Squidge

Absolutely delighted for you Janette -thoroughly deserved of course

Well done, Janette – that’s wonderful news!

The online version of my story is now ready to view. Here is the link if you’d like to take a look:
2018 DG Comp – First Place

Well done, Sea 🙂 A very well deserved win. And thanks Daed for getting the ball rolling. Great monthly comp.

Ah, Daeds, you’re too generous. I didn’t expect that, and have, in fact, been checking the Den frequently today to find out what the theme for this month’s comp would be 🙂

I’m delighted, of course, given the calibre of the entries, but hope no-one expects that same level of insight when it comes to October’s judging.

Off to think of something to set…

I just amended the post to tag people, which I’d forgotten to do before. I hope people get notifications of tags when it’s an edited post? Oh well, we’ll find out

Well done Sea – a breath-stopping piece beautifully (dare I say?) conceived.

Congratulation, Sea, very well deserved. And thank you, Daeds for such kind comments on my own story and for kicking all of this off.

I personally like the idea of the nice middle-class town where once you scratch the varnish you start seeing the cracks and that not is all at it seems and not to trust a book by its cover (so to speak). After that I think it’s a question of describing the environment through the eyes and the emotions of the POVs. For example how would they…[Read more]

Whisks, I agree. Good on you for getting that training. And for myself I would have a go if I really had to. I am not small and I am strong, plus my boxing training means I can get force into a punch. But the club owns a duty of care to its members and I am putting it on notice that even if the first incident came out of the blue they can’t use t…[Read more]

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the first Den of Writers monthly competition. We now have a whole new section of the forum just for the monthly comp, so all future versions will be held there. Here’s the link: https://www.denofwriters.com/forums/forum/den-of-writers/monthly-competition/

For those not familiar with the monthly c…[Read more]

Ever so late to this, sorry – only just read it.
My take on it is not to sweat what everyone else could do, but to focus on what *you* can do to protect yourself. To take back the power. You are, after all, the most important person in your world.
A long time ago I lived in a rough area and was mugged and the guy had a knife. This left me…[Read more]

Thank you everyone. For the moment, the Doubt Demons have gone to sulk in a corner, so I’m going to use the opportunity to crack on with my WIP.

Personally unless it’s sci-fi I prefer quaint, pretty and historic; something a little like Lyra’s Oxford in Philip Pullman’s books. I love geography; rivers, canals, trees, paths, places that go somewhere and places that separate, forgotten parts of the city are all good stuff that I find can augment the sense of place; think “Bodies of Water” by…[Read more]

That seems short-sighted, to put it mildly! It’s good practice for any personnel in public-facing roles to have some kind of conflict resolution training, IMO. I’ve had a quick look online and found some courses (no idea how good they are, I’m afraid) that are as little as two hours and as inexpensive as £25 per person. You’re doing the right…[Read more]

Philippa: Something that makes setting interesting is its ability to surprise. I’m thinking of JK Rowling’s Casual Vacancy, set in a quaint and fairly well-off Cotswold town that in fact has a lot of socioeconomic problems hiding beneath the surface – poverty, drug abuse. That tension within the setting informs much of the conflict in the…[Read more]

For anyone who is interested, I spoke to the club about their plans to deal with future incidents. I suggested conflict resolution training, Daeds.

I was then told that their only plan has been to tell staff they can lock themselves into the office if they feel scared. I hope aeroplane cabin crew will not be following that example and locking…[Read more]

Wonderful news. Well done, you.