Barny

Oh, for goodness sake!
Bilbo, not Frodo. Where is my head at?

We have a week to go.

Still time to access your inner burglar and be the next Frodo Baggins ????

Although this started out as a response to the monthly competition and is probably moving at a much slower pace that the challenge might have intended, it has blossomed into an opening for something larger.   I’ve written a lot more than 400 words and tinkered with a plot line and title too.    

The old man stared into the flames. ‘There…[Read more]

Including figurative dragons, of course ☺️

Late, Seagreen? Not really. It’s only the second of the month, and I didn’t post my judgement yesterday until the middle of the afternoon. No apology needed.

A strong field indeed.

Apologies for being late back to this.

Richard, thank you for the comp and for your kind words. I did try to steer clear of that particular subject matter but, ultimately, it was the only thing that remained front and centre when all the other ideas had scarpered.

Strong field this month and all so marvellously different!…[Read more]

What a well-deserved winner, Seagreen. Such beautiful writing.

Thank you, Richard, for the prompt.

Oof. Yes. Gaiman. I think a lot of people I know are particularly hurt by that one because he appeared to be a writer of such humanity. I didn’t read anything of his that I didn’t like, and connect with in some way. At first, I did allow myself to give him the benefit of the doubt. Not for very long, and I’m not sure there’s any doubt now…[Read more]

But now the debate does (briefly?) raise its head again as I contemplate that doyen of popular, left-liberal writers, Neil Gaiman.

Why must people keep doing this? I almost completed that last sentence “to me” because it does feel personal sometimes.

Some strong writing this month. Very well done, Seagreen.

Oh, my. Four entries, all excellent, all completely different from each other. For such a small community, whar a range of talents we have.

Terrie, your gallop through the various endings we meet in life was entertaining and thought-provoking, with a nice humorous squib at the end to round things off.

Libby, I applaud your courage in essaying…[Read more]

I’ll come back tomorrow

I’ll come back tomorrow to look at the clear space between the Co-op and the Santander Bank. The fresh morning sun will light the glistening concrete and the unexpected birds taking baths in puddles where carpets have been carried off. Men in hard hats and hi-vis vests will bundle drills about and smoke their cigarettes a…[Read more]

UNTITLED – 350 words

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Lumpy pillows in torn, unidentifiable protective fabric, stuffed into too-small pillow cases. A saggy, foam mattress, plastic-coated and marinated in dilute bleach. A side-room with a window looking onto the whitewashed wall on the other side of the hospital and a door that opens d…[Read more]

impromptu

you’ll come to a bad end, said my dad in our hallway, in his pyjamas, hands at his sides, knuckles curled, though – as far as I know – he never raised his fists, and what’s more he was too clever for cliché most of the time, but that evening when I came home from the gig with a scent of sweat and beer, I was grinning, shifting from foo…[Read more]

I asked it for a 200-word synopsis for my 2,200-word Den Challenge story (which I haven’t posted on the Den yet). The result was mostly a true reflection of the story – about 90% right I’d say. It had the minor character’s motivations wrong; they went in the opposite direction to what I’d written, unless of course I haven’t described them clearly…[Read more]