Here, There & Everywhere
A few places you can find me
Hello!
Just a quick one to share some news, some updates, and some places you can find me over the next few weeks/months:
Smash Your Flash: The Craft of Short (Short) Fiction - Starts 6 May
A little while ago the absolutely lovely folk over at Write or Die 101 asked me to write a workshop on flash fiction and I have been immersed in the glorious and infinite variety of flash ever since. It’s been a real joy to write and I can’t wait to share it in May!
Over 4 weeks and 12 lessons there will be a mix of theory, story examples (lots of ‘em) and writing exercises as we deep-dive into a heap of flash techniques.
You can join in for free to access half of the course, or subscribe for $10 to access my workshop as well as ALL the other Write or Die 101 courses, which is kind of a steal!
I’m loving the current workshop, Finding Your Essay’s Heartbeat with Andrea A. Firth.
Or for the Substackers amongst you, there’s Courtney Kocak’s invaluable course: Every Writer Needs a Newsletter
And then there’s Benjamin Davis’ exhaustive resource, A Submitter’s Guide to Lit Mags
My workshop, Smash your Flash: The Craft of Short (Short) Fiction, starts on 6th May and I’ll be here on Substack all month to answer your questions and chat the flashy breeze, so please come along and join in!
Full details here »
WIN a place on The Flash Cabin: Dust Off Your Drafts
For the price of a tweet, you could bag a place on the next Dust Off Your Drafts workshop series with the brilliant and endlessly creative Anika Carpenter at The Flash Cabin.
All you have to do is tell ‘em about your drafting process, and I’m gonna have the pleasure of picking a winner at the end of the month!
I mean, it could be the perfect complement to the Smash Your Flash course, right? Write a little something in my workshop, then take it over to The Flash Cabin to polish it up ;)
More info about Dust Off Your Drafts here.
Now go post your winning tweet! »
The Propelling Pencil Flash Fiction Competition - Deadline 28 April
There’s another bunch of wonderful folk over at The Propelling Pencil, and they very kindly asked if I’d judge their spring flash competition!
Based on the calibre of previous rounds, I am super freakin’ excited about reading the entries (and slightly unsure how I’m gonna choose).
There’s £170 in prize money up for grabs, entries cost just £5, and proceeds go to the homeless charity Shelter.
So…. got a lil’ flash (500 words or fewer) that might be just the thing? Sub it, quick!
Deadline 28 April — submit your stories now! »
Bovine Cemetery: Colour Riot - 5th May
It’s Brighton Fringe time and I’ve been invited to read a cheeky lil’ spoken word thang at Bovine Cemetery’s Colour Riot: “the most kaleidoscopic carnival of colour in the literary calendar!”
With a fully-immersive digital colour stage, ten writers (including meself) will be reading ten stories, in every colour of the rainbow.
Come along if you’re in town, and try to guess which colour I’ve chosen…
More info and tickets here »
Voidspace Live: Interactive Fiction Festival - 9th June
I am SO excited about this one because I’m SUCH a massive fan of Voidspace.
The incredible Katy Naylor is launching interactive fiction into 2024 with a one-day Voidspace Live festival in London — a whole day of theatre, dance, installations, poetry and more. And all of it playable!
I have a sneaky little interactive fic involved, but mostly I’m gonna be walking around with my jaw on the floor and my brain peeling off the ceiling.
See you there? »
Shakespeare & Flash Workshop @ Flash Fiction Festival - 12-14 July
What do Shakespeare and flash fiction have in common?
A love of linguistics and a bold disregard for the literary ‘rules’!
I’m bringing a brand new bardic-inspired writing workshop to this year’s Flash Fiction Festival in Bristol in July and I cannot wait.
In this workshop we’ll use prompts from Shakespeare along with techniques from poetry, playwriting and flash to explore language, play with rhythm, and experiment with form. We’ll look at how flash fiction employs rhetoric and repetition, and why flash is often so effective read aloud — just like a Shakespearean speech…
No previous Shakespeare knowledge or literary snobbery required — just a passion for words, words, words.
(Ahem-hem and/or if you just wanna get a bit of Shakespeare flash in your eyeballs then may I cordially direct you towards my chapbook, The Woman’s Part — a hybrid combination of flash and erasure poetry inspired by Shakespeare’s women.)
Check out the full stellar festival line-up and book your place »
Phew. I think that’s everything (for now!).
In the meantime, I’m having a blast working with a bunch of fantastic editing clients and mentees, aaaaand secretly beavering away at some other upcoming projects, but that’s probably enough to be getting on with, right?
Oh, and I will also be getting back to my usual Substack schedule very soon with a deep-dive on rejection (ach) and my monthly Fixion lesson post (how is April going so fast?!) and a lil’ puzzler of a writing prompt…
Hope to see you at a workshop or in one of those competitions soon!
For now — stay joyful, and happy writing.