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Janette posted an update 4 years, 8 months ago
Can anyone help me with my book research? I’ve come across a fatal flaw in my book and need to age up a character a little (otherwise it’s a full book rewrite, which I’m trying to avoid).
Did anyone (or anyone you know) leave school in Summer when you could have/were due to leave in the Easter break?
My MC leaves at Summer, but I need to add…[Read more] -
Daedalus posted an update 4 years, 8 months ago
Recovering from Covid. It’s no joke. Be careful out there people, the risk is real
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Sorry to hear you caught it. Did it break through jabs? Hope you recover quickly and fully x
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Take care of yourself and take time to recover.
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Thanks. Difficult with all the work I have on, unfortunately
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Yes, double jabbed, last one in July.
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Ugh Daeds, as if you needed an extra thing to deal with now. Hope it doesn’t linger & hope you are able to treat yourself gently & get extensions if needed. x
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Athelstone started the topic Monthly comp – November 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 8 months ago
OK NaNoWriMo: this month I’d like you to write just 50,000 words on anything that strikes you as appropriate. No, on second thoughts, I’d like a maximum of 500 words on the topic of something difficult, a target that would take a great effort to achieve, that was either met or missed.
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🤣🤣🤣
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – October 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 8 months ago
Awwww!!! Thank you Raine, I really enjoyed the comp.
I love the other entries. We are the best! -
Raine replied to the topic Monthly Comp – October 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 8 months ago
Hi all! Thank you so much for entering this month – sorry I’m not the actual winner of last month but I’ve had fun being undeserved organiser anyway!
@knickylaurelle, I loved the dark, shadowy atmosphere to this. Lost boys and forests and witches – *chefs kiss* Some utterly beautiful imagery in here, my favourite has got to be ‘a cackle can be…[Read more]
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Thank you Raine for so topically filling the breach, setting and judging (always the hardest part) the monthly comp. I am making good progress after stroke + surgery so hope to be back to full-strength participation soon
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*giant hugs*
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Oh my goodness, Sandra, I had no idea you were going through such a hard time. Pleased to hear you’re making good progress. Take it easy. Best wishes to you and yours. xxx
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Thanks, Newbie. I count myself lucky to have come through it with minimal side effects – and a huge warm glow from the quantity and breadth of caring messages which have come my way from friends and family.
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Athelstone started the topic The world, her dog, memories-dot, dot, dot. in the forum Blogs 4 years, 9 months ago
Read some blogs I wrote about 10 years ago that recalled events of 30 years before that. Curiously, unable to connect directly to those events anymore, in that I remember them and can recount the details, but much of the emotional impact that was there when I wrote about them is no longer available. I can remember that there was an impact and can…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 4 years, 9 months ago
One week left to get your spooky flashes in for the October comp. Come unnerve and delight me. 🙂
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – October 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
=)
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – October 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
Hallowed Evening
The Bakers have lived over there for nearly fifty years now. I recognise the car in the drive. They bought it just before I arrived here. Then there’s Helen Smith’s house. I know she’s still there because I saw her heading out an hour ago. She’s changed a lot over the years, but I’d recognise her anywhere. Not sure who the neigh…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
Done! and lol! 😀
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Raine started the topic Monthly Comp – October 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
Okay, so as Sandra is offline, I’ve stepped in to set this month’s challenge. Keeping it simple, it’s Halloween month so I want <400 scary/eerie/weird words featuring one (or more) of the following:
A black cat
A skeleton (of any species)
A ghost
A small child out at night
A bag of sweetsHave at it. Entries close midnight on Halloween.…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
@knickylaurelle just to let you know Sandra won’t be able to set a challenge as she’s offline for a wee while. Did you want to set another? Or I can invent something?
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
Very deserved win @sandradavies, well done! & thank you for an unusual, fun challenge @knickylaurelle. Everyone’s entries were great (& fascinating insights into your psyche!!).
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 9 months ago
Fabulous stories and especially well done, @Sandra. Thanks for a great comp @knickylaurelle
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 10 months ago
449 words. CW – it’s a little bit dark.
The Hounds
Dark water curls around the bases of the towers and somewhere the hounds are baying. From here, on the bared skeleton of the top floors you can see fires burning on other towers, flags red as blood flying like strings of prayers and there is safety there, possibly, but they are as far away as…[Read more]
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 10 months ago
Another pieced-together piece, and only 245 words, but best I can manage.
Bourbon dreaming
A bottle of Makers Mark from my husband for Christmas and a wine-free tea (Köstritzer Schwarzbier instead) so I took a glass of bourbon to bed with me, along with John Rebus.
And I dreamt, more vividly and memorably than usual, with more logic than usual…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 4 years, 10 months ago
EEK!
Just 3 days left for the Weekly Comp. As little as 300 words to make your dreams come true! -
Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – September 2021 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 years, 10 months ago
Jay
Jay says he loves me. He says ‘I love you, man’. He tells me he’s killed his mother, or maybe I just think that he did. He says he crushed her like Plasticine, but I can remember that it was really me who crushed my mother. She was made of red plastic and her feet were set on a little tab so she could be stood up. I crushed her with my thumb…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 4 years, 10 months ago
Denizens, we have a fistful of entrants to the annual short story challenge. This year will be a cracker. This year will be special. Seriously. Some of the past entries to the challenge have changed the way I think about writing. That may not mean much, but some of them have had a similar effect on literary agents and competition judges. Relax…[Read more]
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My nerves shaking to find out what all the choices mean. So excited! Monday might be Christmas 😄✨
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Indeed. And under five and a half hours to go.
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It’s time! It’s time! You better has not have fallen asleep, Ath lols
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Soz. Spent a few hours in search of a lost cat and it slipped my mind 🙁
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You are instantly forgiven. Did you find your kitty? Is s/he okay? 😟
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She was actually in the house, but hiding really tucked up under a cupboard. Quite upset when we found her. Our guess is that she was scared by something. OK today. She went from a completely indoors cat to outdoors about 3 months ago and she now thinks outdoors is THE-BEST-THING-EVER. She was a bit of an escape artist as an indoors cat, so…[Read more]
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😄😄 glad she’s okay.
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RichardB replied to the topic Choices in the forum
Coming Home 4 years, 10 months agoTrain
Cheese
Elena - Load More
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I can’t think leaving at Easter would’ve been that likely, because of ‘O’levels.
Hi, Sandra,
I was one of the ones who had to stay on an extra year and leave aged 16 (in June 1974 – oops, showing my age!), which I was pleased about because I wanted to sit exams and my parents wanted me to leave to earn a wage. It was a common thing then, that some kids were expected to leave the earliest opportunity to ‘bring home a wage’, and…[Read more]
I was 16 at Easter 1963, so can’t help you there, sorry.
Steve says school leaving age was 15, but you could stay on. Also see wikipedia Raising_of_school_leaving_age_in_England_and_Wales
Thanks, Sandra. I’m trying to find someone who could have or did leave at Easter. Better still, someone who remembers if it was mandatory or whether there were exceptions. My MC wants to stop on, but her parents are insistent she leaves asap. However, if something meant she couldn’t or shouldn’t leave at Easter …
It’s a long shot, and I’m fast…[Read more]
I don’t think it’s ever been mandatory to leave at Easter – short of expulsion. You are required to choose your subjects for a full year well in advance of Easter, so that staying on is the default position, even if it’s obvious to all that a specific student is going to leave. In theory, I could have left school at Easter in 1972, but at that…[Read more]
Thanks, Ath, that’s very helpful. My MC is being pressured by her parents to leave school and earn a wage, but the employer/employment route might be the way to go. Pity I didn’t think of this when I drafted the book.