Quote by verbalIt’s SO frikkin dull. Not so much bad as tedious. The missus liked it better than I. That’s not unusual. She’s nicer than me.I came up with a drinking game for non-drinkers.
Watch Personal Shopper. Do a shot every time Kristen Stewart makes a facial expression.
Two hours later, you'll still be sober.
Awaiting Sara's iced oatmeal cookies. 
Not feeling it this morning. Still trying to wake up. Coffee, come to me!
We have two really good friends who I think may be getting a divorce. Really bummed. Their kids have just hit adulthood, which is a slightly good thing, I guess. But you can just feel the thunder rumbling on the horizon, like a bad movie.
At least the Mets didn't lose (they didn't play).
Time to write.
Quote by DenimAngelHi peeps
A beautiful day here .got some cleaning done now time to chill for a bit.
*Peeks in the cookie jars* we are in good shape.*giving the adorable critters fresh water and treats*
Hoping to get some writing done but drawing a complete blank . I got a idea and then it ran away from me
. Other than that not a lot going on . Hoping to get something on paper.
Fresh cookies tomorrow. Any requests?
Hugs
Stay safe
Iced oatmeal cookies please!!!
Thanks for the set-up. Mr. Ape.
Low 90s, partly cloudy all week here. I don't mind, I kinda like the heat. I take a walk every day around 4, when writing is done and the temp has dipped back below 90 (though just barely).
How did the Mets fall 7 games back? At least Baez is back, and led us to a win last night. Too little too late.
Short story critique group tonight. Check your ego at the door. I'm just critiquing, nothing of mine on the chopping block.
And, that's about it. A boring day in my cats-and-Talia-filled paradise.
Coffee and exactly fifteen snickerdoodles please.
From Daniel Woodrell's Tomato Red: "You're no angel, you know how this stuff comes to happen: Friday is payday and it’s been a gray day sogged by a slow ugly rain and you seek company in your gloom, and since you’re fresh to West Table, Mo., and a new hand at the dog-food factory, your choices for company are narrow but you find some finally in a trailer court on East Main, and the coed circle of bums gathered there spot you a beer, then a jug of tequila starts to rotate and the rain keeps comin’ down with a miserable bluesy beat and there’s two girls millin’ about that probably can be had but they seem to like certain things and crank is one of those certain things, and a fistful of party straws tumble from a woven handbag somebody brung, the crank gets cut into lines, and the next time you notice the time it’s three or four Sunday mornin’ and you ain’t slept since Thursday night and one of the girl voices, the one you want most and ain’t had yet though her teeth are the size of shoe-peg corn and look like maybe they’d taste sort of sour, suggests something to do, ’cause with crank you want something, anything, to do, and this cajoling voice suggests we all rob this certain house on this certain street in that rich area where folks can afford to wallow in their vices and likely have a bunch of recreational dope stashed around the mansion and goin’ to waste since an article in The Scroll said the rich people whisked off to France or some such on a noteworthy vacation.
That’s how it happens.
Can’t none of this be new to you."
Good morning everyone. No one has made coffee yet, so I will bring some in a vacuum flask, since I don’t know how to w the coffee maker. At least Sara’s cookies are here.
I am submitting the opening of a novel (actually a modified version of the 2 Chew stories on this lovely site) to my critique group tonight. Nervous. They are nice but TOUGH (and usually correct) and I am a little worried. I have to learn to play with the big kids. So, today I am editing all day.
Mets lost AGAIN. I think their season is officially over. At least Sara’s Braves woke up.
Found a great podcast about old school country music: Cocaine and Rhinestones.
Enjoy your day everyone. Coffee and a pencil shaped cookie please!
Quote by MendallaLove this paragraph. Wells was one of my earliest sci-fi reads.The opening paragraph of H. G. Well's The War of the Worlds. Sets the stage for what is to come beautifully. Richard Burton did a wonderful reading of it to open the concept album based on the novel by British producer Jeff Wayne.
"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment."
The magnificent opening of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House:
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Quote by MendallaI edit all stories, including comp entries (especially comp entries) for weeks after I post, multiple times. Not that I can't change my process, but why is editing your comp entry prior to deadline a problem? The goal is to end up with the best possible story, right?Quote by MendallaYep, checked the other site that uses this software and old (and even current) comp entries are editable. I think we just relied on the mods to catch people trying to edit submitted comp entries. I rarely edit old stories here so not an issue for me, but I do think only current comp entries should have editing disabled. No one is going to care if you edit a story that came ninth in a comp from five years ago. Still, hardly an urgent problem.But these are on comp entries from, in some cases, years ago. I thought on the old site the edit restrictions lifted once the comp was over. After all, if you're not a podium finisher, it becomes just another story. I think I know a way to check.
Anyway, I have yet to use the new editor, so I will reserve judgement.
I like the changes for the most part, though I'm not really looking around that much. I think most of the changes impact a smaller site like SS in a good way. I agree with the One True Ping that larger sites, such as the vermillion-adjacent one, are gonna freak the f out. Eventually the dust will clear, but I'm thinking many will have to be brought kicking and screaming to the new format. Life is change. Change is life.
My favorite country songwriter (other than Merle and Willie) died today. Tom T Hall. wrote story songs, and was an astonishingly good storyteller. My Dad loved him too and passed that love to me. I learned yesterday not to post videos with text, since the text disappears, but PLEASE give The Year Clayton Delaney Died a listen today if you find the chance. If I ever write anything half as good as that song I'll die a happy man.
Hey - a thought! With the new site, can we get a liquor licence for the place? At least one that allows for beer and wine? Or even (gasp!) a cannabis consumption licence (a real thing, they have them here, legal and everything)?
For now, a coffee. And a cookie!
Quote by MendallaOoh, we can click on the genre and see! Cool! I'll go look too!Quote by verbalI have thought about writing a play before but I am really not familiar enough with the stage to do it. Haven't read much modern drama either. I think the most recent play I have read was Miller's Death of a Salesman. I was thinking at one point I might hunt up an amateur theatre company to join both to try my hand at acting and so I could get a feel for it, but that's another thing that the pandemic has sidelined.Verity, you wrote a play!? Too cool. That's truly pushing the creative envelope both here and at the other sites. Hundreds of thousands of stories, and has anyone written a play before now? Super impressive. My apologies if I'm missing someone's writing.
EDIT: Hey, Larry wrote one!
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the first full day of the new SS! It looks pretty cool, and the shakedown is slowly showing us the capabilities and limitations of the new site. I can get to new stories and new posts, which is all I ever did before. Set up a sig line. I haven't started playing around with comments and votes, but I will soon.
Verity, you wrote a play!? Too cool. That's truly pushing the creative envelope both here and at the other sites. Hundreds of thousands of stories, and has anyone written a play before now? Super impressive. My apologies if I'm missing someone's writing.
No Talia Friday. I haven't seen the cats yet today. I think they are hiding from me. Rehearsals for our feline+human production of Damn Yankees did not go well. Frikkin divas. In the middle of You Gotta Have Heart, Wallace hocked up a hairball.
Coffee and a dolphin shaped cookie please.
Hey, the new site is too cool! I feel so fancy!
Still finding my way around. Wait! Here is the coffee, and here are Sara’s cookie jars. Yum. I need nothing else.
Mets finally won a game, though it took them several extra innings. And now we have to play the frikkin Dodgers. Sigh.
Busy day today, so I will get to it.
A coffee and a cookie would be swell.
Quote by Ping
Hey Every-Body,
Anyone see the Field of Dreams special the other night?
I only saw the entrance from the cornfields and all the players take the field. Still emotional. Damn music and father/son thingie.
Gotta go. Later…
Quote by gillianleeza
Trying to get all my outdoor tasks done as early as possible this week. It has been in the high nineties with lovely accompanying humidity, so it's too hot and dangerous to be outside working for long.
I hate to wish time or summer away, but I am tired of sweating because I walked outside.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'll be in the corner catching up on some reading and eating some cookies.
Now I'm eagerly awaiting the change over to the new platform.
Have a good day, and stay cool, everyone.
Cheers!
Quote by Ping
Lovin’ the injection of energy on the site.
As per Nicola, the new look SS has an ETA of a few days. After several years of dormancy, we’ve had a few competitions, and with the latest competition, and now the Challenge, SS is on the right track. Funny thing, a disco song about survival just popped into my head. New members. Old members revived. All good stuff. I can see the voluntary offering of ten dollars per annum to cover the cost of competition prizes. The more entries, the more in the kitty to help offset operating costs. But patience. The good ship SS needs to get launched and be reintroduced to the sea first.
What do y’all think about a competition-challenge repeating pattern?
I like it. Have a gap of a week or two between each. One involves judging and some formality, and the other is a friendly outreach for common-themed stories. I haven’t done the math, but this formula could see four to six of each format each calendar year. Now that it appears SS survived a near fatality, it needs to better look after its health. Consider competitions and challenges like regular exercise. They help to keep the interest up and creative juices flowing. Okay, that sounded way dirtier than intended.
Anyway, busy day today. Thanks to those that read my latest. I’ll respond in kind shortly.
Rump, I’ll take a travel mug of that pine tar you call coffee. Darn. I just thought about something. The only batting cage our area has was removed the make way for progress and ‘the public good’. Tragic. It’s something I’d love to take my kids too and swat away our daily frustrations. I guess it’s the driving range we go… until a new batting cage materializes. Sadly, my kids are not allowed to partake in the local offering of ax throwing. I’ve seen them play darts. No ax throwing is probably a good thing.
Good day to you all!
