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For this month’s ABC Open 500 word challenge (‘What I was wearing’) I go back to 2006 to a trip to Thailand where I was certainly not dressed well for a scooter ride in the remote mountains of Ko Tao.

Here’s the link:

https://open.abc.net.au/explore/110385

Image by The Reclining Gentleman at https://thereclininggentleman.wordpress.com

Balanced, he looks down at the water below.

He says to himself, ‘If no one stops me. This is the end.’

An old woman waves her cane and croaks, ‘Don’t jump! No one deserves to die like this!’

He smiles and walks away. From his jacket pocket he pulls a pen and a piece of paper. There’s a list of names, some crossed off.

At the top of the page he writes: Woman with cane. He puts the list away. He smiles again. Then from his other pocket he pulls out a gun and turns back towards the woman.

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Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle each week where writers from around the world post 100 word stories based on a common photo prompt. For more information, and to read other stories, visit Rochelle’s page here.

Image by Marie Gail Stratford at https://mariegailstratford.wordpress.com

There’s a silo in the field just over that hill. It’s empty. It’s been empty for years.

The farmer built it thirty years ago. It was meant to hold grain from the surrounding fields. It just never worked out that way. Not enough rain. Too much rain. Not enough rain again. The crop was never successful. The silo was never filled.

The farmer’s wife tried to console him. ‘It’s too late now.’

She sighed deeply before suggesting, ‘Maybe we should accept the fact and just stop trying.’

He looked across at the empty fields. His empty arms. His empty house.

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Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle each week where writers from around the world post 100 word stories based on a common photo prompt. For more information, and to read other stories, visit Rochelle’s page here.

Image by Roger Bultot

Our street used to be so quiet before Old Man Ted moved in next door.

‘Dinosaurs! Let me tell you about dinosaurs!’

Not in an interesting way though.

‘God had no need for dinosaurs!’

Okay, we didn’t go to church regularly, but we weren’t exactly arguing survival of the fittest and all that.

But he just wouldn’t stop.

‘Meteorites killed them? Never! Weren’t no dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark.’

When the meteorite did hit Old Man Ted’s house no one bothered to question it further. It could have been God, or it could have been evolution. I guess we’ll never know.

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A couple of weeks ago my writers group presented at the Newcastle Writers Festival on how to take your writing from hobby to publication. What an experience! We enjoyed every moment. Of course we took the opportunity to promote Friday Fictioneers as a brilliant way to improve your writing and instantly get an international audience. So here’s a shout out to anyone who has joined FF for the first time this week… WELCOME!

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Friday Fictioneers is a weekly online challenge where writers from around the world post 100 word stories inspired by the one photo. To read more, click here.

Below is a session summary and key notes from today’s Newcastle Writers Festival session ‘The Next Level: How to take your writing from hobby to publication’. This is a FREE event held today at Newcastle City Hall in the Mulubinba Room at 3pm.

What the session’s about

If you’ve always thought about writing a book, this session will encourage you to start getting those words on the page. If you’ve started but don’t know how to finish, this session will help that too. And if you’ve finished the book (congratulations!), this session will give you some tips on how to polish it so it’s ready for publication.

See below for key links mentioned today in the session.

Who are the presenters and what will they be talking about?

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