My First Taste of Publication! by Johanna Grassick

Earlier this year I was thrilled to learn that my short story, Rum Truffle, had been short-listed for the Sophie King Prize. I was also stunned because this was a competition open to published and unpublished authors, so I’d sent off my entry with very low expectations, but sent it off nevertheless because what did I have to lose?

Although novels have become my main focus in recent years, I still like to experiment with short stories and my inspiration for Rum Truffle came when I visited the pretty Cheshire village of Nantwich, which has some lovely cafés and bakeries. I was also thinking about anniversaries, and how they’re not always a cause for celebration, but can be a link with darker memories from the past. However, at the core of this story – and all my writing – is the belief that love heals.

The Sophie King Prize was for romantic short stories and open to writers from all over the world, but after my story was short-listed there was even better news to come!

The publisher, Corazon Books, who ran the competition, decided that the standard of entries was so high they wanted to publish an anthology of the top 10 stories. Would I like Rum Truffle to be included? Would I ever!

Sophie King is a well-respected writer whose work encompasses novels, short stories and creative writing ‘how to’ books, and I feel privileged that she picked out my work.

The anthology, Love Is All You Need, is now available in e-book (a print version will be launched later this year):

‘An anthology of stories which are funny, thought-provoking, and thrilling, with characters you'll empathise with as they discover that ... Love is All You Need.’

Stories by Alyson Hilbourne, Yvonne Eve Walus, Johanna Grassick, Pauline Watson, Melanie Whipman, Linda Triegel, Laurel Osterkamp, Helen Yendall, Mary Lally, Sherri Turner.

You can buy the anthology here: Amazon books