In September 2022, I published my second collection of Furious Fiction short stories, Twelve More Furious Months. As with my first collection, the stories are presented chronologically, from The Lucky Country (April 2021) to Stuck in Time (March 2022). And include writer insights and podcast episode links.
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Since April 2020, I’ve submitted twenty-one short stories for the monthly Furious Fiction writing competition. However, in December 2021, I learned Furious Fiction was shifting to a quarterly competition in 2022. Like many fans, I felt bereft. Until the Australian Writers’ Centre announced First Friday Fix.
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The brief for October 2021’s Furious Fiction was to set the short story in a COURT, include a character who measures something, and the words BALLOON, ROCK and UMBRELLA. Recalling Hemingway’s advice to write one true sentence, I wrote, “The policewoman at the front of the Court is trying to catch my eye.”
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In April 2020, I wrote my first short story for the Australian Writers’ Centre’s monthly Furious Fiction competition. This April, I submitted my thirteenth straight entry. The anniversary means I’ve also shared twelve Furious Fictions on the Tall And True writers’ website and Short Reads podcast.
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In March 2020, I heard an interview with former Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill about her book on Syria, We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know. It inspired me to start a travel piece on my experience in Syria in 1995. But I got sidetracked by life and other writing and didn’t finish it until January 2021.
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My first attempt at the Australian Writers’ Centre’s monthly Furious Fiction competition fell on my first weekend of lockdown in April 2020. Some feared the prospect of social isolation, working from home, and long hours spent lost in their thoughts. But for me, it was a perfect storm — uninterrupted time to write!
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Australia wasn’t alone in underestimating the threat of COVID-19. In our defence, the country was distracted by the Black Summer bushfires, which blazed from September 2019 to March 2020. But by mid-March, with the fires extinguished, our focus shifted to the pandemic and its possible impact.
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The Australian Writers’ Centre runs a monthly #FuriousFiction short story competition. I submitted my first entry to #FuriousFiction on the first weekend of our COVID-19 lockdown and ever since have taken up the monthly challenge. So I was interested to see a bonus 23-word fiction story challenge.
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#FuriousFiction is a monthly writing competition run by the Australian Writers’ Centre: 55 hours to write a 500-word short story based on a brief. The first prize is $500, with the winner published on the Writers’ Centre website. And April’s #FuriousFiction fell on the first weekend of COVID-19 lockdown.
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I hope readers enjoy the short story journeys in Twelve More Furious Months and make it home in time for dinner. ~ Robert Fairhead
I look forward to the Writer's Centre's monthly Furious Fiction competitions because I've become addicted to the escapism of writing short stories! ~ Robert Fairhead
This slim book is hard to put down. And the only regret we may feel after reading it is that we reached the end too quickly! ~ Denise O'Hagan
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. ~ Maya Angelou
Share your untold story — fiction, nonfiction and reviews — on Tall And True, an online showcase and forum for writers, readers and publishers.
