When you look up the synonyms for resilience, you get these, in this order.
Strength
Resistance
Flexibility
Pliability
Hardiness
Instantly the one that I identified with was hardiness.
My hardiness took time to develop, it did so through failure, and I am thankful for it. I improved my craft; by reading well-reviewed short story collections. A number are published by independent publishers, and if you're writing contemporary fiction you must read contemporary fiction. The publisher SALT introduces wonderful authors, they also print the Best British Short Stories (Series Editor Nicholas Royle) each year, which has around twenty stories of superb quality and variety.
I have been keeping a spreadsheet of my short story entries since 2015 when I entered 13 short story competitions and 2 short stories were selected for publication. In 2023 I entered the biggest number 27 and I had success in 4 competitions. Rejection used to hurt, but it doesn’t anymore, I simply revise the story and send it out on its way again, because a different judge may love it.
In 2024 the judge Sarah Hall longlisted a story of mine in the Fish Prize, I was delighted with that as I know her work and have heard her read at The Book Hive, a wonderful independent book shop in Norwich (do visit). Also in 2024, the same story was longlisted in another competition. So, it will have another outing this year. If you have been long or shortlisted see if you can improve the story, I revise virtually all my stories, there are many drafts.
Listed here are a few collections I have enjoyed and learned from.
Fen by Daisy Johnson
Some Days Are Better Than Ours by Barbara Byar
The Maples Stories by John Updike
Broken Things by Padrika Tarrant
Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
The Pier Falls by Mark Haddon
Seven Tales of Sex and Death by Patrica Duncker
Some New Ambush by Carys Davies
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
I leave you with a comment made to me by Patricia Duncker.
‘Take more risks with your writing.’
I will be running another short story one-day workshop shortly, do email me with expressions of interest as they fill up quickly. [email protected]
Strength
Resistance
Flexibility
Pliability
Hardiness
Instantly the one that I identified with was hardiness.
My hardiness took time to develop, it did so through failure, and I am thankful for it. I improved my craft; by reading well-reviewed short story collections. A number are published by independent publishers, and if you're writing contemporary fiction you must read contemporary fiction. The publisher SALT introduces wonderful authors, they also print the Best British Short Stories (Series Editor Nicholas Royle) each year, which has around twenty stories of superb quality and variety.
I have been keeping a spreadsheet of my short story entries since 2015 when I entered 13 short story competitions and 2 short stories were selected for publication. In 2023 I entered the biggest number 27 and I had success in 4 competitions. Rejection used to hurt, but it doesn’t anymore, I simply revise the story and send it out on its way again, because a different judge may love it.
In 2024 the judge Sarah Hall longlisted a story of mine in the Fish Prize, I was delighted with that as I know her work and have heard her read at The Book Hive, a wonderful independent book shop in Norwich (do visit). Also in 2024, the same story was longlisted in another competition. So, it will have another outing this year. If you have been long or shortlisted see if you can improve the story, I revise virtually all my stories, there are many drafts.
Listed here are a few collections I have enjoyed and learned from.
Fen by Daisy Johnson
Some Days Are Better Than Ours by Barbara Byar
The Maples Stories by John Updike
Broken Things by Padrika Tarrant
Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
The Pier Falls by Mark Haddon
Seven Tales of Sex and Death by Patrica Duncker
Some New Ambush by Carys Davies
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
I leave you with a comment made to me by Patricia Duncker.
‘Take more risks with your writing.’
I will be running another short story one-day workshop shortly, do email me with expressions of interest as they fill up quickly. [email protected]
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