So, you've signed that contract for your novel ...

So, you have been lucky enough to have signed a good contract for you novel. If your publishing company is in the U.S there are some important points about Tax that you need to know.

Check out this very helpful post from author Daniel Kaye on writing.ie .

http://www.writing.ie/resources/tips-for-claiming-back-us-tax/

Keep in touch with writing.ie for other useful pieces of advice and various blogs.

http://www.writing.ie/


About Daniel Kaye:

DANIEL KAYE  grew up in London but now works and lives in Charleville, Co. Cork. He has been writing for a number of years and has been published in numerous anthologies both in Ireland and the USA. Daniel's first novel I, Vladimir is due for release from Gentry Publishing in autumn 2014. He is currently working on his second novel, Anonymous Jack.


You can read more about Daniel

Twitter page  https://twitter.com/DanielKaye_

Daniel blogs at http://daniel-kaye.blogspot.ie/

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/daniel.kaye.9

Facebook Author Page  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-Kaye-Author/103967553013072?ref=tn_tnmn

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/danielkaye000/

The Results are in Fish Short Story Prize

Congratulations to all!!

2014 Shortlists & Longlists

SHORT STORY PRIZE Longlist - Shortlist - Winners

WINNERS Fish Short Story Prize 2013/14

Claire Kilroy has chosen the following stories to be published in the 2014 Fish Anthology.

I was drawn to stories that were inventive in terms of language, imagery and plot, stories that possessed sparks of brilliance. The ones that made the anthology were not necessarily the most polished, or the strongest in terms of narrative technique – indeed, some of them are still a little raw and lack a satisfactory structure. Instead, I picked the stories that arrested my imagination by showcasing an arresting imagination themselves. I was struck by how funny many of them are, several of them joyously so – they are madcap and eccentric and great fun. Others – despite restrained and elegant prose – managed to be devastating. All of them are the work of writers with talent.

Claire Kilroy

FIRST
Taylor Keith by David Butler
SECOND
The Nod by Barry Troy
THIRD
Horse Latitudes by Aongus Murtagh

HONORARY MENTIONS:
A Paper Husband by Georgina Eddison
Gomorrah Shade by Michael Crossan
The Crane by Sarah Quigley
The Words by Simon Cornish
Two’d up by Ann Jolly
Venom by Oana Aristide
Whenever I Close my Eyes by James Heaney

SHORTLIST Fish Short Story Prize 2013/14

83 stories shortlisted
(1,560 stories submitted in total)

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Frogs; The City	Aengus Murray
Stalker	Alena Abrosimova
A clerical error	Amanda Nicol
Motel Q	Andrew Foster
Two'd up	Ann Jolly
No Church in the Wild	Anne Corlett
The Pacific Madrona	Anne Elliott
Eventyr	Annie lindberg
Abaddon and Jemima	Antonio Chavez
Horse latitudes	Aongus Murtagh
The Scream	Baret Magarian
The Nod	Barry Troy
Horses In Field And The Like	Brian Leeson
The Quicken Tree	Carol Farrelly
Train in the Night	Chris Franks
Safe Houses	Christine Powell
Served Cold	Claire Bolderson
Taylor Keith	David Butler
Repatriation	David Hardy
Stealing Apples	David ODwyer
Stale Peaches	David ODwyer
A Little Trouble with the Spirits	Deborah Cameron
Fallon's Wood	Donna Triggs
The Tusk	Earle McCartney
SINGING TO FISH	Eleanor O'Reilly
Hear all evil, see all, speak none	Elisheva Stanton
Homing	Ewan Gault
Xanthippe's Western Road	Fiona Ni Conchubhair
The Oguri Diet	Geoff Smith
Pity The Poor Struggler	george Pirie
A Paper Husband	Georgina Eddison
Sex Queen of Johwnstown Lane	Graham Tugwell
Nothing Like Me	Grainne Murphy
Frank & Alfie	Grainne Murphy
Lost Souls	I. Michael Gurin
Till Night Again Meets Day on Equal Terms	Ian Craine
What You Don't See Is What You Get	Itohan Ellis
Whenever I Close My Eyes	James Heaney
Dear John, I've fallen for a dog.	Jane Harrington
Monkey Boy	Janine Mikosza
Theresa's Special Night	John Rutter
An Alsatian on Roller Skates	Julie Chilver
Playoffs	Kelly Creighton
Fortune's Daughter	Kelly Fordon
The Wait	Kyle Martin Jones
Flatrock 1979	Lukas Jackson
Estrangement	Marianne O’Rourke
Butcher's Creek	Mark Smith
Com	Marked
The Frog - a parable	Martin Day
Over the Wall	Maura O'Brien
The Amber Bird	Maureen Cashman
Gomorrah Shade	Michael Crossan
Only Three Billion Dreams	Michael Forester
Boy at the Window	Michael Romyn
Tess	Michael Wilson
Last Christmas In Barrie	Natalya Anderson
A Good Beating	Neil Cubley
4AM	Nikki Mottram
The Tomb of the Tomb Builders	Nina Milton
Venom	Oana Aristide
Cat	Pat O'Connor
Now more than ever	Patrick Wakeling
The Thin Line	Pauline Rooney
The Island	Peter Rodgers
Moonlight	Ric Carter
An Uncertain State.	Ruth Geldard
The Date Mate	Ruth Hayhurst
The Arrow of Time	Sara Baker
The Crane	Sarah Quigley
The Dead Animals Register	Seth Insua
Little Andy's Cry	Seth Insua
The Words	Simon Cornish
One Hour, Three Times a Week	Sonal Aggarwal
The Smell of People Sleeping	Sophie Hampton
The True Source of the Great Chicago Fire by Seamus McManus	Steve Wiley
Across The Rio Negro	Sue Cosgrave
Killing Time	Sue Cosgrave
Stew and Dumplings	Susan Shepherd
A Love Of Art	Toby Roebuck
Dogs, Ducks and Drakes	Val Jones
The Motorbike	Wolfgang eulitz
The Car Salesman	Wolfgang eulitz

LONGLIST Fish Short Story Prize 2013/14

389 stories longlisted
(1,560 stories submitted in total)

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V	ACE (Albert Charles) BAKER
A Short Celebration of Death and Life	Adam Connors
The Ultimate Ballast	AE Gray
The Woman Who Was Not My Girlfriend	Aengus Murray
HoWL	Aengus Murray
Frogs; The City	Aengus Murray
The Afterlife of Trees	Agnieszka Dale
Oh, To Be Young Again	Alan O'Gorman
Divine Power of Ccumbers in Tehran	Albert Azarmi
Stalker	Alena Abrosimova
The Thirteenth Painting	Alex Heron
Seven Facts About Water	Alex Ruczaj
There are women for everything	Alice Ryan
The Smell of Rain	Alison Earls
The Deception	alison quigley
Inspiration	Alun Evans
Snowstorm	Amanda Kennedy
What We Hold in Our Hands	Amanda Murphy
A clerical error	Amanda Nicol
The Fading Light	Amna Khokher
Redeemed Island	Andrea Baldwin
Reckoning	Andrea Stephenson
Motel Q	Andrew Foster
A Cigarette	Andrew Watson
Two'd up	Ann Jolly
Bound for Damnation	Anna BLack
Prone	Anna Kalinski
Fantasy Husbands	Annabel Abbs
Terse Brown Mouse	Anne Calcagno
Real Gone Kid	Anne Caughey
No Church in the Wild	Anne Corlett
Race	Anne Dixey
The Pacific Madrona	Anne Elliott
Step Up To The Plate	Anne O'Brien
Eventyr	annie lindberg
Abaddon and Jemima	Antonio Chavez
Horse latitudes	Aongus Murtagh
The Scream	Baret Magarian
Playing the Ghost	Barnaby Walsh
The Nod	Barry Troy
Peacock Feathers	Bea Davenport
Forgiveness	Beth Bosworth
A Sudden Fall	Billy Fenton
Seein' Red	Bren Gosling
Horses In Field And The Like	Brian Leeson
CROSS AND DOUBLE CROSS	Bruce Graham
Ava's Kernel	Carly Anne West
The Quicken Tree	Carol Farrelly
The Blessing of the Rods	Carol Jones
Plein Sud	Carol McKay
Blackthorns	Caroline Finn
An Epistle from the Holding House	Caroline Kinya Mbaya
Rendezvous Cafe	Cary Hodgkinson
Zoe	Cary Reynolds
Clear Reflection	Cathriona Slammon
Things you don't need to know	Celia Coyne
BLIGHT	Celine Gibson
Naked Cherie	Charlie Hopkinson
All That Has Gone	charlotte macneil
One Night at Dinner	Cheryl Moss
Train in the Night	Chris Franks
The Black Door	Christina George
Dexter Bing	christina Sanders
Safe Houses	Christine Powell
Served Cold	Claire Bolderson
Bonkers	Clar Ni Chonghaile
What We Fought For	Clare Fielder
A Social Construct	Clare O'Dea
The Modern Way	clare reddaway
The Good Friday Agreement	Cliff Chen
Life In A Cage	Colm McDermott
One Train May Conceal Another	Cormac James
The Syntax of Lighthouse Keepers	Daisy Johnson
The Teacher	Dalton Bryant
The Beatin' Path	Damian Sebouhian
Malebolge	Daniel Cooke
The Piece Titled "The Crooked Man"	Danny Ward
Crow Hunting	Daphne Kalmar
Taylor Keith	David Butler
Crossing the Rubicon	David Chasumba
Repatriation	David Hardy
The Girl on the Bench	David Nixon
The Attic Room	David ODwyer
Stealing Apples	David ODwyer
Stale Peaches	David ODwyer
Taking the Blame	David Wilkes
Fireflies	Davyd Morris
Big Bones	Dawn Nicholson
Homecoming	Dearbhaile Houston
A Little Trouble with the Spirits	Deborah Cameron
Chutney	Debz Hobbs-Wyatt
Self Storage	Demetrios Matheou
The Mining Engineer's Wife	Dennis Nau
Fallon's Wood	Donna Triggs
ONE SHOT	duncan ross
The Tusk	Earle McCartney
Lone Traveller	Edith Anderson
SINGING TO FISH	Eleanor O'Reilly
White Noise	Eleanor Talbot
Peter the Shoemaker	Elena Horas San Martin
St. Bride's	Elena Soto
The Ancestors	Elena Soto
The Hands of the Savior	Eli Hastings
Looking at the South Side of the Moon.	Elisheva Stanton
Hear all evil, see all, speak none	Elisheva Stanton
Peace in Mozambique	Elizabeth Rider
The Nanny	Enid Harlow
Loaves and Fishes	Eoin Devereux
The Cheese Ladies	Ericka Olsen Stefano
It Flowers Briefly	Erin Ryan
Patrick	Erskine Villiers
The Melancholy Man with the Muddy Boots	Esther Freeman
Unusual Suspects	Eugen Bacon
The Water Tribunal	Eve Vamvas
Homing	Ewan Gault
Chris Anderson	fiona macleod
Xanthippe's Western Road	Fiona Ni Conchubhair
The Search	fiona stevenson
The Book of Ashes	Fleur Smithwick
THE SCOOP	Frances Kenny
Last Chance (At the Amaryllis Hotel)	Fulham Ryan
The King of Fries	Garret Dwyer-Joyce
Grace Unclothed	Gay Johnson
Relief	gemma carroll
The Oguri Diet	Geoff Smith
Pity The Poor Struggler	george Pirie
Badger	George Tuohy
A Paper Husband	Georgina Eddison
On the Brink	Geraldine Daly
Dawn Man	Geraldine Terry
The Fruit Scone	Gerry Hughes
Death of a blue-tit	Gill Blow
The Catch	Graeme Finnie
Sex Queen of Johwnstown Lane	Graham Tugwell
Nothing Like Me	Grainne Murphy
Frank & Alfie	Grainne Murphy
Splitting The Win	Greer Morpeth
Strawberries	Gregory Jackson
The Juggler	Gregory Jackson
Pirates	Gregory Jackson
Bundle	Harriet Kline
November Leaves	Hayley Burrell
The Yellow Piece of Paper	Heather Newby
A Dish Served Cold	Helen Howard
The Quest	Helen McGoldrick
Stoner	Horatio Potter
Propaganda	Hugh Fulham-McQuillan
Lost Souls	I. Michael Gurin
Till Night Again Meets Day on Equal Terms	Ian Craine
The Stroke	Ian Prior
The Colour of Summer	Isabel Turvey
What You Don't See Is What You Get	Itohan Ellis
Bad Habits	Ivana Anastasovska
Clear out	James Fogarty
The Fight	James Hanes
Whenever I Close My Eyes	James Heaney
Bondholders	James Patterson
Becoming an American	James Patterson
Colwill's Coaches	Jane Fraser
Dear John, I've fallen for a dog.	Jane Harrington
HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER	JANE HAYWARD
Minding Other People's Business	Jane Schorah
REASON AND FEELING	Janey Huber
Twisp	Janice McCachen
Monkey Boy	Janine Mikosza
Sundays at Dante's	Jared Lollar
Necronaut	Jason Batt
EVER AFTER	Jean Blasiar
The Management of Difficult Women - A Genealogical Study	Jenny Hetherington
Can't say no to a dying man	Jenny Toune
Armour	Jessica Traynor
Aliens	Jim Thomev
Buttons	Jo Barril
War	Jo Ely
The Night Picnic	Joanna Campbell
The Rain and the Roses	Joe Mc Kiernan
Moving Images	Joe Mc Kiernan
Like Robert De Niro	John Gray
Fran's Return	John Langan
Theresa's Special Night	John Rutter
Journeys	Jose Ho
Little Favours	Julia Rampen
In the Name of the Father	Juliana Feaver
NOTES FOR THE ILLUSTRATOR OF THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, ROMEO AND JULIET	Julie Chevalier
An Alsatian on Roller Skates	Julie Chilver
Killing Him Softly	Julie Kearney
Lake Pontchartrain	k Lockwood Jefford
Small Beach Perspective	Kat Dawes
Soho	Kate Forlong
Land of the Coconut	Kate Forlong
DIFFERENCE	Kathleen Kertin
AN UNLIKELY BEGGAR	Kathleen Kertin
LAUGHING JACK	Kathleen Kertin
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE	Kathleen Kertin
Shopping Trip	Kathryn Burke
Under Eden	Kathryn Johns
Marked Out	Kathy O’Donnell
A Eulogy for Robert Taylor	Keith Lewis
Playoffs	Kelly Creighton
Fortune's Daughter	Kelly Fordon
Tent	Kelly McCaughrain
Master Class	Kerrie Salaun
The Shoe Shine Boys	Kerry Barner
Watch Face	Kevin Smith
In This Sign	Kieran McGuire
Defending Eris	Kim Kolarich
Goddess	kira messell
Sarabande	Kit Coldstream
The Wait	Kyle Martin Jones
Mother Makeover	Laura Rock
The Transcripts of Venus	Laura Solomon
The Guttersnipe	Laura Windley
Rabnatt and the Lost Art of Communication	Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson
Heat	Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson
Twitcher	Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson
Snowing Leaves	Lisa de Jong
Liquid Laughter	Lisa Harding
The Visitor	Lisa Harding
Something about Simon	Lisa Harding
Legacy	Lori Vos
COMING OUT	Louise Marburg
Flatrock 1979	Lukas Jackson
Pulp	Luke Melia
Bird Brains	Maggie Ling
One Slip	Maggie Ling
The Office	Maggie Veness
Starfish	Mairin Stronge
Toss the Feathers at Joe MacNaughton's Wake	Mandy de Waal
Billy Boys	Mandy McAleese
Arrival	Manuel Carreon
Gameshow	Marc Jones
Not You	Margaret Ferguson
Mother Told Me	Maria Thomas
Estrangement	Marianne O’Rourke
The Feathered Man	Marie Alvarado
Aqua Vitae	Marie Gethins
Hunting	Marjorie K. Kennedy
La Morena	Mark Scott
Twisted Woven	Mark Smith
Butcher's Creek	Mark Smith
Com	Marked
Sennen Cove	Martin Brett
The Frog - a parable	Martin Day
The Viewing	Martin Dodd
Positano	Martina Ryan
How Green Was Your Traffic Light	Matt Benville
Over the Wall	maura o'brien
The Amber Bird	Maureen Cashman
The Hireling	Maureen Gallagher
Wise Women	Maureen Kermode
Ninety-Nine Songs	Melanie Schwapp
II Cycles: Faerytale	Melanie Steynberg
GUNS AND ROSES	melanie whipman
The Consultation	Melanie White
Let there be no no	Michael Bird
Gomorrah Shade	Michael Crossan
A Vocation	Michael Cumiskey
Some Go Dancing	Michael Davis
Patriot in Their Midst	Michael Dwyer
Only Three Billion Dreams	Michael Forester
Painting	Michael Lawlor
Boy at the Window	Michael Romyn
Hooked by a Hoarding	Michael Weatherilt
Tess	Michael Wilson
IDYLL	Michelle Scorziello
The Lock-Down	Mike Carter
The End of Soap	Mike Wendling
The Dance	Mimi Whittaker
SISTERS-IN-LAW	Miriam Hurley
The Blue Rectangle	Monika Pant
The Lesson	Morgan Davies
Heathens	Morowa Yejide
Another World	Mzana Mthimkhulu
Last Christmas In Barrie	Natalya Anderson
Hero to zero	Ned Bright
A Good Beating	neil cubley
The Glasshouse	Neil Hegarty
Under	Niamh Donnelly
The Great Turkey Shoot-out	nichole beauchamp
Song DC	Nick Fonos
Paper Boats	Nike Sulway
Coming Home	Nikita Eaton-Lusignan
4AM	Nikki Mottram
Last Offices	nina milton
The Tomb of the Tomb Builders	nina milton
Eggs	nollaig rowan
The Backpacker	Oana Aristide
Venom	Oana Aristide
The Opposite Of Omniscience	Owain Paciuszko
The Universe Hums in B-Flat	Paddy Scott
Horses	Pat O'Connor
The Museum of Future Art	Pat O'Connor
Tulips	Pat O'Connor
Boxes	Pat O'Connor
Cat	Pat O'Connor
The days, they punish you	Patrick Gleeson
Now more than ever	patrick wakeling
The Canon's Yeoman's Second Tale	Paul Freeman
The Thin Line	pauline rooney
If I've Got the Balls	Peter Hill
Golf On The Brain	Peter Kettle
Golf On The Brain	Peter Kettle
The Island	Peter Rodgers
Honda 50	Phil Byrne
The Magic of Migration	Polly Price
The Good Wife	Rachael Charmley
Her Last Show	Rebecca F John
The Lizard King	Rebecca Graham
Into Invisible	Rhonda Collis
Moonlight	Ric Carter
Back Catalogue	Richard Barnett
How To Make The Perfect Roll-Up	Richard Knight
His Own Little Victory	Richard Raymond
God's Speed	Rob Davies
What do you really think of me?	Rob Ganley
Her name is Erica	Rob Perry
Man Surrounded	Robert Arnott
Amen	Robert Mundy
Trig point	Roisin Collins
Taking the Backseat	Romi Jones
fridays like christmas	ronald callander
The Dream Dispatcher	Ronnie Greig
Ten Fags Gone	Rory Duffy
Young Robins Don't have Red Breasts	Rory Duffy
Silent Giving	rosemary jenkinson
Better Left Unsaid	Ruby Speechley
Grounded	Ruth Connelly
An Uncertain State.	Ruth Geldard
The Date Mate	Ruth Hayhurst
The Canary	Ruth Rawcliffe
The Banana & Watermelon Heist	Ryan Parker
Meeting on the Beach	S D West
The Life of a House	Sam Sudar
Jackpot	Samuel Wright
Winterreise	Sara Baker
The Arrow of Time	Sara Baker
Making Moussaka	Sara Roberts
The Mimi Spirits	Sarah Mann
The Crane	Sarah Quigley
A Few Innocuous Lines	Sarah Sleeper
The Red Horse	Saskia Ashby
Highly Effective People	scott winokur
Underground for the End of the World	Seth Insua
Hera's Echo	Seth Insua
The Dead Animals Register	Seth Insua
Little Andy's Cry	Seth Insua
Proclamations	Shannon Sweetnam
The Constant Winner	Sharon Boyle
The Words	Simon Cornish
Blood in The Lime	Siobhan Collins
Hammered Glass	Siobhan Harte
Mamaiji	Sohrab Fracis
One Hour, Three Times a Week	Sonal Aggarwal
The Smell of People Sleeping	Sophie Hampton
Grail/Grope	Stephen Policoff
The True Source of the Great Chicago Fire by Seamus McManus	Steve Wiley
Dilation	Stuart Bush-Harris
Heidi	Sue Cannon
Dandelion Seeds	Sue Cosgrave
Across The Rio Negro	Sue Cosgrave
Killing Time	Sue Cosgrave
Uncle Isaac's Theory of Time and Momentum	Sue Guiney
Somewhere Nice to Stay	Sue Harrop
The Storm	Susan Daniels
Fight Like	Susan McCreery
Are We in a Foreign Land?	Susan McKeown
Stew and Dumplings	Susan Shepherd
The peace with Daniel	Susanne Stich
The Summer King	Susie Murray
The Blue Bottle	Tania Dain
The Visitors.	Thomas Reilly
The Visitors.	Thomas Reilly
A Love Of Art	Toby Roebuck
They Live on Nectar	Tom Bryan
Caught	Tom Welsh
Pride	Toni Houston
As the world (re)turns	Tracey Iceton
Every Advantage of a Beating Heart	Tracy Maylath
Penny for your Thoughts	Tricia Holbrook
Birth Plan	Uschi Gatward
The Bird	Uschi Gatward
Dogs, Ducks and Drakes	Val Jones
The Sensitive Plant	Vanessa Furse Jackson
The Walking Wounded	Veronica Bright
The Carpenter, the Climber and the Refuse Collector	Victoria Heath
Helston Born	William Arnall-Culliford
The Trade	wolfgang eulitz
The Motorbike	wolfgang eulitz
The Car Salesman	wolfgang

Fool for Poetry 2014 Chapbook Competition

Munster Literature Centre has announced their ‘Fool for Poetry 2014 Chapbook Competition’.

Check out their link for details http://www.munsterlit.ie/Fool%20for%20Poetry.html

Or check them out on twitter @MunLitCentre

Or their website munsterlit.ie  

Fool for Poetry 2014
International Chapbook Competition

Some people are fools for love, others are fools for poetry.

Two winners will each have their manuscript published, receive €500 and fifty complimentary copies of their chapbook.

 

Competition Details

€1,000 Cash (approx £800, $1300) in prizes
Two Winners: Each receives €500 in cash & 50 complimentary copies of their chapbook .
25 -50 entrants publicly listed as “finalists or highly-commended”

Winning chapbooks published August 2014 with striking cover designs, offered for sale internationally, through our website, Amazon and select independent booksellers.

Winning poets considered for 2015 Cork Spring Poetry Festival programme & have chapbooks entered for UK Forward Prize. Poets of any publishing history may enter but at least one winner will be a debutant with no books/chapbooks previously published.

There will be an entry fee of €20 for each manuscript.  The Munster Literature Centre is a registered charity (no.12374) and a non-profit organisation. Monies received will cover costs of contest. Any profits generated will be spent on fees for writers and poets participating in our festivals or contributing to our other publications.

Submission Guidelines

1. Submissions must be unpublished as a collection, but individual poems may have been previously published in journals. We will consider simultaneous submissions as long as the poet notifies us immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.

2.  Submit 16-24 pages of poetry, single-spaced  One page equals 38 lines maximum, including spacing between lines.  Poems may run longer than 1 page.

3.  Do not count title page, acknowledgments, table of contents or dedicationin the page count.Manuscripts either too short or too long will be disqualified.

4.  Identifying information for the author should not be included anywhere on the manuscript itself. You are welcome to include a brief bio or something about yourself in your cover note, which will only be made accessible to the editorial panel after the winning manuscripts have been chosen.
5 Indicate in your cover letter whether you are a debutant or have published a chapbook or book previously.
Email manuscript as a .doc, .docx or pdf attachment to foolforpoetry@munsterlit.ie  include with your cover email name, contact information including phone number and paypal receipt number.

6. Deadline for entries is April 30, 2014

 

What a beautiful place! Our local library. Just dream about your novel on these shelves and it will happen!!

Writing Against the Tide

I have a blinking cursor, where do I go from here?

After working a fifty eight hour week, at last I’m off. There wasn’t one of those hours where I didn’t pine for my writing. Three and a half days, that is the window of time I have to fit my writing into. Not just the writing, but also the housework, quality time with my hubby and dogs, catching up with my friends … who think I’ve moved to outer Mongolia with all this writing, and of course a bit of exercise. Then there is the writing sub-list which is as follows: write short stories, convert one short story into a play, write some poetry, finish editing the first novel, finish editing novel.

I decided to prioritise my writing. And so, I raced out the door this morning, after my walk, which served a dual purpose by catching up with one friend, kissing my husband goodbye, after promises we will definitely have a date night this week, throwing the ball for the dog, happy waggy tail in response, giving out to myself for the state of the house, and much neglected washing and ironing, into my car and onward to my local library, to focus myself. 

So, you would think that I’d be in the thick things by now, a number of items ticked off the writing list, that the inspiration and words would flow so well after all the dreaming I did about writing? But, no such luck. I sat for a minute looking at the blinking cursor before my two wonderful writing buddies said, ‘just write’. Well, at least this is one thing off the list.