Following the Long Thread Home, at MK Lit Fest’s Spring Festival 2025

Way, way back last summer, the wonderful Literary Festival folks announced the theme that they were going to use for the 2025 writing competition— “Home”. I’d really enjoyed taking part in the 2024 competition, and had two pieces included in the anthology. One of them, A Lily at the Rose, took on a bit of a life of its own, and I’ve since been asked to read it for a few different events—and through a series in interesting events, ended up becoming a Friend of the MK Rose as a result which has been super exciting, but that’s a story for another time. So, I definitely knew I wanted to come up with something fiction and creative non-fiction, and came up with a fiction idea quite quickly, but I found it hard to settle on an idea for the creative non-fiction piece.

I took myself off for a customary long walk, and ended up at the ruins of St Peter’s church in Stanton Low. It was a gorgeous day so I settled down inside the shade of the old crumbling walls, got my phone out and started to note down some ideas. I had the mental image of moving through different homes and back into the past, and the idea of connecting them through a series of portals really appealed. After a bit of work—and several chats with my Dad about the details of the places he’d lived over the years, Following the Long Thread Home was born.

Fast-forward to January 2025, and I was sitting on a coach in Vik, Iceland. It was -17 outside, thick snow blanketing the lava fields, I’d just had a lovely afternoon in a cafe with our coach party, and we were on our way back to the hotel for dinner. I have the Lit Fest email address saved as a VIP, so my phone lit up with an alert to tell me the excellent news that my piece had been shortlisted! I must confess that I was so happy that I totally forgot that you’re supposed to keep the shortlists secret and shouted “Yay!” to anyone in earshot. Oops. I swore them to secrecy, of course, but this really is a big deal for me. You see, all of the shortlisted pieces end up published by the Festival, and I’m still new enough to writing seriously that it’s a massive boost to have the validation of a published pieces. They also have super-high standards, so even being shortlisted is an incredible honour. And it is a competition, so there was always the slim possibility that it might…you know…win something!

We’re going to fast-forward again now, because it’s a long time between January and the actual Festival in April… but time passed, as time does, and on April 10th, at a very swish awards event held in the Pavilion in Campbell Park on the most perfect of spring evenings… Following the Long Thread Home WAS AWARDED HIGHLY COMMENDED!

It didn’t stop there. On April 12th, the Festival held their first Raising Voices event at Waterstones to showcase stories that had been included in the anthologies. I was absolutely honoured to be invited to read FTLTH (which is a truly terrible acronym, I probably shouldn’t use it.) And in Waterstones too! It was so strange: so many times I’ve been past and seen that they’ve got an event planned—reading events, books launches, poetry nights—and thought that looked super cool. The idea that one day, I might actually be invited to take part… well. Wow. I’ve done a few readings over the last year, as part of the Festival’s story walk and on Zoom, but this felt really special. That’s the sort of thing Proper Writers do, and it felt a very long way outside my comfort zone!

Well, I have to say, it really was the most brilliant experience, even if technical gremlins attacked at the last minute and meant that the planned livestream out to people at home couldn’t take place. I didn’t get to check how many people were actually there in person, but it looked like a pretty full house, especially when it was my turn and I was looking out at everyone. (Yarg!) I was particularly surprised and delighted that two friends had made the journey all the way over from Leighton Buzzard to support me: Jana and Paul, you absolutely rock! I was glad that my slot was early in the running order because then I could relax and enjoy everyone else’s pieces. I was blown away by the professionalism and poise of many of the readers—we’re all amateurs, don’t forget—and it was a real treat to get to listen to so many excellent stories and poems. What a talented bunch.

And talking of talent… getting to read was amazing, but the real highlight for me was that I finally got to meet several of the people who I’ve been working with through the Festival’s online writers programme over the last eight months. When you’ve spent hours reading people’s stories and giving feedback, then even more on Zoom talking about them, it’s quite something actually meet them in person. It felt oddly like meeting celebrities! But it really consolidated something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I started writing seriously last year as a way to deal with grief, to work through bereavement and write myself out the other side. I never really intended to share any of it with anyone, but through the LitFest, I’ve had the opportunity to do that in the most supportive and encouraging environment I could have asked for. The amazing community I’ve found through this process truly is precious.

So, after an amazing week, I’m very, very happy. It’s perfect timing, as I’ve just taken a big decision to focus more on my writing, and this really did feel like another nudge from the universe that it’s the right thing to do.

You can buy the Mink#5 anthology here, download a PDF copy of Following the Long Thread Home here, or listen to me reading the story below.