Carried In Waves comp recording of ‘Pure Lucky’

I’m on a short break from writing and social media, and am just taking a break from that break to share the link for my short story Pure Lucky, which came second in the UCC Carried In Waves short story competition back in October.

It’s the first time I’ve tried writing something that’s meant to be heard rather than read, and it was an interesting, different exercise. I actually found it really emotional to hear an actress read out the words I’d written, and could appreciate for the first time what it must be like for playwrights and scriptwriters when they hear the choices made by actors with their lines. At that point, it’s completely out of the writer’s hands, which must be so hard to live with. In this case, I’m delighted with the reading by Rosie O’Regan. It surprised me in that the interpretation was softer than I’d imagined – I heard more brittle characters in my head – but this works too, and certainly helps with a transition that takes place midway.

I may as well go the full boastful hog, and share the judging panel’s comments, which are as follows:

“This deceptively simple story, with a strong narrative voice, dealt with the relative nature of under-privilege. Funny and moving, its humour made the pathos stronger. It was an important political story, and displayed the true arc of a short story.”

The full list of longlisted and winning stories is here. My particular favourite is Sweden by Paul Anthony Corbett, which manages to be both sweepingly epic and heartbreakingly human.