Today we are celebrating Sharon Clark. Since Deadlines for Writers started in 2017, many of our writers have gone on to publish and accomplish great things with their writing. The Prompt to Publication emails are all about celebrating these writers and their wonderful stories.
I hope these interviews will help and teach you how to use Deadlines for Writers to build your author platform.
Author feature: I’d like to introduce Sharon Clark
Have you completed any of the challenges on Deadlines for Writers?
Sharon Clark: Yes both the 12 stories and 12 poems challenges over several years. I completed the 12 stories challenge at least three times – most recently was 2023. I’m looking forward to joining in again this year (2025).
What have you published?
Sharon Clark: A collection of short stories entitled A Wisp of Magic & Mystery.
Has Deadlines for Writers helped you as a writer?
Sharon Clark: Yes, because it has given me a collection of more than 30 short stories, many of which feature in my published collection.
What did you learn that you applied to your work?
Sharon Clark: Working to tight word counts helped me to ensure that every word counted!
The feedback often helped to catch typos or poor word choices, and sometimes encouraged me to rethink things that weren’t clear to the reader. The discipline definitely helped me to create a body of work. I wouldn’t have done that without the monthly prompts and deadlines
What is your favourite story you wrote for 12SS?
Sharon Clark:
One favourite is Swirls of time and rose petals
https://deadlinesforwriters.com/swirls-of-time-and-rose-petals-by-sharon-j-clark/
I often write about flowers, and I enjoyed the mix of time travel and mystery in this story. Plus I had to do a bit of research to give it some authenticity.
Biography:
Based in Milton Keynes, Sharon J Clark has been published in various anthologies and online literary magazines, including Still Point Arts Quarterly, Blink Ink and Reflex Fiction. She has self-published two poetry collections and a short story collection.
Read Sharon‘s work
Esme was tired of red roses. Every Valentine’s Day it was the same. Order after order for one, six or – occasionally from the very wealthy – a dozen red roses. She knew she shouldn’t complain. She was well-paid for her craft, and some of her creations had even become collector items. But she was so very tired of creating red roses for those professing undying love to one another. Her soul longed for summer and the creativity of bridal bouquets. She wanted to press her fingers into sweet peas and orchids, cornflowers and orchids.She had one last order to fulfil before she shut Paper Blossoms for the day. Six red roses for a Michael Jones. He said they were for his wife. Esme didn’t believe that for one moment. Over the years she had learnt to spot the liars and cheats. However, it wasn’t her place to judge her clients. They paid her to make roses so she made roses.She was adding the petals to the final rose when the door to her shop opened. She glanced up, took in the sight of a tall dark-haired young man, and sighed inwardly.“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m about to close. I can’t take any more Valentine’s orders.”He smiled politely.“I am aware of your trading hours. I come not to buy but to deliver a gift.”“Do I know you?” Esme asked. It certainly made a change to be on the receiving end of gift-giving.“Yes, but not in this timeline.”“Excuse me?”He crossed to her work bench and placed a business card on it.She read it aloud. “Professor Johannes Eugenius Warming, Temporal Plant Ecologist?”He grimaced. “The name is rather unfortunate, isn’t it? It has been passed down my family line since the late1800s when its owner became known as being the founder of plant ecology. He was Danish.”He added his ancestor’s nationality as though that explained everything. Esme was still caught up with the mention of a timeline.“I know what a plant ecologist is,” she said. “I trained as a botanist and know more than simply what colour card to use for a particular flower. However, a temporal plant ecologist? Timeline?”He picked up one of the roses she had made. “Beautiful. Your work is quite exquisite.”He lifted it to his nose and breathed in. “You make them perfumed too.”“For an additional fee,” she said.He set the rose down gently.“When the first Johannes Eugenius Warming was alive, Valentine’s Day was celebrated with living flowers.”“Indeed, but fortunately for me such things no longer exist, and my paper blossoms are the romantic currency of the day.”“Beautiful though they are, paper blossoms are no replacement for a real rose. That is why I need to speak with you.” He glanced at the clock on the wall behind her. “Will you allow me to stay beyond closing time. I assure you I am here in a benevolent manner only.”She considered for a moment. Under other circumstances she might have been edging her way towards the emergency button beneath her work counter, but unlike Michael Jones who made her skin crawl, there was something disarming about Johannes Eugenius Warming that sparked her curiosity.She walked to the shop door, turned the sign to closed, and activated both the security shutter and the door lock.“Would you like a cup of tea?” she asked.“What a wonderfully quaint idea,” he replied. “Yes, I would.”He seemed genuinely intrigued by the process of brewing tea from dried leaves.“Tea is absent from my timeline,” he said, as he took a sip. “I would like to rectify that, but type of tea to focus on. What is this one?”“English breakfast,” she replied. “And there you go again, talking about timelines. Would you have me believe you are from the future? Or perhaps the past?”“Or perhaps both? Will you believe me if I tell you time is in fact a human construct that enables us to make sense of things. In reality every moment in time exists at the same time – past, present future. It is therefore possible to move from one moment in time to another.”“So, you’re a time traveller.” She was surprised how comfortable she found this notion.He tapped the business card he’d given her which was now lying on the work surface near her teacup.“Temporal plant ecologist. I am allowed to visit moments in time outside of my own present for very specific reasons – namely to restore plants that have become extinct.”“That’s a lot of plants in my timeline,” she observed.“Indeed, and in no small part due to your Ministry of Food Production controlling the available ecosystem with an iron fist.”He drank more tea and then smiled at her. “However, we have taken time to grow and develop cordial relationships with influential people, and now we are ready to introduce a programme of fresh diversity. And roses are part of that programme.”“You’re going to re-introduce real rose?.”“Such a beloved flower will be warmly received, we believe.”“And you’re telling me this because?”“Because our plan will destroy your livelihood, but also because you have a natural affinity with flowers. We wish to offer you a new role – farewell to paper blooms, hello to the real thing.”
Buy the book.
From flash fiction to longer tales, from humourous snippets to dark-tinged mystery, this collection of short stories is drawn together by one thing: a wisp of magic and mystery. Sometimes the magical influence is overt. Sometimes its presence is almost ethereal.
This is the perfect book for those coffee break moments when you’re looking for a short read. Open the cover and step into worlds where magic breaks into reality.
Well done, Sharon!
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