Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooood Morrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrning!

We gots coffee, some Fire-Roasted St. Drogo. It's a blend of 3 roasts, 1 dark and two medium, with beans from the 3 different countries. Sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me, but I don't drink the stuff.

As for teas, I've got Naughty & Spice from Tea Haus, a holiday-themed spiced tea, and a Darjeeling.

Hot water is out for other hot bevvies.

If you're needing something cold, there's sodas in the fridge.

And I picked up some goodies from a local bakery since we are short on cookies these days.

Forget about it. Image was in a stupid format for some reason.

Gas. I love wood but have never been especially adept, or comfortable, at handling fire.

Brick or flat (asphalt or concrete) driveway?

Hey, hey, hey, it's ... coffee time!!

We've got some Nicaraguan Dark Roast brewing in the coffee machine. For teas, I have selected some Darjeeling and Buddha's Blend. Sodas are looking good. Hot water is on standby for other hot beverages.

Just saw an article about the incredibly prolific James Patterson. Apparently, he gives out money to staff at independent bookshops at Christmas, a Christmas bonus basically. Cool guy. The article also talks about his philanthropic work.

Hundreds of bookstore staffers receive holiday bonuses from author James Patterson

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand good morning!!

I'll put on some Tobermory Grotto coffee for you lovers of the bean. For the lovers of the leaf, we've got English Breakfast and Earl Grey Supreme. Hot water is ready for other teas and hot chocolate. Sodas are stocked in the fridge if you're needing something chillier.

Sadly, the marshmallow stock looks like it will last out the season this year. Anyone heard anything from Sara lately?

Quote by gillianleeza
My knees are less than reliable these days. I hope yours heals quickly.

I had some trouble with mine this year, too, but they seem to be better now. Age, I guess. X-rays showed "mild deterioriation" meaning my arthritis is starting to get in there, I guess. It's mostly in my hands, still, and a bit in my feet.

Quote by gillianleeza
I hope the weather has improved for you, Scott. It is chilly here, but there has been no winter precipitation so far.

We are actually losing some of the snow today. Positive temps and showers. Supposed to be back to winter by mid-week, though.

Nice village. My parents never had a full village, just a nice church that someone build as a handicraft.

Brazilian alto Violet Orlandi usually hews more to alt-rock and metal in her work, both covers and originals. So hearing her tackle the Billie Holliday classic "Gloomy Sunday" was a pleasant surprise. She does bring some of that alt- sensibility to it, but it also suggests that jazz is another route she could pursue if the mood took her.

Good morning! Looking nice here. We did end up getting some snow yesterday but not enough to bother shoveling.

Got a story or two on the go and some writing time, so will keep plugging away at those.

For coffee, we've got some Deathwish Dark Roast.

Teas are Assam Organic and Wakoucha.

Sodas are stock for anyone needing a cold drink.

And the hot water is ready for other teas or hot chocolate.

Hope you're all having a fine weekend.

Later, alligators.

Was out shoveling. Nasty, nasty day. Snow ranging from flurries to squalls, fairly high, cold winds. Think Hoth in Star Wars but minus the tauntauns and wampas.

So, I am going to plug a new, largely unknown Finnish band here. How did I find them? The original lead singer and lyricist is the sister of a friend on another site I hang out on (and I think the friend knows another band founder, too). Said sister has now left the band for other pursuits but her successor is doing a bang up job on vocals and writing. This new song and video are their best yet, I think. The band is EGRES and their debut EP Introspection and the singles they have released since are all on major streamers.

FYI, at least a couple of those markets do have schedules for 2025. There's one themed around first line prompts that has quarterly themes and they list all the quarters for next year. And the Other Stories podcast has it's schedule for 2025 up, though Authors Publish just list the themes for the first two months (i.e. Jan. and Feb.) with a link to the podcast's site for the rest.

Here we go. The December list is up. 37 themed calls and contests for your perusal. Some are coming due quite soon but there's also some forward-looking ones for 2025. Themes are, as always, all over the map. Solarpunk, resistance (in the political sense), workers' stories, storms, and so much more. Have a look. Maybe there's a market here for your next story. Or maybe it will at least inspire something.

» 37 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for December 2024

Depends what I am doing but mostly gloves nowadays. Have some decent insulated ones.

Build a snowperson or build a snow fort?

That's cool. I'll be happy to get a tree up (maybe this weekend). Weather continues to be dicey here. Not totally suckish, but dicey. Windy with blowing snow today, squalls maybe later. Not much new snow yet, anyhow.

Psst. Darjeeling can't come from Sri Lanka. It's an actual tea growing area in India. But I'll take some. And one of them there spice bars.

Been too worn out in the evenings to progress on my current work. It's long haul stuff anyhow. Maybe a novelette or novella by the time it's done.

Quote by gillianleeza
I watched Alien Romulus. It was okay. If you liked the Alien movies you would probably enjoy it, but there was nothing new or groundbreaking, at least not that I could tell.

I haven't seen one since Alien 3 came out. Big fan of the first two, though, and this one falls in between them in terms of the in-universe chronology so might partake someday.

I have a bunch of concerts in a playlist on YouTube that i want to get to now that I have a decent soundbar on my TV. Mostly metal, needless to say.

Online save for a couple things I like to be able to browse in person (e.g. books)

Real or fake tree for Christmas?

Quote by verbal
Not much new here. Talia leaves today.

My wife is away right now, too. Left yesterday, back tomorrow although her return journey could be adventurous because, yeah, snow squalls in the forecast. We basically leapt from Fall to Winter on the weekend.

You mentioned your back being bad because of raking. We never got a chance to finish. Mine is a mess from two straight days of shoveling. Today is the first day since the weekend that I have not had a shovel out.

Need to get back on my current story effort. It's long and still going. Debating whether to go where I originally planned with it on a couple fronts. One could decide whether it can go on here.

Glad to hear your Thanksgiving went well, Gil. You needed it, I suspect, after the past few months. And Germany. Cool. I made a couple stops there on my Baltic cruise last summer and was in Berlin in 1993.

Good evening, folks. Take care.

Quote by verbal
That said, I still commit typos regularly.

But do you publish them? I spend so much time just obsessing over typos, missed words, and such. I freak a bit if I realize one made it through to publication.

Quote by verbal
Leave raking

I was supposed to do this but we have a light layer of snow over everything after 24 hours or so of on and off flurries. Calling for a chance of squalls tonight but doesn't seem too bad right now.

Some seasonal tuneage from a concert in Finland. The trio are Johanna Kurkela (vocals), Timo Kurkela (guitar, vocals), and Troy Donockley (pipes and vocals). You have to click through to view. For some reason, the channel blocks embedding.

Good morning!! December is here!! Advent is underway!! I am obsessed with exclamation marks!! Or maybe had too much tea!!

Anyhow, coffee is Christmas Blend from Murchie's. Teas are Scottish Breakfast and the seasonal Naughty & Spice (basically a Christmas themed chai)

And one of the things I get from Author's Publish is promos for courses they offer. However, given they are a writing site, you would think they would proof their content better than the snip below suggests.

The return of Linkin Park with new vocalist Emily Armstrong produced a strong album in From Zero and some terrific performances. Here's the live debut of the single "Two-faced", which I much prefer to the video for the song.

In the turkey is generally better, I find.

Shop on Black Friday or just wind down from the holiday feast? (substitute Boxing Day if not American)

Quote by verbal
Today? Video games and turkey leftovers.

Weirdly, that sounds rather like Boxing Day in my family home back in the day. Guess it is kind of the same thing, too, the day after the big day. Even the shopping element, though Boxing Day was a retail holiday in Ontario until, I think, the late nineties. "Boxing Day" sales actually started on the 27th back then save a few stubborn retailers who tried to fight the law in court.

Things sometimes can just happen.

Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

Very, very loosely inspired by a Ray Bradbury short and fx by the amazing Ray Harryhausen.

Sorry, I missed American Thanksgiving but I see pecan pie leftover so I'll just take a slice of that.

I will get a pot of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee going. In the teapots we've got some Earl Grey and Buddha's Blend. Sodas are stocked for those needing a cold beverage. Hot water is ready for other teas or some hot chocolate.

Hope you American types are having a good holiday and don't spend yourselves into bankruptcy at the sales today.

The weekend looms for the rest of us. Have a good one, folks!!

pounces on the mini pecan pies

Well, to start. Those all look good.

Sorry I've been scarce. Just been running around a lot. I am writing. 5700 words into a story that I have been trying to write for years. Decided I had been approaching elements of it wrong and went at it a slightly different way and, so far, that seems to be moving along better. But I have said that before and then stumbled (literarily speaking).

Will try to come by more often moving forward. But I keep stumbling on that, too.

Nice to see you back, Cora and not just because of the desserts. Though that helps. 😋

And Noora Louhimo, another Finn, is best known as the powerful voice of heavy metal band Battle Beast. However, here she sings the blues, and does it quite well.

Here's an interesting musical pair-up. Patty Gurdy (a stage name, obviously) is a German artist who sings and plays hurdy-gurdy. Tavern, released yesterday, is her second full-length studio album (there's also an EP in between). She has a number of guest artists but this is the one that caught my eye when she released an album trailer a while back.

Finn Marko Hietala is best known for his 20 years as bassist/vocalist in Nightwish, but has been in the music scene since his teens (he's getting close to 60). Marko has been solo since leaving Nightwish in 2021 and does a lot of collaborations, as he does here with Patty. One of my favourite songs on the album, even if it is a bit different in tone from the others (most are more folk-y than this).

Quote by gillianleeza
It will be a relatively small group (twelve) this year, but it will be nice to feel something close to having a normal life.

That's good to hear after the rough ride you've had recently. Have a good Thanksgiving. Glad the German branch of the family was able to make it over for the holiday.

And good morning world!! Weather is a bit blah around here, but I've seen worse. At least no bomb cyclones or hurricanes are involved as I've been hearing about from various online friends on other sites.

For coffee, let's keep it basic. A nice dark roast Colombian.

Teas? English Breakfast and Raspberry Royale.

Hot water is available if you want other teas or are craving a hot chocolate fix.

Sodas are in the fridge if you need something cold.

Later, alligators! Have a great weekend!