Flash Fiction: Lost in the Museum

Lost in the museum by the dinosaur room.  There are signs to follow, toilets this way, exit that, café open, closed Mondays. You loved the dinosaur room. Each Friday I brought you or would have to risk your tears. Fridays were always our dinosaur days. I come alone now, for the memories, at the risk of my own tears. I am lost.

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Corrie weekly update - Trouble at mill

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, things took a very dark turn. Very dark indeed.

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Two short stories published today

I've two short stories published today.  The first one is called A Stitch in Time and it's published in The People's Friend magazine.

The second story is published in The People's Friend Fiction Special No. 148 and it's called The Little Italian Coffee Shop.  It was inspired by a visit to Beamish open-air museum on a writers day with their then writer in residence.

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Corrie weekly update - Katy killed and Spice on the Street

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, Gina got her mits on the Devster.

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My talks at Sunderland Libraries Literature Festival

This week I did something I've never done before in my life. Something that I've shied away from doing. Something that I thought I'd never do.

And not only did I do it, but I did it twice.

I stood up in public and spoke.

Sunderland Libraries Literature Festival invited me to speak twice this week at local libraries as part of the festival. My first inclination on receiving the invite was to say no. I'm far too shy, too nervous about doing such things. But in my heart, you know, I wanted to say yes. And I did. Am I pleased I did so? Oh yes.

I was there to talk about writing the TV tie-in books for ITV Coronation Street, running and editing the Coronation Street Blog and also about my foray into fiction via women's magazines and now, writing a novel too.

The first talk at Washington Library on Monday 16 October was attended by my husband and a friend. Yup, just the two of them in the audience. Well, it was raining outside and that strange pink sunshine was everywhere, it was an eerie sort of day. Who'd want to venture out on a day like that? But I did the talk anyway, just for the two of them, and received some good feedback too.

The second talk was at Houghton Library on Friday 20 October. This time there were seven people in the audience. Seven! And I only knew five of them! Fortunately, the two people I didn't know were really interested in what I was saying, asked lots of questions and the 1.5 hours that I'd been allocated over-ran and I could have carried on chatting all day.

So there you go, what a great week it's been and what an achievement too.

I've now been asked to speak at a writer's festival next spring in my favourite part of the country.

I've already said yes.

There's still a lot left on the programme to run as part of the Literature Festival. Find out full details here.

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Something's Brewing

I've a short story in this week's The People's Friend magazine, out in the shops today.

It's a story called Something's Brewing and it's set in a quiet pub, where nothing seems to happen and yet, somehow, everything does.

I hope you enjoy it if you read it.

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Corrie weekly update - Stargazing, stockcubes and shaving cream

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, Billy the Vicar distributes fishes and loaves stolen scratchcard winnings to the needy and the poor.

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Corrie weekly update - Conviction, Crowdfunding and the Zambesi Club

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, the grooming storyline finally came to an end.

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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora

All The Things You Need to Know About Me

I originally wrote this for a writing competiton inspired by a picture of a ventriloquist dummy (which I've always found eerie).  Anyway, I wasn't placed in the competition. What to do? Instead of sticking it away in my sock drawer, the piece now lives and breathes on my blog.

All The Things You Need to Know About Me

1. I’m a Strictly Come Dancing fan
2. I wish I could fly right up to the sky but I can’t (I can’t)
3. I’m in a lawsuit with Orville
4. I’ve been proposed to three times; twice by the same woman and once by a man in a smoky back room of a Turkish brothel
5. See my hair? I’ve got matching collar and cuffs, in case you’re curious
6. You’re curious, aren’t you?
7. I voted Brexit. Too many foreigners coming over here, putting words into my mouth
8. I wish I’d never voted Brexit.
9. I love the smell of napalm in the morning
10. I don’t drink as much geer as I used to. I’m down to three gottles a day
11. I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
12. I went to the doctor. I said ‘Doctor, I feel like I’m a pair of curtains’
13. I don’t like reggae
14. I love it
15. I shot the sheriff
16. I am not your homie
17. IamwhatIamandwhatIamneedsnoexcuses
18. When I sit on his knee he fiddles with me when he thinks no one is looking
19. There are more than 19 things on this list
20. I am the one and only
21. I am not Chesney Hawkes
22. I have never liked my nose
23. Does my bum look big in this list?
24. You’re wondering what I’m doing here, aren’t you?
25. So am I
26. I’d like to escape through that window behind me.
27. These shoes hurt my bunion
28. I’ve had lots of partners in this business
29. I’ve not liked any of them
30. I had a friend once, called Eric
31. I applied to go on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing but they never replied
32. I got an audition for the X Factor though
33. I met that Lord Charles puppet once
34. And I met Spit the Dog
35. Amateurs, the lot of them
36. When I sit on his knee he fiddles with me when he thinks no one is looking
37. I gave up social media when the death threats began
38. I’m Android, not Apple
39. I can’t afford Apple
40. I want to break free
41. I want to break hearts
42. I’ve just broken wind
43. I’d like to be a hipster, but I can’t grow a beard
44. I am not your bitch
45. I would do anything for love. Yup, even that
46. I heart Shakin’ Stevens. Always have, always will
47. Whoops. Typo there. I bloody hate Shakin’ Stevens
48. I kissed a girl and I liked it
49. I love you
50. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with Y
51. You’re wondering what I can see, aren’t you?
52. I want my MTV
53. When I sit on his knee he fiddles with me when he thinks no one is looking

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Could it be magic?

I've a short story in The People's Friend magazine which is in the shops today. The story is called Could it be magic? and is a comedy romance about a magician called Magic Ian who finds a new love.

The story also makes the front cover of the magazine too.  Chuffed to bits!

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I'm on twitter @flaming_nora