We used ‘fast track’ for this publication and the stories have been published here or elsewhere. Is there anything that unifies the stories?
‘Butterflies and Other Stories’ was written over a period of about eight years. These days I live in a rural location at the foot of Pendle Hill, having returned to my birthplace after forty years of living and working abroad and in London. Living in the countryside again, away from the hustle and bustle of city life, has led me to appreciate and feel a part of nature, now more than ever. The stories in this collection cover a wide variety of themes ranging from the Covid lockdown, war, presidential elections, the ‘hostile environment’ to more personal ones, like the role of older women in society, and struggles towards finding an identity. But because of where I live, I can’t stop nature creeping in. It has become the binding force of this collection.
You’ve written quite a lot for CafeLit. What tempted you to write for us there?
I was tempted into writing for CafeLit soon after I returned to Lancashire in 2008. In London I taught English to non-native speakers. I attended various creative writing courses at places like the City Lit and the Mary Ward Centre and wrote in my free time. This had led me into freelance editing and I co-edited three anthologies of short stories for the Women’s Press and one for Serpent’s tail. But I always wanted to get back into writing, so when I moved here, I did a refresher course at Clitheroe Library and joined the Clitheroe Writing Group. I wrote my childhood memoir, much of which was serialized in the Lancashire Evening Post, as were some of my short stories. They had a word limit of 1500 words. I was sending stories off to various magazines and competitions. I liked the sound of CaféLit. The fact that they wanted something thought-provoking appealed to me and that they liked quirky stories. People often said my stories were quirky. Perhaps they would like mine.
Can you tell us something about that process?
I sent off my first story ‘Garden Shed’ in 2010. It was a fictionalized version of moving into my new house in the country. It was published on the CafeLit website, and I carried on writing and sending off stories. Some of my stories on the CafeLit website (A59, Fatal Flaws and The Visitors) were selected for the Best of CaféLit anthologies. Eventually I had enough stories to publish my first collection ‘Keepsake and Other Stories’ House, which came out in 2018. I continued writing stories which were published on the CafeLit website and in various anthologies like Citizens of Nowhere, Creative Mind, Worktown Words and the Lancashire Evening Post. Since they had already been published, these stories could then be fast-tracked for Butterflies and Other Stories.
How did you come up with the title?
In ‘Butterflies’ the title story of this collection, the butterflies served as a reminder to us of the fragility of life, as the Covid pandemic swept across the world. Many of my characters in the other stories in the collection are living on the margins of society or in situations where they are struggling to survive. So, the butterfly population, which has fallen drastically in recent years, can be seen to represent not only the fragility of the insect population but of humanity itself.
What attracted you to writing short stories in the first place?
I first started writing articles on my travels. They were about places I had visited in South America, North Africa, or the Middle East. I was finding it hard as a freelancer without contacts to get them published and there were strict deadlines. So, I decided to switch to writing something more creative where you didn’t need to meet a deadline. I joined a writing group and did some courses. I was still teaching and had other hobbies such as weaving, woodwork, local history, and yoga, so my time for writing was limited. Short stories seemed the obvious answer. I like writing short stories because you can write in any genre. I tend towards literary fiction and try to express ideas which have a deeper meaning than is immediately obvious and to combine this with a lightness of touch.
When I retired, I could devote more time to writing short stories, alongside poetry and local history. Although I still work around a busy schedule of quilting, walking, book clubs and coffee mornings.
Do you have any advice for other writers of short stories?
A useful technique I sometime employ is to set myself a time limit of, say, one hour. Once I’ve got something down on the page, I can work on it over the next week or two. Sometimes the story comes out fully-fledged. At other times it takes a while to reveal itself. That is where most of the work comes in.
I’ve read a lot of short stories over the years by authors such as Jean Rhys, Fay Weldon, William Trevor, Janet Frame, Katherine Mansfield, Alice Munro, Grace Paley, Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant. Many have come from creative writing classes I’ve attended. These days I like Tove Jansen, Sarah Hall, Elizabeth Strout, Louise Kennedy. I am a member of a book club and have read one novel a month for the past sixteen years aside from my own personal favourites. Every writer can teach you something.
I also find it helpful to be in a writers’ group which provide support and encouragement as well as friendship. It’s important to listen to feedback but at the same time only you can fix the story if it isn’t working. It can take weeks or even months to get a story right.
As far as publication is concerned, I send my stories out to competitions and magazines off-chance. Often there is an element of luck involved. I know from my editing experience, that it often depends on whether your story happens to fit in or not, and whether you can find your niche market.
Are you working on any other projects at the moment?
‘Butterflies and Other Stories’ is my seventh book since 2012. I self-published the two memoirs, the two family history books, and the book of poems. I regularly attend Clitheroe Writers’ Group, Ribble Valley Poetry Stanza and Pendle Forest History Group and will be continuing to write short stories, poetry and local history.
Do you have any events planned?
I will be holding a book launch for ‘Butterflies and Other Stories’ at Clitheroe Library on Thursday, October I7th at 2.00 pm.
I will be participating in a Meet the Author event for ‘Butterflies and Other Stories’ at Barrowford Library on Friday, November 15th at 2.15 pm.
I will be reading poetry for National Poetry Day at the Open Mic event at the Station pub in Clitheroe on Thursday, 3rd October.
I will be giving a presentation for the Friends of Pendle Heritage in February 2025 on ‘Witches, Quakers and Nonconformists.’
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