Just a quick note for Becoming Robin and/or Boys Don't Cry fans, I'm still writing, and I'm still okay. :-) There's a lot happening in my life, none of it I'm really at liberty to discuss right now because some of it is business-related, and the rest of it is very very personal, and I respect the other person involved's privacy too much to say anything in public like this. ;-)

What I CAN say is that if all goes well, in the next six months:

on how Transgendered people are portrayed in the media. Her name is Amy. I have been helping her by citing a few examples. She turned in a rough draft to her professor yesterday and she is supposed to get that back by Tuesday to rewrite it for the final version due on Thursday. I talked to her about how newspapers cover hate crime reports against the Trans community based on where they are in the country. Could anyone give me a few more examples to use just in case she needs more refined material?

John Scalzi is a well known sci-fi author who is published by TOR/Forge books.
I have some of them via my niece Anna who used to be Piers Anthony's editor
when she worked there. Ok, so here's what's going on. He tweeted a comment that
no one is doing any fan fiction of his books.

I sent him a note that I thought some of his books would go very well as
Transgendered Fiction and have received permission for me to tell you that his
world is open. The story and Universe I was thinking about was from his book
"Old Man's War" and the sequels. You have to be old to join the war, and you

Just an FYI for you all, I have been quite sick the last two weeks and haven't done any writing more than a few paragraphs at a shot the whole time, so once I post Sunday's episode of 300 Rains I will probably take another break like I did in November, more for recuperating than anything else. I am sorry for this disruption to the release schedule but it was unavoidable. If I can't write or really edit it becomes difficult to keep supplying you with the adventures of Melanie in the Academic Jungle. Give me some time and I will catch up with things.

Well, I just got a phone call for an interview on Monday. Now, though, I have a moral dilemma. Do I mention my trans status and risk not getting hired? Or do I lie, and have to live with that?

Courtesy of today's Independent:

The Malaysian authorities are at the centre of an increasingly heated row after it emerged that 66 Muslim boys identified by teachers as "effeminate" had been dispatched to a special camp to discourage them from becoming gay.

This question is the result of my evening out with the 'original' Ginny and Kate last night. They are involved with a 'Reclaim the Night' group, and had a question that I would be interested in hearing some responses to.

Sometimes, I get these odd impressions that defy logic and reality. Like sometimes i get an impression of having breasts that is almost real enough to make me cry. But today, I had an impression that went the other way. It was a very masculine impression, of having a sword and shield, and protecting a female from a monster. Make what you will of that.

Sorry I haven't been commenting much. I've been enchanted by SaraUK's wonderful series "You Have It All Wrong". It's such a great story that I haven't been reading the new stuff very much!
Sara, if you're out there, please write more! I'm so taken with your story!

Wren

The Actress who played Sarah Jane has Died. I found her to be a wonderful actress and I will deeply miss her character and her show

James

This was always intended to be a play on words title in honour to Shakespeare's line, "What light throught yonder window breaks, it is the sun and Juliet is the East."
I recently thought of new directions for the plot and therefore am making it With acts and scenes.
Every scene will be a chapter or installment. Every act will be the beginning and end of a major aspect of the story.
Enjoy!

PS- I really would like some feedback about this.

I never thought the day would come when I would be an irascable old person, but today I am one. Hopefully, it'll pass and be flushed.

well, I decided I needed a pick-me-up, so I went to the unemployment office dressed as Dorothy. I was served without a comment or even a blink, so that was fun. But, after I left the office, and went to my car, I was stopped by a man, and told I looked nice. I thanked him, and he confessed he was a cross-dresser. I was going to tell him I'm not, but he recognized me as transitioning. A bit of an odd experience, especially when he ended our conversation by saying he was going to go buy pantyhose. TMI, as far as I'm concerned. Ah, well.