Acted as one of the three judges in the 2013 'Flashy Shorts' Competition.

 

Tell us a little bit about you:

I was brought up in Redcar where I have enjoyed living for most of my life. I enjoy watching live music and think that the north-east has a brilliant live music scene. I currently work in the recruitment industry, although my long term ambition (dream?) is to eventually become a successful author and to be published in paper book form. 

 

What do you like most about writing?

The release, sharing my thoughts and feelings and hoping I can find an audience who can enjoy or relate to my work.

 

Is there anything you dislike about writing?

Only when I am rushed to meet a deadline – I sometimes submit work I am sure I could have improved.

 

What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer?

My weaknesses include failing to stay disciplined to set aside chunks of time to write. Also not having any confidence – I never think my work will have an audience. I will leave it for others to decide if I have any strengths.  

 

What inspires you to write?

Getting angry with injustice, the changing of the seasons, wanting to share my thoughts and feelings.

 

Which author(s) would you say have most influenced your writing?

Christina Rossetti, Wilfred Owen, Charles Dickens and George Orwell.

 

What are you reading at the moment?

The selected poems of Edward Thomas and The Paris Review Collection of Short Stories.  

 

Which three books would you list as your favourite all-time reads?

The Complete Works of Christina Rossetti, Watership Down and David Copperfield.

 

Do you have a preferred genre or particular style you apply when writing?

I try to write structured, metrical poems and often use rhyme – sadly many contemporary poets seem to have abandoned rhyme schemes on-mass which is a shame I think. I believe poetry should be enjoyed by the reader, and many people are turned away from contemporary poetry because it fails to engage.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

More poems based on current affairs, nature and getting angry with injustice. I am also preparing for my first public poetry recital and preparing to interview the excellent American poet, Derrick Brown. 

 

Any thoughts about e-books and e-book publishers?

I love books. Books made from paper. However, I am passionate about smaller, independent publishers. I think that they provide a great service, and are vital for aspiring writers who never make it past the large publishers. I am extremely grateful to have found a publisher as brilliant as Good Guy who have offered me the opportunity to publish in e-book form. I do accept that e-book publishing is already huge and is only going to get bigger. I hope there can be a future happy medium between the paper and electronic formats.  

 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Never give up, write from the heart and do not be afraid to say what you want to say.

 

What are your hopes for the future?

To become published in paper book form and to write a second collection. I may also try to write some prose if I can summon the confidence.

 

Where can you be found online?

www.exne.co.uk/category/poetry

 

Peter can also be found reciting poetry live for the very first time on Saturday 2nd February 2013. Full details can be found on our Facebook page.  

 

 Many Thanks Peter

 

Margaret Nesbitt

 

2nd Place Runner-up in the 2012 'Flashy Shorts' Competition with her flash fiction entry Cup Football.

I am a woman fast approaching three score years and ten. Born and brought up on Tyneside, the eldest in a family of four girls, I travelled to Sunderland for my education in a Convent Grammar School. After our family had grown up and I’d retired from my work as a Probation Officer, my husband and I moved to live in a two hundred year old cottage overlooking the sea on the wild and wonderful Northumberland coast.

I have told and written stories as long as I can remember, but only began to write in earnest in recent years. Encouraged and tutored by my husband I had several short stories published and also read some of my work on local radio. In 2008 and after forty-five years of marriage I lost my mentor to the monster that is cancer so, to fill the gap as I ploughed through grief, I enrolled and successfully completed a Master’s Degree in creative writing. I have now completed my first novel; this follows the story of my great, great grandmother, before, during and after the famine in nineteenth century Ireland.