‘Gobsmacked’ the inelegant word that came to mind when I read the letter. What else would you expect , being told your three year-old daughter’s poem had been awarded first prize ?  A prize  which earned her up to three sittings with well-renowned portrait artist Bernard Broom. Especially when I’d not an inkling she’d  written any…[Read more]

I  decided  not  to go with  the  traditional  kinds of  prompts  associated  with  April  and  simply   picked  four words  at random  that must be included  in  your comp  entry  about  anything  in any genre  that inspires  your  creative  preference in 450 words or less.

The four words are :-   Portrait  Ignite  Butterfly & Granite

&nbsp…[Read more]

The  April  comp   challenge   will be posted  shortly .

But judge I must, as promised, so here are my thoughts:

Jill -…[Read more]

Having heard Athelstone indisposed again, it’s unlikely he’ll be be judging  this any time soon

All words taken from Rod Judkins’ The Art of Creative Thinking.

DRIBBLES AND SPATTERS

Inner demons

chisel

creative confidence

Ideas so strange

wither.

Radiate defiance

Salvage mistakes with freedom

and

transform the message

Come alive!

The necklace of tiny silver bells about her neck tinkled softly as she backed against the garden wall. ‘You’re all mad, you know,’ she muttered holding the sharp seed dibber, labelled ‘Mr Pointy’, like a knife at the advancing crowd.

At the front of the group,…[Read more]

Wine-heavy eyes and naked, she was cleaning her teeth in front of the bathroom mirror when he came in through the door behind her.   He stood behind her, serious-faced, saying nothing, but unignorably attentive.   She finished brushing. Spat, rinsed and spat a couple more times then put the toothbrush back in the glass on…[Read more]

Maureen Chapman. No, tell a lie, it was Chaplain, like a vicar. Her name, I mean—she wasn’t like a vicar. Anyway, Maureen Chaplain was perfect from my ten-year-old point of view. But I’m getting all jumbled up about how to start, so I’ll take a breath. See, it really began when the Brazells moved out from next door and the Cha…[Read more]

From the steps of Leith’s registry Office, exceeding the word count and containing expletives, but the best I can do given other demands.  

Then, hand in hand, another looking-to-be-wed couple arrived from the rear carpark. On foot and windblown,  Well-matched in the scruffiness of their clothes. Even earlier for their ceremony th…[Read more]

Thank you Jill, Sandra and Libby for  giving me totally engaging entries  composed in three distinct voices.  This monthly challenge  is always a  great  showcase  for the  talents  of the  members of  Den of Writers.

Jill:- Lots of new beginnings in this piece. New start new job new house new baby.  A well-crafted thoughtful story with lots o…[Read more]

Welsh Pub of the Year;

Welsh Eatery of the Year;

Welsh Gastropub of the Year;

First Place, Welsh Good Food Awards.

As I said before, it seems that the owners, Nils and Emma, are doing something right.

It so happens that we have a…[Read more]

New book and a new – and very welcome – experience for me:  a “How To” write book received as a birthday present which I found many times more compelling, educational; entertaining and personally useful than the many “How To” books on writing I own: a dozen on my bookshelves, and knowledge of one di…[Read more]

Think….New Year resolution.  New crime scene.  New house.  New relationship.   New…[Read more]

Thank you  for  the  chance to set the  January comp Ath.

Sorry  was  busy  yesterday  and  forgot to pop in to see the results .  I will  post  the  January challenge   as  soon as  I come up with  one . …[Read more]

Is there anybody who hasn’t had at least a small part in the production of a nativity play? Jill, that’s just how they go. A perfect evocation. And your story has a Christmas miracle as well – or was it a mischievous young actor?

Janette, I was there in that supermarket. No, really, I was actually there I think, barging past…[Read more]

Riann contemplated her decision of allowing the snow-covered stranger, now tending the fire, into her cottage. His ice-sprinkled cloak and hood hung at one side of the fire’s mantle, a puddle forming below it, while his boots and mittens lay close to the hearth.

He hadn’t actually set her senses tingling with alarm but there was a p…[Read more]

After a  hectic  but  lovely  build up to  xmas  and a family orientated  day   yesterday I settled  down  about  half an hour ago  to  try and finish my offering.  ……. son  was  carrying a  very large  bucket  of  soapy  wash  water  out to the drive  to clean his  motorbike when…[Read more]