Never underestimate the impact of being published in a Margaret River Press anthology. After my story ‘Dying’ was published in 2014 in The Trouble With Flying I was contacted by Cate Kennedy to be the emerging writer paired with her for the January 2015 edition of Review of Australian Fiction. Based on that story, ‘The Shape of Things,’ I was contacted out of the blue last November by a Melbourne publisher who enquired if I was writing a novel. And so I got to do my first novel ‘pitch.’ I have been madly working on the first draft of that novel and hoping that I don’t run out of puff (important for someone with a mechanical heart valve) and can finally pull off a longer piece of work.

Short stories though continue to be my primary love. I was thrilled to be invited to be part of the Australian Short Story Festival as a panellist with Nathan_Hobby, Donna Mazza, and Charlotte Guest (facilitator) which was an amazing experience, and not the least because I got to thank Cate Kennedy in person! And I am delighted to be chosen to work with Laurie_Steed on a new piece of short fiction as part of the Spring Retreat at the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre.

So a big thank you to Margaret River Press for supporting my writing and contributing to the flourishing short fiction scene in Australia. And congratulations on your five-year anniversary!

Bindy Pritchard is a short-story writer who lives in Perth. Her stories have appeared in Review of Australian Fiction, SALA anthology, and two Margaret River Press anthologies. She was a prize-winner in the Margaret River Short Story Competition 2014 and the Katherine Susannah Prichard Short Story Award 2012 and Runner up in HQ/Dymocks Short Story Award.