EmmaD

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Fantasy Anthology in the forum Podium 6 years ago

    Huzzah, Kate! I shall keep my eyes open for it.

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Tilda and the Mines of Pergatt in the forum Podium 6 years ago

    I’m SOOOOO late in saying a huge “WELL DONE”. I’ve bought the Kindle edition and hopefully I can get a signed paperback in future – even if I have to wait until York next year.

  • Sandra posted an update 6 years ago

    Congratulations to @Philippa, who’s ‘Little white lies’ has been long-listed for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger award.

    • More great news on the Den! Congratulations, Philippa. Long may the success continue!

      • Doug replied 6 years ago

        Way to go!

      • Bella replied 6 years ago

        Brilliant news x

        • It is great news. And those of us subscribed to Jericho Writers Online Festival can see Philippa talking about her road to publication on 10 June

          • Hello everyone, this is my first post as a new member and it is fitting seeing as I learned of the Den through that Webinar with Philippa East at the Jericho Festival. I was inspired by the journey she described and it has been the best event I have attended so far.

  • Mad Iguana replied to the topic Sorry not sorry in the forum Blogs 6 years ago

    Beautifully written, but so infuriating!

    • KazG replied 6 years ago

      Thanks Mad – I know, I’m BOILING with fury!

      • Libby replied 6 years ago

        I gather now, from the Guardian, that it was a ‘misunderstanding’ on the part of RTZ. I feel this probably makes things worse.

  • Well done Jill – you came so close to winning on YWP that it is only justice you come first here.

    And thank you Libby for setting a theme which sent me back to all of these small stones and properly gather them in one place (now up to #94

  • Athelstone started the topic Sorry not sorry in the forum Blogs 6 years ago

    This link is to a marvellous but heart-breaking blog by our very own @KazG. Maybe wait a bit before reading if your blood pressure is high right now.

    Sorry not sorry

    Linked with permission.

  • Raine posted an update 6 years ago

    7 weeks of homeschooling (9 of lockdown) done. 5 & 1/2 weeks of homeschooling left. The end is just beginning to appear over the horizon!

    • Hurray! And well done on the home schooling. Have you managed to get any writing done as well?

      • Mixed feelings about the whole school thing here – some are going back, some not, some parents agree, some don’t… Having seen reports where teh libraries are being taped off with hazard tape to stop the kids handling books, I don’t think I’ll be putting my volunteer librarian hat back on for some time…

        • Raine replied 6 years ago

          Yes, much as I and the mini are missing school (!), I am so glad we aren’t in England & facing going back to schools when it isn’t safe and when the measures schools are forced to use seem to be stripping all joy and light out of the school environment. Those photos of taped off bookshelves, and of chalked squares in the playground make me feel sick.

      • Raine replied 6 years ago

        Bits, yes. I am struggling health-wise, and my capacity to structure and concentrate is shot to pieces. But I am doing lots of ‘research’ reading (about hedge magic, herbal remedies, victorian women botanists and the British Raj!), and pantsing a couple of novels that are almost certainly destined for the bin but are providing some escape for now.…[Read more]

        • Glad to hear you are managing to write ‘bits’ but very sorry about the ill-health. It’s a bugger, especially when you know that you’re not firing on all cylinders – so frustrating on top of everything else. However just reading about your research makes me want to read the novel that will result! It’s an enticing concoction. There’s every chance…[Read more]

  • Not entirely incidentally, there’s a certain resonance for me in all this. Caerleon was where my mother lived for nearly four decades, and so I have a passing, though not intimate, familiarity with the area Arthur Machen loved so much – though I have no doubt that he would be appalled if he could see it today, with the M4 passing within a couple o…[Read more]

  • Excellent blog, Richard. I fear my “to be read” list has acquired some new items.

  • On 23 August 1914 the British army fought its first battle of the First World War, a rearguard action at Mons in Belgium. It gave a good account of itself – the British Expeditionary Force was composed entirely of long-serving regulars, and the years of discipline and drill paid off as the Germans were stopped in their tracks by such a w…[Read more]

  • Between 2011 and 2013, for some eighteen months, I participated in a β€˜Small stones’ project; a daily moment of intense observation. Many were made during the twelve minute walk (six there, six back) to buy a morning paper. This is a 396 word selection.

    Autumn

    Stepping stones of yellow sycamore
    stuck to the rain-damp road

    And the sky this mor…[Read more]

  • 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.

    • 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.

  • Well done, Libby, thoroughly deserved.

  • 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.

  • Thank you Raine – both for setting such an interesting, informative and though-provoking challenge, and for picking my favourite as winner. Well done Libby.

  • 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]

  • Sandra posted an update 6 years, 1 month 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.

  • Raine posted an update 6 years, 1 month ago

    24hrs ish left to enter this month’s comp… Give me something to do tomorrow other than supervise maths. Please. πŸ˜€

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Chasing the Dream in the forum Blogs 6 years, 1 month 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.

  • RichardB started the topic Chasing the Dream in the forum Blogs 6 years, 1 month 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]

    • Thanks for posting this, Richard. It’s interesting to hear how people land where they do. I’ve visited, briefly, the area you are in and I can visualise it easily from your piece. I can understand why you and Mrs B are so happy there.

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