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Janette posted an update 3 years ago
Joined @johnt3 in giving BlueSky a go. Looking forward to finding more familiar faces there, but I haven’t much to report on yet. My book 2 (way off finishing its rewrite) needs to be closer to ready before I consider which way to get book 1 published. Black dog keeps sitting on my keyboard.
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John T posted an update 3 years ago
The proof copy of my novel has arrived. This is getting scarily real!
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Woohoo! Exciting as well as scary, I hope.
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Yep.
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Must feel wonderful, John. It’s been a long trip!
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It certainly has. I began writing seriously in 2004, at the age of 50.
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I can see some similarities there. I started around then as well. You were a couple of years ahead of me on the age front, but it seems we picked up our pen and paper about the same time.
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Not exactly surprising, given the similarities between our writing, but interesting.
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Mind you, I’m still puffing away a good stretch back from the finish line 🙂
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I’ll be cheering you on!
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Woohoo! Can’t wait for my copy.
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Being the the most amazing beta-reader, your copy will appear before I publish it. Pre-publication copies are currently at the printers.
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John T posted an update 3 years ago
Any of you guys on BlueSky? I’ve found Raine and Athelstone. I’m @johnunworded.bsky.social
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly competition – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Strange tastes
Oh, I did miss my Bert. Watching him through the window, wheelbarrow-in-hand, shaping our garden into all sorts of strangeness: gaudy, modern art in bloom.
Me, I preferred order. Neatness. A little chintz perhaps; a Capo Di Monte on the sideboard. ‘Let go, Pammy! Unstiffen your lip,’ Bert would say while waltzing me roun…[Read more]
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Janette replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Yes, thank you, Sandra, for a prompt which took me on a tangent I quite enjoyed!
And congratulations, Squidge. Well deserved!
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Congratulations to Squidge for winning and to the rest of us simply for being amazing ????
Also thanks to Sandra for shooing me in an unexpected direction ☺️
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
“Stealing and giving odour “ [Twelfth Night]
From my very first whiff of the pipe tobacco I was a sucker for the scent of Balkan Sobranie. Given its name, thirteen-year-old imagination conjured red-jacketed hunters chasing yellow-eyed wolves through night forests. My Dad’s dour, ‘Four Square far cheaper,’ confirmed its blend of leaves — Latakia…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Whodunnit? 3 years agoMarvellous to see you here, Barny.
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Barny replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Whodunnit? 3 years agoThanks for organising this, Ath.
I really really intend to actually submit something this year.
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Barny replied to the topic Choices in the forum
Whodunnit? 3 years agoWriting, Pistol, Serious.
See you in the library.
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Squidge started the topic Monthly competition – September 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Your prompt this month consists of three words:
wheelbarrow, street lamp, and a pipe (smoking)
Use them however you would like, in no more than 300 words. Have fun 😉
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Squidge replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Oh blimey! Did not expect that at all… Wow, thanks, Sandra.
Everyone else’s was fab. Feel a bit of a fraud having popped in here for the first time in ages and getting to set this month’s challenge, but I’ll do my best x
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Thanks for the prompt, Sandra. Enjoyed it this month. And very well done to Squidge. A worthy winner!
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Sandra replied to the topic Monthly competition – August 2023 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 years ago
Setting a writing prompt then watching the array of exciting interpretations — six in all!! — flood in as they did this month, confirming there are always many times more than one ‘correct’ answer, I consider one of life’s especial pleasures, but I have to say actuality exceeded expectation by some considerable margin – thank you all!
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Squidge replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Whodunnit? 3 years, 1 month agoI’m like John…I always join in the hope I’ll be able to write something. This year’s been a shocker for the novel, so a change of content would be most welcome!
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There are an increasing number of us there, including a fair few from the Den.
Janette, do you mean a real black dog, or black dog in the metaphorical sense?
Metaphorical – though just as pesky and stubborn.
I know that black dog. It’s hard to shove it out of the way, sometimes. Big cwtches from Wales x
Thanks, John. Big Yorkshire hugs right back atcha x
🙂
Sorry to hear it. It is remarkably adept at confounding all good intentions to write.
Thanks, Ath. Yes, writing and reading both confounded. It feels like a midge infestation in my head when I try to take things in or concentrate further than one page. Hopefully, I’ll overpower IT sooner rather than later.
My usual remedy for reading problems is to read children’s books. I read a lot – they’re my therapy.
I hope life becomes easier, Janette.
Thanks, Libby. Here’s hoping x
@johnt3 Good idea. Some of my favourites are children’s books.