Finding the write stuff is a hint that publishing in Scotland may face a revival

The desire to get his own stories published led to a major discovery, finds Brendan Gisby

As a reader, I fell in love with the short story many years ago. To me, a well-written short story is an immensely more satisfying read than a novel.

All the usual distractions of a novel are absent: there’s no white noise from the back-story buzzing in your mind, for instance, and no large cast of characters to constantly visualise. With the excess flesh removed, you’re left with the bones and sinew of the story to focus on, to absorb, to savour the words.

As an occasional writer, I penned the odd short story over the years. Some I submitted to magazines or into competitions, with little success, but most I consigned to a drawer to gather dust. It was only when I retired from business some years ago that I began to write them in earnest. I wrote about growing up in my little home town in Scotland in the 1950s and 1960s. I wrote about real characters and true events from that place and that era. The stories spilled out of me. Some were funny, others dramatic, many sad, but they were all distinctly Scottish and all unashamedly about working-class life.

I had no desire to make any money from publication of the stories, but I did want the world to read and appreciate my carefully-crafted efforts. I discovered a plethora of websites which invited writers to submit their work for others to read, comment on and rate. So I registered with and uploaded my stories on some of the larger sites. Sadly, the stories proved not to be popular;