10Flash

Some time ago I mentioned that I’d been invited by K.C.Ball (of Every day Fiction and Writers of the Future fame) to contribute to the inaugural edition of her new e-zine, 10Flash. I was quite chuffed about this, because it was the first time I’d actually been asked to write something, and I was also pleased because the theme of the first issue (stories about a librarian travelling in a foreign country) seemed like an opportunity to dig out an idea I’d had a while ago and never got around to fleshing out.

So in characteristic JP style, I proceeded to put it on the back burner and got on with other things, until the deadline started to loom. Of course, as fate would have it, the time when I was intending to sit down and write it coincided exactly with the time when I was running around like the proverbial blue-arsed fly on various real-life business projects. Cue anxious e-mail from K.C. enquiring as to whether I was still intending to contribute and reassuring response from me saying yeah, no problem, no problem at all, definitely, definitely. Definitely. Yes, definitely.

Anyway, during my few days away last week, I did manage to fill in some of the gaps in the story and I even scribbled down most of the first draft on my laptop, ready for a final polish on Saturday night, just in time for K.C.’s extended absolutely final deadline. And I’ve just heard that she does, thankfully, like “Borges’ Labyrinth” and will be using it in the first issue of 10Flash. So apologies to K.C. for cutting things so fine, and good luck with July’s launch!

What was it that Douglas Adams said about deadlines – something about loving the sound they make as they whoosh by? Which reminds me: three days to go until Whittaker Round Seven is due in, and I still haven’t written a word …