Martini Rosso

Reminder! The monthly competition closes at midnight on Saturday, 31st August.

Anyone can enter.

Here’s the task:

Our summer weather so far has been an ever-changing experience, almost one extreme to another. For the August comp please write a story about changeability titled ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ Thee can refer to a perso…[Read more]

Thanks, Richard! This becomes quite compulsive doesn’t it, a new thread of literature (new to me anyway) to follow and think about.

I’m off now for a few days and will read your post fully when I return.

I replied in a comments box earlier where it may get lost – so I’ve copied my comment here.

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Definitely good going, Richard. Thank you for this post.

Of these various translations I prefer the ones with shorter lines. They feel more immediate, less worked. That seems to be the magic of Sappho’s lines – the way they leap almost three mil…[Read more]

I’m looking forward to reading this, Richard. I became more aware of Sappho when I read Selby Wynn Schwartz’s novel After Sappho, which I enjoyed a lot. Before that I’d hardly known who Sappho was.

Thank you, Terrie! This is lovely surprise, and I’m pleased you liked my story.

I really enjoyed Sandra’s and Ath’s stories too. So lifelike. Thank you both of you for being such excellent competitors.

An explanatory note: I saw an exercise which asked for story without verbs and wanted to give it a go, so that’s what I’ve attempted here.

A Delivery

Inside the shadowed arch of a canal bridge: a half circle of water-drips and their echoes, drops and plops, plips, a full saucepan of water on the towpath, someone’s rubbish, new drink…[Read more]

<p style=”background: white; margin: 0cm 0cm 21.0pt 0cm;”>These three pieces are all so interesting and satisfying, and such good uses of ‘electricity’ that, as usual, I’ve struggled to decide on a winner because the standard is so high. I’m intrigued by how something as impersonal and powerful as electricity has resulted in intimate pieces,…[Read more]

Thank you, Ath! That was a lovely surprise. The standard of the other entries was so high. Thank you to Terrie, Sandra and Seagreen for such evocative and immersive stories.

Phototropism

Suzy and I drank white wine while we sat in stiff, square garden chairs. I hadn’t met Suzy before and admired how she leant back, legs stretched out – lounging and confident. She wasn’t just overcoming the chair’s straight edges; she showed me she knew she had glamour. Her jeans and yellow cotton shirt were years old, threads loose…[Read more]

Thank you, Seagreen, for the competition. Great, enticing stories from Ath, Sandra and Terrie. I enjoyed them all.

I like the bugs analogy, Terrie.

Roughly I do something like this: I plan, though not in great detail – usually the ending and a couple of things along the way. When I start writing the plan doesn’t seem to work so I alter the order of events or cut events. After a bit I give up with the plan and hope the writing will suggest what I need to do…[Read more]

It’s a while since the 1980s

And why come back? Why, exactly, limp along these corridors after decades, and stop to look at dormitory doors and classroom doors all shut for the summer holiday. There’s no one else in this building – a giant bungalow with many arms – except the senior school secretary who has shown me old records and left me…[Read more]

Coordination: that’s exactly it. I can’t get coordinated with notebooks. I have one on my desk and it travels to my bedside table and back again. I admire people who use notebooks when they’re out – they seem more intuitive and open than I am. I think their minds flow more smoothly. They’re even Romantic with a capital R, with all the creativity…[Read more]

I enjoyed this prompt @Seagreen . At first I thought I wouldn’t have time to enter the comp this month but being able to work on something I’d already written gave me fresh energy. My piece still needs a bit more work but the exercise you gave us was very helpful and one to be remembered.