Anyway, enough guilt. My
intention is to check in via Midatlantic more often from now on to share the latest
news about what I’ve been reading and writing with you all. In the meantime,
here’s an update on what’s been going on since my last post over a year ago.
2017 started with a bang for
me when I had a short story, Interstate,
longlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. The quality of the
other longlisted stories was very high so I was thrilled and gobsmacked to be alongside
them. You can read it here.
I had an additional nine flashes
published over the course of the year. I am proud to say one of them, The Shape of Things to Come, has been
nominated by The Nottingham Review for The Best Small Fictions anthology for
2017. It probably doesn’t stand a chance of making the final cut, but it really is true what they say – it’s an honor just to be nominated! You can read it here. And some of my other published flashes from last
year can be read here, here, and
here.
My total
of publications for 2017 wasn’t as high as in 2016 because I was getting to
grips with the revision of this neverending novel of mine, The Virgins of Salem. I had some good news on that front as well
when the first chapter of the novel was shortlisted for the Retreat West First Chapter Competition in July. The judge,
literary agent Laura Williams, praised the scene setting and vivid description of early 20th century India, which was very encouraging. In
historical fiction, it’s always tricky to maintain the necessary accuracy without
sounding stilted or cliched. I have struggled to avoid making my protagonist,
Celia Mapperley, sound like a plucky young Edwardian girl straight out of Mary
Poppins. I see her as much more complex – a young woman trapped in a life where
the only escape seems to be marriage to a man she is ambivalent about, while her
depressed state makes her passive and too easily influenced by the stronger
characters around her. If I can do justice to her complexity, then I think the
rest of the novel will work. All 21 chapters are in place and I am slowly
working my way through them, with major rewrites where necessary. As God is my
witness, it’ll be done by the end of the year. Watch this space!
Thanks
for reading - it’s good to be back!