Featured Writer
Alison Craig
One day in 1973, we were talking with our teacher, Miss Harris, about what we wanted to do when we "grew up". It was a distant prospect. But the answer had been burning in me, unsaid, for a couple of years. "I want to be an author," I said. And having said it, I started writing my first "book", an illustrated number about a Palomino horse and her foal abandoned and sheltering in a cave in a storm. I discovered then what I have discovered and re-discovered since - how difficult it is to find satisfactory endings! For me, anyway.
Having declared my intention, I didn't start writing seriously until 1997. Up to then, I had always been "scribbling" - letters and journals mostly, although I also had some book reviews and academic articles published - but didn't think of myself as a writer. Then, inspired by meeting the man I later married, I signed up for an evening course for beginner writers at Glasgow University. It was tutored by Janet Paisley. Over the two terms, she gave me confidence in my writer's "voice". Thereafter, I joined Katy Clarke's writers' group at the Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine. And the rest - much as I dislike clichés! - is history.
My first writing success came with third place in the Killie Writing Competition in 2001 for a poem, Walk on Irvine Harbour. And my first publication was in The Loop magazine, a poem entitled Majesty.
I have now enjoyed recognition in a number of poetry competitions. My poetry has been published in The Loop (again), New Writing Scotland, Markings, The Herald, and an anthology of Scottish women's writing, Cleave. I've also taken part in several poetry readings. My first poetry collection, Reading the Sky Blue, will be published shortly. This comes as a result of winning the Open College of the Arts (OCA) national Open Door Competition.
In 2008, I completed a short story course with OCA. Of the six stories written during the course, two received commendations at the Scottish Association of Writers Conference in 2007, one was placed first in the Ayr Writers' Club General Short Story competition in the same year, and another came second at SAW 09.
This year, I have won the AWC Novel and Poetry competitions and been placed second in the Women's Short Story competition. At SAW 2009, I won the prizes for Poetry, the Humorous Article and the Travel Article. Also as a result of entering a short story for a SAW 09 competition, I have just sold my first story to The People's Friend. Upcoming in May 09 is the publication of an anthology of poetry about parents' experiences of their children, which will include four of my poems about my daughter (she's 5 this year).
In addition to poetry and fiction, I write articles and sports reports, and have been published in a number of magazines and in the local press.
Joining AWC some 6 years ago introduced me to so many good writers and friends, and made me start to feel like a "real" writer. This feeling can still sometimes desert me, but at least these days it's there more often than not!
For me writing goals are very important. It can be so difficult to find time to write in amongst working and caring for a family, so if there are no goals, writing can too easily fall by the wayside. In the coming year, I will be resuming my studies with the OCA, working individually with a mentor to develop my poetry. Also, I am continuing to work on short stories - such a challenging but compelling genre! - and am progressing a crime novel. And I'm currently in the middle of a Proofreading and Editorial Skills course with Chapterhouse. Best get on with it, and avoid thinking about it all too much!