Opens door. Blinks.

Percolator is perking, tea is tea-ing, and the cupcakes are out. I’m a sucker for cupcakes.

I finally got my car registered, after 14 months of driving without it. My daughter drove me, I bought her a burrito in compensation. Also found out you can get married at the DMV. Both my daughter and the clerk were trying to get things in motion (I refer to T as my wife, but we are not officially married, we just got tired of calling each other “fiancé”) (I hate that word). Maybe this summer. There’s no sense in urgency. Neither of us are going anywhere.

Therapy today, and No Talia Thursday as well.

Coffee please! And three cupcakes. Did I mention I love cupcakes?

Quote by DenimAngel

Hi peeps

I heard a request for cupcakes so we have : red white and blue (yellow cake )cuppycakes in honor of team USA going to the world baseball classic.

Yay! Thanks, Sara! That was a good game last night, even if USA lost.

Talia is still pretty sick, but working. I am on the mend, enough so that I'm renewing registration TODAY! My daughter is driving me because I'm scared I'll get a ticket when I drive up.

Slow burn horror anyone? It's got one read, no comments. This one's pretty good, IMHO. https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/horror/tadpole-summer

Baseball begins in 8 days!

A coffee and a USA cupcake please.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess

Hope you’re both feeling better soon.

Thanks Kat, we are. This is the first day I've really felt back to normal. 80% anyway. Talia is getting better but slept all weekend. Still we are on the mend.

Yes, Scott, I have a story up, and your name is in it! A crucial character, no less. I'm trying to focus the ending a little, if anyone has any suggestions.

Good horror critique group last night. I'm actually running one of them now.

I'm going to try to get my car registration renewed before I get a ticket and a fine. I'm really paranoid about it now (it's over a year late) (don't ask).

Baseball is getting close!

Coffee and a cupcake, if there are any. Do we have cupcakes?

Thanks for the set-up, and Happy Equinox everyone. Still feeling pretty lousy. So is Talia.

A coffee and some Nyquil please.

Quote by Mendalla

Rejection slips are a rite of passage for a writer, aren't they? And they motivate you to do better (or pick a better market, anyhow).😀

Good afternoon. Poop hitting fan at work today. Can't say more but suffice it to say, ape not happy. Somewhere, out there, there is a piece of human garbage that I want to throttle with my bare hands (well, I might wear gloves and a mask just in case but you get the point).

In my new story the protagonist's best friend is named Scott.

The big magazine I was hoping for passed on my story today, after asking me to keep in on "hold" for a month. Heavy sigh.

Coffee and cookies. Are you sure there isn't any liquor hidden back there? I wouldn't mind a dollop.

Those are some seriously yummy looking cookies, Sara.

The Mets lost their closer for the year, and I am tired of rejection slips. I'd use the excuse of St. Patrick's Day to say f it and get drunk, but that doesn't sound any fun either. Sigh. Sit and write, like every other day, I guess. That's the way out.

A coffee and a cookie would be great.

Quote by AnnaMayZing

Well, as I promised I would, I can tell you that my book, The Nurses, is now on sale at:

The Nurses | Anna Morgan (vikingbay.co.uk)

Now everyone in the world can read the tale of Katarina and Maria. I hope they like it. 😀

Very nice looking volume, Anna. Serious congrats are in order.

blinks No coffee. There's...no coffee.

Okay, the percolator is perking, the tea is teaing, the cookies are cooking. Done an done.

I'm not back 100%, but I'm up and around. I took a leave from the novel to write a sweet end-of-the-world tale I thought up while sick. Tadpoles, anyone?

Baseball is starting soon, along with March Madness. I quit watching exibition games, so I don't know how the pitch clock is coming along. Folks were having trouble adjusting last game I looked into. It's one of the few rule changes I like.

Nice horror tale, Rache. You have a firm grasp of those horror tropes. What a cool genre, huh?

Coffee and a monster cookie please.

Thanks for the set-up Ape.

I am finally on the mend. Sadly, Talia seems to have gotten my cold. And, unlike me, she has to work (and has a crazy week too). Let's hope hers goes easier than mine did.

The one bright spot is that while sick, we started binging Curb Your Enthusiasm. Yeah, I know it's been around 11 seasons, and I've watched a couple times, but it always made me tense (so much cringe). For some reason, I finally got hooked.

Coffee a a cookie please.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

…now that, I don’t know.

Also I ordered one of those copies so there’s probably even less now…but I’m happy cause more Drew is always a good idea.

I found the DVDs. I'm looking for it streaming for free!

My cold/flu is still lingering. I feel pretty crappy. Got any cough medicine back there behind the counter? Not up for coffee today, I don't think (gasp!).

Take care everyone.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic
Btw verbal - if you’re still looking for his sitcom, try Etsy. Just trust me on this one.

You mean buying one of the DVDs? I looked on Etsy but saw nothing.

Feeling better than I've felt in days! I think this flu is finally on the decline.

I have ben sick as a dog most of the weekend. Got out of bed for the first time in three days today. I'll got back soon. It's not COVID, but it's not fun.

I got two really good weird story ideas while sick - one of them about JFK's brain! Cue the scary music.

I don't think I'll be writing today - just sort of getting caught up.

Congrats on the story Ape, and good luck with the conclusion. Coffee and a cookie.

18 months! It starts getting really fun now, Annie.

I'm sick. Wah. Hope it's not COVID And Talia had to go to work. Just me and the cats

Hey, Elyse, we tried to watch Drew last night and couldn't find it? Are you still getting it on the Internet Archive? Di I ruin everything by watching?

Cardiologist appt. today, so probably not much writing. They're a fast visit, always prepared and efficient - I like people who do their jobs well.

Still on pins and needles for a big sale. My optimism is fading.

Coffee and a cherry shortbread cookie from Quick Draw McGraw!

Quote by MikeHanson

The Jungle Books, I have read some of the stories in the past but have not read the whole book before.

Love those stories.

Just finished Malorie, the sequel to Bird Box. Really good and scary. Probably read a horror play called One Neck next.

Old episodes of The Drew Carey Show.

The Last of Us was really good this weekend.

Read.

Video baseball.

Actual baseball, in season.

I made chili Monday, so it is entering peak deliciousness today. Probably with a salad.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Thought about doing a spring training game with my brother but honestly baseball doesn’t hold his interest. He’d be looking at his watch by about the third inning and I’d be annoyed that we made the trip out there only to leave less than half way through. If I’m honest, I’m more of a basketball/hockey kinda girl anyway. But I root for the Rays and the Tigers anyway.

That sounds awful frankly. Baseball, if you are not into it, can be SO boring. I've been with friends who were bored at games and it made me bored for them.

No one in to set up, so I'll do the honors. I like to think of the coffee shop as a collective. . Percolator on, two pots of fancy tea steeping, and HOT CHOCOLATE! I'm no slouch!

More financial bullshit today, though everything else appears to be going well. Still waiting to see if I made the final cut on a magazine - they said I was on the short list, whatever that means. Don't tell me I MIGHT be in it, and I'll know in three weeks. That turns into three weeks of anxious waiting. Just tell me yes or no.

Anyway. Baseball season soon. Sick of Spring Training games already.

Coffee and a ladybug cookie for me!

Welcome to Mardi Gras

Thanks for the set-up, James. I don't take Spring training records too seriously, players are working on specific skills. Frikkin Scherzer gave up seven UNEARNED runs trying to figure out how to game the pitch clock.

Busy middle of the week - I'm doing taxes and financial planning and all sorts of financial nonsense. At least Talia cut my hair in the garage this weekend, so I don't have to find time for a haircut. But I have to venture out on a cold gloomy day.

I'm on pins and needles for a story sale I REALLY want. They're late in announcing. Publishers are always late.

Other than that, write. Might watch the game at 4, if I can church out 1000 words by then,

Coffee and a tax-form-shaped cookie.

I'm plugging in the percolator, got the tea kettle whistling, the cookies I haven't eaten on a platter (there's not many).

Chill day, though lots of good writing news. Definitely sold one story, probably sold another, and a podcast coming out this week. When it rains it pours. So I'll have 3 events in the same week and nothing for the next six months. Oh well.

Tired today. One of those hunker down and write kinda day.

Coffee and a baseball cookie please.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

Well yeah, it’s satellite cause it’s on SiriusXM, but it’s not a podcast or anything - just him telling stories and playing music.

I, admittedly, don’t know half of what he’s playing but I’m also really just listening to hear him.

Elyse, I owe you one! We watched a bunch of Drew Carey Show this weekend. It holds up really well. Everyone in that cast is SO GOOD. We started in season one, so I'm jonse-ing for the opening songs in the later seasons.

Sold a story this weekend! Yay! And Talia just got two poems published! She's not crowing about it much so I'll crow for her. She's such a good poet. And such a fine wife.

A decaf and a cookie please.

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

It’s free on the Internet Archive. And yes, they have the entire show.

OMG thank you! We'll probably watch that this weekend!

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess

Thanks for the company.

I always enjoyed Christa Miller on Drew Carey and Scrubs. She’s in a new show with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford called “Shrinking” on Apple TV+. It’s a great show but I’m left wondering every week if she had some kind of plastic surgery because her cheeks and mouth look a little off. Idk and the Internet search was no help. LOL. I ended up going down a rabbit hole on that one.

I love her, but thought her face was getting a little rubbery toward the end of Scrubs. She is a hilarious actress. I really like Deitrich Bader too - we’re almost obsessively parcelling out Better Things, a few episodes a weekend, and he is VERY good in that. Such a good show. I highly recommend it.

Elyse, how are you watching The Drew Carey Show? I’m wanting to watch it now.

Not much going on today. I gotta figure out some plot stuff. Maybe watch a little baseball

Coffee and a Mets cookie please?

Quote by JustAnotherSapphic

Yeah, that’s the song. After a certain point in the show, it’s kind of a lottery in terms of which of the three theme songs (Moon Over Parma, 5 O’Clock World, and Cleveland Rocks) you’ll hear.

I was a huge fan of Ian Hunter back in the day, and so was a huge fan of Cleveland Rocks way before the show. They’re all really good openings. What a creative show. Great cast.

I’ll kick back with Kat for a cup of tea. It’s been a long day, I could use the relaxation.

Quote by WriterGirl
And Verbal, reading your story about being locked up in jail (trapped in small spaces my biggest fear) gave me a severe panic attack, so I may or may not have contacted a voodoo priestess who may or may not have affected your story's outcome. 😈

Thanks WG.

Congrats to the winners, and the top ten, and everyone involved in the brave act of trying to tell a story. Pscyhed in particular to see Pnin get some recognition.

Quote by Ping
Oh Verbs, darling…

I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. (Repo Man reference)

Big congrats to the winners - especially Pnin, who I've not seen around here much, but is a stunning writer (Papa Smoked a Pipe is also stellar). Congrats, of course, of course, to the other winners, the runners up, everyone who entered, and everyone who has the courage to put pen to paper (or finger to key).

It's a cold and sullen day out there. Gonna stay inside and drink hot coffee, Hope everyone is doing well.

A coffee and a cookie please!

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess

Woke up way too early. After multiple attempts to go back to sleep, I gave up and will likely need a nap later. Been working on a few stories this morning. Taking my brother for a swim at 10 and then I have the rest of the day to get ready for my nephew and his best buddy who are coming down for Spring break tomorrow for a week. Hubby is gone till Sunday so it’ll be nice to have some company and additional help with my brother.

Hope the week is going well for all y’all. I apparently picked up a cold in Michigan, which bums me out. But it seems to be running its paces rather quickly so I’m hopeful it won’t bog me down for long.

Sipping a cuppa tea while the cat snuggles up with me maybe I will take that nap sooner than later. LOL!

I HATE waking up too early beyond nearly all other things. I can't ever nap for some odd reason, so if I'm up too early, I'm up too early. Glad you have the afternoon and evening free.

Congrats on getting published Anna! That is a huge accomplishment. The culmination of a lot of hard work.

I have a new front tooth! Went to the dentist yesterday, and finally got the damn thing done. Took awhile.

Tricky bit of writing coming up today. Let's see if I can pull it off.

Other than that, lazy day. Mets are on ESPN today though! I'll listen to that!

A coffee and a cookie please.