Corrie weekly update - with added Packham Punch

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week in Corrie, Steve and Michelle said a sad goodbye.

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Excerpt from Theresa May's diary, published 2020

I've been given a sneak preview of the Theresa May diaries, to be published in 2020.

Here is what she says about Friday January 27, 2017

To the White House today for my first official visit to meet President Trump. Gove had already gushed to me about his animal magnetism so I wore a new girdle, just in case. 

Before I was ushered in to see the Donald, his aide asked how to pronounce my name, was it with a hard or soft g? Just a bit of confusion, they thought I was Angela Merkel.

First impressions of Trump were that he was wearing more make up than I was, and he had better hair. 

After a cup of hot tea and some locker room bantz, I asked his advice about building a wall to keep northerners out of London, and to keep Russians in. 

All in all, it was a good meeting that went rather well.  Our special relationship remains intact, or at least I think it does. It was rather hard to tell what he was thinking as he was bouncing Melania up and down on his knee as we spoke.  

But he was very polite and as we parted company he said to me: "Shut the door behind you when you leave, Angela."

Oh, if only I wasn't a married woman!

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Waiting and watching and writing

I have two short stories out today.  One is in The People's Friend Fiction Special No. 135. It is called Ladies Only and is about a ladies only waiting room on a 1916 railway station. It was inspired by a writing day spent at Beamish Museum with their writer in residence.

Also out today is A Good Match in The People's Friend weekly magazine - where my weekly soap opera Riverside appears also.  A Good Match was inspired by a true story I blogged about here.

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Flash Fiction on the Fly

It's been a horrible few days and I've had much on my mind, not least local council corruption, greed, people losing their jobs and of course Trump, Trident and May.

Today I smiled for the first time this week. Just found out that I've had my first bit of flash fiction accepted into a national competition, one of 75 people every week whose work is featured online. 

I can't say which one's mine as the competition is anonymised with readers asked to vote for their favourite story.  I can only hope you like mine.

You can read and vote at http://adhocfiction.com/read/#FlashEbook

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Have you found much?

Back from a morning spent seaglass hunting on Seaham Beach in County Durham.  The beach was dotted with collectors, all like me, all with our heads bent, walking the sands slowly, searching the shingle for a splash of coloured glass. 

Seaglass collectors are odd creatures, and I include myself in this categorisation. We know how addictive seaglass hunting is. But most of us are friendly, willing to share what we've collected and show other collectors when we pass on the beach, calling out to each other: "Have you found much?"

I've collected seaglass since I was a child. Obviously, I've thrown a lot of it back into the sea or I wouldn't be able to move in the house for the lovely jewels of glass that have tumbled in the ocean for years, decades even.

But some of it I do keep - the jewels, I call them, the gems.  They're the reds and the purples, the oranges and the lilacs, all the colours you rarely see these days. And I keep the very rare multi-coloured ones, like the red and white one above.

But I've been keeping so many jewels lately that I'm thinking of selling some of them to collectors or jewellry designers.  I might pop them onto eBay unless anyone has any ideas of anywhere else that collectors may look for rare and unusual multi-coloured seaglass?

If you love seaglass as much as I do, you might like to see my book of short stories called The Seaglass Collector and other short stories.

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Wanted: Writing mentor, apply within

When I decided to start writing fiction last year I had no idea I'd do so well. That's not me being modest; I've always known I had it in me to be good but I never dreamed I could - and would - have my fiction published.

During 2016 I've had a succssion of short stories published in two different women's magzines and was commissioned to write a weekly soap opera for one of the magazines too.

I've been entering short story competitions and although I haven't won anything (yet?) I have had two stories longlisted and one was highly commended.

A flash fiction story of mine was read out at the launch of a Sunderland cultural programme - find out more about that here.

All in all, not bad. I know I'm still in the early stages of a fiction writing career and I know I've got a lot to learn.

And that could be where you come in. If you'd like to, that is.

I'm looking for a fiction-writing mentor, someone who will take my work and show me how to make it better. Someone who will show me how to write a competition-winning short story, show me how to get published in an anthology, find an agent, help me start my novel.

Interested applicants, please apply within to glenda.young@btinternet.com

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Corrie weekly update - putrid Cupid

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update has just gone live here.

This week in Corrie, could Jenny flaming Bradley become a Connor queen?

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Two stories in Take a Break's Fiction Feast

Happy to report that I have two short stories in the current edition of Take a Break magazine's Fiction Feast which is in the shops today. 

The two stories are very different, one is fun...

And the other is much darker. I was surprised the magazine took, it if I'm honest, as I was a little concerned it was outside of their usual remit. I'm very pleased, for many reasons, that this short story, covering domestic abuse has been accepted and is available for all to read.

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Story starters for the New Year

I've a short story in this week's The People's Friend magazine. It's called Meet The Neighbours and is about a new man in town, two comedy sisters and a load of old pies.  I'm well chuffed as it's made the front cover of the magazine too so it's really cheered me up today and is a great start to my writing New Year.

In addition, my weekly soap opera Riverside continues this week inside the magazine with Ruby's hen party. But as Ruby and her friends sit down to celebrate, new girl on the block Jenny has a secret to hide...

If you're at all intersted in writing for women's magazines, a good place to start gathering information is Patsy Collins' blog Womagwriter. 

Also, I can't recommend highly enough Della Galton's book "How to write and sell short stories".

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Coronation Street weekly updates 2016 - now available for Kindle

Unofficial Coronation Street weekly updates from 1995

All the wit and warmth of Weatherfield, none of the waffle

If you're a fan of the Coronation Street weekly updates - which have been going strong since 1995 - then you'll be happy to hear that all of my 2016 Corrie weekly updates are now available for Kindle.

2016 Corrie weekly updates for Kindle. Available here.  Or if you're in Canada, here.


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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora