@jennytong
Active 7 years, 5 months ago-
Seagreen replied to the topic Choices in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoSnow
The Book Thief
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Athelstone posted an update 6 months, 1 week ago
Sometimes when life is busy, important occasions are overlooked.
It’s that time again. In fact, it is way past that time, so I’d better get this party started. There’s a new group in town. Head on over to “September Song” for details of the new Short Story Challenge.
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Athelstone started the topic Welcome. PLEASE READ THIS FIRST in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoWelcome all.
September Song, music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, is a bittersweet evocation of life and love as one grows older. September, we hear, is when we look back at what seemed like a plentiful supply of time, and recognise how precious is the time to come. A time of contemplation and transition.
I don’t intend you to w…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Choices in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoI am not going to explain what these choices mean – not now anyway. They will have an influence on your story, but I have every confidence that you will cope. You have all the skill and application necessary. I will explain them later, but that won’t be until the group becomes private.
And please don’t take these choices too seriously. Yes, there…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Q and A in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoAsk questions here. Also, if you have any great ideas that might be answers, feel free to post them.
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Athelstone started the topic Rules in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoSome Basic Story Rules and Guidelines
The challenge is to produce a short story. In the way that the term is usually understood, what is needed is a work of fiction. By all means stretch this definition as you like, to include, for example, an imaginative account of true events, but please avoid essays, reportage, political polemic,…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Voting in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoOn the face of it, what you have to do is quite simple. However, those of you have been through this before in previous challenges will know that in fact it is extraordinarily tough.
When the writing stage of the challenge closes on 8 February 2026 at 22:00 UK time, the voting stage begins. No doubt most of you will have read many of the entries…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Chit Chat in the forum
September Song 6 months, 1 week agoWhat it says
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Bless you Ath!! Details of the Winter comp so inspired me I had sentences in my head when I woke this morning that needed me to get up and write them down immediately. That hasn’t happened for some months, and though I know what you’ve still to reveal will change things, I’m confident l’ll be able to incorporate it with the as-yet loose ideas I…[Read more]
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That makes me very happy. Thank you Sandra.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 months, 1 week ago
I’m late with the congratulations – life has been frantic for a few days! Thanks so much for the prompt, @jillsted. A thoughtful piece from @libby is a more-than-worthy winner. And well done to @knickylaurelle for a splendidly acute story.
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Knicks replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 months, 1 week ago
Congratulations, Libby! Well and beautifully written to you and Ath too 🙂
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 months, 3 weeks ago
The Artist of Wexton
A gust of icy wind blew across the beach, and I turned to one side and pulled my coat tighter. Doing so, I realised that something was wrong, but I wasn’t quite sure what. An elderly woman stood about fifty yards to the west looking out to sea. There was something almost mournful about her, and, against my usual inclination I…[Read more]
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Knicks replied to the topic Monthly Competion – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 months, 3 weeks ago
(Untitled, 394 words)
The book was finished, the story told. But more importantly, the truth laid bare. Every pocket dimension of past trauma exorcised. Every chapter of his life stamped adult, checked as complete. Every fragment of what it meant to be human sorted and struck through.
Now was a new time. A beginning time. Time to rejoin the…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition August 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Here I am, racked with guilt. I did sit down a couple of times to write an entry, but it just wouldn’t come. I had an idea yesterday that I liked, and it may end up as a scene in the WIP, but I had so much going on I couldn’t manage it. Apologies, it’s a fascinating idea and I should have done something. However, you have two very good entries to…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Not a Disaster Story in the forum Blogs 7 months, 3 weeks ago
Pretty much, these days.
Most of the pubs I’ve loved are long closed now. The Railway Hotel in Newbury where I first tasted Morland bitter at the grand old age of 15 (just). At 12p per pint even I could afford it. Then there was the Cambridge in Cambridge Circus. To be fair, the beer was dreadful – so bad that I drank bottled lager mainly – but…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Not a Disaster Story in the forum Blogs 7 months, 3 weeks ago
Sounds glorious.
Just had a short break in France where nearly all the draft beer is lager style, with the exception of a few unpleasantly-sweet dark beers. To be fair, some of the lighter ones are drinkable, especially if it’s a hot day – which it usually is.
All this talk of real ale reminds me of that magical moment when you enter a…[Read more]
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