Patricia Purvis

Same here, with stories, although ‘Butcher’s perfume’ in ‘The Beautiful Indifference’ blew me away.

Have you discovered Benjamin Myers?* I’ve just finished his ‘Male Tears’ which is short stories and much less impactful (to me) than his novels.

*not at the Festival!

I confess I’ve never read Mrs Dalloway, but have ‘Burntcoat on my tbr pile. Fell heavily for Sarah Hall having picked up ‘How to paint a dead man’ in a charity shop, some years ago.

Quick count says I’ve bookmarked 19, but I don’t know if all are online, which they need to be because I’ll not be there in person :-(.

Thoughts for today

Writing this on the fifth day of June – my daughter’s 51st birthday and the third day of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations of a reign of 70 years – my memories span a similar length of time. In June 1953, once again off school and suffering with the recurring pain of a persistent ear infection, my mother attempted to divert me…[Read more]

Well done @ Knicky – I agree with Sea, there should be more, because the writing was, as ever, fabulous. And I too had to check @Alex‘s on Google that my my guess was right. 1961, eh?

Sorry, Gail, but with a head full of ‘Mercy’ I’m totally out of inspiration here.

Well done Sea. Yours put me in mind of the This might hurt book/TV series, very important pressure. And thanks Knicks for giving me the opportunity to play with plot possibilities.

Heartbreaking this, Ath. Good memories but so much sadness in that final line.

Attempt to alleviate some plot pressure!

Monday they returned from Suffolk, Luke taking over the driving just before they reached the A14, having said to Fran, ‘You do the wriggly village bits. Easier on my arm if I  drive the motorways.’

‘No worries.’ A lie. Except for easing the small concern Luke didn’t over-do it with his still-healing…[Read more]

Thank you Ath, for comp and comments, and very well done Knicks. Seagreen (who gave me lovely images), and Kate., whose teddy could well be a friend of mine,

I lied.

Summer of sixty-one – when Percy Faith’s ‘Theme for a Summer Place’ persistently played along the telegraph wires, exhaling hauntingly into the ether – was one of much excitement and promise for the girls of the small Hertfordshire village where I lived, thanks to a recent influx into the village of no fewer than eight new males, mos…[Read more]

Congratulations Ath, an intriguing tale and well-deserved top place. And thank you Raine for providing me with a very useful opportunity to work out a scene in my current wip as well as inspire others to provide entertaining tales.

A question of perception

After, naked, panting; towelling stinging sweat from our eyelids, we stepped outside through the open French windows into the still-warm August night. A quick sideways glance: he as relieved as I to no longer be the focus of intense female attention. Relieved it had ended – honourably? Yes. That could honestly be said.…[Read more]

Congratulations Raine – so uncomfortably vivid! – and to all of you who managed to fight down an adversary, real or fictitious. And thank you Knicks for competition and comments.

Not exactly ‘Overcoming Adversary’

Truth is, I can’t think of anything big enough in my life to count as ‘adversity’. (If it was big, I either ignored, walked painlessly around, or didn’t even notice it.
So I’m giving you, ‘My writing journey‘, which is as close as I can get.

If we’re talking about ‘proper’ conscious writing; wanting to set d…[Read more]

Knicks, you very closely echo my thoughts about participation in the comps (and in the Den as a whole, to be honest, despite Ath’s striving to make it a more use-friendly site) but I think the answer IS just to press on with setting one – if we join the non-participants, they have us beat.
And yes, I do know how Life leaches away time, am well…[Read more]