My Own Private Ladybug Picnic

Encouraged by the folks at Bugged, I did some eavesdropping on July 1st, and was gifted with more than a few story ideas from my overhearings. I sat on the bed with the window open, hiding behind the curtains with a glass of pop, ears pricked, pen ready, having my own private ladybug picnic.

People always seem to have arguments in the street just outside my house - I do live in the centre of town, which makes it the route home from the pub for many many people, certainly adding a bit to the argumental vibe. It wasn’t even that late when I heard one poor chap’s heartfelt protestations to a silent/indifferent girl. I just knew I had to immortalise him and his cheesy but sincere words. And so the story, Scar, was born.

Then, I’m not sure what happened, but a month seemed to pass by without me realising, and the deadline for submissions was upon me. I made it by the skin of my teeth - I even won a prize for being the last entry!

And now I can reveal that my story made it into the book! It’s going to be in there with work from the core Bugged writers: David Calcutt, David Gaffney, Ian Marchant, Jenn Ashworth, Jo Bell, Leila Rasheed, Mary Cutler, Mil Millington, Stephanie Dale and Stuart Maconie, as well as with stories/poems/plays from other great "creative eavesdroppers". The official publication date is October 14th, but it should be available for pre-order on Amazon before that. Hooray!

The cover is still being designed, but I'm almost certain it will be something like this...

More news soon!

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Also on the interwebs this week, I thought this article was really interesting, and found myself nodding my head and going "yes!" at frequent intervals.

And if you fancy a good read and/or like Fleetwood Mac, Stephen O'Toole's chapbook, Tusk, is now online at Pangur Ban Party. Stephen was kind enough to send me a hand-made copy of this a while ago, and it has some of my favourite sentences ever in it. If you ask nicely, he might have one or two left to send your way. He might not, though. Don't quote me or anything.

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That's it.