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Rumple_deWriter
Over 90 days ago
Moderator
United States

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How y'all are? I'm still aging disgracefully out here in the desert, even more baffled and confused than usual. Said 'Howdy' to Maggie this morning on FB which reminded me how much I miss all of you.

Jeff, mega-congrats on the sale.

Before I grab me some coffee and a few cookies, please tolerate me asking two question:

What is a 'Kreplie'? Now for the biggie: is there a place to gain wisdom and knowledge vis-a-vis the new software.

And in conclusion, Scott, sometimes messages do show up. I've gotten ones or two from da Bear and the Survivor and the Mandela unit who fired off one just a few days ago. Glad I am to learn he's gonna keep the venerable 'Comps and Calls for Subs' forum going. It was 'Dirty Martini's' forum and I tried to keep it going in memory of Alan.

Later, Inspirators. :glasses8:

Greetings on this Moanday mourning. Not sure how this feat was accomplished, but for some mysterious reason, I'm here -- sorry about that. Sometimes I can login, other times, not. Beats me why.

Before I forget (something that happens quicker and quicker these days) just what is a 'kreplie(sp). That's just one of the many things about this new set-up which I do not understand.

If I crank up a new account, will it delete my current one? I seem to remember there being a way to put an account into something like hibernation.

Anyway, enough of my whining. Now that our boss man has upgraded the coffee/tea/and goodies offerings, I'm gonna grab me some and go sit in a confy chair while hoping my Saints beat the Seahawks tonight on Monday Night Football.

Later, Inspirators. :glasses8:

Well, let me tell ya, it's like this, somehow managed to login and and am now trying to create a post -- only to face the reality that I have nothing to say. (sigh)

Bottom line is sometimes I can login to SS, but that's never, ever doable on Lush. I'm thinking about asking Nic if I can park what is now not working on SS and Lush and create new profiles even though the Lush/SS policy has always been one account only. That way, if the current snafu is cleared up, I can go back to my oldies but goodies.

If anybody has any thoughts about any of this, let me know like, anytime.

:glasses8:

Quote by henrietta_fielding
Quote by Rumple_deWriter

This may or may not be me -- waiting on blood tests and genetic screening to reveal all. I'm still bewitched bothered and bemildered by the new fangled stuff to the point where I'm not sure if it's the new 'skin' or my usual incompetence and computer cluelessness -- maybe a combination of ingrediants product.. (sigh)


Later Inspirators. :glasses8: 

Bill!! Great to see you here!! HUGS! And if it's you, it's me too. I'm easily confused by tech!

Welcome back, Roland. Thinking of you.

Evening everyone. I'll snag a lemon softie while I'm here. Thanks, Sara!


Ms Fielding, Nic got in touch with me via FB Messanger. She left some suggestions but I'm still thinking the problem may be in a screen reader. I'd turn it off to check whether that helped, except then I couldn't 'hear' what was happening. (sigh) This weekend I'm gonna try to con my smoart grandkid and her rocket scientist to stop by and fiddle with my 'puter. If nothing else works, I'll consider deleting this account and cranking up a new one. Wonder if 'Rumple Forskin' would be acceptable? ;)


Bemildered old Bill :glasses8:

This may or may not be me -- waiting on blood tests and genetic screening to reveal all. I'm still bewitched bothered and bemildered by the new fangled stuff to the point where I'm not sure if it's the new 'skin' or my usual incompetence and computer cluelessness -- maybe a combination of ingrediants product.. (sigh)


Later Inspirators. :glasses8: 

Morning, Scott. Glad I am to be back among all the inspired Inspirators. For some reason, I haven't been able to slip in for days now. My fiendish plan for today's breaking and entry was to abandone shortcuts and use the long, old-fashioned method which, for me, involves scrolling down the list of all forums preceding Inspirations.

I've no idea why this has happened, of course. Might have something to do with the upcoming switch-aroo or maybe my screen reader is been balky -- again. (sigh)

Since the Wild Ape from the North Woods has done gone and left a morning set-up, I'm gonna fill my mug with coffee, my off hand with Sarah's cookies and make my way to a comfy chair at the corner table where I'll rest my rumpled rump and cogitate on what was, what is, and what may be coming.

Later, Inspirators.
Morning, Inspirators. Here's the big news sweeping the sports world.

x x x

The classic baseball film, "Field of Dreams" moves from make believe to real life.

Here's everything you need to know for Thursday's game:

Time: 7 p.m. EST

TV channel: FOX

Streaming: FoxSports.com

Location: Dyersville, Iowa

Who is playing in the Field of Dreams game?
The Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees face off in the game on Thursday with the White Sox as the "home" team. The teams will have a day off Friday and then play Saturday and Sunday in Chicago to finish the three-game set.

x x x

Even without all the hype and Hollywood hoopla, this should be a great game. The White Sox are dominating their devision and the Yankees are streaking. Check it out.

Now I'm gonna get the coffee pot and te kettle cranking, fill my mug with java, grab a handful of Sarah's cookies, then go sit an a comfy chair at the corner table and wait for the first pitch. Yeah, I know. That 7:00PM est not 7:00AM est. So it'll be a long wait. ;)

Later, Inspirators.
Damp morning greetings to both, Larry and Victor.

We had some after-midnight rain down here in the desert. I suppose it was part of the 'monsoon' rains folks keep going on about. Whatever the case, more of the same is predicted for this morning.

Past time for me to fill my mug with whatever type of coffee you brewed, then grab a handful of Sarah's raisin oatmeal cookies and then park my carcuss over at the corner table to try and dream up a Challenge entry.

So here's the deal, Lucille:

1. The olympics finally did something right -- by shutting things down on time.

2. I've been boycotting the olympics ever since they added Judo to the list of competition while continuing to exclude the noble sport of, Caber Tossing. It's an insult to all Scots no matter where they roam.

3. IMO, there can never be too many cookie jars but when did 'Elmo' join the lineup? I'm soooo confused.

4. The cause of vocabularly reduction should not begin until writers on both the red and the blue sites accept that there is a difference between 'breath' as in, Breath of fresh air, and 'breathe' as in Breathe deep.

5. No doubt it is traumatic for Inspirations' hardcore baseball fans to watch there teams sink toward Major League oblivion. However, those of us with a hometown team that has already piled up 78 losses have little sympathy to spare. ;)

Later, Inspirators.
Happy Hump Day to all Inspirators. The coffee pot has been rinsed and dried as has been the tea kettle. Today's coffee is from the Big Mamou Coffee Co. located near the fabled town of, Little Mamou. Water is from the nearby Atchafalaya River. Enjoy.

Some of the baseball teams Inspirators pull for won: Padres, Diamondbacks, Braves, while others such as the Mets Royals, and Nationals did not. Probably a great object lesson there but it escapes me.

Time to fill my mug, grab some of Sarah's cookies and wander over to the corner table to spend some time wool gathering.

Later, Inspirators.
How y'all are? The coffee pot has been rinsed out as has the tea kettle. Both are now full of water from legendary Bayou Baby Bunting. As for the coffee, well, the big can under the counter was almost empty so it must be okay. Right? Good luck to all of you.

ROLAND! It's a goodness to have your here among us. Sorry about your Cubs. But it could be worse -- you could have the Diamondbacks for your hometown club. ;)

Time to fill my mug, then grab some of Sarah's cookies and go sit in the corner and try to stay out of the way.

Later, Inspirators.
Mega congrats to the big three, the top ten, and all the participants. Here's hoping all who entered get a fancy badge or some other token that they were part of one helluva impressive field.

It is a truth, which should be universally acknowledged, that Molly did an incredible job riding herd on this contest and deserves prodigious praise for all she accomplished.

TGIF type salutations to all. I'm still reeling just a bit following Verity's info dump. BTW, Ms V, don't know if you're up early or late, but if you're the first Inspirator to show up, it would be good manners for you to get the tea kettle kettling and take a shot at coffee making.

Since there are sports fans among us: there were some big trades in baseball, the NBA draft was interesting and in college football, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the universities of Texas and Oklahoma are about to get hitched.

All that sports stuff dang near wore me out. Time for coffee and cookies and a seat at the corner table to double-check all that info..

Later, Inspirators.
Great link to a great song, Jeff. I swear, in a non-blasthemic sort of way,'The Road Goes on Forever is as much a movie script as a song lyric. Much enjoyed.

It reminded me of the story about the time a couple state troopers stopped the tour bus of Towns Van Zandt. Turned out one of the troopers could never get enough of 'Pancho and Lefty'. The road manager negotiating with the cops said that Towns, the man who wrote the song, was on board. The top cop was skeptical so Van Zandt joined them, sang the entire song, shook hands with the cops and presumably all involved went back into their dreams.

Time for a power nap or maybe a bit more.

Later, Inspirators.
Morning, y'all. Seems like Inspirators are doing a slow walk this morning. That being the case, I'll make the coffee just a tad stronger than usual. The status remains quo, however, for the tea kettle.

The Pingster keeps asking that eternal question: Iconoclastically incorrigible or just a silly dumb ass...

Just chalk this up as your basic WAG (wild ass guess) but the two are not, imo, mutually exclusive. ;

Coffee's cooked! Think I'll fill my mug with the stuff, grab some of Sarah's goodies, and then figuratively fold my tent and slip off into the desert like the Arab of old. Now speaking literally, I'll go sit outside and savor the unseasonably restrained temp while it lasts.

Later, Inspirators.
How y'all are. At the moment, my mind, writing wise, is so blank, I'm having flashback to a multiple choice essay test I faced in high school. We the non-scholarly were faced with cranking out a essay on either: The Glorious Revolution or 2. The Battle of Teermopylae. In my defense, judging from the reaction of fellow test takers, blank minds were in vogue that balmy spring morning.

Anyway, with zelch for creativity, I decided to pass on a poem I encountered today on The Writers Almanac by Garrison Keillor. Since I'm not sure if this is in accordance with Stories Space rules and regs much less in good taste, it might be best to read this quickly. ;)


IT’S WEDNESDAY, NOT THURSDAY
by Kim Dower

Wake up thinking it’s trash day
so I move the cans out to the front
even though it’s pouring. Back in,
make extra strong coffee,
read the story in the paper
about the 400-pound bear they
captured in La Crescenta, he strolled down
the mountain, lured by the scent
of meatballs from Costco,
made several trips sensing the danger
but those of us who’ve had them can agree
those meatballs from Costco are worth
getting pierced by tranquilizer darts.
“Like moving a water bed without a frame,”
claimed the State Fish and Game officials
who loaded him into the truck.
I hope a princess kisses him, he wakes up
human, marries, lives happily ever after
in a home at the edge of a forest
where a bear will stray from the mountain,
raid his garbage, and the ex-bear, father of two,
will keep buckets of chilled meatballs in every room
of his sprawling ranch-style home.

Kim Dower, “It’s Wednesday, Not Thursday” from Last Train To The Missing Planet.” Copyright © 2016 Red Hen Press. (


Think I'll try sampling some of Ping's, Boysenberry Mead.

Later, Inspirators.
How y'all are? My poor, pitiful 'puter as been, let's just say, less than helpful. Don't know what I did back once upon a time to deserve this but I sure hope it was a lot of fun.

Don't know if everyone caught Molly's announcement over on the Site Announcement forum but, if not, she said the contest winners would be announcedAugust first.

Which reminds me, has there been any updates on the conversion? Last I recall hearing was things are 'progressing' and that the big change will take place on or about early September -- probably. So what I'm asking, does anyone have more up to date information They can share?

I'm thinking, in a manner of speaking, that an afternoon cup of coffee and a bunch of Sarah's 'Contest Cookies' will do right by me. At the moment my 'get up and go' has 'got up and went'.

Later, Inspirators.
Is it still Moanday? it is? In the immortal words of Winnie-the-Pooh, "Oh bother."

Larry thanks for the set-up and for giving WG proper recognition and greetings.

I was a bit 'off my feed' this weekend. Just felt punky and out of sourts. On the other hand, it let me stay piled up in bed knocking off a couple historical mystery novels.

Next up could be an in-depth analysis of the news that the universities of Oklahoma and Texas will probably be moving from the Big-12 conference to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) wherr teams such as Alabama, Georgia and my beloved LSU Tigers roam. Yep that could be next up except most Inspirators don't care and I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing.

With a second mug of coffee in one hand while the other is filled to overflowing with Sarah's cookies, I'll go over to the corner table, sit in a dry confy chair, and speculate on just what in the heck-e-darn is speculative fiction.

Later, Inspirators.
It appears the contest is now closed to new entries with 17 having made it in before the deadline.

Hope y'all have a great weekend and can finish reading all the entries. ;)

Later, Inspirators.
Mid-day TGIF along with Happy Birthday Verity salutations are hereby extended to all
Just checked, and the contest remains open with 17 entries. Here are the last three:

Winter Convalescence blackdog
On The Edge TheSensualLady
Pine Ping.

Several of us had time to give Ping's entry the old RVC (read, vote, comment) business yesterday but not the two most recent.

I've read the entry of Sensual Lady and recommend it to all. The most recent entry, the one by, Black Dog, will have to wait until after lunch before having my RVC inflicted upon the poor thing. ;)

The temp is 75f (no kidding) and there's thunder, rain and flash flood warning here in the Valley of the Sun. think I'll take my Mendalla prepared coffee and Sarah cooked cookies with me over to the corner table and hunker down until all this goes away.

Later, Inspirators.
More entries! Yep, Da Bear done got it right, honest. Sarah and Verity both now have entries which pushes to total entry count to thirteen.. Me, I've read, voted and commented on them and can report that they are not only vastly different from each other and the 'typical' Stories Space submission but are equally well done. You can find them near the top of the main page so hurry up and do your two good deeds for the day.

If you get a chance, there are also some longish non-entries by The Shy Thespian, Annie, and Billy New.

Now having toiled in the vineyards this morning, I'll grab some of Sarah's cookies, fill my mug with Larry's Kansas coffee and flop into a corner comfy chair to rest my weary bones.

Later, Inspirators.
Hump Day 'How do y'all do?' type salutations are hereby extended from your old somewhat immoderate moderator To all who enter. These greeting come with high fives and handshakes for those who behold with expressions of sympathy the polar bear sitting on a block of ice under the leaky old window A/C unit while overworking an unofficial Inspirations hand fan and moaning pitifully about the heat.

It was about Gary Cooper time (High Noon) when I last checked on the contest. For what it's worth and your information, the contest is still open and the number of entries remains at eleven. Me, I'm guessing the powers that be trying to ride herd on this contest will not shut it down until tomorrow morning -- but who knows?

It's over 100f out here in the valley of the sun so I'm gonna whip up some iced coffee. Wanna try some, Brother Bear?

Later, Inspirators.
How y'all are? Our beloved leader is, as is sometimes the case, correct. This time it concerns news of a large, bear-figure shaped wearing an off-white fur coat and doing business over here as, James T. Bear . Apparently he was spotted leaving a entry in the Survivor contest which is, imo both inspirational and impressive.

Unbeaten!
JamesPBear
https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/drama/-unbeaten-.aspx

Be sure to check it out along with any other entries you may have missed. All are well worth a read or two.

Now I'll fill my mug with some of our leader's CCC (Canadian Club Coffee) grab a handful of Sarah's cookies and find a comfy chair at the corner table to meditate on the obfuscation of obvious truths.

Later, Inspirators.
Tams, you can do it and it'll be well done. Just one bit of unasked for advice, don't read the other entries before submitting your own. Even for a writer such as you, it could be very discouraging, honest. ;)

How y'all are, he asks, basking in 'y'all' being recognized as a 'real' English word. ;)

My plans are always subject to change without notice. It now looks like my family visits will be in late August. That motivated me to go ahead and post the entire 'Authors Publish' newsletter instead of the edited versions I've been using as the source for 'Calls for subs & Contests' post.

They're free and will show up in your inbox - but only if you subscribe.

I'd hang around to talk about the Suns three straight losses to the Bucs in the NBA finals except Jeff's contest entry is calling. Since writing fiction seems beyond me for the time being, it least I can read a bit.

Later, Inspirators.
It maybe several weeks before I can post another one of these newsletters from Authors Publish. Thought I'd post the whole thing so you could get an idea what you'd be getting in your email if you subscribed. It's free and highly recommended.

x x x

29 Literary Fiction Publishers that Accept Direct Submissions – No Agent Required
Written by Emily Harstone

Literary fiction is one of the harder genres to get published in without an agent. There are smaller presses that specialize in it, but unfortunately more and more of those presses are now charging reading fees. However, there are still good options for authors who are unagented and averse to paying reading fees.

The manuscript publishers in this list cover a wide range. Some are small presses that only publish a few works of literary fiction a year, others are large established presses that just focus on literary fiction along with one or two other genres, others publish literary fiction as part of a wide variety of genres.

Not all of these publishers are currently open to submissions. This list is in no particular order.

Able Muse

Able Muse is a small literary press that has one free reading period every year, from 1st May through 15th July. They also publish a literary journal, and they host a number of contests every year. They publish poetry and fiction primarily, and they will consider nonfiction as long as you query first. Most of the fiction they publish is short story collections and unlike other small presses, some of what they publish is genre work.

Coffee House Press

Coffee House Press (CHP) is a respected literary press with a great reputation. They are only open for short submission periods every year. These periods are capped at 300 submissions, so submit early. They open on the first of the month. During the last open period they had reached 300 submissions within a few hours. Coffee House Press publishes emerging and midcareer authors. They do not focus on bestsellers, but their books are often taught in academic settings and available in libraries and independent bookstores.

BlazeVOX

BlazeVOX is a publisher based out of Buffalo, New York. They are a small independent publisher that focuses on publishing innovative literary fiction and poetry manuscripts.

Acre Books

Acre Books is an imprint of The Cincinnati Review. They focus on publishing literary fiction and poetry. They are interested in novels and short story collections. They are not accepting submissions of full manuscripts. They ask that authors query first. While Acre Books is still new, they are an offshoot of the well-respected and long- established literary journal The Cincinnati Review. Their website focuses on selling books, not on recruiting authors. The books they have published so far are great and have wonderful covers.

Plough Publishing

They publish a quarterly magazine as well as books. The books they publish include books on Christian living, social issues, devotionals, church history, spiritual classics, parenting and education, poetry and literary fiction, as well as children’s books.

Schaffner Press

Schaffner is an established press with distribution through IPG. They publish literary fiction, short fiction collections, and crime fiction. They also publish a wide variety of nonfiction including memoir, autobiography, biography, journalistic expose or narrative, true crime, art, culture, pop culture, world history, current events, science, and music.

404 Ink

This is an Edinburgh based publisher, open to direct submissions of full length manuscripts of fiction, nonfiction, short stories, and poetry. They are a small press that has different reading periods every year, and currently, they are open to nonfiction pitches for their pocket book series.

The Feminist Press

The Feminist Press was established as an independent nonprofit literary publisher in 1970. The Feminist Press is the oldest women’s publishing house in the world. They are open to submission from female/female identifying, and non-binary authors. They publish literary fiction and works of nonfiction.

Platypus Press

Platypus Press is a publisher of prose and poetry, all literary. They are a publisher based out of the UK that have been publishing books for six years. They have established a track record and publish books with beautiful covers.

Persea Books

Persea Books is an independent book publisher based out of New York that was established in the 1970s. Since then they have gained a reputation for publishing thoughtful books in a variety of literary genres, including literary fiction.

McSweeney’s

McSweeney’s is one of my personal favorite publishers. They publish literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. I own a large number of the books they have published in the last decade. They have been closed for submissions for longer than expected, but still plan to re-open.

Waywiser

Waywiser is a small independent press based in the UK. They host a yearly contest called The Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, but they charge a fee for that. They seem to focus on literary prose and poetry. They publish fiction and nonfiction, including essay collections. Unfortunately the only way to submit poetry manuscripts to them is through the contest.

8th House Publishing

8th House Publishing is a newer publisher based out of Montreal and New York. They publish poetry, novels with a literary bent, and nonfiction.seem to put a fair amount of effort into promoting their author’s work through launches, readings, and links to additional publications. They also seem to be very good at getting prestigious authors to provide blurbs for their books. Their covers tend to be well designed and aesthetically pleasing.

Fairlight Books

Fairlight Books is a publisher of literary fiction based in Oxford. They were founded in 2017 and started publishing in 2018. The company is run by an ex-energy chief, Louise Boland. Their goal is to promote literary fiction, particularly by new authors, in the UK. You can learn a little bit more about that here.

aunt lute

aunt lute is a multicultural women’s press. Their priority is to publish work by women, both transgender and cisgender, particularly women of color. They publish both fiction and nonfiction. They also publish poetry but only as part of an anthology or a larger prose work. They were founded in 1982.

Soho Press

Soho Press is an established and respected literary independent publisher based out of New York. Soho Press is generally open to unsolicited submissions of literary fiction. They focus on publishing bold voices and original perspectives. To learn more about what they have published in the past, their catalog is a good place to start.

Tramp Press

Tramp is a literary press based out of Ireland that has great distribution. Within Ireland they are distributed by Gill & Macmillan. Throughout the rest of the world they are distributed by Macmillan.

Skylight Press

Skylight Press is a small, UK-based publisher. They publish 12 books every year. They publish serious esoteric and occult books (focusing on things like paganism, and Arthurian/Grail traditions), as well as literary fiction, and nonfiction with a history or horticultural focus. They also consider literary analysis, although they do not publish much of it. They publish poetry as well but are currently not open to fiction or poetry submissions.

Flashpoint Publications

Regal Crest Enterprises historically specialized in publishing books of interest to lesbian readers but now their focus has expanded to include LGBTQ+ and they’ve rebranded as Flashpoint Publications. They mostly publish genre fiction now as well as some nonfiction. Learn more here.

Bellevue Literary Press

Bellevue Literary Press publishes works of narrative nonfiction and literary fiction geared towards a general readership. They accept unsolicited submissions of both kinds of work. The work they publish explores the intersection between arts and science. Many of the characters in the fictional work that they publish are doctors and scientists, but many of their books also focus on the natural world. They seem to publish about four novels for every work of nonfiction they publish.

Douglas & McIntyre

Douglas & McIntyre is one of Canada’s pre-eminent independent publishers, with books that have won many national and international awards, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award. They filed for bankruptcy a number of years ago. Harbour Publishing purchased Douglas & McIntyre at that point. They predominantly publish Canadian authors. To learn more about their submission policy, go here.

Three Rooms Press

Three Rooms Press is an independent press that is inspired by “Dada, Punk, and Passion”. They were founded in 1994. They have good distribution.

Jaded Ibis

Jaded Ibis Press allows international submissions from women, writers of color, writers with disabilities, queer writers, as well as other marginalized and disenfranchised writers. They currently publish prose, both in terms of fiction and nonfiction. They want work to be well written and also contain ideas that contribute to the progress of social justice. This is very much a niche focus.

Deep Vellum

Deep Vellum is a press based in Dallas. They describe themselves as the “heart and soul of the Dallas literary community”. They were founded in 2013 and initially just published works in translation. Now they publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in English, as well as works in translation that fall into any of the previous categories. As of 2020 about half of that work was translated authors and half was work originally published in English.

époque press

époque press is an independent publisher based between Brighton, Dublin and New York. They publish literary fiction, and only literary fiction, but it can be novel length or in short story format. They published their first volume in 2018.

Unnamed Press

Unnamed Press is an independent publisher of literary fiction and nonfiction, based in Los Angeles and founded in 2014. They have excellent distribution, their books have been reviewed in most major publications, and they know how to promote the books they publish.

Brother Mockingbird Publishing

Brother Mockingbird Publishing is a small independent press committed to discovering writers from the American South, but they are also open to good fiction, regardless of where the author is based. They recently celebrated their three-year anniversary, so they are a new press.

Clash Books

Clash Books started in 2015, they also publish Clash Magazine and the literary journal Black Telephone Magazine. They publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Clash Books is a small press but they attend major conferences like AWP and they host readings. They also offer wholesale discounts and they have provisional distribution via Ingram Spark.

Ig Publishing

Ig Publishing is a New York-based small press that focuses on publishing literary fiction and progressive political nonfiction. The books they’ve published have won or been honorable mentions for many major awards, and are frequently mentioned on “best of” year- end lists.

Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2020 Guide to Manuscript Publishers.

She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.




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Morning, Inspirators and thanks to Larry for the setup -- even if it was no trouble. ;)

There's big, exciting, even thrilling news for those involved with the use and abuse of the English language.

Y'ALL has been proclaimed a 'real' word! Read on for more info.

x x x

New definitions have also been introduced, including one for "y'all," which has been added to the dictionary as its own entry, separate from "you-all." The word, commonly associated with Southern American English and Black English, has been recognized by Dictionary.com as one that now communicates an informal tone more than it does regional identity, and one that has become popular among younger demographics for its inclusivity.

"Y'all has new popularity among former you guys users, who now appreciate the lack of gender associations with y'all," according to the Dictionary.com post. smile

Coffee's on me -- but it didn't burn much and I'll wipe it up, honest. With my now refilled mug and some of Sarah's cookies, I'm heading to the corner table to sit a spell and grin like the proverbial mule eating sawbriars.

Later, Inspirators.
Hump Day 'howdy-do's to one and/or all.

Coffee's cookin' and the tea kettle is kettling and Sarah dropped off a new batch of fresh baseball themed cookies. The rest is, as they say, up to y'all.

Last night, the American League won its eight straight All-Star game. Back in the day, it was the National's who won 'em all. So goes it.

Time to fill my mug, grab some of Sarah's cookies and go sit outside to listen to the thunder and maybe find out what's up with the local flash flood warning.

Later, Inspirators
Sarah, many thanks for the fresh batch of 'baseball' cookies.

Verbal, I didn't follow the home run derby either (listening to home runs can get boring real quick like). However, so far today, everyone who has mentioned the derby has raved about the show. This includes 'real' fans such as Sarah and the 'Morning, Joe' crew on MS-NBC. It's the first baseball event in some time I can recall generating so much positive 'water cooler' chatter.

And now I'm gonna slip a can of Diet Coke from the fridge, grab some of Sarah's cookies and wait for the All-Star game to start at 4:30 DT (desert time).

Later Inspirators.
en re: Larry's CT scan report.

WAHOO!!! (please pardon those last to ungrammatical exclaimation points -- I just couldn't resit, honest.;)

Yesterday was the birthday of Carl/Fuzzy) while Larry/Survivor got that great CT report. To celebrate both events, here's a little sports news from their neck of the woods.

Sports tidbit: Two high school baseball players from the stomping grounds of Larry, and Carl, who had been signed by my LSU Tigers, were drafted by their hometown team, the Kansas City Royals in the early rounds of the MLB draft. And while it is true that the school's cheerleaders are perky and and the Golden Girl dancers are most alluring money is money, especially when there's a gob of it available for going pro. Here's hoping they both make it to the majors and have great careers.

I was gonna brag on the slugger from Verbal's beloved Mets winning his second straight home run derby yesterday, but I forgot his name. (the hitter, not Verbal)

Thanks for the coffee, Larry. and big hugs for Sarah on account of her cookies. Think I'll take some of both and slip over to the corner table. And since I remembered to bring my rain hat, I'll sit under the leaky window A/c and ponder the imponderable, or at least the implausable.

Later, Inspirators.