The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[iwatchus]

Like many places, we got our first snow this evening.Fitting because my Winter Contest story was just accepted (I was getting nervous, it was over 24 hours and so many people said theirs got accepts in a few). It is all about a major blizzard so now I do see white out the window like I expect.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I will be celebrating Veterans Day tomorrow and going to Red Robin (yuummm) for my free lunch.

For now, I'm starting a new pot of coffee and putting out a chocolate cake for snacking. See you in the morning.

 

[DrDesiderio]

I’ve given up using canned pumpkin. It’s convenient, but if I’m tak8ng the time for a pie, I’ll do it properly and go with, yes, butternut squash. (And eggs, cream, butter, etc. One can no more have a proper vegan pumpkin pie than one can have kosher bacon.)

I finally steeled myself -- no more canned -- and bought raw pumpkin hunks in my Brooklyn market. I'm so lazy that I used my butcher's cleaver and boiled the pieces with the skins on.

Does anyone else ever feel like a carnivore when butchering vegetables?

 

[TheRedLantern]

Does anyone else ever feel like a carnivore when butchering vegetables?

I don't feel like a carnivore when I'm cutting vegetables, but when I eat them on the side of a steak I do.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

We got over two inches of snow and it looks and feels like winter. This is the earliest substantial snow we've gotten here in the nearly twenty eight years I've been here. It is Veteran's Day, so a shout out to all of the veterans that stop in today ...

There's a fresh pot of coffee brewing and the teapot is steaming. There are donuts and cheese danish on the counter along with the leftover chocolate cake.

I'll be over in the corner, after wading through the plot bunnies, working on my new story with a deadline in 23 days. No pressure ...

 

[TarnishedPenny]

A wish on a most difficult day to those who need it. Peace to you all; you are not alone.

 

[TheRedLantern]

working on my new story with a deadline in 23 days. No pressure ...

I admire the ambition and productivity that a few of the authors around me have! I've seen several authors turn in multiple entries for contests and events and I love that. I have a fantasy of doing that one day.

With my Winter contest story published ( ), I'm trying not to sit on my control panel and click refresh to see how it's doing, so I started on my next thing. I'm not totally sure what it is, but it's definitely inspired by next year's Jasmine Tea event and I think it's going to be more dramatic than my previous stories.

 

[iwatchus]

We got almost 5 inches and its still snowing. Unfortunately, our plowing service contract does not start until Saturday. I guess my son back living with us can earn his keep today.

It's exciting to actually have a story published after about two months. It's been a weird sensation to have no stories go up -- I had averaged just over two stories a week for my first three months here, earlier this year. Between the shift to writing novels and the pending purgatory problem, as well as some blockage on my end (and the damned students expecting me to grade their previous little assignments), nothing's been published.

Now to try not to check for any updates to the ratings every 15 seconds. It either isn't being well received or I got some 1-bombs. Time will tell.

 

[TheRedLantern]

I had averaged just over two stories a week for my first three months here, earlier this year

OMG I get whiplash just reading that, LOL!

 

[iwatchus]

OMG I get whiplash just reading that, LOL!

Yeah, I averaged 4K a day over that stretch. I had just about 400K words published in my first 100 days here. I get pretty obsessive about things (or so I'm told).

 

[MillieDynamite]

Yeah, it made up for the gossness of the task of the homemade, patchwork assemblage of said Monster. I particularly got a good giggle from a charging horse and rider frozen stiff mid-stride.

It was pretty decent. They had some really strong actors and the story itself is iconic, and that made up for some of the cheesiness. Although I appreciated a lot of the cheesiness ... when he's assembling the monster and the movie is playing this really upbeat, happy, Disney-style classical music made me laugh.

 

[Duleigh]

Holy jumping crap, they've really screwed it up this time

There are 9 stories posted on the Winter Holiday contest page. 9! Have you ever seen a contest start off with less than 30? Dozens of writers are reporting that their story is showing NEW with a publishing date of today, but is still on their PENDING page.

And as usual (lately), guess who isn't responding to DMs or Emails.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Okay, what's new?

Holy jumping crap, they've really screwed it up this time

There are 9 stories posted on the Winter Holiday contest page. 9! Have you ever seen a contest start off with less than 30? Dozens of writers are reporting that their story is showing NEW with a publishing date of today, but is still on their PENDING page.

And as usual (lately), guess who isn't responding to DMs or Emails.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Okay, what's new?

If you're the right kind of colorblind, the sky is green.

 

[Duleigh]

Okay, what's new?

No, they've never blown a contest that bad... there's money on the line and they're jerking around like this?

Like I told Chloe, if I had an airman screw up a B-52 as badly as they screwed up this contest, something they've been doing 6 times a year for 20 years - I'd still be beating the crap out of the dork.

 

[iwatchus]

If you're the right kind of colorblind, the sky is green.

Or if you are truly monochromatic, it's gray, even when you're not in Northern New England in November.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not arguing merit, jus' that it has become par for the course.

No, they've never blown a contest that bad... there's money on the line and they're jerking around like this?

Like I told Chloe, if I had an airman screw up a B-52 as badly as they screwed up this contest, something they've been doing 6 times a year for 20 years - I'd still be beating the crap out of the dork.

I'm not collor blind.

If you're the right kind of colorblind, the sky is green.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I'm not collor blind.

Which is why that would be telling you something new.

 

[TheRedLantern]

Today's forecast is "cupcake with a fifty percent chance of chocolate. Expect a sprinkle of sprinkles."

It's actually snowing a little outside. Not enough for it to big a big deal, but enough that when I needed to come up with the name for a character, "Snowdrop" is what came out (in Korean, it sounds like a girl's name).

Although now that I'm looking at it, "Snowdrop" would be an interesting name for a protagonist so I might want to switch the names around.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

It's warming up and the snow is slowly melting. It's supposed to warm up for a few days with temps in the high 60s by the weekend. However, it's too late and I'm in winter mode now.

There's coffee brewing and the teapot is steaming. There are donuts and cookies on the counter for those who need more than a caffeine buzz.

I'll be over in the corner trying to work on my story and attempting not to fret about my Winter Holiday contest story. I haven't come up with a good ending yet so I'll be working on that today.

 

[iwatchus]

The weather here is staying chilly. It should be in the mid 40's for highs, but all ten days in the forecast are for highs in the 30's mostly low 30's. And at least flurries almost every day. It's nice to see the white, but this is going to make it feel like a long winter. How late spring arrives up here is my least favorite thing of living here.

At least we have the winter holiday event to go along with the weather. I probably won't get another W, but otherwise it's been a much better contest than the Nude Day one was. It's been barely 24 hours and my story already has my fifth most votes and sixth most favorites of any of my stories. And I have gotten 13 new followers. The rating is holding on okay, despite a number of onesies gifted me by our local residents under the bridge.

I read the final version of Lantern's fabulous story for the first time yesterday. I highly recommend it to everyone. I hope to read CK's story today, although like mine, it's a bigger lift, word count-wise. I expect to enjoy it, as I hope to with many others.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Boxes, boxes, boxes. Need more boxes...

 

[TheLobster]

No sign of snow here as of yet. Tomorrow it’s actually said to reach 12 degrees (50ish in freedom units), which is quite warm for this time of the year. Definitely not going to complain.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Morning all, hope everyone is doing well.

 

[stickygirl]

Morning all, hope everyone is doing well.

Afternoon! Thank you for asking, you gay old bird. Ima doing just good. Worked from home. Had a cheeky half-glass of wine already.... my I can feel it warming my insides