My short story Honey Babe is now available to read on the Overland website. 
You can read Honey Babe here. 

If you enjoy it, you might also like my story The Hedgehog, which is available on the Turbine Kapohau website. 
You can read The Hedgehog here. 

I'm working on a couple of longer projects at the moment, so it's been great to have the opportunity to get some short stories out into the world recently. My story Honey Babe is in Overland (it should be available to read online soon), and my story No Happy Ending is in the latest edition of takahē. I subscribe to both of these fantastic journals, so seeing my stories in their pages has been a real thrill! It was also a boost to be longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Huge congratulations to kiwi writer Shelley Burne-Field who made the shortlist this year. I love Shelley's short story ​Pinching out Dahlias and I'm looking forward to reading her shortlisted story, Speaking in Tongues.

I'm coming to the end of my writing retreat in beautiful Moeraki. 

I spent the first day revising a long short story, the next couple of days writing a humorous short story, and over the past few days I've worked up ideas for something that might become a bit longer. 

A writer friend of mine stayed with me for the last two nights and we had loads of fun sharing story ideas and going on missions to the Katiki Point lighthouse (didn't see any penguins but saw loads of seals) and small settlement the Kaika ... and out for dinner at Fleur's Place seafood restaurant (luckily for us, they also have an excellent vegetarian menu). 

It will be great to go home but I'll really miss the sound of the sea, the incredible, ever-changing views, and the abundance of creatures - from the baby silvereye that flew inside my crib, to the goose I spotted wandering down to the sea and going for a dip, to the absurd numbers of rabbits (you might round a corner and see ten of them sitting completely still in a clearing, as though they're holding some kind of bunny freemason convention), to the spotted shags and oyster catchers and pied stilts ... and of course the kekeno (fur seals). 

In the meantime, I have a challenge set by the owners of the place I'm staying in - to eat as many of the courgettes from the garden as I can before leaving. 

​Challenge accepted!