Hey all! Merry Christmas Eve to you. We hope this year has been one full of writing challenges and successes where you’ve grown and learned more about yourself as a writer, improved your skills, and been encouraged by fellow writers.
Gary has taken a leave of absence from BB, and he is much missed, but he may be back in the future. I know I hold out hope! Anyway, we’ve all felt his absence, but we wish him well in all his wonderful endeavors.
Special Update
The special announcement is that A. E. Branson has stepped up to take a role here at BB with keeping us organized and on track. I’m so excited to have the extra pair of eyes on things around here and am looking forward to A. E.’s contributions to the coming year.
So, with that, please share some love with A. E. for being willing to step up!
If you didn’t get a chance to learn some about our awesome writerly teammate, check out A. E.’s Spotlight
AND
Have a happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Rachael
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Rachael, and to all our BB buddies! And thank you – I could never fill Gary’s shoes, but just glad to be able to help out. Hope all the holidays are joyous and looking forward to what everybody crafts in the upcoming year!
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You could have last year haha! That said I’ve sent Rachael a list for next year and scheduled two for Jan and Feb but just need her graphic abilities to update the images. Most help here once things are set up is monitoring incoming tales and adding them to the story post. Most of it is scheduled well in advance. But brilliant to see your willingness to help out. It means things can be monitored if someone has a life interlude!
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Better late than never, perhaps … time will tell! 🙂 And considering how often those life interludes can step in, we may discover the old adage ‘One is none, two is one, and three is two’ rings very true!
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We’re so happy you’re willing to step up and help out here! Volunteering is a HUGE deal and much appreciated. I also love your enthusiasm! ❤ Happy new year!
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Thanks, although the enthusiasm might mask some anxiety…? 🙂 Have a Happy New Year!
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Nothing to be anxious about! We’re on a BB adventure together. ;D
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You’ll be fine Abe… most of the time adding stories is just a case of copying the URL and dropping it in. FYI. I’ve blended your word list with mine. Seems we both did one haha. Still, it means you can’t cheat…oh hang on you can as you’ll be able to see all the scheduled posts 😂😂
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Bwha-ha-ha! 🙂
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That’s wonderful news. I am well aware how tricky it can be fitting everything in to a busy life (witness my “missed months” and those last-minute entries of mine), and having someone else to help carry the load makes a huge difference. It amazes me how long I’ve been contributing to #BlogBattle without paying much heed to all the work that goes on in the background, so thank you to Gary and Rachael, and welcome AE. 🙂
I would promise to try to write my stories more promptly in the coming year, but let’s be realistic :). We’re past the shortest day, the sheep need moving to another field, the tomatoes and cucumbers will need planting soon and then there will be lambing and…
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Calm before the spring storm Mark. You’re right about time too. BB has been running for years thanks to Rachael. Who, I might add, has had to suffer my absence for quite some time. That said I did send over a new word list just in case it was needed. I’ll check later this week and see if there’s prompt ready for January and if not will set it up. Good luck with the prep for planting and lambing no doubt 😊
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Thanks, Gary. Back in the era of the day-job, life was more regular and had “spare time” but now our lives revolve around livestock who need things when they need them, rather than waiting for the weekend. 🙂
Part of the idea of the downsizing/pseudo-retirement was to have more time to write. That has not worked out quite as planned.
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So true… we took in 3 rescue kittens and life now revolves around them. As you say, need when they need.
I do think you’ve done the right thing though. Pseudo retirement has to be better than full on. Keeps the purpose going. Planned it may not have been but if you hadn’t done it where would you be now? Bored in a pandemic or multiple books? Have to say full on retirement would scare me… one reason I have taken on pub cellars as a sideline
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Three kittens… OK… 🙂
We decided that we would never let the cats outnumber us again, only to have a string of them move into the barn and then into the house until we had four. Much of the last year was dominated by making sure that one of them got the best summer possible as it seemed highly likely that it would be his last. We must have got something right because he gave every indication that he was doing better in spite of his steadily declining health, which I attribute to him being a very happy cat. (He was also the biggest character and it’s noticeable that when I look back over cat-related items on my blog, he got more written about him than the rest put together. 🙂 )
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Missed you, Gary, and so glad to see you back! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and looking forward to seeing more of those stories. 🙂
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Thanks Abe. In truth it’s everyone I’ve met here that’s the inspiration to get back on the writing wagon. Especially the enduring Rachael who, I think, underestimates her friendship! Oh, I did try and comment on your last story too. Except it kept refusing to post it!
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I’ve noticed WP can be a little moody…. Hopefully it will be more cheerful next month and everybody’s inspiration will be in high gear!
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It didn’t hit your spam filter did it? Sometimes things get caught by the filters. At least I’ve found that happening now and then
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Nope, just cleaned that out. As someone who suspects technology is out to get us, there’s no telling what set the algorithms off. 🙂
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I’ll try again later. If it gives a failure I’ll tell you what it says. Might be able to track why then. I say that because I doubt I’m the only one having trouble. You could have millions of fans and never know 😳
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At least the problem usually seems temporary: I remember times in the past when I’ve had trouble leaving comments on your site. Hopefully you don’t have millions of fans and don’t know it!
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Hopefully. I found a few blogs where I ended up copying my comment almost expecting it to go wrong so I could paste it back rather than start over. As you probably know I’m not one to type a couple of words haha
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😀 I also copy the long ones because they seem to be the ones that get spat back out!
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Thank you, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! Always enjoy your stories when you get them in, and looking forward to many more. Maybe the sheep will keep providing some inspiration…. 🙂
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It’s a wonderful contribution to have you participate in BB! I sometimes can’t believe we’ve been at this as long as we have. I do love the community and cannot imagine us not having this place to gather, writerly challenge, read, and encourage each other. Thanks for making it a great place to be! 🙂 Happy new year, Mark!
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Thanks for the mention Rachael. And kudos Abe for agreeing to help out. It’s been a very odd year where writing and blogging have taken a huge step backwards. One reason was realising my WIP was becoming very large. I’ve spent some time reorganising things and streamlining social media. I don’t normally do new year resolutions but one I will make is to visit this community much more. I really appreciate the people and, dare I say, friends here.
Apologies for the absence Rachael. I know it’s been tough for you keeping on top of things. If you need the next word list I have actually got that as I made it last year haha
Merry Christmas all
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Thank you, and definitely hope we’ll see more you this year! Maybe among the three of us things will keep running smoothly … if, as the new person, I can avoid screwing things up. 🙂
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Fear not… I’m more than capable of screwing things up Abe! Especially graphics…. I’m rubbish at that part 🥺
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It’s a good thing Rachael is a true leader – I’m pretty much garbage at graphics, too!
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No apologies necessary, Gary! Honestly, you are one of the big reasons BB keeps going. I have appreciated and relied on you so much. It’s so great to have our little team of background people growing. I’ll get the main prompts set up for the year this week and then add in graphics. We’ll use a combination of the words both you and A. E. came up with! ❤ Thank you! So glad you're back!
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I was forgetting having to persuade you to bring BB back. Seems a long time ago now, but in truth it’s created quite a good community. I’ve been away since April and coming back now is a bit like meeting old friends. No judgements just straight back into conversation as if no time has passed. How good is that 😇
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❤ excellent how that is. I so love that you are back, and I know I'm not alone in that.
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RE: 1st paragraph – yes, yes, and yes! I’m really thankful to the BBprompt team for the prompts, inspiration, and support this year. I had A BLAST writing my series in 2021.
RE: 2nd paragraph – I hope Gary is alright. I was wondering why I haven’t seen him around lately. He always had valuable feedback to share. I hope he is well and do tell him that selfishly, we hope he returns soon. Selflessly, we understand he needs to be away for now.
I’m glad to see AE become an official part of the team. I felt like AE has always been a part of it, so I was actually surprised recently to see that was not the case.
Merry Christmas to all!
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Thanks Sam, I’m ok, just struggling with the muse. Not a block as such, just the mojo. A short break escalated somewhat! Hopefully it will pass and the New Year will start things afresh
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Good to hear! Take it easy!
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and thanks for the kind comment it felt like I was contributing to the team. So happy to see Gary back, and absolutely agree how valuable his contribution has been!
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Honestly, I feel like evereyone who is here month after month is part of the team. Every contributes to each other in support and friendship, and that’s what I absolutely love about BB. There is a variety of personalities and talent here that just makes my day! 🙂 I am so happy A. E. will be on the “official” team to keep this place up and running [smoothly]. ;D ❤
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Happy Christmas to you and yours Rachael and your whole blogging community.
Keep on keeping on.
Roger.
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Merry Christmas, Roger! Do you think you might be in the mood to join in now and againt his year? It’d be great for me! 😉 ❤ happy new year!
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Seasons greetings again Rachael.😀🌲
I finished my trilogy and kindled it in November, paused for breath, tried each of the three other projects which were supposed simmering and though ‘Nope. Not firing’ And was sitting here thinking about other writing roads to explore, because I did enjoy contributing to the Crux Anthology… So, yes I will try and contribute😃.
And Happy New Year to you and yours too✨🎄❤
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Congrats! That’s huge! How do we search for your books on Kindle? I’d love to share about your completed trilogy. 😀 I’m happ you’re thinking about participating here this coming here! woohoo!
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Hi Rachael.
Yes I am looking forward to trying out the challenges, they’ll have me working outside of a box I found myself in!😏 Time to good (boldly optional) where not before😃.
Thanks for the invite to publicise my work:
1. Amazon link to the series page is:
(Or just type in ‘R J Llewellyn on the USA kindle page)
2. I have another blog which deals with themes, characters etc
https://theprecipicedominionsafantasytrilogy.wordpress.com/
3 And there was a series of less than series marketing attempts on this blog headed ‘Just For Marketing and Giggles’
Only fair to mention all books include adult themes in detail, violence and complex comings and goings- mirroring my perspectives of history.
Big thanks for the opportunity.🌺🌻🌼🌼
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Kudos to you Roger. Congratulations on publishing and Happy New Year
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Thank you Gary.
Time for new roads to travel.
Happy New Year to you too.
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Thanks for sharing that, Roger! ❤ I appreciate the ease of access it provides too. 😉
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Happy to provide Rachael 😀.
(That’s relief to know there’s ease of access…normally I have a knack of providing links that…err…don’t link😏)
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I have purchased the set and sneaked them into my TBR list toward the top. 😉 ❤ congrats again!
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Aww thanks so much Rachael.🤗
I hope they provide entertainment for you. They are long, adult themed and sometimes the backgrounds are complex. But what can you do the characters take over and start to say ‘No. It did not happen that way. Re-write it, this way’ 😏.
Thanks again…..🌺🌻🌼
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When I have ingested them I’ll be sure to leave fair and honest reviews. ❤
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Thank you so much for your support Rachael. The three together make quite long read, please take your time. I trust you comments and judgement so would be interested to read them.😀
By the way. Just discovered this when reading the Kindle sample; despite spending a long time proof reading and listening to Word dictate everything to me in Volume 3 one pesky typo slipped through.😖
Approximately Page 27 the lines reads ” Trelli, now known by her official name, which Trelli wished she had never started, Lady nah”…the last word should read ‘Trelyvana’….
Colour me ‘Stupefied’😧
Best wishes
Roger
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It’s amazing how those typos slip through! haha ❤
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Bad pixies! 🤦♂️
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Marvellous news. Here’s to a busy writerly new year. Festive feliciations, peeps!!
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And the very same to you Geoff. Have a great New Year
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Same, Geoff! I hope your plans for the new year are taking shape and have you looking forward to what it brings!
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Fingers crossed!,
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