A Small Stone for 2010

Last year is already fading away. Away.

2010 has not been a good year for me.

As I stepped onto the balcony this morning, I picked up something that looked like a little wooden stick, but on touching it, it felt like plastic. Must have landed from somebody else's balcony ( I live in a block of flats). I threw it out, over the railing, and instead of going down, it started rising, and I watched it go up, up and away.

It was my goodbye to 2010.
Away.

A River of Stones

I’m taking part in a new project starting on January the 1st and I thought you might like to join me.

In an attempt to pay more attention, I will be noticing one thing properly every day (a bird eating berries, a child playing in the street) and writing it down. People from across the world will be joining me and we’ll be creating a ‘river’ of these short pieces of writing.

You can write them down in a notebook or on a blog – and it doesn’t matter if you’ve done any writing before or not. The purpose of the project is to help us to pay attention, and to start the year as we mean to go on.

If you’d like to join us find out more at http://ariverofstones.blogspot.com or email fiona@fionarobyn.com for more information.

A Christmas Surprise

Some time ago I read that Thunderclap Issue Four was out: "90 pages packed with nothing but love. In fact, if love punched you in the face, reading this issue is what it would feel like." I was intrigued.

Then, I read that to win a copy of this lovely book, they asked for a poem of EXACTLY 30 words about the Holiday Season. I rose to the challenge and rapidly composed something that pleased me. I sent it off and rapidly (and completely) forgot about it. Here it is:


We’ve been through all of that:
Snow and Santa and sledges and Smirnoff.

This Christmas, write me a poem.
Wrap your voice with ribbons.
Kiss me with words.
Enchant me.

-Nora Nadjarian


Today, I accidentally found out that I have won a copy of the book! What a lovely Christmas surprise. Thanks, Amanda Deo - and Happy Christmas, all!

Two Announcements and a Bottle of Champagne

I suppose the time has come to announce a couple of BRILLIANT things that have finally happened in my writing life:

1. My story "Kafkaesque" is soon to be published in Etchings 9. I have just seen the proofs and they look fantastic! I am proud and honoured that my story was selected by Etchings fiction editor Glenys Osborne, whose debut novel Come Inside was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize in 2010.

2. My story "Exhibition" will appear in Best European Fiction 2011, published by Dalkey Archive Press and edited by Aleksandar Hemon. I've known this for a while but now that my words of wisdom are officially up on their website, I can also officially announce it to the world!
World, please note - yes, please note, that my work will be in the same anthology as Nora Ikstena from Latvia, a whole list of talented authors across Europe, and -wait for it-- Hilary Mantel, author of Man Booker prize winner Wolf Hall.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put on the highest heels that I can find and open that bottle of champagne...

Author Talk

Click here to read a fun "author talk" I had with my micro-novel "partner" and good buddy Michael K. White from Colorado. We had a lot of laughs sending e-mails back and forth to each other in summer, and the result is ( I think) delightful...

Thanks Mike and Dorothee (of BluePrintPress) for a very enjoyable experience!

High Heels, etc.

I've been ogling high heeled shoes in shop windows.
I've been reading Simon Van Booy and thinking about his life as a single father.
I haven't been doing much writing.
This is my first post in ages.

I sometimes wonder if anyone actually reads or cares about what I write in this blog.
Feedjit tells me people from around the world actually do "visit"... Would be nice to know who these anonymous visitors are!

...and the Ugly

My broken ankle looks swollen and ugly. I can't wait till I can walk straight again.

Meantime, (just to make the world a little less ugly) I've had a few acceptances. One from a print magazine in Australia I submitted to over a year ago! (More details later)

And my little tale "Traveller" up this week in A-Minor magazine.