Occasionally, I entered a few writing competitions which was fun, a great way to experiment and find your writing ‘voice’. Plus any success is such a ‘mountain top’ moment!
Writers’ Forum awarded first prize to my short story ‘Prime Numbers’, a tale in which a lottery winner takes a long overdue and calculated revenge on his son. The editor of Writers’ Forum described this entry as ‘a great story with a moral theme’.
Hodder and Stoughton sponsored ‘A Page of Prose’ competition at the Winchester Writers’ Conference. Entrants were invited to submit a 250 word short story to include a coin, a fall and a misunderstanding. ‘The Dust of the Ground’ won first prize and was published in ‘The Best Of’, the Winchester Writers’ Conference Anthology, in which the Adjudicator was generous enough to note ~ ‘This is exceptional. A mile ahead of any other entry we judged . . . prose of which any writer would be proud.’ This short piece also inspired one of the juror’s story lines in ‘The SCAPEGOAT’, the first of the Darwin Mysteries.
I love the precision instrument that is poetry. ‘Clock Wise Clock Fool‘ (which should be read clockwise) won third prize also at the Winchester Writers’ Conference, along with the following observations: ‘This is a clever and well written ‘shape’ or concrete poem that has to be seen on the printed page to be fully appreciated. Having said that I am sure that the poem would also work as a performance piece as well – some of the single word asides could be really effective if spoken in the correct tone and style. The poem works because it encapsulates in less than eighty words a whole day – a whole boring day – in somebody’s life – James Joyce took a whole book to do exactly that! This is compulsive and funny writing, the poet is displaying a sure grasp of reality, knowing how people think and act. It is a fine piece of work.’