My short stories have appeared in 'The Sunday Express
Magazine', 'The Weekly News', 'The Writers' Forum',
'Writing News' and 'Woman & Home.'

Short stories appeal to me for many reasons. I like the way
that every word has to count - something I'm used to from
my career as an advertising copywriter. And they
allow you to create little glimpses of another life; there
one minute and gone the next, like people seen from a train.

I'm afraid that's where the simile falls down though, because
unlike those people seen from a train, the best short stories have
a way of staying with you, haunting you with the need to know
what happened next, a need that can never be satisfied fully.

For me, short stories also provide an opportunity to experiment
with different writing voices - my natural tendency is to write
with humour, but in a story like 'Mainly Sharps' (longlisted for the
Fish Prize) I can be darker.

Keep on reading, keep on learning

There are plenty of websites and books to tell you how to write
good short stories, but there is no better way to 'get your eye in'
than reading as many of the best ones as you can. Like me, you'll
probably come away with mixed feelings after a good reading
session - part of you thinks you will never be that good; part of
you is inspired to try harder.

Short story competitions are a great way to test your skills - and
if you don't win, you will always learn something from those stories
that do. Many competitions offer critical feedback too… and as
anyone who writes will tell you, objective feedback is priceless.

You can find out about short story prizes and competitions at http://www.theshortstory.org.uk/prizes/ 

There is also a fantastic book I've found useful and it gives you
a mind-expanding reading list - 'Short Circuit - A Guide to the
Art of the Short Story' edited by Vanessa Gebbie (a writer of
hauntingly good short stories) and published by Salt.

Good luck and let me know how you get on.