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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Loved the entries this time round. Very well done Libby. Raine, great topic. Came so close to telling you about my green rug, but it wasn’t to be.
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Jill replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Congratulations, Libby. Well deserved – loved all the entries, but something about a mysterious ‘real life yet uncompleted sitter’ becoming a long lasting inspiration tugged at the heartstrings of fellow writers I think.
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Libby started the topic Monthly comp – May 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
For the May competition, evoke the movement of routine travel. Portray a regular or ordinary journey. Your character(s) can be anyone; the transport can by anything including walking. This task is about day-to-day life rather than big plot turns or realisations – the familiar, written anew.
If you want, do a W H Auden in Night Mail:
Pass…[Read more]
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Giselle replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Thank you @Raine for the lovely feedback and for a comp idea that allowed us to think beyond our times, much needed at this point!
Congratulations to @Libby, yours is beautifully written and a well-deserved win.
Hapy May Day everyone! -
Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Thank you @Raine and everyone, this is a lovely surprise! I enjoyed the challenge of writing some non-fiction. I loved everyone else’s entries too. A captivating variety as always, and such good writing.
I’ll go away now and think of a theme for the May competition.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Well done, Libby, thoroughly deserved.
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RichardB replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Well done, Libby – so full of intrigue and resonance – and thinks to Raine for setting such a thought-provoking theme that I was actually inspired to write something. Oh, and yes, that bread-knife is still in daily use.
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Squidge replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Well done, Libby! Loved your piece. Interesting to read the stories behind the objects from everyone.
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Thank you Raine – both for setting such an interesting, informative and though-provoking challenge, and for picking my favourite as winner. Well done Libby.
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
Thank-you all. I just realised as I logged on to write this that we talked about making these comps run over two months rather than one? I’ll stick to one month being as that was how I set it. So. These were all a delight to read. So many memories and things that resonated with me very powerfully. Anyway, on to my thoughts.
@jllsted I am very…[Read more]
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Xander Michael replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
*Contains foul language*
Falling in Love Ten Years Ago
βFuck! I canβt be late again! If I miss this signing I can kiss any chance of promotion goodbye. Hell, I can probably kiss my job goodbye as well this time! So where the hell are my keys?β
He frantically looked around his new apartment of half…[Read more]
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Sandra posted an update 6 years ago
@libby, I loved, loved, loved your comp entry – the agonising over the purchase and then the description – sounds a wonderful piece of inspiration to have in sight.
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@sandradavies Thank you!
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@libby I agree with Sandra, your descriptions are stunning. I’m not quite certain where to post my comment, as I didn’t want to put it on the comp thread. I’m still working my way around… π
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
The Portrait
In the mid 1980s I bought a Victorian water-colour portrait of a young woman: anonymous, unfinished, unsigned. In the window of a London antique shop the half-profile head and shoulders were almost life size but only her face was complete. I stood on the pavement and dithered. Did I like this picture?
Part of the problem was her…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 6 years ago
24hrs ish left to enter this month’s comp… Give me something to do tomorrow other than supervise maths. Please. π
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chasing the Dream in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
I don’t remember this blog in detail, but I do remember thinking what a lucky individual you were to find such a wonderful spot.
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Giselle posted an update 6 years ago
@katemachon, Thank you! It’s great to see you. It was an exciting moment. I belong to a pre-history association, and am tempted to ask them if they can date it. What’s amazing is that all those tools are buried in the sand, then uncovered, as the dunes shift with the wind. What are the chances that that particular scraper would be temporarily…[Read more]
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Skara Brae, also uncovered having been buried in the sand (though a very different climate!) has similar tools, which one used to be allowed to handle – Your vivid description brought that 1980s pleasure back to me – thank you.
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Thank you for your mention of Skara Brae, Sandra. A new prehistoric site for me to add to the ever-growing bucket list. There’s something about these ancient dwellings that stikes a primordial nerve. π
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Giselle, be warned – Orkney is dangerously addictive! We first went there in 1981 and this is the first year we’ve missed (not as it happened because of Covid19) There are SO MANY sites there, and heavily influenced the printmaking I was doing at the time .
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Great to ‘see’ you too @giselle. I love that feeling of time and serendipity. Mind boggling indeed. I’ve been quite interested in flint knapping since reading the Clan of the Cave Bear series. The author goes into the method in quite some detail. I have a flint blade on my mantle piece. Not old but from a knapping demo. Incredibly sharp and I use…[Read more]
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Kate posted an update 6 years ago
@giselle – loved βA Perfect Fitβ. It felt preordained. That piece of flint waiting for you down the years.
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Giselle replied to the topic Monthly comp – April 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years ago
A perfect fit
When my yoga teacher organized a desert trek, I signed up immediately. Something in me wanted β needed β a week away from my life. Time off to think, read and write. I bought a new notebook and fountain pen, packed a few books and before I knew it a plane brought our group of 9 yogis to the Sahara.
Between the full moon I cou…[Read more]
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RichardB started the topic Chasing the Dream in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
Sunday is the ninth anniversary of the day we moved in to our house in South Wales. The first blogs I ever posted on the Word Cloud (four of them, if I remember right) were about how this came to happen, so if anyone reading this (still) remembers them I apologise for the repetition. But being confined to quarters has made me appreciate my home…[Read more]
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Can’t imagine you with green hair, Ath.
Never been green – although it suffered a great deal of henna back in the 70s. These days I’m approaching the age where hair-loss is expected, if Paul McCartney is to be believed, so maybe a rug is on the cards. Or my head.