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Life is sometimes full of lessons. Many we learn through trials and adversities. It makes you stronger for the day of tomorrow and though live moves forward , the reminders will always be there , given the changes you went through. Those changes still shaped you into the leader you are today. One that has learned, who grew but most of all conquered. In everyday life the smallest incident can later prove to be our biggest lesson. Still that is...

It's been desolate on the Poetry Monthly front these last two months. I've confidence that creativity will be revived so I'm calling on members to have a crack at this month's brief and encourage writing peers to participate. If any of you have any fresh ideas for creating new poetry, please email me at raysmart@abctales.com well in advance of next month. I'm open to suggestions - a total re-vamp with new wig and heels in fact - but need to hear...

Clinton or Trump? Sometime tomorrow we shall know the answer to this nasty, brutish and very long Presidential campaign. My money's on Trump. 'Brexit plus, plus, plus' - the man said it himself. He would not get my vote (and I voted Remain) but we have to look long and hard at where these massive protest votes are coming from. Yeats made a prescient point in his poem The Second Coming, written in 1919 'The best lack all conviction, while the...

Story and Poem of the Month for October, chosen by another of our lovely and generous editors: As always there was an awe-inspiring pool of great posts and talent to draw from. Many congratulations to everyone who has posted in October and made the choice so difficult. For poem of the month, I'm picking Branwell Clinic by Julia (Overthetop1), a very talented contributor to ABCtales, sadly no longer with us. The poem was posted by Julia's mother...

We have had to suspend the automatic joining facility for a while so if you would like to join us please email admin@abctales.com with your desired username and we will set up an account for you. It's all free!

Two outstanding pieces this week - quite hard to choose as there's been so much good stuff. Congratulations to Rosa Cruz for 'I and The Village' and NBeinn for 'Long Tall Sally'. Do read them both, they're brilliant! https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/i-and-village https://www.abctales.com/story/nbeinn/long-tall-sallly Here's the Inspiration Point: https://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip Have a lovely weekend!

The leaves are changing outside my window and the air is just that touch of chilling that makes me feel alive. This time of year awakens in me the true writer because it feeds my imagination… I don’t know why the months from October to January have this affect on me…I only know since childhood... they do. It starts in October…Halloween and the lure of costumes and their magical abilities to transform you…the tingling intrigue of mysteries and...

A few thoughts on my 112 years of being an on and off member of ABCtales.

A group of members are forming in order to keep ABCtales going after December 31st - and it's looking good. They are determined to keep the ethos of the site - that it's available to anyone regardless of financial or cultural circumstances, is friendly and supportive and will encourage improvement as much as excellence. I am very hopeful that ABCtales will continue under their guidance for many years to come. More news soon! All the best, Tony...

'The ticker, the curse of the Fitzpatricks.' It's a one-liner inserted by Irvine Welsh within the first 50 pages of Trainspotting. Did Irvine and Lilian whose maiden name was Fitzpatrick ever meet? It would not surprise me; they were the same age, both from Edinburgh housing schemes and both enjoyed a night out. Lilian was not a user of illegal drugs but in her younger days she went drinking and dancing and the two may well have met at a disco...