When I was sharing a stall with The Book Typesetters (Rachael & Nat) at the Newark Book Festival, we had plenty of time to chat. We are incubating some big plans - more about that another time. But I also told them a story from my time living on the wonderful island of Guernsey.
I was teaching English and History at Elizabeth College. Life was good. I was asked to judge some of the literature entries to the island eisteddfod. For several years I read adult short stories and children's poetry.
As another competition loomed, I made up my mind to do something different. I declined the job of short story judge, because I was going to enter myself!
I still remember the story I wrote and what inspired me. I was reading a fair amount of magical realism at the time but I also couldn't get a scene from a recent Indiana Jones film out of my mind. A car is casually commandeered for a chase. I couldn't help wonder what impact that had on the poor family. So that became the theme of my story.
Anyway, searching has failed to locate the story. In my mind it was pretty good. Fortunately, the judge thought so too. I won!
Nat and Rachael insist this makes me an award-winning author. Who am I to argue?
I hope one day I find the story and if I do, I will publish it on my website for sure.
