From Short Shrift to Shortbread

Short stories are notoriously hard to place. I'm always encouraging young writers to write TONS of short stories - you can learn so much, the constraints are an excellent discipline, they are achievable in ways that the (much preferred) 12 million word trilogy isn't, and they're FUN! But then the question follows, "And where will I get this published?"

Ah.

Well, I still don't have an answer to that question, but if you would like to know "And where can I get this up on the internet?" then I can now be more helpful.

SHORTBREADSTORIES.COM

This is what they have to say for themselves:

"SHORTBREAD stories is a FREE community website dedicated to revitalising the short story. For authors, it provides a showcase for their work, giving worldwide exposure, and for readers, it offers free access to short stories which can be read as a text document or if selected by our members listened to as an audio file ... [The stories are available] in PDF and MP3 format and are downloadable straight to your iPod or onto CD ... Shortbreadstories.com was founded by author Robin Pilcher and bookseller William Thomson."

Have a look. See what you think. I think it's great. I've sent them 3 stories so far - Diary from the Rim, Eternal Triangle and Robin Hood and the Rather Rude Martian. So if you visit the site, feel free to check them out and, oh, I don't know, maybe even click on the "Nominated for Audio" button. No pressure ...

Joan.

P.S. After typing the words "short shrift" I realised I didn't exactly know where they came from. There are undoubtedly readers out there who DO know. The Comments box is eager to hear from you!

P.P.S. I got the photo of shortbread from the internet and it's by Dave Souza.