Yes, sorry about that. I usually aim for the 15th but I’ve been a tad busy this month. Blame NaNoWriMo. I’m currently 7,143 words behind and it’s a new day in <checks> an hour. Oops. So 8,810 tomorrow. Hey ho. I’ve written 5,000 words today so if I keep going at that rate. I’m almost ready with the results but want to go through the stories one more time as I have too many still to select. It just means they’re that good… and I’m a tough crowd.
The good news is that I’m writing the follow up to The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, The Serial Dieter’s Shopping List, with Donna and the helm this time. It’s lovely being back with her, Izzy, William and Duncan (although he’s not featured very much yet – at 22,863 words).
Donna’s been seconded to the sister paper at Hemel Hempstead and stays with her mum in Tring (both Hertfordshire) so if you know that part of the world…
Moonless night. Howling dogs. Quick footsteps.
Inserting the syringe, hope fills me.
No heartbeat, no life. Heartbreaking delivery.
I hated because I saw myself.
Old flame sent photo. Eyes missing.
Hello everyone and welcome to the thirty-seventh month of this competition! In September I received 34 entries from 18 authors for the theme of ‘complex’. NB. You can all send in three stories for a better chance of being picked!
Underneath our photo the brochure says, ‘Portugal’s premiere holiday apartment complex’. We are twenty luxury apartments ‘with stunning views and swimming pool’.
He wore silver braces to keep his Harlequin trousers suspended. On his feet he sported battered Converse trainers, rubber soles hanging at the toe. A striped sock was visible on his left ankle; however it appeared that his right ankle was bare. Perhaps it was out of solidarity with the foot that his chest was also naked. His arms had escaped this indignity as they were enshrouded in a moth-eaten woollen cardigan.
She first spotted her mark strutting towards the pier. A good-looking man followed by a couple of lesser mortals.
My layabout husband never worked but he wrote the rules, dictating economy and control.
A compound sentence is made up of two simple sentences joined by a conjunction. Complex sentences contain an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. A compound-complex sentence is comprised of more than one clause joined by a conjunction, with at least one of those clauses being complex. In other words, it is a compound sentence with a dependent, or subordinate clause. So, if a person gets on a bus at 9 am traveling 50 miles per hour going to Newark, and stops for lunch twice, what color are the bus driver’s eyes, and where are the survivors buried?
Alan Barker with ‘Maze of Confusion’
Celia Jenkins with ‘The Complex Nature of Middle Children’
Mary scraped leftovers into the slop bucket. Her pigs would eat well tonight.
Patricia Cooksley with ‘Dad’s Café’
Highly commended (winning my 
Honourable mentions (not winning anything but only narrowly missing out and still looking good on their CV) – in alphabetical order:
Barbara Young with ‘A Unique Opportunity’
Ten small boxes, covered in stained satin and decorated with gemstones, sat on the workshop shelf. Each box had a label. One said, “Jane H”. Another said, “hobo”.
Albert looked at his long gnarled fingers stretching out in front of him he picked up the spoon. It wasn’t good enough this broth of potatoes and peas. Pushing the spoon away, he swore grabbing hold of his shaggy grey beard.