What's going on and what am I writing?

Hullo, hullo. Time for another catch up.

The first blog in my new series for Writer & Artists is now up, to be followed every Monday by a new topic. You can see all posts by me by going here - and do check out the rest of the site while you're there. For writers, there are few other places with such good resources.

This month's Absolute Write story chain is going strong. In just a few more days I'll be posting a new story on this blog as part of it. The piece is called HIS STORY and I'm quite pleased with it, all in all. What with St Pat's being last Saturday, the theme of the chain is 'What the leprechaun said', and I'll leave it up to you to ponder what I did with that.

I also sent off an entry to the Bath Short Story Award, a new international competition with good writing at its heart and good people at its helm. The deadline's not till the 30th, so why not give it a go? Entry is £5, you can pay and enter online or through hard copy, and it's being judged by Cornerstone. Rules and details are all on the site.

What else, then? A few more stories in the works. I'll let you know of any news.  Yesterday I finished up Colin Mulhern's CLASH, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. The ending is a stunner and there were a few scenes that had me flipping through the pages, ready to be genuinely annoyed if things didn't work out. The whole plot, really, was easy to follow but impossible to predict - a perfect balance. And, on a more physical side, the book's alternating chapters, with alternating characters, used different fonts, which was brilliantly effective. I don't want to give away any more, now - if you want the book, buy it.