Susan Quilty, Writer

I don’t need more t-shirts… but I may need this t-shirt. 🖤

This shirt is not sold in stores and is only available for a short time.
Order: https://www.bookworm.gift/tdbw

Yep.

What every writer wants for Christmas

Read more about this and some of the replies here: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/12/05/document-the-symbolism-survey/

Ralph Ellison’s answers resonate with me the most, and Ayn Rand’s response was about what I’d expect from her.

New story day! This time with a post-Thanksgiving theme 🍁😊🍁

Leftovers - Freely Written: Short Stories From a Simple Prompt In today's story, Leftovers, a post-Thanksgiving breakfast includes pumpkin pie and  questions.Today's prompt was suggested by my friend Wendy McMullan in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday. What are your favorite Thanksgiving leftovers? How d...

Challenge your perspectives. Read the books, take the naps, enjoy your life. 💜

Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁 I am grateful to have started my day by teaching a yoga class centered on self-acceptance, love, and gratitude.

Thanksgiving can be filled with traditions and expectations. Yet, you are your own person with your own ideas of how to celebrate and how to live your life.

Find balance in your holiday knowing that you are enough just as you are. You are loved by others and you love yourself. 🧡

Be grateful for all that you have, including the strength to set your boundaries and the awareness to respect the boundaries of others. 🥰

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Lovely day for a tasting. 🍷Trying a new winery and it’s delightful!

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I picture Bluey writers following kids around with notebooks to catch every word. The dialogue is spot on! 😂

A few years ago, when I got my record player, I dug out a box of albums and was thrilled to find my Sweet Charity soundtrack. Until I realized the sleeve was empty. No record inside, and it wasn’t mixed with any other album. ☹️ I looked online and couldn’t find a replacement. Until yesterday, when I randomly searched again and found it! New in plastic. $7. 😳 I was skeptical, given the low price, but it arrived today, wrapped in what appeared to be the original plastic and it plays beautifully. 😁 Sweet Charity may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s campy/hippy story and fantastic choreography won me over as a kid. These are the vinyl finds I love. Nostalgic and quirky. An album that brings lots of feels while I’m cooking dinner, enjoying a hobby, or dancing around the house. 🥰

Thanks for listening! 🥰

If you haven’t found it yet, check out Freely Written on your favorite podcast app!

While I don’t check stats very often, I always smile to see that there are people enjoying my simple little stories 🥰 I hope you’ll share them with your friends and maybe be inspired to write some of your own. It’s fun to let your imagination come out to play!

New story day! Who likes cozy mysteries? 🕵️‍♀️ Fall feels like a great time to settle in with some amateur sleuths 🍁😊🍁

Check out this 10-minute free written story and comment with your favorite cozy mystery series! 📚

Cozy Mystery Club - Freely Written: Short Stories From a Simple Prompt In today's story, Cozy Mystery Club, five friends decide it's time for their book club to investigate a real-life crime.Today's prompt was inspired by some thoughts about book genres. What is your favorite style of book? Do you like cozy mysteries...

When you have time to kill between drinks with friends and picking up your take-out dinner, there’s time for books and vinyl at B&N. Wine may have contributed to my purchases, but I unapologetically love some disco from time to time 🪩💜😁 And who wouldn’t want to hear the Utah Symphony Orchestra play music from the original Star Wars trilogy?! 🤘💜😁

Even sooner as Diwali is this weekend this year (before the span in this meme). Happy holidays to all!

Respect.

This morning, I discovered Doodledwellness Her page offers a wealth of healthy insights and emotional support. 💜 She also has a new book which I will be checking out! 😊

This post is one of my favorites (so far). Check out her page for more!

⭐️ Behind the scenes fun fact:

In Elders and Aliens, Amanda uses a mantra meditation to stay calm during an off-world trial. She mentions using the same meditation when she had an MRI.

In real life, I learned this mantra meditation from my friend Gretchen Schutte in 2020 when I was having testing during my recovery from Covid. 💜

Thank you, Gretchen, for letting me include this in Amanda’s journey.

If you want to learn more about meditation and yoga, Gretchen is a fabulous teacher. 💕

I recently finished a wonderful trilogy, The Psychic Traveler Society Series, by .quilty .
In the 3rd book I was delighted to see the main character, Amanda, use a meditation practice I use and have taught others.
Mantra meditation, placing your mind on words, can help calm and focus your mind.

Thank you, Susan, for sharing the words that help me with your heroine as she navigated her trials and tribulations!

☮️👉🏻⏸️

If you haven’t voted yet, Vote Today! 🇺🇸✔️

I’m not a speed solver, took my usual leisurely pace, and still got a crazy fast (for me) finish time… but I was lost on the theme clues until after the finish. 🙄

Had to check with Rex for a theme explanation. Thanks, Rex! (link in the comments)

Happy Halloween! 🎃

New story! 🐟 I kinda forgot about Halloween when writing this one, (oops) so it’s more of a silly parenting tale. You can listen as a break from spookiness 😊

Cuckoo Catfish - Freely Written: Short Stories From a Simple Prompt In today's story, Cuckoo Catfish, Katie tells Cal about chaperoning their son's field tripToday's prompt was based on a recent trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It's a great place to see a wide range of aquatic life. Apparently, it's a g...

I agree! There’s a place for romance but it isn’t in every story ever told. That’s why Amanda Jones, my teen protagonist in The Psychic Traveler Society series, is more focused on the other exciting parts of her life.

She has to navigate some pressures around dating but pushes back on the idea that she should be boy-crazy or falling in love. She has enough to focus on!

(Link in the comments)

Study Reveals That Young People Want To See More Realistic Relationships on Screen A new UCLA study further proves that viewers want movies and TV shows featuring more realistic relationships.

This hits hard. Friends was a fixture of my 20s, even if I didn’t watch every week. The cast was everywhere. Chandler and Phoebe were my favorites. When I later learned more about Matthew Perry’s personal struggles, it was sobering to see how career success doesn’t magically solve the deeper issues.

After his book came out, I hoped he was in a better place mentally and emotionally. It’s terribly sad and hard to believe that his life is now over.

Wait, really?! I've been there! 😮 Bethlehem, PA, is an interesting little town with quaint shops and Moravian stars all over the place. I stopped over one night while passing through the area and browsed through several shops--including this one. There happened to be an art fair the next morning where I picked up a really usual necklace, too.

I had no idea this book shop is the oldest continually operating bookstore in the world. Pretty cool!

Moravian Book Shop The oldest continually operating bookstore in the world.

100 episodes!? 🎉 Wow. As suggested by a friend/listener, today's story was not free-written for the episode. Instead, it's a story I wrote way back in high school and dug up from some old files. Thanks for the suggestion, Jen! 😄

It was weird to sift through files I haven't read in decades, but I hope you enjoy this old story. Next episode will be back to the usual format, so let me know if you have any prompt suggestions! 😊

As always, thanks for listening!!!

The Wash 'N Dryer - Freely Written: Short Stories From a Simple Prompt In today's story, The Wash 'N Dryer, Katie's taunting sends Billy on an adventure Since this is the 100th episode of Freely Written, today's story is not written from a random prompt. Instead, it is a story that Susan wrote way back in high school...

Listen to today’s story to see how I feel about summer sneaking into my October 😆

Also, I’m at episode 99?! 😳 I’ll have to think of something special for 100. Any ideas?

Second Summer - Freely Written: Short Stories From a Simple Prompt In today's story, Second Summer, Hillary overthinks her way to a coffee dateToday's prompt was based on the weather. October is my favorite time of year, yet fall is often interrupted by second summer, a time when hot sunny days return for one las...

I highly recommend My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion!

I wasn’t sure how a play about the war in Ukraine could be funny, but this is a wild ride that had me laughing out loud—while also admiring the resilience of Olga and her fellow Ukrainians.

The story wasn’t what I expected, though its increasing absurdism set the perfect tone to reflect on the futility and insanity of war.

Go see it while you can!

At Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company through Oct. 8

MY MAMA AND THE FULL-SCALE INVASION by Sasha Denisova is officially Helen Hayes Recommended! Don’t miss your chance to see this thought-provoking and world premiere co-production, running through October 8th!
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Visit https://www.woollymammoth.net/productions/my-mama-the-full-scale-invas/ to buy your tickets today!

Alcoholic is a word but tacoholic isn’t… something to discuss next Taco Tuesday

Update: It accepted chocoholic! 🤣

🤣 I don’t know if I’d call it terror, more like bracing for the unknown.

Typical ways that sentence ends:

1. Simple compliment. “I really liked it!” (Thank you!!!)

2. Writing question. “How long did it take you to write it?” or “How did you come up with ______?” (Valiant attempts to answer without endless rambling.)

3. Vague/backhanded compliment “It’s so good, I can’t believe you wrote it!” (Um… thanks?)

4. Segue to their own writing dream. “I’ve always wanted to write a book…” or “I have the best book idea…” (Okay… cool? Never sure what to say.)

5. Unsolicited advice. “It’s a good book, but you could have…” (Yeah, go write your own book.)

Luckily #5 has rarely happened, and I choose to take #3 as a compliment! 😁

😱

I’ve worked as a ghostwriter. Primarily when writing articles for professional clients in fields like real estate, interior design, personal finance, and home improvement.

I was comfortable with that because I knew they had the skils to do their jobs, just not the time or writing skill to create their own SEO content.

Ghostwritten fiction bothers me.

Writing fiction is an entirely different project than pulling together a client’s thoughts for a biography or non-fiction piece in their field.

With non-fiction, the writing is a delivery method for the valuable content (life story, business advice, etc.)

With fiction, the writing is the valuable content. Even if the client participates in the process, I don’t think their name should be the main or only one on the cover.

When the name on the cover belongs to a celebrity, it also underscores the fact that name recognition sells books, while unknown authors struggle to find a market—regardless of writing quality.

Millie Bobby Brown’s New Book Raises an Interesting Conversation About Ghostwriting Millie Bobby Brown's new historical fiction novel 'Nineteen Steps' renews the debate over how ethical ghostwriting is.

Geesh, you would think the official The New York Times crossword app would prioritize showing you the clues over adding flashy tricks that fail to work. 🙄

All of the theme clues showed up as black boxes today. Luckily, I got them on the downs, but it was a disappointing solve.

Apparently, they were supposed to be graphics of key signatures followed by written clues.

These suggestions are… interesting. I don’t remember ever liking a single Little House post/meme on FB. Would I enjoy smirking at (what I’m assuming are) anachronistic mistakes in a beloved pioneer show from my childhood? Of course. But how does FB know…? 🤔

Also, the name Brian Tyler Cohen doesn’t ring any bells. But Google says he’s a progressive political commentator, so I guess I’ll be checking him out. Well played, FB.