Barny

  • Apologies to anybody who had a problem logging in to the Den in the last couple of days. Our hosting company jumped the gun (by a day or so) and turned off SSL (Secure Socket Layer which provides us with some of our site security) prior to the bill falling due.

  • Well done Libby! And well done to Sandra, too. Made me smile!

    I didn’t read the other entries until after I’d posted mine, but I have to say 1) I was struck by the way we all had some common themes 2) I thought at once that Libby’s piece was a bit special.

    Thanks for the competition, Terrie.

     

  • Our summer weather so far has been an ever-changing experience, almost one extreme to another. For the August comp please write a story about changeability titled ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ Thee can refer to a person, animal or something inanimate. Max 500 words, deadline midnight on 31<sup>st</sup> August.

  • Thank you, Terrie! This is lovely surprise, and I’m pleased you liked my story.

    I really enjoyed Sandra’s and Ath’s stories too. So lifelike. Thank you both of you for being such excellent competitors.

  • Only three entries but what a selection!

    All expertly written and cleverly presented is evidence that Den of Writers contains a wealth of experienced and skilled writers.

     

    1. Wow Libby what a wonderfully executed piece of verb-less writing; plus a well-crafted opening sentence as well.

    Richly descriptive but without verbs, the shorter…[Read more]

  • Don’t ever cross a crocodile.

     

    Back when Chubby was chubby and not six inches taller than me and good looking, his nan died, and he went to the funeral. Afterwards, we met up near his gaff and he was in a bit of a moody with me.

    ‘All your fault, Teabreak, you twat!’ he goes.

    ‘Woss that then,’ I say, and I offer him a Number 6 to make up f…[Read more]

  • An explanatory note: I saw an exercise which asked for story without verbs and wanted to give it a go, so that’s what I’ve attempted here.

     

     

    A Delivery

     

    Inside the shadowed arch of a canal bridge: a half circle of water-drips and their echoes, drops and plops, plips, a full saucepan of water on the towpath, someone’s rubbish, new drink…[Read more]

  • I thought July’s challenge could be a free choice of subject matter and genre, but to add a little twist to the  task your entry must contain a reference to a cooking pot of your choice (saucepan, frying pan etc.) and the words,

    Shadow

    Bridge

    Trinket

    Word variants of the above are also ok.

    Be funny, be scary, be mysterious, be whatever takes…[Read more]

  • This was such a good challenge producing three different  perspectives .

    I agree with Sandra picking a winner is  always difficult  at the best of times and I think we all did brilliantly. So well done Ath and  Sandra and thanks for passing the baton over to me, Libby.

    I will be posting  next months challenge shortly .

  • Thank you for the challenge, Libby. And very well done to Terrie for another powerful piece of story telling.

  • <p style=”background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 21.0pt 0cm;”>These three pieces are all so interesting and satisfying, and such good uses of ‘electricity’ that, as usual, I’ve struggled to decide on a winner because the standard is so high. I’m intrigued by how something as impersonal and powerful as electricity has resulted in intimate pieces,…[Read more]

  • Energy and shame

    Understanding is a difficult word sometimes. We say, ‘I understand her,’ meaning that we know her reasons for doing something or other. It was as expected. Electricity feels rather different. Do I understand it? I mean, what is it? I was taught a load of rubbish at school about the movement of charged electrons. That isn’t elect…[Read more]

  • Six days to go before the monthly competition deadlines on 30th June!

  • Kate posted an update 1 year, 11 months ago

    I wanted to let you know that I’ve finally gone ahead and published my humorous middle grade book. I’m very excited!
    Some of you may remember the characters Pix and Gabe from one of Athelstone’s short story contests. Well, the pair have now gone large.

    It’s launching on 12 July. If anyone is interested, you can pre-order an e-copy now, or get a…[Read more]

  • Hunting The Children of Electric

    You may think we’ve harnessed electricity but don’t be fooled by its compliance, it’s merely an angry beast straining at its leash, longing to be free.

    If you’ve stood watching for the crackle-flash of its untamed brother, then counted and listened for the rumble, you’ll know what I mean when I say, the effec…[Read more]

  • Thanks for the comp, Ath! Another opportunity to stretch myself ☺️

    And congratulations to Libby for winning, and the rest of us for giving it a go ????

  • Athelstone posted an update 2 years ago

    Sorry for any oddities and issues with the site. I had a bumper crop of major updates to install and although I did my best to slip these in seemlessly, there are one or two niggles. In particular, Buddypress, which gives the site many of its social networking features had a complete rewrite. I did check all the prerequisites and tried it out on…[Read more]

  • Kate posted an update 2 years ago

    Is anybody else have trouble with group posts? It’s impossible to get to recent posts.

    • Hi Kate, sorry , I’ve not been online much today. Can you give me some more detail on the issue you’ve got? What forum? What posts? Anything else you think might be helpful.

      • Kate replied 2 years ago

        Thanks, Ath. It’s in our SE course group. A forum has multiple pages but we can’t move beyond the first page to look at later posts.

        • Hmm. OK, no idea at the moment.

          • admin replied 2 years ago

            So, when you go to the forum, you’re presented with an original post (topic) plus any replies on that page, but you can’t proceed, i.e. if you pick page 2 or the arrow, nothing happens apart from the screen refreshing. I think it may be a problem with other forums as well.

    • That’s me borrowing Admin’s hat by the way.

  • Near where I live National Grid are replacing the overhead cables. The new cables will have increased capacity and allow for more connections to green energy.

    For the June comp please include electricity in a story of no more than 500 words.

    I’m looking for the stuff that travels through lines and sockets but if you  also want to include…[Read more]

  • Thank you, Ath! That was a lovely surprise. The standard of the other entries was so high. Thank you to Terrie, Sandra and Seagreen for such evocative and immersive stories.

  • Load More