Well, the challenge is over and ... wow, I have lots of coins. Have to wait 14 days to cash out if that's what I am going to do (and I might, I tend to use winnings from these sites to support the site I admin). Congrats to all who entered and esp. to Meg and Anna, the other winner and the honourable mention.

Green beer and Irish coffee for all!! (hey, it was more or less a St. Patty's day comp).

For a book cover, I would likely commission an actual human artist (I have ideas, in fact). My prompting skills are fine for SS and (redacted) cover images but for a book cover, I would hold myself to a higher standard that I am not sure I could pull off. That's not to say good AI covers are not possible, just that I am not sure I am the one to pull it off. And, frankly, in an era where jobs may be on the line due to AI, if I was putting money into a project like a book, I would like to see a human get some of it.

That said, yours looks pretty dang good. I can definitely peg it as AI (women's faces generated by AI have a same-i-ness about them, for one thing) but it wouldn't put me off. I think part of the problem is writers thinking they don't need to put effort in, just write a prompt and use the results. So you get crappy covers that really give AI covers a bad name. I don't see that in yours, as I say, but you don't need to spend much time looking at Kindle or other e-pub services to realize a decent to good AI-generated cover is more of an exception than a norm.

What the ... ? I mean ... whoa. That's ... wow! Thank you! I am honoured and a little surprised.

Congratulations Meg and Anna. Well deserved.

Thanks and congratulations to all who got stories in. It's been an interesting challenge.

And, of course, thanks to Writergirl and her judge for making it all happen.

Green beer and Irish coffee for all in Inspirations. 😋

Not likely. I'm pretty happy where I am. Though Europe is kind of tempting at times. So much going on there that interests me, esp. musically.

WYE go back to school to get a new degree/diploma/certificate just for fun/interest, not career?

I wish the weather would make up it's freakin' mind. Spring-Winter-Sprinter (somewhere in between)-Winter-Spring... Got snow on the ground again here but not much. And it was cooooooold today, with a wind chill on top. But then by the weekend, it's spring again (as it should be given Friday is the Equinox). Sigh. I'm going to get whiplash reading the weather forecasts. Oh well, two weeks until vacay.

I'm all in. Both images covered. Bring on the judge(s).

I've contemplated it but not sure what it would be about. Probably a podcast though a growing number of podcasters also have YouTube channels nowadays, at least in the music world.

WYE go screen-free for a month or more?

More likely jazz these days. I have kind of gone off classical music of late.

Home gym or membership in a gym/fitness club?

I need to try Flanagan if I ever get back into watching television beyond YouTube.

Another on my "if I ever have Prime again" list is The Sandman, based on Neil Gaiman's graphic novels. Gaiman is in a shitload of trouble right now but was definitely a creative force back when he wrote the graphic novels.

Quote by verbal
My passport photo is REALLY bad.

Isn't passport and driver's license photos being terrible just a fundamental law of reality, right up there with Relativity and the Standard Model of Particle Physics? 🤣

The Warning dropped another smoking hot (literally this time, look at the title) song from their upcoming album. "Kerosene" has nothing on these young women.

Bit early yet for spring cleaning here but it looks very spring-y. Was out at noon to get takeout for lunch and it is mild. Lots of rain the past few days, though the sun is bravely trying to put in an appearance right now. My backyard looks like a swamp between rain and meltwater.

I did a small one on a reef in the Caribbean once so yeah. It's really the only way I can handle being underwater given I can't swim well enough to take up diving.

WYE move permanently to another country?

Don't think I've had zucchini bread but would be game to try so that (though I looooooooooooooooooove banana bread).

Chinese takeout or Viet-Thai takeout? (I had the latter for lunch)

I haven't posted one of these in a while but I note that Authors Publish has made some improvements to the formatting for easier reading. Each item is in a box to separate them better and there is now a filter at the top so you can narrow the list to what you are interested in. As usual, the list is a diverse one ranging from calls focussed on specific groups (LGBTQ, BIPOC, others), calls on very specific themes (Cosmic Horror Monthly is paying tribute to the great Catherine L. Moore), and more general calls. We have s-f about plants, creepy Gothic about teeth, open water, and an anthology about social media horror (isn't it horrific enough as it is?).

https://authorspublish.com/45-themed-submission-calls-and-contests-for-march-2026/

Well, for me the USA is foreign (and getting moreso) so I will sub in "Stay in Canada". And I go foreign at least once a year, though I'm getting careful about where I go. Mexico, for instance, is largely off my list right now as is Cuba, formerly a popular spot for Canadians.

On music streaming, listen to an album in order or listen to a playlist on shuffle?

Not likely. I like being out in nature but not that much. 😊

WYE charter a private plane to travel somewhere assuming you had the money?

Luck of the Irish Robot Explorer (shamrock, see upthread for my rainbow story)

Analyzing.

Leaf of plant. Genus Trifolium. Unusual mutation. Will take sample.

Analyzing.

Rock, primarily granite. Missed unit by less than a meter. Damage potential high. Avoided.

Analyzing.

Lightning. Atmospheric electrical phenomenon. High damage potential. Unit had just passed location of impact. Avoided.

Analyzing.

Main engine of transport craft failed on launch. Trees broke fall. Serious damage avoided.

Analyzing.

Mathematical probability of avoiding damage multiple times low. Avoided nonetheless. Cultural database indicates possible relationship to mutant trifolium. Will retain.

Quote by S7williams
Islam says I must be killed if I am gay, when do I get to defend myself?

Islam doesn't say that any more than Christianity does. But there are members of both faiths that would say that and members of both faiths that reject it. So why does Islam get so much enmity when as a collective of believers, its stand on almost any issue like this is as broad and diverse as that of Christianity? It is not a monolith. No faith is. The problem you describe is hate and that is not confined to one faith or philosophy. Once again, I have Muslims in my family and I see the Islamophobia you are spouting here as a serious threat to them. Consider that and maybe educate yourself a bit (I have a semester course on Islam under my belt and a Qu'ran on my bookshelf).

And with that, I am going to request you start a new thread for further discussion of this. It is not an appropriate topic for Inspirations.

Quote by WriterGirl
My twin is having surgery Tuesday, so prayers, good vibes, anything is appreciated!

Vibes to your sis and you. This is often as hard on the family as the patient.

Quote by S7williams

Is it right to hate someone for their beliefs? I do not think so. However, I kinda think youall will hate me for my feelings and beliefs and I accept that 😔.

I think a belief system is evil that dictates that women are so tempting to men that they need to wear a burka and gays are so evil that they should be hanged as was/is the case in fundamentalist Iran/Islam. However, killing is also bad.

I am conflicted. I think it is bad for government to force us to do and think things it believes to be right regardless of what the individuals believe to be right. On the other hand, “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Just a reminder that aside from the burka part, this describes Christian fundamentalism to a great degree. In other words, Islam is not the problem, fundamentalism is. And that's what I oppose regardless of what tradition we are talking about. I have Muslim relatives and in no way do they resemble your description.

But a war, especially one that seems to lack any real goals, will solve nothing. If Afghanistan and Iraq are any indication, nothing will change substantially as a result of this save maybe to make things worse.

Nah, colonizing other worlds is probably for the young. My body probably couldn't even handle lift off now.

WYE ghostwrite something (i.e. write it for someone else to take credit)?

Oo, I would really love to see Ankor Wat. Not that I wouldn't like to see the Taj Mahal, too, but Ankor Wat is far more interesting to me.

Normal pet (cat, dog, hamster) or something weird and exotic (snake, lizard)?

Quote by gillianleeza
The weather is slowly warming up, but we will have a few flurries and rain on Tuesday, and by the end of the week, it will reach the seventies.

I was just looking at the forecast here and we are hitting double digits Celsius (13C = 55F) by next weekend. Maybe by the equinox it actually will be Spring. 😋 Or maybe it will be one of those years where we get a shot of Spring early in March, then get another dump of snow later.

Yeah, the world is an f-ing mess right now and it gets me down at times, too. I'm just trying not to consume too much news and focus on my work and hobbies.

The state of the union, at least from the view up here above you, is "royally f**ked". But maybe there's still a way to unf**k it. I just don't know what it is. What your nation needs is a pragmatic leader with a strong economic lens but Carney's ours and you cannot have him.😋 He is far from perfect in my somewhat leftie eyes, but he's at least mentally stable and focused on the real economy unlike Trumpie Dumpie, who seems to live in his dream world.

That's enough politics for tonight.

We are back into winter but a quieter, milder form of it. Temps from -7 to 0C, occasional flurries.

Da Bear is in!!!!

!yrt ot reh teG

I am tinkering with my big project. Trying to see how the backstory chapters I have written can fit in while not making them the main story, which is threatening to happen. I mean, I guess I could do them as a part 1 and then the original story as part 2 but I don't really have THAT much backstory material without going even further back. So flashback chapters is what I am playing with.

Wow, WriterGirl's challenge is ticking along nicely. I completely missed that you can do one for each pic. I've done the rainbow but didn't even really think about the other. Oh well, there's still a month.

Fresh pots of coffee and tea are ready, iced tea and lemonade are also refreshed. How's your weekend going? I'm on a long one (Family Day). And right now, my wife is chatting with her family in China since it's New Year's Eve there. Year of the Horse starts tomorrow.

Quote by verbal
Baseball next weekend!

The kids next door didn't get the memo. They were out on the street with play bat and ball this afternoon. Still too much snow here but we are getting our mid-winter thaw so it is slowly going down.

The Rainbow Dancer (Rainbow, of course)

The raging storm outside mirrored the chaos in my soul; the grief of recent loss and pain.

A woman wearing a black dress entered the meadow behind my home. She began to dance in the rain. I went out to her, not entirely sure why. Her dance continued as I approached.

The storm calmed. Clouds broke, releasing a rain of colours. The dancer stopped and smiled, dissolving into the coloured light.

I stared at the rainbow. Joy flooded my heart.

Story is now simmering. It's not specifically St. Patty's (it's the rainbow) but there's a bit of a Celtic witch theme to it and I was listening to a playlist called "Celtic Witchy Vibes" as I wrote and edited it.