Yay! Hello Milly.

scarfs a paw print and a dog house

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Yeah, doesn't get more Spring than this. Rain started yesterday evening and continues falling and falling.

So, I shall put on some dark roast coffee along with pots of Scottish Breakfast and Earl Grey teas. Washed the pitchers from the fridge and made fresh batches or lemonade and iced tea. Hot chocolate, marshmallows and other teas are stocked up.

And since it is my cleaning weekend ...

Pulls out mop, broom, and vacuum

Minniva is a Norwegian vocalist who does excellent covers of metal and Nightwish is one of her specialities. If one was going to start a Nightwish cover band, she'd be an excellent choice for lead singer.

And for those not into metal, here's Moroccan-Canadian singer-songwriter Faouzia with a live performance of her new single, based on and around Beethoven's Fur Elise.

swoons at the mention of Simone Simons

Crownshift is a new Finnish metal supergroup who just started up and have an album coming in May. This is their second single. I got into them through bassist Jukka Koskinen, who is the current bassist for Nightwish, but it's the vocalist Tommy Tuovinen who has caught my attention. Good harsh vocalist and screamer. Will be checking out his "day job" in the band MYGRAIN at some point.

Yes if the opportunity arose. There's definitely some things I want to do that my wife wouldn't be down for.

WYE offer a ride to a stranger you met somewhere (i.e. not a hitchhiker)?

I like both, but baked sweet potato sounds appetizing.

Tomato sauce, blush sauce, or white sauce on your pasta?

Quote by verbal
Cookies are springing forth from Sara!

That inspires some ... interesting images. 😲 I am tempted to plug that into an AI image generator but the results would probably not be usable on here.

Quote by verbal
In other news, I sold the first chapter of the book to a magazine! Yay! Now to sell the actual book…

Yay on the first and good luck on the second.

Good afternoon! It is now end of day Friday so I am able to escape the wonderful world of work for a couple days.

Got a few things brewing for the weekend and I am in a writing dry spell anyhow so not sure much will come out of it. If I get a few hours, though, I'll take another swing at my WIP (work in progress).

Putting on some green tea and Canadian Blueberry herbal since it's getting a bit late for caffeine. Oh, what the heck, there's some coffee, too. Just random beans I found in the cupboard and ground so no idea what it is.

Coffee is brewin'. Went with Nicaraguan dark roast.

Teas are English Breakfast and Raspberry Royale.

Good morning!

Grey and drizzly. It does appear that we are into Spring though, to be honest, Winter was so mild and snowless that it is hard to tell the difference.

Cast - Cyst

I know squat about The Native Howl but mean to learn more. After all, any band that can get Lzzy Hale in their corner has my attention. And it is a damn fine song, too.

Tart - cart

Perhaps. Would depend on the item and the cause.

WYE do volunteer work in an area that you could have been paid for?

(Not used the last word of the previous post as the first word of yours.)

Now is the best time.

I can only drink it with flavour. The taste of coffee by itself does not appeal (hence my love of tea).

Plain black tea blend or something fruity (e.g. and Earl Grey or a Lemon tea)?

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic
I haven't died...but I did get a smart TV almost two weeks ago.

We ended up replacing our old TV which was nominally smart but not very and I ended up augmenting with a Chromecast to make up for.its deficiencies. New one is quite nice. Been looking at the Tubi app but Pluto is on my radar, too.

An ape comes in, dancing and whistling a merry tune.

Um, yeah, we're getting an early Spring here so I got a bit carried away.

Anyhow...

Coffee du jour is an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Fire-Roasted. Teas are Russian Caravan and Assam.

I washed up the pitchers and there's fresh unsweet iced tea and lemonade in the fridge.

Hot chocolate, marshmallows, and other teas are stocked up.

Goooooooooooooood Morning!!!!

pore - port

I've been listening to Laufey quite a bit since her Grammy win. She's got a new single looming on Wednesday. This a collaboration from last Fall, with her joining in on a song by Filipino artist beabadoobee. The video is gorgeous, reminiscent of an old movie musical.

Teeth can break and stain.

As usual, the first Author's Publish of the month is their list of calls for submissions. It's a mixed bag including Nordic Horror, False Memories, Cats (the animal, not the musical), Time Travel horror comics, found fiction (think epistolary or similar fiction where the story purports to be an actual document), and much more.

https://authorspublish.com/34-themed-submission-calls-and-contests-for-march-2024/

Courtesy of Youtube Shorts, I recently got into Aussie intersex influencer/activist Blume. Then I found out they and their partner have a band, Mystic Tea Party. Only three songs out so far and not really my usual, but I'm intrigued enough to keep with it for now.

With my crappy sense of balance? Not a prayer. I'd be terrified.

WYE invest money in a friend or family member's small business/startup?

Without, or at least as little as possible.

Fruit with your cereal or not?

Quote by verbal

We have frikkin BEIGNETS! Plus the usual assortment of coffees and teas.

You ate 17. How many were even left?

I am kind of all over the place these days, including hammering away at a story that just refuses to go away but also doesn't really seem to be coming together. I mean, I like what I've got written but, damn it, there's no meaningful backstory, nothing to say why the characters (two of the leads from Shadows of Tan Maldrin) are where they are.

I'll try to be around more but, honestly, it's getting hard being a cheerleader for a forum site that's this dead. We're running on fumes, I think, and I'm not sure how we change that.

Anyhow, there's a new Author's Publish thread going up if you're looking for markets. Watch for it.

Quote by redwriter
I wish you would stop apologise for your misdemeanours, Jeff.

Quote by verbal
Sorry for apologizing.

Quote by verbal
I finished the Canada story.

Apparently you picked up some bad habits while hitchhiking up here. Sorry for that. 🤣

Good afternoon. Busy workday. Hope all are well. I have a nice new herbal tea called Canadian Blueberry so I'll make a pot for evening drinking.

Doom - Dorm

(What the hell happened to using the last word of the previous sentence????)

Chocolate makes a nice drink.

And hear it is, Sunday morning. There's some Nicaraguan medium roast from the Coffee Chicks (Las Chicas del Cafe) in the coffee pot. Teas are Irish Breakfast and Red Rose. Cold drinks are lookin' good as is our stock of hot chocolate and other teas. Hot water is on standby.

I am writing something new and seeing where it goes. There's a number of possible directions here, just not sure which to take so I'm writing away and letting the story decide for itself.

Weather here remains sunny but cold. I see the branches moving, too, so there must be a bit of a wind.

So this week's list was journals that are relatively new that are looking for authors to help fill their pages. Topics range pretty widely. Deadlines are all over the map and, sadly, some are too soon. Still, knowing the market exists means one can watch for future submission deadlines.

https://authorspublish.com/25-new-literary-journals-seeking-fiction-nonfiction-and-poetry/