When they say you can’t.

 

 

I’m buzzing like the proverbial bee at the moment having just reached a major life goal. For the past six years I’ve been studying, alongside working as cabin crew, raising two girls and irritating the life out of the ever-patient Welshbear. And yesterday… holy crap, I only went and got myself a First class degree from The Open University. A BA (Hons)  in Literature and Creative writing, and a degree that I’d wanted on a personal level for over twenty years. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of my consciousness , I never thought I’d be good enough to call myself a real writer. Yet there it is, in black and white, on paper and everything. Thank You so much to the OU tutors, in particular Gill Ryland who helped me achieve this.

I cried, announced it on twitter and Facebook , cried a bit more, then went into mind-boggle mode as over 9000 people on twitter congratulated me on my success. Sweet baby J!! My teenager daughter kept me firmly grounded with a ‘don’t go on about it Mam’, but I’m  quietly grinning, whilst still doing the washing and cleaning the lavvy of course…

So the last year or so has been a great writing year and it occurred to me that I didn’t have one direct spot that linked  my published work. So, here you are, a few links plus some of the comments received,  should you want to visit some of my short story or flash pieces.

scab – short story

Highly Commended for the ‘Spread The Word’ Life- Writing Prize.

‘This is a brilliant prose piece, seen through the eyes of a child …I loved the evocation of a dark time in our recent history’ – judge Margaret Stead.

Amen- Flash Fiction

Published @reflexfiction

‘So evocative – such a compelling piece of writing’

The Circle – Flash Fiction

‘Wow, what a strong voice – a really unusual story’

Published by @SpelkFiction

Black Dog – Flash Fiction

‘Wow – so powerful’   ‘Beautiful, painful, poignant’.

Published by @EllipsisZine

On Tuesdays Erika and Malcolm go swinging – flash fiction

A quirky piece published by @CabinetOfHeed

finding my voice – short essay

This was a call to arms for #workingclasswriters by Carmen Marcus  ( @Kalemene) who wrote the beautiful book ‘How Saints Die.’ She asked for writers to put down in words their experience of being a working class writer. Many writers responded and you can find their work and mine on the ‘No writer left behind’ blog site.

so , there you go, just a few examples of my work folks.

What’s next?

And Now? …Well onwards and upwards. I have two novels that I’m working on. The first a working class novel ‘Kingfisher Blue’ set in the North-East during the miners strike, and a fantasy novel, ‘Awen Witch’,  set in 17th Century Wales. I’m working hard to complete them both over the coming year. I have been lucky enough to be accepted by the leamington Writers group, a fantastic group of authors who are helping greatly with their critique and feedback. I have also thrown in the trolly dolly towel after 22 years! it was a wrench and a nail-biting decision but the plan is to on and complete an MA with the University of Leicester, so an awful of hard work coming up. In the meantime keep your eyes peeled on twitter @Kathyhoyle1 or on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/kathyhoyleauthor for forthcoming flash and any other news.

Happy reading 🙂 Love Kathy. xx