Hello, everyone. Nice to catch up with all your news. I'll grab a ginger and lemon tea and a handful of those delicious cookies Sara kindly provides.

Morning all!

So glad you are starting to feel a bit better, Gill! And hope your legs are recovering from your bargain shopping spree, Sara!

On this cold, sleepy Thursday morning, a hot cup of coffee and some of Sara's delicious cookies sound perfect!

Happy Birthday, Sara! Hope you're having a great day! So sweet of you to bring cookies when it's your birthday!

A very Happy Birthday to you, dear Sara!

I know I don't come in here very often, but I wanted to say thank you to everyone for a great year here on Stories Space. Even if there have been a few bumps along the way. Each and every one of you brings something wonderful to this site and I thank you all.

https://upload.storiesspace.com/1497784246-2021.jpg

My hope for this year is that we can continue to create and to grow. Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year, dear Molly! Great to see you here!

The buzz on this site this last year has been wonderful, so here's hoping for lots more writing prompts and comps in 2021!

As Sara has kindly provided champagne glasses it would be rude not to join in with a toast for Stories Space!

Hello, everyone! Just checking in here. I hope you all had a great Christmas!

Hugs to you, Gill and glad you're having a better day!

Bill, I've just read your story and absolutely loved it too!

It's been snowing here. I know for many of you, that's unremarkable but we don't get much of the white stuff in Ireland and especially so close to the sea. Nice to see it frosting the hills opposite - until the next gust of wind and sleet hid the view!

A nice hot coffee and some of those fudgy chocolate cookies, thanks to Sara, would be perfect!

I think it's great that you have a name you can call Jane that is all yours! *hugs*

Me too. Honestly, I was getting tired of referring to her as Wife so much. I...she's my safe place and I'd be lost without her.

That's lovely, Xander! (hugs)

Larry, fingers and toes crossed for good news from all your medical appointments this week. Please keep us posted.

Sara, glad you're starting to feel a bit better!

Hello Bill. HUGS to you.

I'll grab a coffee and some of those delicious cookies Sara always kindly supplies us with.

Hugs to you, Sara, hope you're feeling better soon! And hugs to you, Gill. I do hope you are slowly improving.

It's been a busy few weeks, so good to catch up with everyone here. My thoughts are will all who have lost loved ones this year. HUGS.

Well done to Rumps for keeping that coffee pot going and nice to see all the regulars here. And thanks, Sara for all the cookies!

I can't agree more on how excellent Redwriter's story was. Wonderful!

I'll grab and coffee and some of those delicious cookies.

Nice to catch up everyone's news here! So glad you're starting to feel better, Gill! (hugs) And I must check out the challenge!

We know it's winter here when it's blowing a gale and locals know the spots when to step off the pavement into the road to avoid getting soaked by sea spray! Brrr.

I'll grab a coffee and some of Sara's delicious cookies.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends!

Gill, you take care of your lovely self and hope you start to feel a little better in the coming days. (hugs)

It's just an ordinary Thursday in these here parts, with the next lockdown starting tomorrow. I've stocked up on Christmassy fabric to make jolly masks as Christmas gifts which I'm slowly putting together. Very much a home-made affair this year.

I'll grab a coffee and a handful of Sara's delicious cookies to get me started today!

Sitting cross-legged, with sustained focus, the unfamiliar sensation builds. A jolt at the base of her spine sends a leaping flame flickering over her core. A wave of warmth sweeps up from her belly to a sense of empowerment and gladness of heart. A growl escapes her throat then a sharp mental clarity floats into a deep, thrumming, universal peace. After an endless moment, opening her...

Added 18 Oct 2020 | Category Micro Fiction | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 101 | 10 Comments

Stillness is an art, a challenge, a marathon, An elusive quality to strive for. Life’s distractions are simpler, Busy-ness, activities, filling the diary, Padding the mind with the next thing to do. The white noise of chatter Externalises focus, Like the buzz of traffic, A sea crammed with boats, The skies packed with planes. So, in this threatening, frightening, enforced stillness, It...

Added 14 Jun 2020 | Category Poetry | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 365 | 7 Comments

At our local swimming pool, you can clearly perceive the pattern of the school year, especially during the holidays. It gets markedly busier at half terms and the Easter break and even at Christmas (if parents really don’t know what to do with their children on a bad day weather-wise, having steadily worked through all the seasonal movies in the nearby multiplex)! These are brief flurries...

Added 21 Sep 2019 | Category Musings | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 456 | 11 Comments

“You’re planning on doing WHAT ?” Isabella exclaimed, her voice emerging higher and louder than she expected, but her startled outburst had little or no effect on her group of friends. The men of the party, Luke and Marius, who were normally so protective of their female companions, just grinned at Aelia and Zenobia, who looked pleased with themselves and quietly excited. “But one of...

Added 30 Dec 2018 | Category Young Adult | Votes 11 | Avg Score 5 | Views 677 | 9 Comments

Kate stumbled down the neatly raked path, her glasses steamed up with the heat of raw emotion and half-blinded by tears. She trusted she would find her way to her favourite spot in the Walled Garden if she were blindfolded, or even in the pitch dark. That was if the entrance hadn’t been barred by solid metal doors at nighttime. It was as though she was led by a homing device to her place...

Added 09 May 2018 | Category Romance | Votes 7 | Avg Score 5 | Views 632 | 9 Comments

Perched on a craggy outcrop, staring out to sea, the priest opened his mind and his heart to God. In such wild and lonely places, he felt closest to his Maker and His divine word. He was not a young man, and knew his role as a travelling preacher, bringing God’s message to those isolated enough to be those starved of it, would not last forever. Previously, he could put in a day’s march in...

Added 21 Feb 2018 | Category Young Adult | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 581 | 5 Comments

Dancin’ the blues Is a complicated business; First, you focus on the rhythm, Then you try to feel How your partner moves, Fumbling to sway with his groove: Most of all, you strain to blend with All the glory of That music, In three or four pressurised minutes, When you concentrate intensely On all these elements.   If you can surrender To the beat, your partner, That music, ...

Added 05 Dec 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 10 | Avg Score 5 | Views 727 | 9 Comments

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Former British Army Lieutenant Adam Merryweather survived the Western Front of WWI and has slowly recovered from his injuries. But can he heal from a broken heart?Torn between family duty and personal happiness, he sacrificed his love for Alf and has never ceased to regret it in the two years since...

During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron invited the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife-to-be Mary Godwin to spend some months at the Villa Diodati in Switzerland. These poetic rebels were attempting to escape society's disapproval of their radical lifestyles at home in England and to engage in a...