Week 326 – A Successful Return, ‘Shall We Shag Now Or Shall We Shag Later? And Who’s Got A Beard That’s Long And White?

Another thanks to Leila for doing such a sterling job last week.

We had an inventive posting from a lady with a brilliant imagination.

Your back in the mud guys with me!!

I wonder why I used the word ‘mud’ there when I meant shite.

There was a line that was in one of the genius series of Rab C. Nesbitt (Although the last two weren’t the best.) which stated ‘Aye see you Nesbitt – You thought you could get out the shite into the clarity of the pish – But naw – You’re still in the shite.’

So nae pish for you guys, we are back in the brown and murky.

Something has raised its head in the last couple of weeks that I want to address and that is the question on getting your second acceptance from our site.

In a way this is much more difficult. Now we are not being twatish in our refusals, it actually is down to all of you who have had one and are trying for two. You see, you have given us your benchmark. So you need to make sure that your second effort at the least, reaches that bench mark.

But within those thoughts, there is another consideration and that is what we think of our own work. Some of my acceptances have surprised me just as much as the refusals. All I can say is that what resonates with you, may be too close to home for you to be subjective. What you can never do is let the quality of your work slip. Don’t give anyone an easy reason to say no. Make sure that you are happy with structure, grammar and continuity. If those are as good as you can get them, well, then it comes down to that old chestnut of opinion.

Very few writers have had two or three acceptances from their first two or three submissions but we can honestly state that we don’t give previous acceptances or refusals any consideration – They mean nothing. But your own bench mark means a helluva lot.

Okay onto this week’s stories.

We had two new writers, a returner and two old friends.

As always we welcome our new folks with every enthusiasm that we can muster.

Our topics this week include; a relationship, a memory, loss, a re-visit and repetition.

As usual our initial comments follow.

First up was our returning author.

Yancarlo got us up and running with ‘Sarah‘.

‘Poignant.’

‘It’s an interesting musing.’

‘This could be a part of something bigger.’

On Tuesday we had our first newbie.

Leon Coleman is a tenacious writer who has kept at it until he finally got an acceptance.

‘Breathe’ was his story that was published on Tuesday.

‘Atmospheric.’

‘The twist was well done’

‘I thought this came together very well.’

Yash Seyedbagheri has been a bit of a constant lately.

He broke the back of the week with, ‘Promise.‘

‘Powerful.’

‘Brilliantly put across.’

‘Such depth of feeling.’

On Thursday we had another old friend of the site.

‘The Weight Of Return’ was Marco Etheridge’s latest offering.

‘Really good. I enjoyed this.’

‘It’s a snapshot of a life gone wrong.’

‘The unsaid works.’

And we finished off on Friday with Darren A. Deth who gave us ‘Sunday Papers’.

‘The writing is quality.’

‘The characters are visible and you feel sympathy for them.’

The section about the burying of the child was poignant and very well judged.

Leila has a link to Canada so I would like to send our best wishes to Mike Myers who had a birthday this week. He is a Canadian who has played an English officer (The Inglorious Bastards) and also a Scottish hitman ‘Fat Bastard’ (Austin Powers – ‘The Spy Who Shagged Me’ and ‘Goldmember’ who had the best line ever when he lost a lot of weight, ”Ma neck looks like a vagina!’

That lines sounds as if it could be funny but the other one which was in ‘I Married An Axe Murderer’ probably doesn’t sound that amusing but it was – ‘Heid!!! Get me ma paper’

He pointed out on many an occasion the size of his son’s cranium.

And who has never said ‘Excellent’ as per ‘Wayne’s World’ or headbanged to Queen?

Another birthday to finish off. I see that it was Bob Dylan’s 80^th birthday this week.

To be truthful, I’m not that much into him. I do like a few songs and I adore ‘The Man In The Long Black Coat’. He also did a cracking Christmas song to rival The Pogues and the lovely Kirsty McCall. I feel very sad when I think on what happened to that poor lady.

What I didn’t know was that he was a Laureate (Is that how you phrase that??) So I had a look to see if I had read any of the past winners. There were a few that I knew like Pinter, Churchill and Steinbeck but to be honest, I didn’t know many. I wonder if that says more about me than the winners or the other way round. When I look at the list I wonder about certain awards. Are they realistic? Do they resonate to the majority or is there something specialised in them that becomes more fad than accessible? I honestly don’t know. I don’t think I have the intellect to work out reasoning in proportion to ‘talent’. But the problem is who that decision is left to. I reckon we are too far one way. Too far the other way, we would probably have Mills And Boon winning awards for excellence.

I’ve never understood ‘The Mercury’ awards – That is a bit out there when Freddie was all about entertainment. And that entertainment was across a very broad spectrum of people. Again the reasoning and accessibility is something I don’t understand.

I had a look for quotes / lyrics from Mr Bob and two stood out.

– All the money you made will never buy back your soul.

– Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet. (Although there seems to be an argument about whether this was a Bob Marley quote – No matter – It is a belter!!)

Even though your voice isn’t the best – Happy birthday Bob!!

Hugh