I’ve almost made it – just one more story to send out in December. My aim was to email a free short story each month to a select group of my readers during 2024.
I want to send a huge thank you to all those who sent me comments and told me how they’d enjoyed my work.
Also a big thank you to my readers for renewing old friendships and making some new ones during our email exchanges. Two weeks ago I had a wonderful surprise when I got an email from a friend I hadn’t seen for decades. She’d read some of my books and contacted me via the QR code in the back of my paperbacks. Naturally, I put her on the Free Shorts list, and we’re having lunch in a few weeks to catch up on several decades of news!
I’m working on the book of the twelve stories, which will be in ebook and paperback. I thought a lot about the title. Should I use the Free Shorts theme? Nah – I was sick of looking at those droopy shorts. Instead I followed the lead of Hilary Mantel, who used the title of one of her stories – The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher – as the title of the collection.
So let me unveil the title and draft cover of the Free Shorts book*, which will be out early 2025:
One of my aims was to get some recognition through entering short story competitions. I’m delighted to say that three of the twelve were recognised:
My short story Happy Days was longlisted in Creative Writing Ink (UK) competition, 2023. Read more here.
My short story Birdbrain was Highly Commended in Stories Unlimited Rural Themed Competition, 2023. Read more here.
My short story I Thought I Knew Something about This Place was shortlisted for the 2024 EM Fletcher Writing Award. Read more here.
*swimmer image licensed by Shutterstock
Next steps: Well, I’m cutting back my literary output over the next year or so while I dive into a new and completely unrelated project that is already consuming a lot of my time and brainpower (a few of you know what this nutty plan is). I haven’t got the time or mental energy to commit to writing another novel, but I do plan to write four short stories this year and send them out to the Free Shorts gang. I won’t be entering any for competitions because I’m not crazy about writing to prescribed word limits and weird themes.
I’ll also be publishing each the Free Shorts stories monthly through 2025 on my blog (and reposted on FB, LinkedIn and Bluesky) to help promote my novels. I’m too busy to do marketing, so I sell just a dribble of books each month. If I can slightly increase the dribble to a steady drip I’ll be happy!
Stuart Campbell author 
Hi Stuart,
Congratulations on your 2024 body of work and achievements. The nutty project has piqued my interest, but you don’t have to explain what it is if you don’t wish to.
I’m still writing short stories, having recently had one accepted by a magazine in Botswana. This will maintain my annual acceptance rate of two pieces (I’ve submitted 44 this year, so far).
Having decided that I don’t function well in writers’ groups I’m looking for one or two like-minded people with whom to share stories for feedback. I don’t know it would work at this stage but would prefer to keep things as informal as possible. Would such an arrangement be of interest to you?
Regards,
Rose
Hi Rose – lovely to hear from. you. I’ll email you privately. All the best, Stuart