gloriously fun flash fiction challenges that Chris Fielden runs on his website. It was my own loose talk in an article for his website that started the initial "adverbs" challenge. Now, half a decade on, there have been no less than eight different challenges (in which anyone is welcome to take part), fifteen anthologies published, and in excess of £5,000 raised for charity.
Because I have been somewhat lax in keeping up this website, I have failed to give the most recent five "challenged" collections a mention. But here they are, better late than never, below: click on each for the details.
Finally, with a few more story ideas having sufficiently brewed in my subconscious like a nice hearty mug of Assam, it is time to remove the metaphorical tea bag and get a lot more writing done in the rest of 2021 (or certainly, more than I have been). Maybe I'll even try to get some more published. Stay tuned for news when it happens.