Julie Cordiner

  • Thank you guys for entering! And for writing such fun pieces – they all have something special to them, I think.
    @athelstone I love the details and voice of yours, the small touches that make each character so recognisable.
    @sandradavies well, naked men wrestling, what more can anyone ask for really?? Love the balance of violence and tenderness…[Read more]

  • Raine posted an update 4 years, 5 months ago

    Just a couple more days to get your monthly comp entries in. If it helps with motivation, I’ve just had a recent one accepted for publication! So write them words, they might end up earning you money!

  • 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]

  • Right folks. Two things that featured heavily in my weekend were Encanto and storms … so those are my inspirations for this month’s challenge. I want a scene with 2+ siblings interacting & a weather or astrological event. 400 words by the 28th, bonus points for Encanto easter eggs!
    Have fun!

  • Aw thank you @knickylaurelle!! Glad it struck a chord 🙂 And I loved everyone else’s entries so yay everyone!

    Okay, I need to think about next month – will get pondering and post something later/tmrw.

  • 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.

  • Squidge posted an update 4 years, 6 months ago

    Gosh, it is ages since I dropped in…far too much going on in the world outside of writing! Hope everyone’s doing OK.

    I’ve finished editing the memoir I was working on – author very pleased with the result, so that’s good. Still getting to grips with Tilda #4’s huge plot hole and whittling away at that when I can. Still trying to carve out…[Read more]

    • Well, I can’t speak for anybody else, but I’m keeping well. Also ridiculously busy. MUST get an entry done for the comp this month, but currently polishing an opening chapter to take to a writers’ weekend in Bournemouth.

      Good to see you back.

  • Right – it’s ramshackle and unplanned, but at least I’ve done one!!!

    To breathe.

    That’s it. That’s what you need to do to win against this particular enemy. He’s always been there, this one. He’s one of my earliest and definitely my most constant childhood memory. Hunched forward in the dark, fear and aloneness so present in the room th…[Read more]

  • 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]

  • Sorry. Book stuff is hectic just now. I do love these comps & have had several publications out of them so they are really worth doing. But …. *wails* I have no time!!

  • Raine replied to the topic Reads for 2022 in the forum Coffee Shop 4 years, 6 months ago

    Oh gosh, loads. Intisar Khanani’s next one, Chloe Gong’s first adult book, I think Lucy Foley has a new thriller due out soon. Emily St John Mandel’s next one looks fab, and I can’t wait for Jennifer Saint’s Elektra, and Guy Gavriel Kay’s new one.

    And of course there’s our own Jane Jesmond (@janeshuff) and Fiona Erskine (@bric) releasing new…[Read more]

    • Thanks for the tips, Raine. I hadn’t heard of most of these authors apart from Jane and Fiona. My knowledge has increased.

  • 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]

  • Sandra posted an update 4 years, 6 months ago

    I’ve just been reminded of Allan Guthrie’s 34 tips on writing, including pleonasms – a word unknown to me when I first heard it, but which tweak my writing conscience quite frequently. https://notetoselfhumanize.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/32-writing-rules-allan-guthrie/

    • Thanks for the link, Sandra. I’m guilty of using pleonasms. They’re filler words when I’m thinking of what to say next, like typing a comma whenever deeper thought is needed.

    • Thanks, Sandra. This is an excellent list. I shall bookmark it.

  • Sandra posted an update 4 years, 6 months ago

    December competition winner now announced.

  • December destined to be a quiet month, I suppose, and very few of you seemed to have suffered from the prurient curiosity about the activities of Jack and Jill’s activities I did, Nevertheless the two entries submitted were a pleasure.
    Ath’s trawl through several nursery rhymes returned me to childhood, browsing through books illustrated by the…[Read more]

  • Just realised deadline is today – I’ll be back ASAP to read and muse over a decision.

  • Thanks, Ath, though I’m not sure I’d welcome being 21 again, in many ways (all those nights with screaming babies!!)

  • Come on folks! Jack and Jill went up a hill … As a child you must’ve wondered what happened to send them tunbling down! It’s my birthday on Friday (a horribly big one) so please present me with a story for the December comp.

  • Janette posted an update 4 years, 7 months ago

    Apologies for the over-long gaps between my visits to Den. So much is still going on for me, including regular follow-up hospital visits following my multiple, bi-lateral arm breaks, one arm sadly looking towards being permanently handicapped. It happens to be my dominant arm, so many problems have arisen, including housework, personal care, the…[Read more]

    • Oh dear, Janette, that sucks on so many levels. All I can do is send you a virtual hug, so consider it sent.
      At least you’ve been getting follow-up care. MrsB fell and broke her left humerus while we were on holiday about fifteen months ago. There were a couple of visits to local hospitals while we were still there, but since coming home she’s…[Read more]

      • Oh, Richard, that’s not good. If she’s still not right, they should be looking after her. I have to say I cannot fault my treatment, and they sent me for a bone density test, which showed up Osteopenia, which they are addressing. Is a consultation with your doctor worth a go?
        Thanks for the hug – sending one right back.

  • Sandra posted an update 4 years, 7 months ago

    December comp is up – you’ve a month to exercise your writing muscles and put one of 2022’s Resolutions into practice.

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