Lynda Shermer

Geography

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At the moment, in addition to writing scenes for my own future works (alas, each time the impulse takes me, it's a different story concept. I'm not sure this is the way to make progress on a story.)

So I'm feeding the printer-friendly versions of stories into a text to speech engine on my iPhone. (I can recommend Voice Dream, on the app store. It's seems to take the most file formats.)

This approach has terrible problems of cadence, intonation, and basic pronunciation (some of which could be solved by building a phonetic dictionary file.)

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My Homecoming

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I was attempting a drabble, on a concept that had been lodged in my mind for some time, but it can be TOUGH to write that short.

As you can see, I continue to write. I write scenes and dialog, but need to work on my plotting to find where a story is going. I am hopeful my block is clearing, and may have something next month.

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Homecoming

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Homecoming. The most miserably cold and wet game yet. The sidelines churned to a sea of mud, and I had to go and slip.

Waving goodbye to the rest of the cheer squad, I snuck into the girls showers. I unpinned my muddy wig, and ran a hot shower.

Sudsing my sweaty, flattened hair, I heard a scream. Clearing my eyes, I saw that Brittany had come back, for some reason.

"I just ducked in here to grab a shower," I claimed, "I didn't think any girls were here."

Identity

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Much as I've tried to keep a separate existence from myself (confusing enough), Lynda now has a Twitter account and a YouTube logon.

Unfortunately, twitter insisted I tie it to a physical phone number, which can trace back...

In the old days of the internet, it was much easier to juggle identities. Having two email addresses was child's play...

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Confidence Trick notes

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"Fitness Class" was a solo. Or at least, I could have sworn it was.

But here I am, posting a follow up about a third the original's size. The "universe" does not have a name (other than "Fitness Class"), but there it is.

Most of my stories seem to me to be complete when I write them, the length varies, but usually getting them to proper Novelette length (17500 words or more) would be a struggle. They begin at the beginning, move through the scenes I've invented, and then they end, and that's how long they are.

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Additional proofing

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I ran the printer version of "The Answer" through text-to-speech on my iPhone. That pointed out some misphrasings and typos to my ear, for all the strange pronunciations it resulted in.

The typos, at least, I'll fix shortly. And I'll think I'll employ text-to-speech as a late proofing stage on stories from now on, to cut down on errors.

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Confidence Trick - (a Fitness Class short)

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Confidence Trick

(A Fitness Class short)

by Lynda Shermer

Sarah's Stiletto fitness class at the center ended. I was awarded certificates, one for Tim, and one for Karen. Somewhere on YouTube is a recording of our final recital. Of course, in it, I'm almost unrecognizable. It garnered some nice comments and likes at the time, and then pretty much dropped from sight.

There have been some changes since then; I moved in with Julie (she had the better furniture and view of the two of us).

A Field Trip - Chapter 5

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A Field trip

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 5 - Summer Break With the Past

School being out, the world should have slowed down, it seemed to me. In actual fact, of course, it did no such thing.

 

A Field Trip - Chapter 4

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A Field trip

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 4 - After the dance

Play prep, and study sessions in the library as finals approached made the time fly for the rest of the semester.

Working in the scenery shop was proving ... different. Where Barb had been a part of the repartee, Dave was the new guy, of unknown quality, and a bit of an outsider, coming on at the last minute. I had to painfully try to rebuild the friendships, and it was proving hard going, particularly with the other girls.

A Field Trip - Chapter 3

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A Field trip

Chapter 3 -

By Lynda Shermer

Saturday, we had some shopping to do, but mom was home, so I couldn't change at home. It was getting annoying, but I changed in the laundry room again. I could catch the bus route a block or so away, and with a transfer, get off near Sally's apartment building; She wanted us to go to Andersonville again. She explained to her mother that I'd asked for her help dress shopping.

Saying goodbye, we walked back to the bus stop.

A Field Trip - Chapter 2

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A Field trip

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 2 - Terms of enrollment

Come the start of term, things got more difficult. As Dave, I now had to attend school regularly, which cut into my Barb time. I started working out how to carry my female uniform in Dave's backpack, including how to stuff the backpack itself into Barb's school bag after I'd changed. (how did superheroes ever manage this...) Thank goodness I only needed one set of textbooks.

A Field Trip - Chapter 1

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A Field trip

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 1 - A certain magical railtrip

In a way, it all started when I ran across a school uniform in a thrift shop.

I'd recently moved to Chicago from my original home in Minneapolis, with my mother, after the breakup with my father.

JDrama "Life as a Girl" (on Youtube)

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So, in the course of my rambles about the Internet, I became aware of this

"Life As A Girl" (https://youtu.be/2MDctbl32UE) from 2018, 1 season (only 4 episodes) (I've only seen 2. English subtitled. Said to be on SOME Netflix, although evidently not the North American feed.)

Watching it, I find a bit of a mixed bag.

She is living and working as a female, only interested in female partners. "she wants to becomes a girl, hasn't done any thing about her body 'yet'".

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It's weird

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It's weird; these days when I do a word search, I'll find something I don't remember reading before, and then I'll realize it's one of MY stories...

(In editing my own stories, I develop a familiarity that seems to prevent me from recognizing the individual sentences, as there are alternate versions in memory, too.)

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The Answer - Chapter 6

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So. Felicity was to be my girlfriend's plus one to a wedding, er, "commitment ceremony". To be fair, in support of her sister and her girlfriend, taking Felicity did place a distracting shot across her parents bow, which was evidently what was desired here. A distraction. And I AM Felicity. Saying that didn't make it all seem more reasonable, somehow. But it was a little early to be meeting the parents.

The Answer - Chapter 5

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The answer

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 5 - Carol in the city

It turned out, Alice's errands were to get me some jewelry, a purse, and some things related to that, and generally accessorize. I put my spare glasses, in a case, into the purse. Alice added a key ring with copies of my keys (and, it was to turn out, some of hers), some make up, a pen, a pad, a pay-as-you-go cellphone. And a rectangular pouch, with something in it. They were cylinders, too big for pencils. What was it? Then I realized.

Choosing faces, via Cellphone App

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No one app will do it all.

First, dealing with the appearance. If you wear glasses, take them off now. Holding the phone above eye level (high angles, everyone!) we snap the base image.

I’ve paid for a month or so of the Pro option in FaceApp, but you really don’t have to for our use.

Hit Gallery, a button in the bottom row in the middle; The app will want access to your photos. Some people worry that FaceApp is being used to strip mine faces for Facial Recognition, but we’ve clearly decided we don’t mind giving them a photo or two from our camera photo stream.

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The Answer - Chapter 4

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The answer

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 4 - Game Over?

We got me naked except for her bra, for some reason, and got to know each others body. She insinuated her hands under the cups, rubbing my nipples, as I repeated the notion on her. Her breasts were small, but proud, a handful, maybe a little more. Cute. In fact, the whole package, in contrast to her office demeanor said cute. Keeping herself aloof at the office must have been a strain, and now, all at once, she was unwinding.

The Answer - Chapter 3

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The answer

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 3 - Travels to My Aunt

So I was out of town for all of halloween, which is one of my favorite nights of the year. My aunt Phyllis wasn't any trouble, being an eminently practical person, and didn't object to how we'd have to rearrange things in her house so she could live entirely on the ground floor for awhile.

The Answer - Chapter 2

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The answer

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 2 - Desperately Avoiding Susan

My jaw dropped. I was still talking like Susan?

Alice walked around the end of the desk, "Look at how you are sitting. Normally, you sprawl in that chair. But you are sitting upright, straight spine, feet together, no! Now, legs crossed at the ankles!"

The Answer - Chapter 1

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The Answer - Chapter 1

By Lynda Shermer

Chapter 1 - The Abominable Dr. Willis

One of the more unusual jobs I've held was for an answering service. I am Paul Burrows, although as you'll see, that can be optional.

Located in a small room upstairs in a building in Chicago's "Loop" that also housed a hotel, it offered a human touch to business and professional people seeking a more personal approach than voice mail or recording systems, which some customers highly valued.

Given Voice

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Given voice
Lynda Shermer
June 8th, 2014

Just before the end of the alleyway was an unmarked door; by the litter on the ground around it, it was left unlocked for smokers. I pulled, and went into the stairwell. Up one short flight, the door gave upon a relatively dim carpeted hallway. I slowed, and tried to catch my breath, so as not to seem suspicious. Ahead of me, a side door opened. The person who came out thrust some papers into my hand, and pushed me through the door.

Fitness class

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The doctor looked at the chart, "Well, you'll be glad to know, there's nothing wrong with your heart. You've just spent too long not eating right and sitting behind a desk. I'd say you should start with walking, stretching, warm up exercises, calisthenics, and only then try something more strenuous."

An attempt at a review of "The Prince & the Dressmaker"

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A few months ago, an item of interest to our community came across my twitter, which is unusual, as my twitter is almost totally devoid of gender related content.

It was the graphic novel, "The Prince & The Dressmaker" by Jen Wang. Published in 2018, it has come up again recently.

This will be a "how it made me feel" review to avoid (most) spoilers.

Set in what I suspect is a fantasy of Paris and Europe in the 1800s,

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Notes on sitting pretty

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So, I was editing my next story on my iPad when I glanced at my writing folder and remembered “Sitting Pretty” was done. I did a fast proof read (too fast, as it turns out, as there are one or two rough patches), and turned it into an experiment on more rapid posting from an iPad. I don’t think it went too badly. Again, if my notes are to be believed, I wrote it sometime before December of 2013, when I was just a lurker here, before I made my account.

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Sitting Pretty

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Sitting Pretty
Lynda Shermer

I was earning a little extra pocket money by babysitting. These particular fraternal twins responded best, it seems, to the supposed extra authority of a male.

Beth and Sam were fraternal, but still quite similar.

The second time I sat, they had been messing about in the kitchen, and had two glasses. One held grape juice, the other pink lemonade.

Beth drank the grape juice, and Sam the pink lemonade, and for the rest of the evening, they pretended to be each other.

Velma's Night Off

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Velma's Night Off

by
Lynda Shermer

 
Coolsville was safe. At the end of a days work, Coolsville was usually safe.  
Somedays, it even stays that way for as much as, oh, say, a week.
"'Night, gang!," I said, and turned for my door. It had been a hard days sleuthing, but the Gravy Ghoul was behind bars, revealed as Mr. Thompkins, of Global Consolidated Industries. Coolsville Canned Foods could open again for business as usual, without anyone leaping out of a vat and scaring off the workers.
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