Paula Readman talks to me today about her involvement with our Gifted project

 

How did you interpret the word “Gifted”?

I thought about a small gift, something unexpected when I started writing my story, ‘Just a Packet of Seeds’. As the saying goes; from little acorns, mighty oaks do grow. Sometimes the smallest gifts give the greatest pleasure and from these come the best memories.

How did you find out about our call for submission?

I’ve been writing for Bridge House Publishing for many years now, so I always check out their web pages to keep up-to-date with their submission.

What are the merits for you of the short story form?

Short stories were the best way for me to learn how to write to be published. It can be tough tackling a novel first, which can sometimes be soul-destroying. However, writing short fiction can help you master the basic skills you need for writing your first novel. By writing to a word limit, you can learn how to choose your words wisely, keep your sentences concise, and understand the importance of editing and working on a deadline. Submitting your short fiction can help you develop a thicker skin to deal with rejection. The upside with all the rejected stories is that you have a back catalogue of short stories. A quick re-edit and then you can submit somewhere else. I learned quite quickly that no stories go to waste. You can revisit them as many times as necessary until a spark of inspiration helps you create a story that finally finds a home.

Tell us a little about you as a writer.

I embarked on my writing journey twenty-five years ago when I was thirty-nine. It was a personal challenge to get something published before my fortieth birthday. Despite being poorly educated due to dyslexia, which left me embarrassed about my awful handwriting and weak spelling, I was determined to learn the basics of grammar and punctuation, and also to understand how the publishing industry works. This gave me an insight into what publishers were looking for when submitting my work.

Since I was a single mother working full-time to support my young son, and myself I had limited funds and time. Attending writing courses was not an option for me. Instead, I taught myself from 'how to write' books I found in charity shops, on eBay, and books borrowed from the library.

My effort paid off in 2010 when English Heritage published my first short story. Since then, I have published over a hundred short stories and six books. Although it has been a long journey, I am proud of what I have achieved so far.

Do you have any more forthcoming publications or events?

My latest book is a novella published by Demain Publishing called Never Reaching The End. It tells a tale about a young couple buying a house. It seems some houses don’t let go of their past. I have two short stories published one in CafeLit, the second in Gifted.

Blog: https://colourswordspaper.blog/

Twitter: Paula R C Readman @Darkfantasy13

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paula-R-C-Readman

Another interview with one of the Waterloo Festival Writing Competiton winners.

Today I have  on my blog Paula Readman.  Paula has actually been a winner in all three of the Waterloo festival Writing Competitions, so very well done to her.

  

1) Tell me about your story in the collection.

Oh, which one shall I tell you about, as I’ve been lucky enough to have three of my stories selected? The first story Deucalion’s Flood tells the tale of a migrant who travelled to Britain in the belief he would find a better life.

The second Over the Wall tells the story of two young friends and an accident changed one of their lives forever. My last story Cobalt Blue tells the story about a young lad who has to take his father’s job in a mine to support his family. 

2) What inspired you to write them?

With all three of my stories I wanted to push myself outside my comfort zone, and look at the world from someone else other than my white English elderly woman’s point of view. Deucalion’s Flood puts me in a boat with hundreds of other migrants who have been treated as less than human by others, only to arrive in Britain to find they aren’t treated any better here. In Over the Wall, I wanted to include disability in my story, and play about with how it might affect a young boy’s life. Would it make him less outgoing?  Cobalt Blue was the story I did the most research on. An awful soul destroying problem, which I felt, was under publicised. I wanted to give a voice to the children and women whose lives are being undervalued, while the rest of the world races towards a greener future.

3) How did you hear about the competition?

I heard about the Waterloo Art Festival through being a regular contributor to Bridge House Publishing and Chapel Town Books submissions.

4) Have you had any other success in short story writing?

Yes, I have. Over the last year, I have been busy submitting to other small presses in Britain, Australia and America. In 2012, I won the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival/ Writing Magazine Short Story Competition. It was the biggest competition I won to date. 

5) What, for you, makes a good short story?

A story from its first word to its last that hooks your attention because you know the writer has edited the piece within an inch of its life after carefully choosing each word to carry you forward.

6) Do you have any tips for new writers or writers seeking publication?

Don’t always go with your first idea when entering a themed submission. You first idea will properly be similar to a few of other writers. Try to think outside the box. Write down some obscure ideas. Being a little brave in your lateral thinking may just give you the edge over other entries for competitions and submissions. Also remember nothing is wasted when your work is rejected.  Gave rejected stories another re-read and edited before sending it out elsewhere.

An excerpt from  Cobalt Blue 

A shadow passed over me, as I sat stuffing plastic bags into my father’s boots to make them fit. Then someone called my name. I clumsily jumped up, the boots uncomfortable on my feet. 

“Good morning, Raoul!” A skinny boy danced just outside the doorway to my shanty home. Dust rose blemishing his shiny black trainers. 

“Good morning, Abebe.” The crisp whiteness of his shirt held a promise of escape for my friend. I bit back my jealousy and smiled. Over his shoulder, black clouds gathered on the horizon, threatening rain. By the time it arrived, Abebe would be at his desk.  

“I’m top of my class now,” he stated, pride reflected in his eyes. He lifted the rucksack’s straps from his shoulders, the weight of the books caused them to dig in. “I’ve learnt how to write my name, and my numbers too. That is good, do you not think?”

“Oh yes.” Envy buzzed around me. I too wanted to learn. 

“Come on, Abebe. You don’t want to be late!” The boy’s father waved to me. I acknowledged him with a nod. Abebe ran laughing after his father. His laughter was infectious. It made me wish all the children in the village could join him. As they disappeared around a mountain of grey and red soil, I recalled how six years ago our home had faced a lush green valley. Mother, along with the other women, used to sing as they carried their washing down to the river. Birdsongs filled the cobalt-blue sky along with their beautiful voices. Then the miners came.

Overnight, things changed. The once crystal waters became sluggish and murky and no longer providing fish to feed the villagers. The muddy trickle made mother and some of the women sick, too. Across the scarred and poisoned land, the only sounds we heard were the heavy earth-moving machinery as it tore open another mine.  

After Mother passed away, Father had to work at the mine. No longer able to hunt, or fish to feed us. The strenuous work and little food weakened him making him more vulnerable to the sickness that engulfed our village. At eleven, I took his place at the mine while my younger brothers kept an eye on him. 

“Raoul, be wise. Cover your mouth, hold your tongue, and listen carefully. Never fight, ” Father said every day before I set off to work. “Come straight home.”

 

Author of Stone Angels, 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0897MR4RW

The Funeral Birds

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084GZGRV2

Days Pass Like a Shadow https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0897SV5RH

Blog: https://paulareadman1.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/paula.readman.1

Twitter: Paula R C Readman@Darkfantasy13 

In conversation with Paula Readman after the recent release of her single author collection, Days Pass Like a Shadow

We have recently had the privilege of publishing Paula's single author collection. Here's what she had to say.   

Thank you for inviting me to your blog Gill to talk about my book, Days Pass like a Shadow a collection of thirteen dark tales which are all linked by the theme of Death and Loss. This collection features my most favourite stories that I have written so far. Though I’ve been busy writing almost every day since finishing working full-time nine years ago, it has only been in these last couple of years that my confidence has grown enough for me to feel I fully understand the process needed to create stories to a high enough standard that they are selected for publication.

Each of stories in Days Pass like a Shadow has its own story behind its creation. The first story in the collection The Meetings began life as a submission for the magazine, People’s Friend. I received some positive feedback from their editor but he didn’t like the ending and wanted me to rewrite the story. I did, but then he told me it had lost its sparkle in the rewrite. Shortly after its rejection I came across a writing competition and decided to change The Meetings back to its original story line and entered it. To my utter delight and amazement, it was overall winner in the competition. It proved to me; if your work suffers rejection in one place try somewhere else.

The idea behind On the Streets of Kabul came to me in a dream. It seemed so real and shocking it woke me. So not to wake my husband, I got out of bed, went to the kitchen and turned on the light so I could write down the dream while it was fresh in my mind. It seemed so real I could feel the heat, taste the dust and smell the fear. For Days Pass like a Shadow, I extended the story to give it a rounded ending.

Perfect Justice is another story that came about under extraordinary circumstances. When I was working full-time in an electronics factory, I would go in early so I could get a parking space. Before it was time to start work, I would either make notes of plot ideas or read books on how to write to be published. I did the same during my lunch breaks too. Of course, my work colleagues knew about my crazy dream to become a published writer.

One day I noticed a supervisor was always watching me. My job was to hand-build units. If I had shortages of parts, I had to make notes of what I needed, and then go and collect the parts from the storeroom.  On three occasions my supervisor called me out for writing in company’s time.  So Perfect Justice was born. As they say, don’t get mad, get even.  The surname Perfect came about when my work colleague, Kathy told me about a girl she knew who had the same surname. She said, she wasn’t Perfect, but horrible. 

What’s next for me? Now my focus is more on writing novels, though I won’t be giving up writing short stories, Gill. I’m busy constructing a new novel, which is a follow-up of my novella, The Funeral Birds. It’s the continuing story about a failing private detective agency, but it has a twist as there’s a four hundred year old witch in the story. I do have a couple of other projects I need to finish first before I can concentrate on it solely.

I had planned to do a garden party at my home to launch my book but unfortunately, the Covid-19 put a stop to that. My writing group was going to get involved with the local radio station. They were to come to the group to do an interview with us but again that was cancelled. I’m hoping by next year things will be a lot easier and the village WI will want speakers to come along again as I had put my name forward. I’m busy marketing online with thousands of other writers but I’m not sure whether it will reap the rewards we all hope for.  

  To buy a copy of Days Pass like a Shadow, you can purchase it from the publisher at Bridge House, from Amazon online or order it through your local bookshop.

What got me started was the need to prove to myself that I could.  I left school poorly educated and it was a comment made by a Polish colleague who laughed at me when I said I didn’t understand the working of English grammar. She explained that they learnt English at school. I felt ashamed as English was my birth language yet I didn’t understand how it worked when written down.  That’s when I decided to teach myself from the second-hand books bought off EBay by my husband as we couldn’t afford to pay for a writing course at the time.

Reading about English Grammar was like reading a foreign language, I had no idea want they were talking about, but I persevered and now I think I understand though I do have moments of doubts.

Do I have a routine? Yes, I suppose I do. I’m at my most productive in the morning. I have a small office at the top of the stairs where I work facing a wall of books. I sometimes have music on in the background, a mixture of classic and new age music, but mainly instrumentals. I find it helps me to stay focused. The winter months are the best for writing long pieces of work, as I don’t have to worry about the garden.

My husband has always been supportive of me, but was mainly friends to start with. Now the rest of my family are on board once my work became more widely published.

What am I most proud of with my writing? That I never gave up and kept the faith in my ability.