Guest Post: Madeleine Sara

Please welcome guest poster, Madeleine Sara:

I‘ve always enjoyed writing as a means of expressing myself. I made books and stories from the moment I could write, but then I stopped for many years, As writing is in my blood I couldn’t stay away from it forever.

With 16 non-fiction articles published in National/ International magazines; my own magazine Cloth Figure Quarterly and a How-to Book ‘Fiddly Little Fingers and Tricky Little Toes’ under my belt, I started a nine month Creative Writing Course. That was an almighty shock to realise that, in fiction writing terms, this was only just the beginning! So I read more books & writing magazines and learned that these days having a blog is important for an aspiring writer.

In August 2010, I started my writing blog, Scribble and Edit blog and loved it.
I love the creative design elements in presenting the blog posts and the look / content of the blog. I love the writing challenges that inspire and test my writing skill and I love the supportive, blogging community who have helped make my writing mature exponentially. Two other great supports have been 1: Write1Sub1 monthly, which has shown me that the more you write and send out the more experience and success you achieve. So thank you Milo, Simon and Stephen you have been a fantastic boost to my oftentimes wavering morale. 2: Romantic Friday Writers my thanks to Denise, Donna and Francine for the great challenges, feedback and awards that have allowed me to flex my writing muscles.

I have been delighted to have other short pieces of flash fiction, stories and haiku accepted by magazines, eZines and charity compilations, which has bolstered by confidence.

I happened upon the idea for Ultimate Sacrifice in a magazine I was reading at the hairdressers. Usually the stories in those magazines seem quite depressing and tawdry, so you can imagine this one left quite an impression. From one relatively incidental element in the account I had a light bulb moment that got me thinking in that What If? way that writing craft books encourage. Without providing spoilers, I can only say that I realised that I could create my own characters, who suffer a similar tragedy for a novella/ short story and explore this element as the twist in my tale. It’s therefore not quite romance, more realistic fiction with romantic elements. This story was a great vehicle for exploring what happens when the going gets tough. The subject is also very topical and full of that all-important conflict, which modern stories demand.

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