Yes, I won 3rd Place, with my story Watching the Storms Roll In. I loved this story from the moment I wrote it, and it has been thrilling to know other people liked it too. I had a great time at the award ceremony, especially meeting my lovely fellow finalists Erin Soros, Peggy Riley and Danny Murphy. And I want to thank the organisers, the judges, and everyone who read my story and voted for it. The evening itself was quite surreal for the hermit writer that I've always tried to be - teeming with authors, agents, publishers, and other literary celebrities - but I'm sure I could get used to it, if I had to! Here I am, receiving the award... I was interviewed today for the Tiffany Truscott's afternoon show on BBC Radio Cornwall.
Here's the link, although it will only last for 29 days. My part starts at 1 hour and 14 minutes. It is with huge excitement and pleasure that I can finally reveal I am one of the shortlisted authors in the Costa Short Story Award.
I have had to keep this news a secret since the middle of November, and it has been so hard! It's such a relief to be able to shout about it. The winner will be announced at the Costa Book Awards Ceremony on the 26th January. I shall be taking lots of photos and sharing them here, of course. Congratulations to my fellow shortlisted authors, and good luck. I'm looking forward to meeting you next week. Actually, this post is rather lacking in chocolate, but I have been eating a lot of it, so that counts right? Oh, okay, here's a pic of chocolates. They are very yummy :-) Over the years, I've found the most successful resolutions are the ones that don't try to change me. Losing weight, giving up chocolate/alcohol/smoking, running five miles every week... those things are prone to failure. One year I resolved to put my small change in the charity boxes in shops - they all have them right next to the tills, so it's hardly difficult. It becomes a habit very quickly, and I don't even notice how much I'm giving. I've done it ever since. I don't always make resolutions (sometimes I make them on my birthday instead), but this year I jokingly mentioned on Facebook that I was going to perfect the art of selfie taking. I am not at all photogenic, and if I ever take one it usually gets deleted immediately. Even the idea made me shudder. However, in my head, this morphed into Take a Selfie Every Day for a Year. And that's what I'm doing. I've created a special folder for them on my laptop, and I will not be deleting any of them. Not even the really hideous one I took today in front of a rainbow - it should have been such a good one! I probably won't share them with anyone, unless I do actually perfect the art, in which case I'll be all over the place. But it will be an interesting documentation of my year. How about you? Have you made any resolutions? Would you like to join my selfie challenge? |