Xander Michael

Sorry Ath, but I didn’t reply to your “images have always been here, just not uploading images” because I wasn’t sure what you were getting at.

OK, but what about the many other advantages of discourse?

I do think Bella’s beta readers might be an idea, but perhaps, at least to start with, omit the financial bit and just set up a register of those willing and those wanting, with some detail of genre, etc and the willingness to send a sample chapter to see if they’re compatible.

And the possibility of uploading pictures, I’d say Handle With Care,…[Read more]

@athelstone have you looked at moving to a 21st century forum like discourse? I use it on talk.restarters.net and it’s pretty slick. You can get email notifications and reply by email; can upload pictures, has trust levels and you can restrict areas.

“Above the tideline”
first line provided by Thomas A Clarke

Above the tideline, an old blue rope is entangled in a bramble bush. I gaze at it while retying my hair, turning to face into the wind, risking the scratch of sand beneath my already sore eyelids; its crunching against my teeth.
Sand, salt and shell fragments speckle the twists of it,…[Read more]

Well done, Libby – a deserved win!! And thanks Ath.

DoW problems: Usability just isn’t what it should be; not being able to post pictures is a pain; definitely doesn’t promote idle chat.

The wordcloud was very far from perfect, but had one significant difference: the course offerings meant new people were always joining, wondering wth was going on, some figuring it out or persisting without fig…[Read more]

First off, apologies. I am not as active on here as I was, and definitely not as active as I was on the Cloud. Partly, recently that’s been due to being swamped with book release stuff. Partly though it’s because of the format & the way the site kills off chat. Both in hiding replies and in it’s weird notifications limitations. I think that’s a…[Read more]

Site was ‘murdered’ because owner decided to shut it down then did so, Telling no-one and refusing to answer all communications thereafter.

I do think we that were there were lucky, insofar as it was a chatty, supportive active group, probably at the peak of its activity, which made the death of it al the more tragic,

A quick run of thoughts apologies for typos. I came to the Cloud just before it collapsed so I do not have the same level of emotional investment as those who were floating there together for years and years. I discovered and came for my Random lovelies, and stayed for my Random lovelies. They are my only priority. I show up when they show up, and…[Read more]

Read this, Ath, and will ponder (not that I think I’ve any answers.) but a year in which to turn around is an excellent idea.
Another thought, along the lines of ‘if you pay for it you make sure you get your money’s worth; would be more convincing were this as lively and well-functioning as we’d like it to be.
But, The site I cut my writing teeth…[Read more]

Blimey, managed to write something and very pleased to be able to enter the comp. Was a bit concerned at managing to get to 250 words and wanting to post without having to DQ myself! Happily at 256 words including title. 🙂

This might be the day.

He hadn’t closed the curtains. The sunbeam found the bed at 6.37 and warmed his left foot at 6…[Read more]

Another fairy tale

Was it when, age three or maybe four and my mother, part way through their evening meal, seated at the table with husband, husband’s sister and husband’s parents, met my bad dream request for comfort with a withering ‘Why should I help you when this morning you said you didn’t love me?’. I knew then the rest of them didn’t…[Read more]

Thanks Gail, for your kind words and well done Ath! I had such high hopes of myself with this theme, having had several ancient, (I was 8 years old) nut-brown men in a Hertfordshire village to base a tale upon but strive as I might, (and I DID) it would not come right and each time I read it I knew that I’d missed the hoped-for essence.