There are a lot of writing competitions out there, and they're mainly for short stories. I find this odd, considering most bookshop shelves are filled with novels (there's a debate for another day). It's a genre I usually avoided as a writer: why should I go to the trouble of learning the skill and nuance of another style while still grappling with that second novel?
However, the dark days of winter have driven me to sample a few short stories from a writer's perspective; getting to feel the tone, the flow... and what else to get the juices flowing than a competition? After all, practice is always good practice, as any writer knows.
Where to start? Being a believer in recycling my wordage (a habit from my freelance journalism days) I poked through some old files - mainly those in my memory - and came up with an idea I had first put onto paper as part of a script from my Creative Writing MA. I am now pleased to learn that the converted script
has been selected for an anthology by the wonderful people at Glittery Literary, a platform 'to promote, reward and share fabulous, original writing and great story telling' (which also donates to alleviate child poverty) - what's not to like?
My short story, Homecoming, is included in Glittery's 4th anthology: www.glitteryliterary.com/collections-in-print