The Silver Stopper

The Silver Stopper, my Colette story, has graduated from the long-list to the short-list, and now sprints to runner-up! Thank you, Fish publishing, thank you! It’s so wonderful to know that someone else thinks that all those hours (years, if you add them up) tapping away at the keyboard and getting RSI are not wasted — my stories are worth reading, it’s not just an egomaniacal delusion on my part! The Silver Stopper will be published in the Fish anthology, which is fantastic!

The anthology will be launched in Ireland in July: now I have the terrible dilemma of deciding whether to participate. On one hand, it’s a fabulous opportunity for me as a writer (how can I pass up a rare moment of glory, however brief?!), on the other, it would be extravagant and irresponsible of me to go, as I made that long and expensive journey only a few months ago, the toilet roof is leaking in three places (the ceiling’s come off) and the boiler needs to be replaced… Oh, the conflicting worlds of writing and home ownership! Perhaps we should sell up and rent a tiny attic garret somewhere warm and dry, where someone else has to worry about annoying, practical things!

The Colette chapter that The Silver Stopper is adapted from is growing nicely, and has passed the 10,000 words mark! That’s the first milestone: only another 7 to go! (Not really, the Anais chapter is over 10,000 words as well, so the Nights in Paris novel is over a third completed.) That’s the wonderful advantage of writing a novel over writing a short story: with the strict word limit of a short story, you have to be much more disciplined and cut anything that’s not absolutely necessary. A novel allows you to indulge in digressions and details… of course, the challenge is not to indulge yourself too much! I find it fascinating that the acceptable corseted female waist measurement was a tiny 18 inches (46 cm) in 1870, increased only very cautiously during the 1880s, then started to speed up in the 1890s, shooting up to a relatively expansive 23 in (58 cm) in 1908 (still very small by today’s standards). However, this is a novel, not a textbook, so I’ve condensed my research into a mere half-sentence in the novel (sigh). But I’m sure Colette wouldn’t want me to write about centimetres, she would want me to write about the lobster and caviar sandwiches, the Pommery champagne, the cherries in liqueur and, of course, the loves that she enjoyed…

J’ai (presque) gagné! Mon histoire courte sur Colette a gagné un prix chez Fish Publishing! L’histoire sera publié dans un livre en juilet l’année prochaine. Maintenant, l’affreux dilemme, c’est de décider si je peux me permettre de participer au lancement du livre, car c’est en Irelande, et de la Nouvelle Zélande, ça fait loin…