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My Year, in Prattling and Photos
It's been a year since... last year. Ironically, it seems I've found myself a new tradition of getting sick during the New Year holidays. At least, this year (that is, this inter-year period remarkable for its shiny decorations in the streets and houses, and closed supermarkets and pretty much everything), I'm doubtlessly doing better: I've managed to come visit my friends in Germany for Christmas (which I failed to do last year) and—after having some good quality time eating machanka, playing Munchkin and swinging machetes (the last one obviously crept into this checklist only for the sake of the phonological form)—I came back home via proverbial Deutche Bahn and probably less known Schweizerische Bundesbahnen, my body hosting a family of viruses, virions and who knows what other tiny critters somewhere inside my chest.
By Andrei Z.8 days ago in Photography
The Last Day of the Year
My New Year Countdown Clock indicates that I have just over five hours left before this year is over. I am stuck in the suburbs with my mother and stepfather, contemplating what I am going to eat and drink to celebrate this great change in our lives. The weather is cold, but I do not feel as though it has really affected my attitude about what the new year will bring...but I am not as happy with this moment as I usually feel.
By Kendall Defoe 9 days ago in Confessions
Lalam
Some words annoy me because I don't like the sound of them, don't like the implications, or don't like the way they are used or overused. In the days when I used to read film reviews, I learnt to hate the word 'coruscating.' The first time I read a film review that talked about a 'coruscating script' I had to look the word up, which was irritating. Why do intellectuals have to rub their smug aren't-I-oh-so-clever shit into our ignorant noses? That is a rhetorical question, btw, as we all know why.
By Raymond G. Taylor10 days ago in Writers
The Trouble With Interdimensional Travel
So, for Christmas, I got an interdimensional portal machine. It doesn't take up as much room as you might imagine. A little bigger than your average laptop, actually, so it slides under my sofa neatly when I’m not using it. Very safe. Very convenient. There is also a suit, like a wetsuit, but much smaller and thinner. It's extraordinarily stretchy. I roll that up and tuck it in the back of the dresser drawer.
By L.C. Schäfer8 days ago in Fiction
It's Winter
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What If? Writing Exercise for Fiction Writers prompts The Exercise —Write a scene involving two characters. Have the point-of-view character presume something entirely different about the situation from what the other character's overt behavior seems to imply. For example, a landlord comes to visit, and the tenant suspects that it isn't a visit but an inspection. Make up several situations in which one character can fantasize or project or suspect or even fear what another character is thinking. The Objective - To show how your characters can use their imaginations to interpret the behavior and dialogue of other characters.
By Denise E Lindquist7 days ago in Writers
