Competitions.

Right, ok...
                    I've currently had two goes at a short story competition and not made the long list.
Admittedly the first one was dark and quite negative which was why I wrote something with a more positive tone for my second one. I was (and still am) really proud of my second effort, a lot of care went into it and I spend a lot of time rereading it and checking for mistakes.

The reasons behind its failure to make the longlist could sit solely with the fact it was not right for the competition, maybe it was too 'crimey' and not in keeping with the virtues of the competition and that's fine.
Whatever the reason it has got me fired up and now my next short story will take a different turn; yes, I can write numerous genres. As a child I loved to write horror and so my preference for crime writing has come as a shock to me.

If all else fails then maybe I could release them as a collection, a mix of stories that verge on 'Tales of the Unexpected'. I actually watched an episode of 'Tales' and it starred George Peppard, despite the dated look of the program I really enjoyed it.
Anyway I'm digressing, I'm determined to hone my writing skills and crack the short story thing, It's really difficult to squeeze a novel sized story into four thousand words!

Well, enjoy your Sunday or whatever day you are reading this on; if it's Monday then you have my condolences.

PW Gill.