Quote by gillianleeza

Hello everyone, I've been offline for a bit to deal with our backyard wedding. I am happy to say everything went very well, but it was hectic with all the visitors and guests and keeping track of all the details. The day was lovely, if a bit cold. The days before were warm and sunny, and rain was predicted for the wedding day. Luckily, the rain held off, so the ceremony could take place outside and not in the tent. My son and daughter-in-law looked beautiful and very happy. That made everything all worthwhile. But now I need some serious rest.

I hope everyone's week gets off to a good start. Cheers!

A couple of pictures of my backyard. My husband's shop door never looked so good.

That looks wonderful, and I'm so glad the rain held off. Now go sleep for a month.

Me, I'm off to get a camera shoved up my butt. See you on the other side!

No coffee for me. I'm going to be scarfing down Taco Bell in about three hours.

Labyrinth is such a fun movie.

T minus 48 hours til I begin the colon cleanse for the colonoscopy. Man, I am not looking forward to this. At least I won’t have to get another one for 10 years. Or maybe ever: you can—I am not making this up—mail your poop into some testing facility and have your colon checked that way.

Okay, way too much TMI there, Sorry about all the colon talk.

Coffee please.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

I - I was listenin' to David Bowie earlier and all I can think about is listenin' to more later. Him kinda grew on me and...yeah.

My favorite Bowie song. Life on Mars.

Quote by Cora

Hey everyone.

Not having the best day. Some things are weighing heavily on my heart.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful day.

Sorry to hear that Cora. I hope tomorrow is better for you.

Sold another chunk odd the memoir today: chapter two! The title is "Mom's Dead," so you can imagine the content is pretty intense. I think that makes it a harder sale, so I feel good.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: I have a colonoscopy on Monday, so on Sunday I'm fasting all day and taking those horrible laxative drinks. Ew. NOT looking forward to this.

A coffee pleaae?

Quote by Cora

Mendalla, as I was reading your post, Frankenstein came to mind. Are you, or anyone else, a fan of that classic novel?

And thank you for your encouraging words, especially, "The ending is only part of the story. How the author gets you there is sometimes a majority of the fun." 😊

I wrote a paper comparing Frankenstein to Grendel (which is a modern retelling of Beowulf). It really is a good book (both books, actually).

Long day. I haven't written a darn word today. Hopefully I can get a little free time now.

Coffee and a cookie would be cool.

Quote by Mendalla

Makes it hard for the bee to walk, doesn't it? 😉

🤣

Thus the wings!

Cora, yes, I've noticed that pet names have a certain sort of stickiness - after a certain point the name has chosen them!

Acupuncture today. Yay! Mostly it means relaxing for a half hour on a heated bed, but I think the needles really do help!

Other than that, writing and walking.

A coffee and a cookie would be the bee's knees!

Good morning everyone!

Crazy night! 75 mph winds came blowing through, all night long. The house was shaking. I went and secured things as best I could at like 4 a.m. and almost blew away! Our front glass door was shattered and we lost 4 sections of fence! Lots of trash and debris in the yard too. Gonna be a long day, clearing the yard and calling insurance and setting up handyman calls. Arg.

Anyway. I could use a gallon or so of coffee - didn't get a lot of sleep.

Benedryled

Quote by Mendalla

Wonder no more!! Spend that wondering time writing!!

😊

And while I am committed to this comp, I am finding this a real uphill battle. I thought writing for a comp would help me focus things and get my writing back on track but, dang it, I'm still having trouble getting past the first few hundred words. Basically I start a story but can't get past the opening. Latest attempt is past 1000 words, though, so maybe I have this licked now.

Start in the middle, with a good scene, one you know will be good, then work your way back.

Talia's back! Yay!

Otherwise things are pretty chill here. Cats are happy, I am happy, and Talia is happy. Sun is out. I have a story coming out next week in a cool mag. So, I'm choosing this fine day to write about all my dead friends in NYC.

I'll have a cup of that Deathwish.

I'll have some of that Muskoka Lumberjack.

Talia is stuck on the runway right now, worried she'll miss her connecting flight. Send punctual thoughts!

Me, I'm writing A Personal History of Shea Stadium. It braids together the fate of the Mets and the fate of me, back when I lived there. It's a memoir that uses Shea Stadium as a structure; there's not much baseball in it.

I've have coffee and fifteen cookies please. Need that sugar high.

Cookies! All is right with the world again.

Acupuncture day today. I'm also finishing cleaning the house for Talia's return tomorrow. The cats will be relieved.

Hi Millie! Woof!

I'd love a coffee

Quote by gillianleeza

I haven't had much time for movies. Hosting a wedding in your backyard is a bit stressful, but our yard is shaping up and the deck looks great. Our house is quite busy and will be pretty full this weekend. It's a bit warm now, and it will be around 90 degrees each day and cool off by the weekend. There is a chance of rain on Saturday, but hopefully, it will be clear.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Cheers.

The wedding is THIS weekend!? I hadn't realized. You have a lot of work to do, but I am sure everything will be fine. Are we invited?

Write and clean day. Want to have the place spotless for Talia's return. Try telling that to the cats ...

Coffee would be wonderful. Where are the cookies?

Quote by Cora

Good morning, everyone.

It’s a dreary Sunday here. There were mild lightening and thunderstorms last night. I watched “Blackhawk Down” last night with my family. I’ve seen it before long ago but it was nice to watch again. A lot of notable actors in that movie. Another true war story, in addition to last week.

Drinking coffee with my family now and chilling with the dogs. Mass is in a few hours. I hope you all have a beautiful Sunday.

Cora, to expand on a movie I suggested to you last week, Greyhound is a Tom Hank’s movie about a battleship hunting submarines and the Battle of the Atlantic. Old school filmmaking, and I got the sense it was pretty accurate. More detailed than most. I LOVE submarine movies. Run Silent Run Deep comes to mind. Crimson Tide. And Red October of course.

Cleaning the house today as I watch the game. Preparing for Talia’s return. I am SO looking forward to it.

A lotta coffee would be wonderful.

Yeah, the downside to editing after submitting is that the story disappears into a hole for awhile. That said, I think I’ve edited every story I’ve ever posted - my proofing skills are poor, and I never know when to stop rewriting.

Woke up too early again. Thank God Talia is home soon.

I have several friends back in my NYC days that succumbed to drugs and liquor - I’ve been writing about them the past few days. Tough work, but worthwhile, I think.

Anyway. Another thousand gallons of coffee please.

Quote by WriterGirl

Uh oh, I spotted a typo in comp piece where I called character by wrong name. I pulled it up in edit, changed name, hit Republish and story just sits in Drafts. It doesn’t say pending or anything. Did I mess up? Have I now lost votes and comments I had? I sent Molly a note. Darn it!!! It’s first time I’ve tried to edit a published story on this site.

I've gone in and edited stories a ton, both here and at a similar site. All the votes and comments stay. The only downside s the story being down while it's being re-modded.

Glad to see you are pressing forward Red. And congrats to Ms. Girl for being a first one out of the gate.

Still waking up too early every day. Wah. I can’t wait for Talia’s return.

The beautiful weather is leaving today, slowly transitioning over to thunderstorms. I can dig it. I love watching storms swoop over the mountains and across the Eastern plains.

A TON of coffee please.

Great visual writing prompts WG! Looking forward to reading your entry. Should be a good comp.

I woke up too early yet again. The result of Talia being gone, I think. Oh well. I’ll kick out errands early and try to take a nap. Early game today too. That helps.

Frick, I’m tired. Coffee would be wonderful.

I just posted the first in a three part series about working at the Band Box Diner, back in the day. I'm really proud of this, and so am putting the link up here. Feel free to subscribe to the newsletter, The Oort Cloud! But read the article if you find the time.

https://jeffwood.substack.com/p/always-answer-a-ringing-phone-part

Quote by WriterGirl

Hi everybody!

I haven’t been on in far too long!

I’m excited about the comp. And in typical form, I wrote something, then hated it and deleted. Ha! On to idea #2 now.

I have a small window to get it written and published because come May, work gets crazy again, and I’m working in some time off.

I’m looking forward to seeing what y’all write. :)

I’ll take some cookies, please.

Yay! Glad to see you back here WG! Looking forward to seeing your writing again!

I'm putting out my memories of working at the Band Box Diner in my Substack newsletter. I won't link it here, but I might create a thread that links to it (if that's allowed).

Acupuncture today. I'm starting to look forward to it - it really helps me. Who knew?

Anyway. Coffee and a cookie.

Quote by Mendalla
I think there was another TV show about nurses at a base there. More like MASH than a combat show like Tour.

China Beach. Dana Delany. Good show.

As for Twitter/X, try BlueSky as a substitute. I'm on it. Not as much traffic, but less toxic.

I like a good war movie, Cora. Have you seen Greyhound? It’s on Apple TV I think.

Woke up too early again. Related to Talia being gone, I suspect. It been gloomy and drizzly for three frikkin days, but it’s supposed to be a gorgeous day later.

Writing about NYC today, and the next few weeks. I’ve been taking notes. Got a short little 500 word quickie submitted at another site.

Mets got creamed yesterday, but we took 2 of 3 from the mighty Dodgers.

Coffee and a beignet please.

Hello all.

Lazy Saturday here. It cold and drizzly out. Talia gone, leftover pizza in the fridge, game about to start, and, oh, what was the date again? Sounds perfect to me. I plan to watch baseball and then watch Rebel Moon. It’s supposed to be awful, but I’m in the mood for big dumb sci-fi.

Coffee and a big plate of cookies please!

I didn’t like Fallout. I know it’s gotten raves, but I had to push myself to finish the first episode. I doubt I will watch more,

I’m going to try Rebel Moon tonight. It’s gotten savaged by critics, but I’m a sucker for big, dumb sci-fi.

Nice comp theme! Looking forward to seeing what everyone writes. I won’t be participating, but I will be reading them eagerly.

Another gloomy day, and no Talia, and I didn’t sleep well. The kitties are doing extra chores, trying to stay on my good side. The kitchen is spotless - they licked it clean.

The Mets have been playing well, but we run smack into the brick wall that is the Dodgers tonight. That’s my evening. I’m thinking about writing about Shea Stadium - the Mets’ old home - and the larger scene of NYC in general.

Coffee please! And fifteen cookies! Where are the cookies!?!?

Finished the 3 Body Problem. Started out strong, ended up…meh, but okay. I would watch a second season. At least the showrunners learned to use a SHORT opening credit sequence after that interminable Game of Thrones credit sequence.

Gonna start Fallout tonight.

Glad you are on the mend, Cora. I trust Red is recovering nicely as well.

Me, I had acupuncture yesterday, and therapy today! I’ll be good as new soon. Well, probably not.

I’ll have some Kicking Horse please.

First full No Talia day. Sigh. The cats are looking at me with accusatory glances. She’ll be back soon, I swear! Kitties? I promise…. Hey, put down that cat scr…. Fighfhccjxjxsmsjt

A mild Covid like illness, but when the sufferers come out of their fever they are…changed. Brain structure is different. Zany antics ensue.

Quote by redwriter

Series of rapid dizzy spells lasting only ten seconds each had me being hurried to the hospital for check-up. After several hours wait, much questioning, and a brain scan (when all they found was a tired, over-used old brain) , not having any repeat of the dizziness I was allowed to return home and now remain relatively normal. One thing I did learn after years of emergency treatments, is that if you are merely a "check-up" then waiting is part of the treatment, Arrival at hospital 3.00pm---return home 2.00am. Patience is essential., Although better safe than sorry is a useful maxim.

A hot chocolate and one of Sara's cookies would be most acceptable.

Headline: Scan of Red’s Brain Reveals Nothing!

Sorry, Red, that’s an old Dizzy Dean joke. Glad to hear you are doing well.

Acupuncture went well. Who knew I would become an acupuncture junkie?

Mets won again. Day game today, but I won’t be watching. Talia laves today for a week or so. Wah. The cats and I will be bacheloring it up with Taco Bell and bad monster movies and baseball games. I might buy them some special cat treats to make it through the week.

Coffee and a beignet, if any of those are still lying around.