Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Winning Story: The First Noel


It was the twenty-fourth of December, 1950. Gingerbread-men and chocolate cookies filled the kitchen, the Christmas tree was in full blaze, and the walls were decked with holly and Christmas cards. The house was hued in blazes of gold, red and dark-green; the streets sprinkled with wreaths and lights. To be unhappy on a day like this was considered positively indecent in the Knock family. It was even snowing, for crying out loud.
Jemimah, however, had on a very miserable face. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, she had set her heart on a Vera Lynn record, and she had just come to discover that there was none among her Christmas presents. Secondly, she heard someone in the market say, “I think nine is like a midget. Ten is like a grown-up. I read that in a book so that means it’s true.” This crushed her heart, seeing she was nine, and not ten. The third reason was because her Christmas dress, which, however pretty it was, had a collar which looked painfully like a baby bib. The mortification of wearing it on the best day of the year would be huge.
Being gloomy on the twenty-fourth was a sin in this household, so Jemimah was sent out to the grocery store to buy two pounds of brown sugar and twenty inches of red velvet ribbon.
It was obvious that everyone around her was having a jolly time. Children were building snowmen in their front gardens, young couples were holding hands under lanterns, and some fathers were buying Christmas trees. Laughter and merriment danced around, people were singing ‘T’is the season’ in the snow, unashamed to publicise their untalented vibratos. The Christmas spirit truly had intoxicated the nation, like it did every year.

2015 Christmas Short Story Contest Winner!

Regency Delight Story Contest

Yes, and here we have come to the conclusion of my little contest.  Thank you to ALL who entered! I was pleasantly surprised by how many people participated! I really didn't expect such a response on such short notice.  Thank you, thank you!

I know I said I would announce the winner on December 31st, but I changed my mind.  December 30th just seems a better day to me.  Not running into New Year's Eve and all that.

Well, I shouldn't keep you all in suspense.  The winner is:

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Book Review: The Photograph by Beverly Lewis



Since you can learn the synopsis of the book from other sources if you look around a bit, I won't bother to talk about it here.  My purpose in reviewing things is just to give my thoughts on how I liked it. 


As you can see from the rating, I didn't think it was one of Beverly Lewis' best, but I didn't think it was one of the worst either.  I liked the main characters, even the guy, which is somewhat unusual.  (His narrative actually seemed necessary for once, and wasn't as boring as I generally find a MMC's narrative to be.) As always, I appreciated the author's tactful approach to romance--that is, you could tell that plenty of emotions were involved without the characters being ridiculous and, more importantly, without a bunch of physical attraction nonsense.  (This is such a pet peeve of mine I feel like I should abbreviate that in my book reviews to PAN. Ha.)  


Thursday, December 17, 2015

Very Short Christmas Story Contest



So, as a lot of you know I have been contemplating a story contest for Christmas.  It is now December 14th, when I am only beginning to write this, so I think my original idea is a little bit unrealistic.  Heh.


Therefore, I have decided to save that up for another year.  When I can give you all some more time to write to your heart’s content.  


However, the idea of not doing anything at all disappointed me, rather.  So, what I propose is, this year, to have a Christmas (Short) Short Story Contest.  In the hopes that all of you are not like me, and you can actually write something short in a shorter amount of time than something long.  (I have a leetle problem with being concise when I write. Amy, I forbid you to make a snarky remark about this. :P)  


Well, without more blah-blah-ing, let’s get to the Guidelines/Rules/All That.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Announcements of Varying Variety

All right, I have a lot to say.  So, I’m going to make this post COLORFUL and do different colors for different Topics so you don’t get lost.


As you can see for yourself, I have changed things a little bit.  Rather than making a whole new header for Christmas this year, I decided just to decorate the one I already had. ;)


And yes, I am aware that the background color doesn’t go so well with the header.  But if you want my opinion (and I’m sure you all DO), Christmas is one time of year where we can dispense with caring so much about what ‘goes’ and what clashes, and do what gives us joy. Especially where festive decor is concerned. ;)

*inserts random Christmassy pictures*


Thanks so much to everybody who has answered my blog survey! (If you have not yet done so, you can find it here.)  Upon reviewing the answers, I have a few things to say.  So if you answered the survey, listen up. :)

Would you rather hear the story...

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