ABOUT ME

My photo
Morecambe, Lancashire, United Kingdom
In the mornings I’m a Nursery Cook, the rest of the time a Writer. Been writing for decades: short stories, plays, poems, a sitcom and more recently flash fiction, Creative Writing MA at Lancaster Uni and now several novels. Been placed in competitions (Woman’s Own, Greenacre Writers and flashtagmanchester) and shortlisted in others (Fish, Calderdale, Short Fiction Journal). I won the Calderdale Prize 2011, was runner-up in the Ink Tears Flash Fiction Comp & won the Greenacre Writer Short Story Comp 2013. I have stories in Jawbreakers, Eating My Words, Flash Dogs Anthologies 1-3, 100 RPM and the Stories for Homes anthology. My work’s often described as ‘sweet’ but there’s usually something darker and more sinister beneath the sweetness. I love magical realism and a comedy-tragedy combination. My first novel, Queen of the World, is about a woman who believes she can influence the weather. I’m currently working on a 3rd: Priscilla Parker Reluctant Celebrity Chef. Originally from West Midlands, I love living by the sea in Morecambe, swimming, cycling, theatre, books, food, weather, sitcoms and LBBNML … SQUEEZE!

Saturday 31 December 2011

Where Writing took me in 2011

 The research for my novel, Queen of the World took me up onto Caton Moor getting close to wind turbines, to Blackpool Zoo to stare at the macaws and to the crazy golf and brass bands in my local park. It took me for long walks on Morecambe promenade while the characters had conversations in my head.

My short stories took me to Chorlton in Manchester and to Halifax where I was placed in competitions and did my first readings beyond university. Next year? Well, New York or Venice would be nice but I’d settle for anywhere new in this country. Never been to Swindon, Huddersfield, Kidderminster, Aberdeen …

In my flash fiction I wrote, amongst other things, about a dragon in a takeaway kitchen, a monkey who climbs out of a tumble dryer, a girl who tries to switch the wind off, a Hugh Grant fan who uses her bingo wings to fly and a dried wasp in a pot noodle.


Online Stories

Bingo, Dec 10th & To do list, Jan 5th on Paragraph Planet