Today I received my invitation to the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award Dinner – so I definitely didn’t hallucinate the whole thing. Booktrust called me a few days ahead of the official shortlist announcement, and I had to keep the news secret again until Sunday. Except this time, I was at work when the call came, and my colleagues … [Read more...]

I am thrilled that my story 'Fewer Things' has been longlisted for the Sunday Times EFG short story award. Booktrust called on Thursday afternoon to tell me in advance of the list being published on Sunday. I was sworn to secrecy (and kept it, despite my urge to leap onto Twitter and Facebook). Had it been a regular week, I would have been at my … [Read more...]

This week I was supposed to be in Marbella with Naomi and the kids, but my eight-year-old reacted badly to the lumbar puncture he had a few days before. He was throwing up for days afterwards and there was no way he could travel. So instead I had a week at home, and once my kid was starting to feel better, and I wasn’t having to empty sick buckets … [Read more...]

Check out the thunderclouds that were building up when I went training on the common last night. Beautiful. … [Read more...]

I just heard that John Hughes died of a heart attack on Thursday. I grew up wishing that my teenage years would be like a John Hughes movie, and the few moments that came close were the most wonderful. My friends and I used to recite lines from Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the Breakfast Club to each other. We'd sit in the dirt … [Read more...]

I have a new story 'Blinks Transport People' on the Notes From The Underground website. It was commissioned for their new Photo Stories series, which is a collaboration with Clare Wigfall. Each of the stories in this series is very short, and inspired by a photo, which appears alongside the story. They'll be published in pairs - my story is in … [Read more...]