Where are all the short stories at?

To this island where the bottlebrush tree grows in the manicured gardens of the weathered white-washed houses of the Windrush returnees.

*****

I have totally fallen for short stories and now have a reading list as long as my arm, like I need more books to read – my tbr pile is already over a meter high.

The class I’ve been doing at City Lit has been fun, I get a little jarred by some of my class mates wanting me to write from a white person’s point of view and questioning my characters but I knew this would be the case going in so I just breathe it out and remember I joined the class to improve my writing and get used to sharing my work. All the writing related learning I’ve done before has been about long prose and I always knew my class mates were not my natural readers. Having set homework and deadlines as well as the the chance to read your work is great. It is a bit weird when after reading a piece there is silence but I’m learning this is a good thing so the next step is going beyond the safety of the classroom and finding outlets that publish short stories written by a brown women over 35 – all ideas gratefully received! And I want to read more short stories written by black and brown women over 35 too, so please send me all the links, I can’t wait to read them.

This time next year, I might not be a millionaire but if I am a published author that would be the best 50th birthday present I could ever wish for.