Always On The Go

Phew! The bank holiday weekend is over and there's only a week left of the school holidays, which means I should be able to get back into a routine again soon.

Conway Castle

We all took off to North Wales again for the long weekend and it was good to relax, even if my son and I did struggle a bit with our colds - who gets a cold in August?! - but I also managed to do lots of reading, some more planning for Damsel in Deceit (now a 3-oart series at least!) and I also wrote a 2,000 word short story called Jilly's Folly. I've now got plenty of reviews to write that will be springing up on here over the coming weeks, but I also came across a writing competition whilst I was away.

Short story: Abandoned (part 3 of 3)

Welcome to the final installment of 'Abandoned', I hope you enjoy... (if you missed the earlier parts, you can find part 1 here and part 2 here)

Part 3 of 3

So where was Jack now?

Carla looked across at the attendant dressed in the red cabin crew uniform, feeling her eyes boring into her, giving her ‘that’ look. The one that says, “hey, you’ve been stood up so forget him and get on the damn plane so we can go already.”

Carla had made the trip to the airport without him, travelling in the transfer coach, along with her luggage, whereas Jack had a few errands to run first before returning his motorbike on route. She had a few more minutes before she had to get on the plane.

Short story: Abandoned (part 2 of 3)

Here it is, the next installment of 'Abandoned' that I hope you've been waiting for... (if you missed part one, you can find it here)

Part 2 of 3

Carla had been soaking up some rays on the poolside, frequently slipping into the pool to cool off and take advantage of the swim-up bar, when he had walked into her life. Or should that be swam?

Having just finished her drink, she’d been swimming back to her sun lounger when - WHAM! - an arm, closely followed by the rest of a man’s body, had smacked right into her and knocked the air out of her lungs. Sinking fast, she hadn’t had time to draw a single breath before going under. Unable to focus, the water blurring her vision, Carla had watched as the aqua tiled floor got closer.

Short story: Abandoned (part 1 of 3)

Well, I heard back from Woman's Weekly and my short story wasn't what they were looking for so I shall share it here for your reading pleasure (hopefully!) instead. I have broken it down into three installments so be sure to come back next week for the second installment and the week after for the final installment.

So, without further ado, may I present 'Abandoned'... 

Part 1 of 3

“Final call for flight GY2184 to London Heathrow.”

Carla’s stomach lurched at the tannoy announcement, anxiety making her pulse quicken. If only it was down to pre-flight nerves.

The stifling humidity was making her blouse stick to her back, her agitation growing by the second as yet another bead of sweat ran down her nose. Had they never heard of air conditioning?

“Where is he?” she muttered, unable to see any trace of the man she sought amongst the many bodies filling the tiny tropical airport, all scurrying to their departure gates.

Faint Heart Never Won... (updated)

... her story in a magazine.

I've bitten the bullet and printed off my short story, ready to send off to Woman's Weekly magazine in the hope that they like it and want to publish it (and pay me!).

Kicking off the New Year with a... short story

But first, I must wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

I enjoyed a lovely couple of days over Christmas itself at my in-laws and then took off to North Wales for a week with my fabulous little family.  The lack of computer and WiFi got to me in the end but it did enable me to start the following short story; the first few hundred words written long-hand in my trusty notepad.

Please let me know what you think!  (and if you spot any clangers, let me know about that too)

If it's any good, I'd like to submit it to one of the magazines that accepts this sort of story - hence it being exactly 2000 words as per guidelines - to see if its worthy of publishing.  I'll only do that though if I get enough positive feedback.  So here goes...

ETA: Now removed prior to submitting to magazines for potential publishing.