The Ship Canal's not so bad after all

 I was delighted to have my story Tarting up the Ship Canal accepted by Step Away Magazine. You can read it here.  Step Away seems a good publication to be in. It has a touch of the literary about it. It's really odd about this story, though. This was its first outing. Usually I send out my short stories, they get rejected, I tweak with the insight that a little distance and more maturity gives me and eventually they find a home. Naturally I've edited copiously before but we get sharper all the time. 
This one apparently hit the spot.
Lately I've found that items are going out of print and publishers are shutting up shop faster than I can get things out. I have decided to have a go at self-publishing. In some ways it seems hypocritical not to. I am a publisher after all. Have I no faith in my own work? I am however, paying for an edit and proof read out of my own pocket. I can do this for other people. I just can't do it for myself.   
So, what went right with Tarting? Well, they do say write what you know, don't they? I know Salford and its dichotomies. This is a work of fiction but it is heavily influenced by a few things that have happened over the ten years that I've worked there. The setting is really vivid to me. I wonder whether you see what I see. What is your impression of Salford if you don't know it?  I may have got right into the young man's head and given him a voice. What do you make of him? Do let me know.
And darn. That eternal editor never goes away. Does his voice shift a little? I would write it very slightly differently today