I’ve written so many short stories. Here’s an opportunity to do something with them.

I will upload a short story each month for you to read. No particular theme, no demographic, just a quick read for you. Click on “Short Stories” in the menu to view the first of many - “The Brown Hens”.

Shortlisted in last year’s Redlitzer, “The Brown Hens” borrows on family history to tell the story of one of my aunts and her introduction to the family. Much of it is fiction for I never knew how she met the family. As a child, I only knew she was an outsider and the brown hens viewed her as such. Poor Eva (not her real name). She did marry Jock and they had a happy marriage, despite the lack of acceptance by the other members of the family.

As a happy note, she was reunited with her older brother after the war. Both he and her younger brother fought on opposite sides during the war but came through unscathed.

Working on the theory that practical experience helps a writer bring plots to life, I recently took a leap of faith and jumped off a very high platform and ziplined across an eighty metre canyon.

Determined to eke every moment of terror out of the trip, I put trust in the harness and spreadeagled my body as I hurtled down in the green abyss. I could hear my scream - of elation? - or terror? echoing around me.

Now how can I incorporate this into a story? Stay tuned.