For the first time in a long time, I entered the Australian Writers Centre’s Furious Fiction competition. I’ve had some luck before, and am proud to say I was long-listed for the major prize once again in October 2021. You can read my story, The ‘Burbs Are My Ghetto, by clicking on the link you…
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Earlier this year, I wrote about my first round entry into the 2021 NYC Midnight Short Story Competition. I wasn’t overly happy with my submission. I loved the premise and the setting, but ran out of time. It felt very much like a second draft. Luckily for me, the judges liked it enough and I…
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A little bit has been happening over the last couple of months. First up, I’ve just submitted my entry into round 1 of the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. You may recall I’ve had success in this competition in the past. This year I was tasked with writing a ghost story featuring an exchange student…
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Where has the time gone? It’s been over a year since my previous post. That’s a long time. And I wish I had an excuse for it. I wish I could say my silence was writing related, that I’ve signed some publishing agreement that forbids me from talking about my soon-to-be-published work. Or I wish…
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My first foray into screenwriting has been a success! Of sorts. I took part in the 2019 NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge, and although I didn’t win (or come close) judges did find my entry worthy of an honourable mention. So here is my short comedic screenplay Catfish, for your (script) reading pleasure. For reference,…
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Since the beginning of the year, by popular demand*, I have been blogging about my entries into the Australian Writers Centre’s Furious Fiction competition. In May’s Furious Fiction, I finally cracked the winners’ circle. No, I didn’t win the five hundred dollars. But my entry, CARDIAC ARREST, was long-listed for the big bucks. (For my…
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If you haven’t read Bram Stoker’s 1897 classic Dracula, go out and find a copy now. My friend had been recommending it stridently for many years, but only recently did it catch my eye in an airport bookshop. I was looking for a romp that would keep me distracted on a long flight, which pitted…
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(Shortcut to story: Holidays with Rover). When the email announcing the first Furious Fiction of the year popped into my inbox, I was in a car with my little family driving to a caravan park on the South Coast of New South Wales. I doubted I would have time to submit an entry, so all…
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Long sentences are bad, we are told. The enemy of plain English. Today the average sentence is 14.4 words long, and that’s less than a quarter of what it was 200 years ago. The UK Government has gone as far as to mandate a maximum count of 25 words in official publications. (For reference, if…
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Next up is my first Furious Fiction entry for March 2018: Walpiri. This is my first entry into the competition. I’m not sure I quite captured what I was after, but I only had 500 words and three days, so maybe I was shooting too high. I’ve simplified since. The elements for this month: The…
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