This month, I have a whole new Aid to Conception. Its aim is to banish obstructive thoughts I have about my body not being good enough to grow a baby in. This is not, I hasten to add, the result of a perenially battered self esteem or anything dark like that. It's just a general feeling of disbelief about the whole reproductive process, probably stemming from the fact that I was never much into science at school, and found fairy stories far easier to believe in than sperm-meets-egg or everything-is-made-up-of-atoms stories.


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Well, judging the competition entries last night was both fun and really, really difficult. Seriously foks, the quality of submissions was very high and I think it's fair to say that any could have won.

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Firstly, the winner of our Guest Blog Competition is…GARY WILSON!
Well done, Gary, for your intriguing idea of writing about “What is Inspiration?” Gary’s post will appear in June when he will receive a signed copy of our very own Rebecca Connell’s Art of Losing.

We would also like to give special mention to Deborah Durbin, Julie P and Deborah Riccio for their thought-provoking entries!



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I can't remember the exact figure, but I believe men are supposed to think about sex for approximately 9.5 of every 10 seconds. (NB. When I 'supposed' I don't mean 'supposed-as-in-obliged'. I mean, 'supposed-as-in-inevitable.')

In a similar, though possibly less erotic fashion, I now spend 9.5 of every ten seconds thinking about sperm.

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Lynne Hackles is an accomplished author of non-fiction books and adult and children’s novels and a prolific woman’s magazines’writer.

“I was 17 when we got married. Colin (L.S.O.) and I have been married for 41 years now. Kids flown the nest. Dogs died of old age. We’ve got Win though. The motorhome I bought with my Deal Or No Deal win. The three of us go on adventures together.”



My first sale was…
Way back in the early 1980s. A letter in Woman Realm was my first experience of being paid for words. I followed it up by writing some family-humour pieces for My Weekly. Then I started writing stories for My Weekly and Annabel.

My family think my writing is…
Something to keep me out of trouble. The L.S.O. (Long Suffering One, husband Colin) is very supportive. He’s happy to drive me around the country to do talks and workshops, read my work, put cups of tea in front of me, do shopping and cooking. And no, he’s not for hire.

The best/worst thing about writing short stories for magazines is…
They buy my worst and return my favourites.



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Well, he sort of does short stories. His new book, Nocturnes, is a collection of five such "things". Ishiguru doesn't seem wholeheartedly comfortable with the idea that he has actually written a short story collection! He said to the Guardian's Decca Aitkinhead on Monday:

"Well I'm not quite sure what you're supposed to call it," he admits. "I've been resisting calling it a collection of short stories because sometimes novelists do publish collections of short stories, and they're basically a rag bag of stories they've had sitting around for the last 30 years. Whereas this book I actually sat down and wrote from start to finish.

Yes, true, from the author interviews on the Short Review, only a few authors seem to have done it this way, having a collection in mind and writing it.

"I don't know what proper short story writers would think of this...


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By day it was all Lorelei song and oompah bands echoing from pleasure boats as they steered past the famous rock ,or outdoor cafes and fairy-tale wooden chairs with heart-shaped holes. But we spent the hours of darkness peering into cellars guarded by large men in turbans, looking for our teenage charges and wondering how we'd explain their loss to the headmistress when we got back to Camberwell


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My interview with Nikki Gamble of Write Away is on their website now:


http://www.writeaway.org.uk/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,4529/Itemid,99999999/


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