SamanthaMD's blog

Made It to the top

Well, despite the bike troubles I made it to NordKapp today. Winds gusting to 20mph from the north giving a temp inc wind chill of -2C. Then the clouds cleared and it rose to + 3C (in wind chill) out of the wind, it is actually nice.

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Holiday time!

I'm off on vacation on Saturday. Last year, I went to Norway and rode my motorcycle as far as the Arctic Circle. At the time, I regretted not going all the way to North Cape (Nordkap : 71.168032N, 25.781857E)
Well, this year, I'm hoping to rectify that and going right to the top and then returning through Finland.

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how long before

before the works of Shakespeare are banned in US Schools?
Why?
I was up in London earlier today and walked past the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre on the South Bank of the Thames.
That caused me to remember that when his plays were penned, all the female parts were played by men because there were no women allowed.

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Divorce papers in the USA

I'm doing some research for a future story and would like a little bit of help.

How long would it take to prepare a set of papers for a divorce? If the side petitioning for the divorce knew what they wanted before contacting an attorney, how long before they could get the application for the divorce? I would like it to be pretty short.

I need this to work on the timeline for the story.
Thanks,
Samantha

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My postings for the rest of the year

and into next...

Just a short note to give readers a heads up about what is to come for the remainder of the year and for early 2023.

First up is a 2-parter called 'Surprise'. A bit of fantasy coming true.
Then there is a 17-part story called 'A Quest for Justice'.
This is a political thriller set in the current day USA.
That should take until the end of December to finish posting.
My backlog then is still rather fluid but there is around 6 months of work in the can, and another 6 months of postings in my WIP folder nearing completion.

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There I was...

working away in front of my log fire on my entry for the Christmas Comp when disaster struck.

It was my third attempt at a story when a Christmas Film came on the TV. Five minutes in, and I knew that the 3,000 odd words that I'd written were junk. The plot of the film and my story were almost identical. For a moment, I felt like throwing my MacBook at the TV but I didn't. I'd certainly not seen the film before and was made in 2019.

My muse saw the similarity and promptly exited stage left into the distance at a great rate of knots and that's it.

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Sometimes you are proved right and wished you weren't

I published a story back in 2013 (it does not seem that long ago) called 'Promises can get you into trouble'. As the story nears its climax, I floated the idea about a number of US States banning the books that had been written by the main character who was Trans.
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/46574/promises-can-ge...

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Mea Culpa - Or how I goofed up big time

As Brittney sings, 'Oops I did it again', I messed up my postings big time. Thanks to a blog by Maryanne Peters, I found that I have posted one part of County Sheriff well out of sequence.

There are a number of parts that should have been posted before 'The Interview'. One comment got me thinking and then when answering Maryanne's blog post earlier today, it clicked.
It goes to show that no filing system is 100% perfect.

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"Please Turn Over"

If you want a laugh (and who does not need one at the moment) then it is worth having a look at an old British Comedy film called "Please Turn Over". It dates from 1959/1960 but is a good yarn. The title refers to the pages of a book that takes a town by storm.

If you can find it then give it a watch. I found it on the Talking Pictures TV channel on FreeSat (UK).

Samantha

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Sheesh

I offered what I thought was some positive criticism to an author via a private message and not in a comment. They replied and blocked me.
I won't be reading any more of their stories. It is just not worth the angst.
I'll refrain from mentioning their name so don't ask but I won't block them.

Samantha

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Taking a break

My mother died last night aged 99 years and 5 months.
I have been posting weekly for 4.5 years but I'm going to take a break from posting. The final part of 'On the Cut' was posted last weekend so it is an opportune time to have a break while I sort of Mums things.

Samantha

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It is a funny old world

In my story, "Hot and Steamy", one of the characters is a former Industrial Steam Loco called 'Lucy'.
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book-page/82210/hot-and-steamy
Little did I know when I wrote the tale that there is a small steam loco called Lucy residing on the NYMR (North Yorkshire Moors Railway). This Lucy is a formed Brussels Tramway Loco.

Strange coincidence or what?

May I wish each and everyone at BC a happy Christmas and hope that 2021 turns out to be a lot better than this.

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Oh my word (and lots of them)

With nothing better to do... I started working out how many words I have published here.
I had this itch that needed scratching.

I've not finished adding them up yet and it is getting close 900,000 and will be well over ONE Million by the end of the year. I have one story that is over 80,000 words long ready to publish.

I will have been posting here 10 years in November. If anyone had said to me that in ten years I would have written and posted around a million words then I would have told them that they are mad, stark raving bonkers.

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The Forsythe Saga

I have one more part of the story ready for publication which will appear here next weekend. But as with the best laid plans and all that, I need to get two more pieces published (one is written and one is still to see the light of day) before I get to around part 8 of my next story which currently has a working title of 'Vivienne' but may change. Maxine plays a part in that story but I need to introduce a character that plays a major role in 'Vivienne' otherwise, the 'continuation error junkies' out there will see a huge problem with the latter story.

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The WTF of Christmas Presents

I have a dear friend that I have known since 1969 but sometimes, he drives me mad.

I produce a calendar every year. This year, all the photographs are of Castles. I give them to friends as Christmas presents and sell a few to cover my costs. An excess is donated to a Charity. This year, it is the RNLI (Lifeboats). I gave them a £70 donation last week.

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The "County Sheriff" Stories

Thanks for all the nice comments on my recent postings in this series.
As I have hinted, there is more of this series to come. I havetwo more stories under development. I wrote more than 3000 words for one of them yesterday. The other story is far more problematical. It may well see the end of the series but it is not easy to write because of the crimes involved. I had an idea pop into my head around 02:00 this morning which may make writing to a conclusion a lot easier. Only time will tell on that one but it is shaping up to be another two part story.

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Murray Hall - Caused a stir back in the day

BBC Scotland Story

Murray Hall was born in Glasgow and lived a lot of his life in NYC where he was a politician, a bail bondsman and many other things.
The only problem was that Murray was female and lived for 60 years as a man until his death from cancer in 1901.

What a great story.

Samantha

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"The Store"

There is a small shop called "The Store" which also has the local laundry attached. This place is located in Bettyhill which is in the far north of Scotland. For those interested, it is at 58.53°N 4.22°W
That's 58 North. Beyond this going north is the Arctic.

This place serves great food. The Mushroom and Tarragon soup was great and very warming on a day that was dominated by very strong N.E. Winds.
Anyway, this sign caught my eye as I ate the soup.
The_Store.jpg

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