Inspirations, the Stories Space Coffee House: If you're reading this it just might mean I'm back, sorta. If you're not reading this, well, congratulations.

Word length for comp please?

Quote by Mendalla

Good morning! Anyone else notice there's a comp banner up on the front page? No announcement post yet but it's there and links to a comp page. Awaiting Molly's official announcement before I say more.

Putting on some Tobermory Flowerpot Island coffee. Teas are Red Rose and Cream of Earl Grey.

Look above your post. I beat you to it.

Quote by redwriter

Word length for comp please?

The word count minimum is 1000 and the maximum is 5,000

https://www.storiesspace.com/forum/writing-competitions-and-calls-for-submissions/its-not-what-it-looks-like-competition

Quote by Molly

Look above your post. I beat you to it.

Sneaky. Posting while I was typing. That's hardly fair.🤣

Hey everyone.

I am excited there is a new comp. The downside is that I have yet to be inspired to write something. I have been wracking my brain for ideas. Personally, this is a tough one for me. On the bright side, whenever something is tough that means there awaits a challenge. Hopefully I will think of something. I wish the best to all who enter.

I hope everyone has a beautiful day. ❤️

Nice comp theme! Looking forward to seeing what everyone writes. I won’t be participating, but I will be reading them eagerly.

Another gloomy day, and no Talia, and I didn’t sleep well. The kitties are doing extra chores, trying to stay on my good side. The kitchen is spotless - they licked it clean.

The Mets have been playing well, but we run smack into the brick wall that is the Dodgers tonight. That’s my evening. I’m thinking about writing about Shea Stadium - the Mets’ old home - and the larger scene of NYC in general.

Coffee please! And fifteen cookies! Where are the cookies!?!?

I'm sure you could somehow make the Mets fit this comp theme. I mean people think they're a baseball team, right? 🤣

Quote by Mendalla

I'm sure you could somehow make the Mets fit this comp theme. I mean people think they're a baseball team, right? 🤣

Thank you for making me laugh, as you often do. You have quite a humorous side to you, Mendalla. 🤭

Quote by Cora

Thank you for making me laugh, as you often do. You have quite a humorous side to you, Mendalla. 🤭

I wish I could capture that more in my stories. There's a couple on (censored) that go there but I always seem to end up writing fairly seriously here. Not sure why I find it easy to drop an off-the-cuff quip like that but not to incorporate them into my stories. Part of me wants to be Mark Twain but my Stephen King and J. R. R. Tolkien sides seem to keep winning (though King can be pretty funny at times, really).

Hi peeps

A beautiful day here. I'm excited for the competition theme ..

I'm sure I can come up with a story involving one of my story animals

Now on to the cookies ....

It's been a busy week so sorry about cookies being late .

Getting out the Yogi Bear Scooby-Doo ,Snoopy and QuickDraw McGraw cookie jars

In Yogi Bear (regular cookies) : ginger snaps, banana chocolate chip cookies, blueberry shortbread cookies and cappuccino royale cookies

In Snoopy (diabetic friendly) oatmeal raisin cookies, pecan divines, strawberry shortbread cookies and banana marshmallow cookies

In Scooby-Doo (Nut free friendly) chocolate, honey graham, strawberry and cinnamon scooby snacks

In QuickDraw (gluten free friendly): double chocolate chip cookies, blackberry shortbread, pineapple coconut cookies and butterscotch marshmallow cookies

Braves are doing great

Millytigger the puppy is doing great she loves to travel .. car rides are her favorite thing .

giving the adorable critters fresh water and treats and then getting a large mug of coffee and settling down in my favorite overstuffed chair

Quote by DenimAngel
Millytigger the puppy is doing great she loves to travel .. car rides are her favorite thing .

Our beagle loved car rides ... too much. He would always be trying to get his nose out a window so he could sniff the air flowing past the car.

Fresh cookies, eh. A diabetic friendly pecan divine and strawberry shortbread should go nice with some afternoon tea. I've put on pots of sencha (Japanese green) and Canadian blueberry for those not wanting to be too caffeinated later in the day. Also put on fresh coffee, too, though. Since I know some people prefer to be caffeinated all day.

Rose, my pit bull, loves car rides. She chills in the backseat lying down, but she loves sticking her head out the window. Pinky, my miniature pinscher chihuahua, loves sticking her head out the window. She's tiny so I don't keep the window rolled down far for her. She also gets over stimulated so she's constantly crying and wiggling but I usually am able to calm her if I have her lying against my leg.

I'm eagerly awaiting comp entries. Hopefully, they will distract me from the family drama surrounding me.

I miss having pets. Hopefully, when things calm down, I can consider getting another pet. For now, I don't have the emotional resources to deal with anything else.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

The problem with this comp, for me, is that my head is just racing with ideas. Different takes on the idea, different genres, and so on.

Good morning and Happy Weekend!! Today we have Deathwish Dark Roast in the coffee pot. Teapots are filled with Scottish Breakfast and Sunday Tea (vanilla black tea). Pitchers are washed and refilled with iced tea and lemonade. Hot water is on standby for other hot beverages.

Quote by Cora
Pinky, my miniature pinscher chihuahua, loves sticking her head out the window. She's tiny so I don't keep the window rolled down far for her. She also gets over stimulated so she's constantly crying and wiggling but I usually am able to calm her if I have her lying against my leg.

The beagle I mentioned couldn't sit still. Wanted to keep running from window to window. Which, in the back seat of Dad's '82 Chevy Bel Air, meant running across us.🙄

Quote by Mendalla

The problem with this comp, for me, is that my head is just racing with ideas. Different takes on the idea, different genres, and so on.

The problem for me is that I cannot think of one possible idea. I am truly glad the wheels are spinning in your imagination.

gillianleeza, I am eagerly awaiting comp entries as well. Not only to read the stories, but hopefully become inspired by them.

Good morning everyone. I hope all is well and that you have a beautiful weekend.

Hello all.

Lazy Saturday here. It cold and drizzly out. Talia gone, leftover pizza in the fridge, game about to start, and, oh, what was the date again? Sounds perfect to me. I plan to watch baseball and then watch Rebel Moon. It’s supposed to be awful, but I’m in the mood for big dumb sci-fi.

Coffee and a big plate of cookies please!

Good morning, everyone!

I am having coffee with family and attending Mass across the street in a few hours. I then return to the church to assist in the Rosary and solemn Vespers (evening prayer). Sunday most usually concludes with a movie or couple episodes of a show with my family.

I hope you all are well and have a beautiful Sunday. ❤️

Cleaning day. And I've been nursing a headache with associated back and neck tension. Feeling a bit better now so going for a walk. It's gorgeous out right now. Well, maybe a bit on the cool side but I prefer things a bit cool. Heat bothers me more than cold.

Gettiing late but I'll do a half pot of Las Chicas Don Rey's Private Reserve Medium Dark. There's Japanese green tea and Lime Fizz herbal in the teapots.

Later, alligators...

Quote by verbal
I plan to watch baseball and then watch Rebel Moon. It’s supposed to be awful, but I’m in the mood for big dumb sci-fi.

Interested to hear your reaction. The consensus I'm hearing on another site for both parts comes down to looks beautiful but otherwise seriously terrible.

Good morning, everyone.

I hope the weekend has treated you well. Mendella, I’m sorry to hear of your headache and back/neck tension. Back, shoulder and knee pain is the worst in the body, told to me by my former physician assistant. I had to have surgery on a fractured clavicle. I was in a sling for I think 3 months. Anyway, I hope you’re feeling better.

My family and I watched “American Sniper” last night. I like Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller. It was a good movie, true story about a Navy SEAL. My favorite movies are almost always war movies. I definitely recommend the movie to those who haven’t seen it.

I hope you all have a beautiful day. ❤️

I think Platoon kind of killed my taste for war movies. At least for real world ones. A Vietnam movie by a Vietnam vet (Oliver Stone) that kind of showed war in all its ugliness. Do still watch some s-f and fantasy fare that fits the war movie tag but even there, I lean more to smaller scale works nowadays. Princess Bride, Labyrinth type stories moreso than Lord of the Rings.

Good morning, y'all. Sunny and nice in my part of the world.

For coffee, we got Kicking Horse Three Sisters medium.

In the teapots, we have Assam and Darjeeling (going all Indian today).

Cold beverages are refreshed and soda stocked.

Hot water is on standby for other teas, hot chocolate.

No progress on a comp entry yet but definitely on my radar. Probably just going to grab a stray thought and start writing in hopes it goes somewhere.

Later, alligators.

I like a good war movie, Cora. Have you seen Greyhound? It’s on Apple TV I think.

Woke up too early again. Related to Talia being gone, I suspect. It been gloomy and drizzly for three frikkin days, but it’s supposed to be a gorgeous day later.

Writing about NYC today, and the next few weeks. I’ve been taking notes. Got a short little 500 word quickie submitted at another site.

Mets got creamed yesterday, but we took 2 of 3 from the mighty Dodgers.

Coffee and a beignet please.

Never heard of "Greyhound," verbal. I'll have to check it out, thank you.

I'm fairly certain I've seen "Platoon" long ago, in college I think, Mendalla. However, if I'm thinking of the right movie I think I liked it. Oh wait, am I getting that movie confused with "Metal Jacket?" I'm not sure. I did like that movie.

It's a nice, sunny day with birds singing here. Hopefully you are living the gorgeous day as predicted, verbal.

Kicking Horse coffee is one of my favorite brands, Mendalla. Nice choice. Medium roast is the best; long-lasting caffeine. The beans are burnt in dark roast and light roast is...light. Doesn't give me that wake-up call I need at 6:00am. Also, people "crash" when drinking dark roast.

There's a guy on Twitter who is a wildlife photographer, traveling the world and posting short clips and photos of lions reuniting with their adopted mother, a mother and her chiclets being rescued (that one made me tear up), funny/cute dog ones, ect. He does it all. @AMAZINGNATURE is his username if you feel inclined to check his stuff out.

For you Mendalla (and everyone): https://x.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1757859053881975160

Quote by Cora
I'm fairly certain I've seen "Platoon" long ago, in college I think, Mendalla. However, if I'm thinking of the right movie I think I liked it. Oh wait, am I getting that movie confused with "Metal Jacket?" I'm not sure. I did like that movie.

There was a wave of Vietnam movies around that time. Platoon was Oliver Stone, Full Metal Jacket was Stanley Kubrick. The TV series "Tour of Duty" was kind of part of it, too. I think there was another TV show about nurses at a base there. More like MASH than a combat show like Tour.

I bailed on Twitter/X after Musk took over. Until he shuts the eff up and restores both proper blue check verification and serious moderation, I am not giving him my presence. I am also not touching anything from Meta with a 10' pole these days, so Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, and now Threads. Zuck's cavalier attitude to data privacy and, again, moderation has to go.

Quote by verbal
Writing about NYC today, and the next few weeks. I’ve been taking notes.

So is this something completely new or a followup to Continental Divide after you arrive?

Quote by Mendalla
I think there was another TV show about nurses at a base there. More like MASH than a combat show like Tour.

China Beach. Dana Delany. Good show.

As for Twitter/X, try BlueSky as a substitute. I'm on it. Not as much traffic, but less toxic.

Hi everybody!

I haven’t been on in far too long!

I’m excited about the comp. And in typical form, I wrote something, then hated it and deleted. Ha! On to idea #2 now.

I have a small window to get it written and published because come May, work gets crazy again, and I’m working in some time off.

I’m looking forward to seeing what y’all write. :)

I’ll take some cookies, please.

Tuesday Afternoon... well not quite yet, but I did mentioned the Moody Blues in another thread so it came to mind. 😋

How's about some Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw for the coffee du jour?

And some Darjeeling and Raspberry Royale teas as well.

Quote by WriterGirl
I’m excited about the comp. And in typical form, I wrote something, then hated it and deleted. Ha! On to idea #2 now.

I have a small window to get it written and published because come May, work gets crazy again, and I’m working in some time off.

Nice to see you, WG. I am not far enough along to have deleted anything yet so you're ahead of me. 😀 Unfortunately, my vacation isn't until after the comp deadline so have to work it in in other ways.

Quote by WriterGirl

Hi everybody!

I haven’t been on in far too long!

I’m excited about the comp. And in typical form, I wrote something, then hated it and deleted. Ha! On to idea #2 now.

I have a small window to get it written and published because come May, work gets crazy again, and I’m working in some time off.

I’m looking forward to seeing what y’all write. :)

I’ll take some cookies, please.

Yay! Glad to see you back here WG! Looking forward to seeing your writing again!

I'm putting out my memories of working at the Band Box Diner in my Substack newsletter. I won't link it here, but I might create a thread that links to it (if that's allowed).

Acupuncture today. I'm starting to look forward to it - it really helps me. Who knew?

Anyway. Coffee and a cookie.

Hey guys.

Nice seeing you post here, WriterGirl. It's been awhile. Glad you're excited about the comp and already have some

material for it.

It's another nice day here. I hope everyone is doing well and that you all have a beautiful day.

Morning

Looks like I’ll be first entry in. I submitted last night. Mine is based on an actual event that you probably know about.

In light of the comp theme, I’m posting a few pics. Tell me what it looks like to YOU. :)