Blogs

Congrats this week go to Ladylily and hoalarg1. The poem in particular is a real gem: http://www.abctales.com/story/ladylily/grief-gaziantep And the story is moving and well written: http://www.abctales.com/story/hoalarg1/spectrum The Inspiration Point, is, I think, a real challenge: http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip Thanks all for another week of wonderful creativity!

It was a small thing really that turned my thoughts to yesterday...A long lost keepsake that returned to me unexpectedly. I could not believe it when I saw it...it had been lost for so long and there it was in a most usual place... How had I missed it before? I picked it up and the memories were like flood gates opening…the rushing thoughts washed over me. I could taste and feel the past around me…I could touch yesterday again…That small trinket...

Many thanks to Jane(airyfairy) who chose our picks for August: Amidst all the wonderful pieces on the site this month, two particularly stood out for me both for the quality of the writing and the (very different) emotions that stayed with me long after I’d read them. My poetry choice is VeraClark’s Magic, which manages to convey the love, fear, wonder and frequent banality of parenthood in its beautifully crafted lines. http://www.abctales.com/...

Imagine someone handed you thirteen billion Euros, approximately £11 000 000 000, as the European Commission tried to do, claiming that Apple had acted illegally in Ireland and paid an effective Corporate tax rate of 50 Euros for every 1 000 000 Euros they took out of the country. In a deal known as the Double Irish, Apple claimed they did not take any money out of the country, but simply moved it between different offices with no staff and an...

Many ABCTales members pledged for Jack O’Donnell’s debut novel ‘Lily Poole’ to be published by Unbound and now it’s a fabulous reality. Here are two great reviews from ABCTales Editors, Sooz and PhilipSidney to spur readers on: Philip Sidney, ABCTales: 'I read Jack O’Donnell’s haunting novel, Lily Poole some time ago and yet it stays with me like a memory from my own life; such is the intimacy of the writing. Lily Poole gets close to you, seeps...

It’s almost fifty years since The Outsiders was published. ‘The Original Teenage Rebel Story’ proclaims the tag on the cover. I’m sure William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet had the same banner headline, but in yeh olde worlde English. Hinton was only seventeen when she wrote it. And like fourteen-year old Ponyboy, the first-person narrator, you can imagine her trying to impress her English teacher and scrape a better grade by turning a...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07pqpfp The best thing for me about the Rio Olympics was it was on in the middle of the night because I didn’t need to watch it. Not that I would have. I couldn’t give a toss of your caber how many gold medals Britain racks up. There’s only one sport, one club that I follow and one team I support, Glasgow Celtic. And I’m bigoted and bitter enough to remember comedians with eighties punchlines Loadsamoney and the...

Two wonderful pieces for you. Our Story of the Week is Stephen Thom's brilliantly disturbing 'Sticks' and our Poem of the Week is Overthetop1's powerful 'The Return' posted by seashore. I thoroughly recommend both! http://www.abctales.com/story/stephen-thom/sticks http://www.abctales.com/story/seashore/return I hope the Inspiration Point sparks your creativity into action: http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip .. and now I'm off to try to...

Hapoel Beer Sheva beat Celtic on the night and caught a dose of the Scottish disease, the Celtic disease, of glorious defeat in victory. This game will be forgotten. The only thing that matters is who goes into the draw for the Champions League. Recently, Celtic have been taking one step forward and two steps back. This was a reminder of the Ronnie Roar night, but our last manager didn’t think we’d make the group stages, which was fair enough...

I think that it is time for me to start writing again. It has been almost two years since I have written anything on this blog and I need to get back to my passion. I have had an exttremely rough year so far dealing with my mental illness as well as some pretty drastic change in my life. Now, I am focusing on my family as well as my faith and am persuing a path in education, music, and writing. I will use my talents to minister to others (...