Shortlisted for the April 2025 Not Quite Write Prize, this is a little different from my previous Not Quite Write successes. The anti-prompt this round was to break the writing rule "kill your darlings." At it's heart, it is a story about the struggle of a boy letting go of the "darlings" of his childhood to meet the expectations of his father. But more than that I wanted to examine the way we view, and treat, kangaroos in this country. They are the most iconic Australian native animal, yet it is an unfortunate reality that kangaroos are often seen as pests, impacting farming lands, or in the way of new developments, and the most common solution is euthanasia. How can we be so quick to dismiss this animal that is so uniquely part of our nation?

Content warning: violence against animals.

https://notquitewritepodcast.com/results-of-the-april-2025-not-quite-write-prize-for-flash-fiction/

Shortlisted for the January 2023 Not Quite Write Prize, this story is not just a bunch of fart jokes (well, a little bit). The anti-prompt this time around was to break the rule "write what you know." I chose to tackle this by challenging myself to write in a genre I rarely write in, or read, which is romance. 

Farts and romance? Yeah, sounds great I hear you say, but I was really happy with how this turned out. I wanted to create story that kept the lowbrow humour, but at it's heart was a genuine romance. 

https://notquitewritepodcast.com/results-of-the-january-2025-not-quite-write-prize-for-flash-fiction/

Written for the 2024 WestWords Living Stories competition, One by One received a high commendation and was published in an anthology of stories from the competition. 

I am a passionate vegan and more and more I have wanted to highlight the ideals of veganism in my stories. The theme for this competition was "Over the line...?" and it just seemed to fit this story of two dairy cows on their final journey.

https://www.westwords.com.au/project/living-stories-over-the-line/

Shortlisted for the Lane Cove Literary Awards in 2023 and published in an anthology of stories from that award. 

Seamus the gravedigger, indifferent to the world, and eager to get to burying, is interrupted by a lost dog who shows him a pet's love is always unconditional. 

https://www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/Community/Library/Lane-Cove-Literary-Awards

Shortlisted in the 2023 (inaugural even!) Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction. It's a story about the perilous possibilities of public toilets and the wise counsel of any guiding Scottish spirits contained within. 

Not Quite Write host a Flash Fiction competition every quarter. Their spin is an anti-prompt, which is to break an accepted rule of writing. It's a lot of fun, as is their podcast. Check them out.

https://notquitewritepodcast.com/not-quite-write-prize-2023-winner-and-shortlist

Bowlo received a high commendation in the 2023 Stringybark Open Short Story Awards and was published in an anthology of stories from the contest called "Feral". This marked my very first published story.

It's the classic road trip dilemma - where to eat when just passing through a small town. When discussing their options for the night, two mates discover the road can reveal much more about the true nature of their friendship.

https://www.stringybarkstories.net/competitions/closed-competitons/feral.html

An underappreciated speed bump named Smithy ponders his lot in life and discovers that even a shit job can be made better by good company.

I enjoy writing stories like this - where I can give a voice, however unlikely, to objects or animals. 

Fun fact: the origin of this story is that once, while driving with my wife, she complained about a speed bump, and I made her feel bad by saying that the speed bump was just doing its job might rather prefer words of encouragement.

A Bump in the Road was highly commended in the 2023 Young National Cherry Festival Writing Competition hosted by the Lambing Flat Fellowship of Australian Writers.

Another one for the Not Quite Write Prize, this story was long listed for the October 2024 round. The an anti-prompt this round was to break the rule to "avoid head-hopping."

About all it did though was give me a headache as I struggled for ideas that weren't just a mess of POV shifts. Somewhere along the way, head-hopping turned to head-lopping in my mind, and I landed on a story about an executioner.

https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/furious-fiction-march-2024-story-showcase/

https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/furious-fiction-september-2024-story-showcase/

These two stories were written for round 1 and 2 of the 2023 New York City Midnight 1000 word Flash Fiction Challenge.  Spray. Squash. Flush. was in the suspense genre and placed 4th in round 1. Forever was romance and placed 11th in round 2. I was 6th overall in my group so just missed out by one place moving on to the next round.

The stories are very different in tone, mostly due to the prompts and genres as part of the challenge, but I was really proud of both.

https://www.nycmidnight.com/

One of my very first successes when I started writing seriously in 2023, this story won the weekly prize for a summer writing competition held by Spectrum Comms.

A bull in a China shop? Well if he likes fine China, then why not?