Yesterday evening, me  in mindless  mood, scrolling between television programmes, and phone an Instagram a reel came up, featuring the ever- crumpled face of Mick Jagger. He answering some question about song writing, where he got his inspiration from.

His ‘Everywhere! -Sometimes I only have to look out the window –‘  spanne…[Read more]

@Jill: you gave me exactly what I asked for – an insight into the mind of a killer – in this case, a victim of domestic abuse who was finally pushed too far. Your words paint a quiet picture of an unseen tempest.

@Sandra: Your words pai…[Read more]

Kick a corpse to life and you’ll inevitably disturb carrion.

Tao knew this but only recalled it on attempting to leave his inn-room. The body that had earlier impeded his exit messenger for the man whose name Tao had evoked in hope of boosting his financial standing, believing those who…[Read more]

I hope to stretch you now…

There’s a body.

Whether…[Read more]

And I second Jill’s call for virtual medals all round! 🙂

It was more than a holiday; it was a ritual, starting with the drive north. The choice of music; what the kids called my soppy stuff – Savage Garden, Beautiful South and sshhh, don’t say it out loud, Barry Manilow – and the way I always packed the car with a hundred and one things I wou…[Read more]

In July 1953 we  – Dad, mum. brother and me, left  our  now-echoing  and curtainless home on the edge of Dovercourt Bay – an Essex seaside town dominated by a pair of cast iron  lighthouses whose clean, and well-protected sands were sectioned by sea-slimy black wooden groynes within which squatted large black crabs. There was  also a…[Read more]

The much faded five inch Quality Street tin I inherited from my mother is near-filled with  buttons, their variety in part due to them having been donated by my aunt Muriel, who was a dressmaker and her mother Dora who was a tailoress. Needless to say, had there been such, I would’ve won ‘best-dressed child’ many a time had…[Read more]

Pre-dawn on a midsummer morning, Tait Duncan, drove  south-east along an A1 empty of all but Highlands-bound supermarket wagons, conscience similarly uncluttered by the lie he’d last night told his wife as to the reason for his early morning departure. (In what had become th…[Read more]

1)  choose  a  significant anniversary in your life:  e.g.  birthday,  wedding, first child: graduation – then,

2 ) Google the UK Top 10 singles chart for that week.

3) select two, three or four  song titles  from that list and,

4) use them (loosely if necessary!) as a basis for  a short story, of…[Read more]

Thank you , Terrie, both for the challenge and your comments on both my entry and Jill’s excellently crafted, sensitive  story. I’ll aim to set something for June by the end of today.

Not sure if you know, Ath, but positive feedback for specific nurses ‘Natalie did this, Esme supported me with that’ can be used for their revalidation. Just saying. ☺️

Crikey Moses, William, I’m heart-heartedly glad to hear you are home and hopefully on your way to some sort of recovery – what a torrid time you and your family must have gone through, and thank you for updating us so vividly.

Sendng love and the most healingest of good wishes

Sandra

‘Gobsmacked’ the inelegant word that came to mind when I read the letter. What else would you expect , being told your three year-old daughter’s poem had been awarded first prize ?  A prize  which earned her up to three sittings with well-renowned portrait artist Bernard Broom. Especially when I’d not an inkling she’d  written any…[Read more]

But judge I must, as promised, so here are my thoughts:

Jill -…[Read more]

Having heard Athelstone indisposed again, it’s unlikely he’ll be be judging  this any time soon

All words taken from Rod Judkins’ The Art of Creative Thinking.

DRIBBLES AND SPATTERS

Inner demons

chisel

creative confidence

Ideas so strange

wither.

Radiate defiance

Salvage mistakes with freedom

and

transform the message

Come alive!

Wine-heavy eyes and naked, she was cleaning her teeth in front of the bathroom mirror when he came in through the door behind her.   He stood behind her, serious-faced, saying nothing, but unignorably attentive.   She finished brushing. Spat, rinsed and spat a couple more times then put the toothbrush back in the glass on…[Read more]

From the steps of Leith’s registry Office, exceeding the word count and containing expletives, but the best I can do given other demands.  

Then, hand in hand, another looking-to-be-wed couple arrived from the rear carpark. On foot and windblown,  Well-matched in the scruffiness of their clothes. Even earlier for their ceremony th…[Read more]