Two posts today, because earlier I managed to run for 33 minutes without stopping, and I am thrilled about this, because it is a first for me. Previously, I couldn't manage more than 20 minutes before I gave in to my heavy legs. I never was very good at pushing through the pain barrier and challenging myself. But today, I did it and it makes me realise that I AM capable and that I can push myself further. This is a good lesson for me and I hope to apply it to other aspects of my life, including my writing.
When I run, I count. Counting is useful when you are having an anxiety attack and when you can't sleep. It's a handy meditative tool. Therapy. And this reminded me of a story I wrote some time ago, in which counting is an integral part of the structure.
I'm a genre writer and this is where I have achieved most of my writing success in commercial terms. However, I also have a stack of short stories on a range of topics, some of which have been published, many in small press magazines, and some have not.
Treading Water was first published in a wonderful small press literary magazine called QWF (Quality Women's Fiction) which gave me so many opportunities and support and encouragement with my writing. I revised the story, which is only 950 words long, it won the Folkestone
Literary Festival short story competition in 2008, (I had 2 stories shortlisted, amazingly) and it was later published in the Folkstone Anthology in 2010.
It has an additional poignancy for me now, having lost both my dearly loved parents to cancer within a six month period.
Having achieved my 33 minutes today I have decided to share Treading Water on my blog and you can find it here.
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/p/short-stories.html
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