A Short Short Story

by on May 30, 2013 in My Short Stories, On Writing and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As I have previously pointed out, I love writing short fiction. Perhaps still high on my success in the 2013 Reader’s Digest 100-word story competition (I came runner-up), I’ve just entered the BNZ (Bank of New Zealand) Literary Awards, in the Short Short Story category (150 words). As long as your story is deemed eligible, it’s published […]

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The Writer in print

by on April 14, 2013 in My Short Stories and tagged , , , , , , , ,

It’s quite something to see yourself in print. This story was published in the April 2013 issue of Takahē, a New Zealand literary magazine. I received my copy in my letterbox today. I have posted the story previously, but for the sake of ease, here it is for those who haven’t read it before. The Writer The Devil […]

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My Wee Winning Story

by on March 26, 2013 in My Short Stories, On Writing and tagged , , , , , , , , ,

My, that’s a large one. I refer to the photo of my face that jumped out and slapped me as I opened the April issue of Reader’s Digest (New Zealand edition). With the issue finally out today, I can announce that out of thousands of entries I am one of two runners-up in the NZ Readers […]

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Furnishing Desire

by on November 19, 2012 in My Short Stories, On Writing and tagged , ,

Could you write a short story in EXACTLY 100 words? I had a go today… You stand in the corner, silent. Your legs, your arms, your back all curve luxuriously, solipsistically stealing space. You are taunting me, teasing me. Come. Closer. Covet. I circle you, regarding with giddy wonder the graceful whorls and lattices traced intricately […]

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I Grow Old

by on November 8, 2012 in My Short Stories and tagged , ,

Apologies to those who have already read this story. I realised today I had mistakenly put it in the Trash. It has been revived. It started on a Tuesday in September. She was in the shower, lathering up, pondering the day to come, when she happened to look down at her hands as they moved up […]

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The Writer

by on November 2, 2012 in My Short Stories and tagged , ,

I wrote this story to be the “anchor” of a short story collection which is still a work in progress. Each story can stand alone and be read as a complete piece, but they are all linked to this one – in some cases so subtly that the reader may have to search for the connection. […]

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Our Father

by on September 21, 2012 in My Short Stories and tagged , ,

I wrote this story after someone close to me had died. I held this person’s hand as they passed. I wanted to capture the profoundness of that moment. When I was little, just before bedtime, my mother used to wrap me in my dressing gown and take me outside to see the stars. “Who made them?” […]

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Three

by on September 13, 2012 in My Short Stories and tagged , , ,

This was originally going to be a three-part short story, the first part told from the woman’s viewpoint, the second from the man’s, the third from the nurse’s. I stopped after the first. It felt like enough. Maybe one day I’ll finish it. The Woman First, the gift of the anonymous gown, stiff with cheap […]

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The Belfast Question

by on August 23, 2012 in My Short Stories and tagged , ,

This story is based on something that really happened to me to when I went back to Northern Ireland in my 20s. I was born there, and my family shifted to New Zealand when I was four. My father was a Presbyterian minister in Country Armagh (termed “Bandit Country” in 1975 by then Northern Ireland […]

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