So, here’s the thing, when there’s a
competition I have previously done well in I sort of feel I should give
something back and so I sometimes enter again the following year – not with a
view to winning again or even picking up a prize, but just to show support.
That’s why I entered Fylde Brighter Writers Circle Prize, a competition that
runs every two years. I have been on the podium there for all three of their
previous competitions.
I have always got flash fiction pieces
lying around and I’m never very committed to doing much with them. For me they
are like artists’ sketches. They are like writing exercises, just to keep my
hand in and my imagination working. So when Brighter Writers decided to include
flash fiction in this year’s competition I threw in some pieces. I also entered
a short story that was very short and little more than a flash standing tall.
I don’t know what else I would have done
with these pieces, so imagine my surprise when some of my entries made it to
the longlist and then the shortlist. And then today I find that my short story
(tall flash!) has won second place and one of my flashes is a runner up in the
flash fiction section.
Thank you so much to Steve Brodie and all
at Brighter Writers. It is always a thrill when a piece is sent out into the
world and it fares well. Thank you.
Oh and a couple of my flashes were honoured
with special commendation status by Aberdeen Library Special Collections Centre
in their annual National Book Week flash fiction competition. Thank you. I
enter this competition each year because I graduated from Aberdeen University back in 1979…
yes, so I feel I ought to give something back there also.
