People often ask, ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ Last year I came across this image on the internet and was blown away by the woman’s incredible, ethereal beauty. So much so that it inspired a short story: Diamond Life. It’s a bit of a weird one, but I liked it. So did the rest of the world, sort of… I entered it into various competitions and it was shortlisted three times, early on, then nothing in subsequent comps. Finally, despairing (and a tad disappointed) I thought, I’ll give it one more chance. I’m glad I did, it won first prize in the NAWG (National Association of Writers’ Groups) 2021 short story competition. I was so pleased. This beautiful creature deserves it.

If you’re interested in reading any of my stories, my new collection Degrees of Exposure is available now. (Diamond Life will be in my next collection but in the meantime, you can read it in Henshaw Four.)

Last week I was delighted to be invited to a presentation evening in Bridgend where my story, Edna and Goliath had won first prize in the Bridgend Writers’ Circle annual open competition.

The group meet in the old Public Library building where the event was held. It was a delightful occasion attended by the mayor and also Jo Derrick, this year’s competition judge.

Meeting the group’s members underlined for me how much we aspiring writers owe to writers’ circles such as this – without their efforts there would be few competitions to enter and thus, little stimulus to keep writing and striving to improve.

Huge thanks to Bridgend and numerous others like them