@libby
Active 3 days, 9 hours ago-
Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp – October 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 10 months ago
346 words excluding title
Learned Habits
Her flatmate said she wanted a chat, about the apartment. She called it an apartment but with its beige kitchen units, its shower over the bath, its dingy paintwork, it was an old-fashioned flat.
Both women were in their early twenties.
Jess sat down on the sofa. The sofa, said the flatmate. Its…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic Keep at it, Keep at it! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago
Congratulations, Doug. Sounds like you’re on a roll. It’s lovely having that feeling of not wanting to stop.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthy Comp – September 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 11 months ago
Congratulations @seagreen. I love the voice in your story.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthy Comp – September 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 11 months ago
Untitled
And the theme for this evening is Armageddon. Car after car heads west into London under a roseate sky, a bursting bloom, seepage of orange and crimson, a lure like a turn-on.
I drive. We all drive.
Earlier today, Clare’s voice on the phone.
– Who is Emily?
Emily. Emily naked.
– Dunno. Why d’you ask?
– You left your…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 5 years, 11 months ago
I once saw a dalmatian in a field full of daisies.
Re street furniture, it could be the tables and chairs a coffee shop blocks the pavement with in a town near me.
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Libby posted a new activity comment 5 years, 11 months ago
Have faith in yourself, Raine. They accepted the ms because you’re good.
And maybe do some deep breathing and have a glass of something to steady the nerves, though not too much obvs 🙂 -
Libby posted a new activity comment 5 years, 11 months ago
Those blasted traffic lights. I’m always relieved to get the fire hydrants. I think I’m becoming a fire hydrant fan.
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Good to mix things up with the occasional bit of fire hydrant. But where’s the other street furniture? Why can’t we identify some litter bins for a change, or bike stands or something?
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Dogs. I want to identify all the dalmatians in a field full of friesan cows.
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I once saw a dalmatian in a field full of daisies.
Re street furniture, it could be the tables and chairs a coffee shop blocks the pavement with in a town near me.
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Libby posted a new activity comment 5 years, 11 months ago
I agree there’s a risk of bandwagon. I think it can be hard, too, to think of something interesting to say about a situation when we’re still in it. Hard for me, anyway.
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Libby posted a new activity comment 5 years, 11 months ago
Hi Doug, congratulations on the move. It sounds like a relief to be living somewhere easier.
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The move sounds positive! 🙂
If you fancy it, there’s a new short story challenge starting – Go to Forum, Things That Go Bump. We (by which i mean @athelstone) run them every year and they are great fun and a great prompt for creating something you might not otherwise write.
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Libby posted a new activity comment 5 years, 11 months ago
Great news, Raine. Congratulations! Let us know when it’s published.
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Libby replied to the topic Monthly comp: July 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 5 years, 12 months ago
Congratulations @Janette! I really enjoyed your story. And I loved @Athelstone‘s too. So creepy …
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Libby replied to the topic Choices in the forum
Things that go bump 6 years agoAway, unbeliever, book
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Libby replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
I’m impressed by your research @kazg
My mother used to read books by Monica Dickens, Charles’s great-granddaughter (just checked that one on Wikipedia 🙂 ). I enjoyed some of them too when I was a teenager. I don’t know if anyone still reads Monica Dickens.
I also enjoy your blog posts on https://www.karenginnane.com/
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Thanks for reading Libby! I hadn’t heard of Monica Dickens.
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Libby replied to the topic A Want of Discipline: Abergele, 1868 in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
Thank you for this post, Richard. I didn’t know the Manchester-Liverpool route was the first intercity connection. My WIP features the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1930s. I believe, though I haven’t checked my notes, that the Port of Manchester docks had the largest private railway system in the country at that time.
Thank you for the…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 6 years ago
Hi @janeshuff I’ve had a quick look through the public library catalogue. I haven’t read any of the following but how about:
In the wake of heroes : sailing’s greatest stories introduced by Tom Cunliffe
London : Adlard Coles Nautical, 2015.
All at sea : true and tall tales / trawled by Libby Purves. Fontana Paperbacks, 1984. Published to…[Read more]-
Joshua Slocum’s ‘Sailing Alone Around The World’ is great. Then there’s Francis Chichester’s book about his own circumnavigation, which I think was just called Gypsy Moth, or possibly Around The World In Gypsy Moth? Thanks for recommending Daedalus @raine – very kind. It’s OOP now but I’ll see if I have any spare copies left
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Thanks @richardb, @libby, @daedalus. Great suggestions. If you had a spare copy, Daeds, I would happily buy it.
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Thanks Jane. I only have two left I’m afraid, and I didn’t want to go lower than that. There may still be some in a shop or two somewhere which I’ll chase up but very few of the places I sent copies to on sale or return ever got back to me
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If you can that would be great Daeds.
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Haha right there with you! And I completely agree – the truth in historical terms is often far more interesting than the Everyone Knows version. Also agree that writers have to be free to make unintentional mistakes without being pilloried for them. It’s inevitable that some small detail will be wrong but as you say, why not try to be as correct…[Read more]
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Libby posted a new activity comment 6 years ago
That’s mean to be ‘historical fiction’.
It’s the heat. I can’t remember what I’m supposed to be.-
Or how to spell.
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Haha right there with you! And I completely agree – the truth in historical terms is often far more interesting than the Everyone Knows version. Also agree that writers have to be free to make unintentional mistakes without being pilloried for them. It’s inevitable that some small detail will be wrong but as you say, why not try to be as correct…[Read more]
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Libby replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 6 years ago
I agree with you Jules. It’s worrying that schools will teach misleading literature.
One thought from my perspective as a writer of realist historical writer: the truth is more interesting than the invented even if it’s harder to work with. There’s a smaller point too that we can all make mistakes so might as well aim to get as much as possible…[Read more]
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That’s mean to be ‘historical fiction’.
It’s the heat. I can’t remember what I’m supposed to be.-
Or how to spell.
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Haha right there with you! And I completely agree – the truth in historical terms is often far more interesting than the Everyone Knows version. Also agree that writers have to be free to make unintentional mistakes without being pilloried for them. It’s inevitable that some small detail will be wrong but as you say, why not try to be as correct…[Read more]
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Even in fantasy – I do some research! Not in depth, granted, cos I’m not seeking to reflect accuracy, but I do have to do enough to make the processes I describe (like melting precious metals; making a catapult out of just string; rules about coats of arms for example) so if anyone reads it who also has that knowledge, I’ve given enough to make it…[Read more]
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