20.12.13 Story, Poem and Inspiration Point of the Week

Happy Christmas, one and all.

I'm home in Canada for the holidays - so apologies for the late update this week. The sun is just up and doing it's best to get through the snow out here on the West coast. It's frightful weather, but inside the fire is nearing delightful, though we may need to ladle on a bit more coal before we're ready to let it snow. We've nowhere else to go. So the thing to do is hole up in front of the Christmas tree and read!

Two fantastic picks for you this week. Story of the week goes to VeraClark's 'Inside' - the start of what I can only hope will be a novel. Just incredibly well-wrought sentences - each one is a corker - with such an insightful, strong voice you'll hate how soon it comes to an end. Poem of the week goes to Maggy Van Eijk's 'Things you'd only tell your mother in a foreign language.' The poem is as surprising as the title. Age old themes made suddenly new. If you haven't already, please read both:

http://www.abctales.com/story/veraclark/inside-1

http://www.abctales.com/story/maggyvaneijk/things-you%E2%80%99d-only-tell-your-mother-foreign-language

And if you've got a spare moment over the holidays, have a go at this week's inspiration point:

http://www.abctales.com/inspiration-point-ip

If that gets you going (or even if it doesn't), try to carve out a little time to create something for our Winter competition. Details available here: http://www.abctales.com/blog/luke-neima/abctales-winter-write. 

Merry Christmas from me and the whole ABCtales team!

Luke