Kate Hudson

  • Hallowed Evening

    The Bakers have lived over there for nearly fifty years now. I recognise the car in the drive. They bought it just before I arrived here. Then there’s Helen Smith’s house. I know she’s still there because I saw her heading out an hour ago. She’s changed a lot over the years, but I’d recognise her anywhere. Not sure who the neigh…[Read more]

  • Done! and lol! 😀

  • Okay, so as Sandra is offline, I’ve stepped in to set this month’s challenge. Keeping it simple, it’s Halloween month so I want <400 scary/eerie/weird words featuring one (or more) of the following:
    A black cat
    A skeleton (of any species)
    A ghost
    A small child out at night
    A bag of sweets

    Have at it. Entries close midnight on Halloween.…[Read more]

  • @knickylaurelle just to let you know Sandra won’t be able to set a challenge as she’s offline for a wee while. Did you want to set another? Or I can invent something?

  • JaneShuff posted an update 5 years ago

    Hallo everybody. Sorry to have been so absent lately. I’ve disappeared into the black hole that is marketing for On The Edge – along with writing book 2 in the series (currently missed two publisher deadlines for this). Hopefully things will calm down a bit after 26th October. I’m looking forward to the annual challenge!

    • Never apologise for the success of a book launch (coming shortly??). Good luck with the next deadline.

      • 26th October. Feeling pretty stressed about it although determined to enjoy the day itself!

    • Kate replied 5 years ago

      Sounds exciting, Jane, if rather challenging.

      • I am definitely not a natural marketer although I’ve discovered I enjoy writing articles – yet to find out if readers enjoy reading them!

  • Very deserved win @sandradavies, well done! & thank you for an unusual, fun challenge @knickylaurelle. Everyone’s entries were great (& fascinating insights into your psyche!!).

  • Fabulous stories and especially well done, @Sandra. Thanks for a great comp @knickylaurelle

  • 449 words. CW – it’s a little bit dark.

    The Hounds

    Dark water curls around the bases of the towers and somewhere the hounds are baying. From here, on the bared skeleton of the top floors you can see fires burning on other towers, flags red as blood flying like strings of prayers and there is safety there, possibly, but they are as far away as…[Read more]

  • Another pieced-together piece, and only 245 words, but best I can manage.

    Bourbon dreaming

    A bottle of Makers Mark from my husband for Christmas and a wine-free tea (Köstritzer Schwarzbier instead) so I took a glass of bourbon to bed with me, along with John Rebus.

    And I dreamt, more vividly and memorably than usual, with more logic than usual…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 5 years ago

    EEK!
    Just 3 days left for the Weekly Comp. As little as 300 words to make your dreams come true!

  • Jay

    Jay says he loves me. He says ‘I love you, man’. He tells me he’s killed his mother, or maybe I just think that he did. He says he crushed her like Plasticine, but I can remember that it was really me who crushed my mother. She was made of red plastic and her feet were set on a little tab so she could be stood up. I crushed her with my thumb…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 5 years, 1 month ago

    Denizens, we have a fistful of entrants to the annual short story challenge. This year will be a cracker. This year will be special. Seriously. Some of the past entries to the challenge have changed the way I think about writing. That may not mean much, but some of them have had a similar effect on literary agents and competition judges. Relax…[Read more]

  • Athelstone posted an update 5 years, 1 month ago

    Hi everybody. Just a week left before the writing challenge “Coming Home” closes to new members. If you’re interested in taking part, head to the group, join, and follow the instructions regarding choices.

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Eagle! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 1 month ago

    What a beautiful bird and how evil to kill it. But then, I probably don’t understand “country ways”. Actually, my mother was born and bred in a tiny farming community in the heart of Somerset and my father was born into a tiger-murdering family in Kanpur (Cawnpore as was) Northern India. I’m quite familiar with country ways. Generally, country…[Read more]

  • RichardB replied to the topic Eagle! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 1 month ago

    Lucky? Yes, and I didn’t even mention the boat trip out of Mallaig, again in beautiful weather, where we got close up to a school of dolphins. Magic.

    Actually, I feel quite privileged every time a kite comes over our house, even though they they are about the biggest conservation success story of the past century. It’s simply because they are so…[Read more]

  • Athelstone replied to the topic Eagle! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 1 month ago

    You were lucky. That sounds like a wonderful day. I know that some people oppose restorative activity, whether it’s re-wilding, re-introduction or even support for remaining wildlife poulations. We’re told it’s only nature. It’s natural for things to change and species to fail. My view is that it isn’t nature. We are not natural. We reason and…[Read more]

  • RichardB started the topic Eagle! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 1 month ago

    A few days ago, as part of a railway-based tour of Northern Scotland, we were on a coach trip around the northern part of the Isle of Skye, with a local guide providing a commentary. Every now and then the coach stopped at places of particular beauty or interest for us to get out and take photos. We were lucky to have glorious sunny weather to…[Read more]

    • Thanks for posting this portrayal of a magic sighting, Richard. Over the past two years White-tailed eagles have been re-introduced to my nearest island, the Isle of Wight, and are reported to be doing well.

  • Raine posted an update 5 years, 1 month ago

    Just sneaking in to say that if anyone is loitering around Birmingham with nothing to do on Saturday 25th Sept, we’re holding a launch for my book at FantasyCon. It’s 11-12am & in the Jury’s Inn hotel. Downside is that you have to buy a day ticket to the Con to attend, which at the moment is £41. BUT that means you also get all the other bookish…[Read more]

  • Late to this, but well done indeed @Knicky, for a poetic tale. Also to @Athelstone – I too had a lane like that in the place where I was born, which decades later had its magic buried beneath tarmac.
    Thanks @Seagreen for the challenge and the feedback – I did enjoy the opportunity to just play.

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