Quote by gillianleeza
I'm glad the week is over. Zoom funerals are somehow more depressing than in-person services.

Yeah, I have never been to one but even Zoom church services aren't very inspiring, I find. A woman at work lost her father recently but I never heard any details about arrangements. She's the same age as me and we've been at the company about the same length of time (I started a bit earlier) so I would go if we had some details. Usually our mutual boss shares the information.

Good Sunday morning!

Much writing happened last night so my comp entry is now "simmering". I'll probably take a look this afternoon or evening. It is at the requisite 1000 words so I am a bit worried that if I have to make edits now, I'll send up spending an hour just tweaking things back into shape.

Putting on a pot of Ethiopia Yirgacheffe coffee. Teas are Irish Breakfast and Blackberry. Hot water is on for the coffee drinks and hot chocolate (and other teas).

Less than two weeks to go, folks. Glad to see we are up to three entries (I'll let Molly post the link for the third, but it's Ping so I am eager to read it).

Mine draws near. I'm kind of dancing around the thousand words. Right now I'm a bit under, but next edit could push me over again. The story is done, the editing is not. 😕 Maybe by Monday or Tuesday. 🙄

Quote by CuriousAnnie
My competition story should be with you shortly, once it gets through the approval process.

Yay! Watching for it!

And someone else crawled out of the woodwork with a comp entry. Yay, Ping!

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/humor/i-am-woman-hear-me-rorschach

Quote by verbal

Talia's back is out so I am helping her all day.

I seem to recall it going the other way sometimes, so seems fair enough. And congrats to your daughter both on her 20th and on making manager.

Had a nice meal with some other senior managers at lunch. Not much business happened, it was mostly just a seasonal get-together with lots of socializing.

Comp entry is hovering around 600-ish words and I think 400 is enough to stick the landing, but I will probably shoot past the 1000 and then edit back, which is how I usually handle length limits.

Some nice person at work put some homemade cappuccino and latte mixes in the cupboard. And even better, the label includes the recipe. Yay! So, there's jars of both on the counter next to the hot chocolate mix.

Along with that yummy news, I've got a fresh pot of Nicaraguan dark roast from Las Chicas brewing. Teas are Assam and Duke of Earl (Earl Grey with vanilla). Hot water is ready for hot chocolate, other teas, or the new coffee-based mixes.

Got to travel out of town for a meeting this afternoon. At least the freezing rain is gone so the drive should be safe.

Later, alligators.

Weather where I live:

So I've got some nice hot coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to warm things up and maybe melt a bit of that ice. Coffee is a Costa Rican dark roast. Teas are Russian Caravan and Red Rose. And there's hot water on for other teas and hot chocolate.

My comp entry is making tentative progress. I have the basic idea laid out. Just need to flesh things out.

Later, alligators.

I know. You're all wondering what constitutes an "approachable" literary journal. Well, the definition used in this article is a high acceptance rate (over 50% for some of these). Many lean to shorter works like flash, micro, and poetry. But there's several taking regular length fiction and creative non-fiction as well.

https://authorspublish.com/22-approachable-journals/

Quote by OpheliaTusk

Ooooh neat Thanks for sharing this here!

It's a bit of a local tradition I took over from another member who is scarce these days. Glad you like it. I am actually just about to post another one. 😊

Buddha's Blend tea

Quote by OpheliaTusk

Question - I wrote the story, it says exactly 1000 words on my document but when I copy it into the submission box it is over 1000 and I am confused how that happened? Is there some glitch? or is it including the title and authors note into the word count as well? And if so, does our exact word count include the authors note and all that too, or is it just the story itself?

That's a known bug in this software and has been around since the migration last year. If your word processor is saying 1000, then you are probably good. The mods know about the problem. I have at least one "1000 word" story on the site that shows as 1002 words.

It beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go.

Good morning! Coffee is a nice Jamaican Blue Mountain. Teas are Christmas Tea (really) and Scottish Breakfast. Hot water is on for other hot bevvies.

This comp is proving challenging. Just can't get a story going even the pictures are definitely inspiring. Not giving up, though.

Starting to look very festive around here. grabs a Santa and a snowman

So here:

https://www.storiesspace.com/forum/site-announcements-and-members-feedback/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words-competition

Quote by JamesPBear
And … where did the comp photos go? I looked this morning, and didn't see them. Wondering if it's my browser or some glitch on the site. Thoughts?

For some reason they aren't on the comp page. You have to go to Molly's post. I pointed it out to her in PM.

Coffee is technically beyond mine, too, so I just watched a YouTube video.😁 Hey, it's how my son learned to cook fancy gourmet food.

So, anyhow,.coffee is on I used Gil's hot water to fill up the tea pots with Irish Breakfast and Christmas Tea (a chai-ish blend from my local shop). Put on another kettle for other teas and hot chocolate.

Goo morning, Inspirations.

Damn, looks like we lost Epicellie. Her posts are all showing "Unknown User" now. She was a nice young lady and was becoming quite an active new member. Too bad. Hope it was just life intervening and not a bad experience on here.

Oh well, I am still here. Put on some herbal tea and decaf for those needing caffeine-free hot bevvies for bedtime.

Yawns

So if you pop over to my profile, I am now featuring the three stories of mine that have taken first, second, or third place awards in competitions.

The Goddess Dances (First in Cheers to Ten Years Flash in 2020)

Lonely Reverie (Third in Dream On in 2022)

The Berry Girl (Third in Summer Word Bank in 2020)

And these are, indeed, three of my best works on this site. So have a look if you have not read them before.

https://www.storiesspace.com/profile/Mendalla

Quote by Daisy

I haven't logged on for a long time, and it's a whole new site! I have no idea what's going on, ha ha!

I wanted to be re-order the stories showing on my profile page, but can't seem to find any way to do this (or understand it, at least). Is this still being updated, or is it just my perpetual dimness, please?

To change the three stories (max) on your profile page:

• Go to your profile

• Click the Edit Profile button

• Find the Featured Stories section

• Click the Edit link at the far right across from "Featured Stories"

• It now shows three story positions, Story 1, Story 2, Story 3

• For each story choose "Specific Story" in the first dropdown, then use the second dropdown to choose the story you want in that position.

• Once you have all three set the way you want, click Save

• Click Back to Profile at the top to return to viewing your profile so you can make sure you got things the way you want

First Aid Kit are a perfect group to cover pretty much anything McVie wrote, but that is just gorgeous. And it looks like they just did it in a dressing room or something.

Quote by gillianleeza
hey won't be bringing any Screech, Scott. We used to get it as a novelty for any family that had not tried it. No one wants it around, and we can all agree as a family that it is awful.

Yeah, there's a reason that I picked the smiley I did, eh. 😉

Condolences to you and your mother's family on the loss of your aunt. Sounds like a tough holiday ahead. I once lost an uncle on Christmas Eve. Not our best Christmas ever, needless to say.🙁

I am reading the first volume of Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories, a three-volume biography of the poet, author, and songwriter by Canadian journalist Michael Posner. It's an interesting format with Posner alternating his writing with quotes from the myriad interviews he did with friends, family, and associates of Cohen. And, of course, Lenny himself. Still in the early chapters but it has some of the best coverage of Cohen's upbringing and his family's, especially his grandfather's, significant role in Westmount, the part of Montreal where he grew up that I have seen in a bio. Leonard's own first novel, The Favorite Game, is heavily autobiographical and Posner does point out when a person he is quoting or talking about had a corresponding character in the novel.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand good morning, y'all! Coffee is an Ethiopian dark. Teas are Red Rose and Earl Grey. Hot water is on for hot chocolate or other teas. Marshmallows and other add-ons like milk, cream, and sugar are all stocked up.

Have a nice one! Kind of grey and icky here right now.

Ah man, they said they wouldn't send this guy again. What a mess he leaves. Oh well, at least the marshmallows are here. 😜

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess

This looks like an interesting challenge. 😎

Very. I have to start over but not because of this clarification. Basically, the idea I had was already at 600 words and I hadn't even got to the meat of the plot. Will save it for a longer story someday.

Choice can require much thought.

Looks like I haven't posted any of Tommy Johansson's Christmas songs yet. Tommy is a Swedish guitarist, vocalist, and producer (and all-round amazing musician) currently best known as the guitarist for Sabaton, though he is also the vocalist and guitarist for Majestica, his own band. Anyhow, he is currently doing a musical Advent calendar thing on his solo Youtube channel. A seasonal song, sometimes traditional, sometimes modern, for each day leading up to Christmas.

A couple examples:

This one is an original. Majestica did a metal musical version of A Christmas Carol a couple years ago and this is from that album.

And a traditional favorite with a bit of metal seasoning.

Yay hay it's pancake day! Ape is slinging yummy blueberry flaplacks. There's real Canadian maple syrup and pancake syrup on tap. Coffee pot is full and there's some nice Assam and Russian Caravan teas.

I was laid up with a migraine yesterday so not much progress on my comp entry yet, but fear not. One is planned. Just need to feel like writing.

Quote by DenimAngel
Ape we are low on marshmallows!!!!

Sending a secret signal to the marshmallow man. Okay, it's just an email but I like to sound dramatic.😎 One truckload of mini-marshmallows is on order.😊