RichardB

  • The Leap

    Before I knew what The Leap was, I thought it was magic. Like I thought magic was a real thing. Me and Cob and Dez and Piggy were all under ten years old. I mean, I didn’t know what a year was. That was an earth thing. Piggy was nine, and he said that a year was like four and a bit turns of the stars. Turns were an asteroid thing, a K…[Read more]

  • Janette posted an update 2 years, 2 months ago

    Apologies for the big absences. I have had a lot to get my head around and the battle is not yet over, but I am starting to ease myself back into addressing an unfinished WIP. I have found a brilliant library: The Bradford Mechanics Institute Library, who serve teas to your table while you write. I love that you have to be a member (for the small…[Read more]

    • Hi @janette, I grew up close to Manchester in the 1970s. I don’t know a great deal though can remember the atmosphere and what it looked like. There was a sense of desolation despite the moneyed suburbs. I don’t know anything about the theatres – a memory of the Library Theatre but that’s all. But if you think I can help, send me a private message…[Read more]

    • I know nothing about Manchester in the mid 70s. I did do a few trips by coach from Newbury to Wigan in the early 70s (to the Casino) fuelled by optimism and fabulous blues music, Not so many that I was a regular. Happy to discuss.

    • I was born in Manchester, but no help, as I left in 1965, aged 10! The Mechanics Institute Library sounds amazing. Dad was a member of one in Hull when he was teenager before the war, and made a point of joining one in Cardiff when we moved there in 1965. All part of the workers’ education movement – he was a big supporter.

      • I’m also looking at how backstage works in theatres, particularly the wardrobe part, meanwhile I aim to generalise and hope it suffices.
        Yes, the Mechanics Institute Library is amazing. I only wish I’d more time to explore it. Ours at least, had the education part of it taken over by the council, but it is interesting to see how many groups…[Read more]

  • Well done, @purplewitch. That was an excellent return to the monthly competition 🙂

    Liked that prompt @pinkbelt. Super bunch of entries this month.

     

  • First of all, thanks for allowing me to come back into the fold and do this. I’d forgotten how much fun these are, and I can’t believe just how much people can express in so few words. I loved all of them in different ways.

    Sandra, I found your piece thoughtful and intriguing. I love the part of writing when you revisit a character to find out a…[Read more]

  • The Return

    Brenda’s dad died in 1983, so when he returned forty years later, it was a bit of a nuisance. Brenda woke up and went down to make a cup of tea. She was rather surprised to see him sitting in the kitchen looking out of the window.

    ‘You’ve let the garden go,’ he said without looking round. Then he did look round, and he added, ‘Bloody…[Read more]

  • Every year I aim to be organised (see Terrie above) and pick presents well in advance. The practice is different. I may not be quite as bad as the proverbial desparate man, the evening before, in the petrol station shop, but I’m cutting it close.

  • By the way, ” I’ve even written my gift list for next year”. I believe this is actually against the law.

  • Oh yes, prevaricating about the bush as Wallace refers to it. I do a great deal of that. Top tip. Every so often, copy the contents of that 1TB hard drive somewhere else as well. Whether that’s the Cloud (Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive, Apple iCloud and so on) or another sleek 1TB hard drive. The day may come when your adorable cat decides the…[Read more]

  • Squidge posted an update 2 years, 3 months ago

    I always seem to come on here to apologize for not being here… Suffice to say that Life is a bit complicated and sad at the mo, and I’m not at my best. When I have the head space, I’ll be back.

    Power to all of your pens in the meantime though 😉

  • John T posted an update 2 years, 3 months ago

    For those of you who are interested, Apples in the Dark is now available as an Ebook (paperback coming at the end of June). Almost ten years in the writing, tearing up, rewriting, rewriting again, etc – but it has finally got there. Links to books and to website in my Linktree. https://linktr.ee/wordswithjohn

  • It’s great to pop back in and see some familiar faces still hanging around.

    Sticking with my own situation, I’m going to go with a one word theme – ‘Returned.’ You are open to interpret this anyway you like: a person returning, or an object being returned, or even something being turned and the turned again if you’re really into hyphens.

    Less…[Read more]

  • Well, what do you know? Three totally different old things.

    Sandra, you brought a bit of Rembrandt’s brutal honesty in your piece. I’m not sure whether I was meant to but I chuckled along as I read this. It reminded me of the moment when I realised that my hands now resemble my own father’s as I remember them from years ago. It was an honest…[Read more]

    • Wow. Never expected to win. My way of gently reintroducing myself. I’m dipping my toe back in so I’ll give it a go. Let me have a think and I’ll post a bit later.

  • An Old Face

     

    “What became of Pinkbelt?”

    “Oh God, do you remember him? Lurking in the dark places projecting his murky thoughts into the world. Wasn’t he the guy who wrote grisly scenes with hudreds of f-bombs?”

    “Yes, that’s the guy. I heard he got signed and the fame we to his head.”

    “No, my mate said he got a few rejections and gave…[Read more]

  • I simultaneously get hooked on worldbuilding and dislike putting in a lot of exposition. I’m all ‘yeah, I only mention this one thing in passing, but it has much info in my head that you will never know’.

  • John T posted an update 2 years, 3 months ago

    Thanks to advice from Daedalus, Richard and Athelstone, my entry to Whodunnit with all the weird code is now fixed!

  • John T posted an update 2 years, 3 months ago

    Anyone on here. Help. Something went wrong in the copying of my story to Whodunnit. It’s full of visible computer code. Anyone know how to cure that?

    • Try toggling between ‘Visual’ and ‘Text’ and pasting into it set to one then the other to see if it works better. The only other alternative is to paste it into a notepad-type app where it will clear all the formatting, and you won’t get the code, but you probably will need to go through it in the editor and manually add things like italics (and…[Read more]

  • Welp, as my laptop has decided my writing since…August does not exist, I am going to start over on some stuff. Which is a good time to work on the Den challenge, because so far I have a playlist I am listening to which is, in my mind, linked to this story. I just have no actual words yet… But that counts, right? Right?

    • Right! Thumbs up. Sorry about the laptop.

    • Of course it does! You can’t paint a picture without setting up the easel, preparing the canvas and laying out your palette, and this is no different. Sorry to hear about the laptop

  • Aha! I’m away at a writing weekend in Bournemouth! Still checking here and really happy to see the action. Must post soon.

  • Last year I asked for up to 500 words on something new. This year it occurs to me that this is also the time of year when we look back. The topic is “something old”. Up to 500 of your finest however you wish.

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