Today is a cold day.

Anastasia - Alexis

Alter - erstwhile

Quote by verbal
I'm feeling a bit under the weather

Maybe the cats poisoned your coffee. They could always plead self-defense. 😜

Back for a tea and a cookie to go with lunch. Had time this morning so cooked some frozen Chinese dumplings to bring in.

Lemon - ontological

Crown the king we shall.

Three stories read so far and it's looking like a good, if small, field. I'll keep at it over the next few days. Good job, writers!

Wow, Kat, Bear and I must have all been typing our posts at the same time. Psychic connection? Or coincidence? You decide.👻

Hello,.good morning, happy day!

Sorry to hear about your ear, redwriter. Sun is likely the reason some of my family have had skin cancers of various varieties. Too much sun time at the cottage back in the days when people were less fussy about sunscreen. Not me yet, but my day may yet arrive.

There is coffee ready with a choice of dark and medium roast. Teas are Assam and Cream of Earl Grey. Hot water is ready for hot chocolate and other teas.

I am starting to work through the comp entries. Some interesting takes on the theme. Hopefully doing a couple a day so I can get through them before it ends and keep on top of new ones.

Live for the day mostly these days. Maybe with a side eye on the future.

Internal combustion engine or EV?

Count Dracula dwells in Transylvania.

(Except his historical role model, Vlad Tepes, was actually the ruler of neighbouring Wallachia but whatever)

Quote by verbal
Is it like cow tipping?

Even cows want tips nowadays? Sheesh.

Quote by verbal
Huge snowstorm rushed in last night, and it's supposed to snow all day.

I think we are getting it mostly as rain tomorrow for some reason. Oh well, getting wet beats shoveling.

Coin image is fixed, BTW.

Coins are now in play on StoriesSpace, but the coffee and other goodies here remain free. I've put on a pot of coffee along with pots of Scottish Breakfast and Russian Caravan teas. Hot water is ready for hot chocolate and other tea options. Mini marshmallows, sugar and other sweeteners, and milk/cream all checked and replenished as needed.

I am feeling remarkably uncreative these days and acknowledging and accepting this is actually quite liberating. I have a couple stories stuck in draft and I am not even sure if I will finish those.

Later.

Oo, and I see there's a dark mode in beta (ie. being tested). Is that new or did I just miss it before?

Quote by Molly

Just wanted to let you all know that the tipping is now live! The link below can be found at the bottom of the page along with all of the other site information. There is also a link at the bottom of everyone's stories.

https://www.storiesspace.com/coins

Look like the image at the top of our user menu is broken. I assume it should be an image of a coin or similar?

Can you flip a virtual coin?

Glad to see this live. Should be interesting to see how it goes.

Not a household name unless you're into symphonic metal, Dianne van Giersbergen packs a heckuva voice. This is her first solo effort after fronting bands like Ex Libris and Xandria.

Quote by gillianleeza
My husband got me the same gift he got me two years ago, COVID-19.

Ah, COVID, the gift that keeps on giving. My immunity seems to be holding up for now. Been on a cruise, a riverboat, two flights, eaten out, and even with all that managed to not get another dose. Oh, and we stopped masking at work some time ago. Today I went to an in person meeting at our parent company for the first time in three years. Still, I am planning to keep up on shots and was prepared to go back to masking had there been a winter wave (which hasn't materialized so far).

Good evening. Putting on some lemon ginger herbal tea since it is getting late for caffeine.

Quote by verbal
Assuming, of course, you don't have reservations anywhere.

We're cheating and going out next weekend to avoid the lines. It's a long weekend here due to Family Day, which is a bit of a made-up holiday to give us a long weekend between New Year's and Easter.

Thanks for getting things going. Having a bit of a busy day here.

Taking a tea and Chiefs cookie.

An article looking at eight new literary journals, ie. possible markets for your writing. They are focused on different areas of writing including one for queer writing, one that is bilingual English and Spanish, one for young writers (11-25 years old), and such. Oh, and one is more suited to another site of our acquaintance😉. You'll know which one.

» Eight Exciting New Literary Journals – Winter 2023 (authorspublish.com)

Halocene is an (as yet) unsigned band from California that do a mix of covers and originals. This is an original with footage from their 2022 tours of the US and Europe as a backdrop. Vocalists are married couple Addie Nicole and Brad Amick (who also plays lead guitar).

Assuming "Berlin" means the band and not the city, I'll take Beethoven.

Do taxes by hand or use software?

Crazy people can be creative.

Yay, Chiefs! Fairly close game, too, at least going by the score. Three points isn't much in American football. I hear Rihanna's performance was good, too, but her music doesn't float my boat so even that didn't get me to watch.

Throwing on some coffee and tea to help wake folks up after the excitement. Teas are Irish Breakfast and Lemon. Hot water is on for those seeking hot chocolate or other teas.

Good morning! There is no truth to the rumour that the object shot down over Canada yesterday was a massive coffee urn.😀 Or beer keg.

But here, the coffee is a'perking. And there's pots of Earl Grey and English Breakfast tea, too. Plus hot water if you want other teas or hot chocolate.

Up to seven in the comp, now, so I guess things are picking up. Read one so far and it was terrific (Kat's).

There's also DALL-E from the same folks who created ChatGPT. I have played with it and used an image from it for another purpose.

Do be aware that some artists are girding up to go after these sites, arguing that in some cases they are violating IP rights by using elements from artists' work without permission or attribution.

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/07/1155185861/ai-generated-images-breach-copyright-law-artists-say

Quiet today. Everyone must be having a nice weekend or something.

I'll put on a pot of coffee and a teapot of English Breakfast. Otherwise, help yourself to hot water and the drink of your choice.

I am probably done with Mardi Gras. Can't get a story going that "sticks" even as ideas keep running through my head. My mood is in the tank, which does not help. I am often just sitting mindlessly swiping through YouTube Shorts in hopes something will make me laugh or spark something. Maybe if I perk up, there is still hope, but a week and a half for a story with no length limit is a tall order for me even in a good time.

Where do football players put their soup?

In a Super Bowl.😀

Yeah, that lame joke probably shows how interested I am in the weekend's proceedings. I'll find out the winner on the news on Monday. And watch the commercials when they get posted to YouTube.

What is happening this weekend that's exciting? Actually, not sure. I don't really have much planned beyond housework. Writing, maybe.