She has often said that what she would really love to receive is financial stability for Big Closet.
There is a way you can help!
Almost everyone on this site lives hand-to-mouth. It was stated in a story on ABC News in May of 2019 that 40% of Americans have less than $400 in an emergency fund for unexpected expenses. That was pre-Covid. Clearly that number would be much worse today.
A few days ago, I posted a blog in which I whined horribly about petty grievances.
I announced, quite pathetically, that I was going to take my ball and go home.
Over the next few days, I received about three dozen comments, PMs, and emails. They were almost universally encouraging and sympathetic. Some rightly called me out for the shortcomings I displayed.
Embarrassingly, I can’t even claim that I had acted out of passion, because I wrote the blog and let it sit for a number of days before posting it.
In the mid 90s, I’d grown weary of the poorly written transgender stories I read on FM, Storysite, and other online locations.
My massive ego (more about that later) told me that I could write better stories. In college, I’d taken every writing course I could and wrote a humor column for the campus paper, along with sports articles.
I liked these reproductions so much that I built a one-third replica in my backyard as a playhouse for my boys who were six and ten at the time. The Civilian Conservation Corp built these repros in 1934.
Those of us who have been with Big Closet for over two decades have seen a lot of change. (I know my profile says I’ve only been here fifteen years, but that is because I left for a year when a reader said she was going to commit suicide because one of my stories made her feel so badly abut her life. She said the loving family I depicted in one of my stories was in stark contrast to hers.)
Okay. . .there was a huge vote for LGBT rights in the Supreme Court today. Much to the surprise of some, including me, the conservative packed court voted 6-3 to acknowledge gay rights.
I’m doing my happy dance.
There’s a blog about this that has drawn some comments. I would consider most of the people who have commented to be nice people I’ve enjoyed speaking with for years. Yet. . ..
I’ve left little doubt where I stand on most issues. I’m a liberal.
Yet. . .if Erin sees fit to take down that other blog, I’m not going to be upset.
Last November, I watched a documentary called The Game Changers. It convinced me to try a vegan diet, mainly due to the adverse impact the meat industry has on the environment. I'm not radical, in that I'll share an occasional hamburger with fries with my spouse, but for all practical purposes I'm eating a plant-based diet and enjoying it. I rarely eat the psuedo meat because it is so highly processed but live three blocks from a Burger King and will eat the occasional impossible-burger.
The riots are two miles from me in one direction and four miles in another direction.
If I hadn't been watching the coverage on TV nothing would seem amiss.
I don't condone the destruction but . . .. The county attorney who hasn't brought charges yet is a long time jerk. His dad was governor and Agri Sec in JFK's cabinet. These riots are on his hands.
Do NOT follow this link, if for some strange reason the president's actions surrounding his recommendation to do a scientific study of injecting bleach didn't bother you.
The other day I was feeling pretty good about myself. Admittedly that is a common occurrence as I'm almost as self-confident as our Fearless Leader, who has plenary power according to Mike Pence. Being a former altar boy myself I know that when Pence uses the word "plenary" he's calling on his Baltimore Catechism education to define "plenary" as absolute and unqualified.
What caused me to trip the light narcissistic was the ever growing number of hits on my old stories.
Imagine your over-served roommate, Teddy, announcing to that braying jackass in the bar, “You need a good slap.”
Now slur those words and add in five salient facts: 1.) Your roommate is built like a fireplug, 2.) he boxed Golden Gloves too many years, 3.) his face is right out of Guys and Dolls, 4.) his childhood would have shocked Dickens, and 5.) recently when his girlfriend had the gall to break up with him, he painted her car – with a broom and gallon of red enamel.
Over the years, I’ve made the statement many times that there is very little correlation between the quality of writing and the number of hits, quotes, and kudos.
To test this -- I took the last ten stories I’ve posted on BC. . .that still are posted as free stories and listed them in order of the best to worst. They’re my stories, I can do that. Unlike kids, having a favorite story is allowed.
We might be living in the Golden Age of Authors on BC.
But - do we have enough readers?
And - what percentage of readers are total takers, downloading the stories with no intent of ever commenting or leaving a kudos?
There has NEVER been a high correlation between the number of kudos and comments and the quality of a story. That said. . .there have been some mighty fine stories posted lately that have gone relatively unnoticed. And - it seems to me the number of hits for stories seems to have gone down lately as well.
The other day Erin made a comment about Big Closet being open to a very eclectic group of people.
She has made this statement hundreds of times. She lives this statement every day.
Running a site that is opened to a huge variety of ideas is a recipe for disaster. Asking people who don't unanimously agree on everything to feel welcome under her tent is like begging for dispute, especially in today's world.
Erin knew this the day she opened her doors. She had watched the debacles in the mosh pit on another similar site.
A few days ago, I read a story on Big Closet that left me feeling a bit perplexed.
The story was well-written and the author has every right to explore the genre as she wishes.
Yet – I wish she had picked another premise or I had not read her story,
which shoved me back into the old argument as to whether cross-dressing is a mental disorder.
Next year will mark my fiftieth year in business. The first fifteen years I worked for large corporations. The last thirty-five years I've owned my own business.
Owning a business is a lot like home ownership. You say "you" own the business as if that is first person singular -- when, in fact, the pronoun is almost always PLURAL.
It has become a matter of personal pride to complete reading the Mueller Report.
I've put in about three long hours, so far, and have completed about 75 pages.
Now -- back in grade school, I scored off the charts in reading comprehension test and vocabulary. I scored in the 99th percentile on most of the main scholastic exams.
All those politicians who look in the camera and talk about what the Mueller Report says, have they actually read it? Did one of their aides read it and give them Cliff Notes?
One night, about a decade ago, I was having an enjoyable dinner out with another insurance executive. He was the founder of several large insurance organizations including two large reinsurance companies. He was a serious-minded person who had a solid reputation.
Good golly Miss Molly -- depression seems to be quite common within our ranks.
Yesterday, I had to have an eye exam to please the State of Minnesota so that I can drive the two or three thousand miles a year I put on my relic VW. On a whim, I asked the optometrist if there was anything to the "myth" of blue light impacting sleep.
Wow! He went from Mr. Quiet Conservative to Son-of-a Preacher-Man in a nano-second. The next ten minutes was a steady stream of melatonin-talk.
In a world where its users are under harsh political attack Big Closet steadfastly refuses to engage. The logic behind that decision is anything but foolish.
Yet this is a silly place. Defying all economic logic – Big Closet continues to try to exist on donations, knowing full well that a large share of its users are indigent. Big Closet knows that BECAUSE a large share of its users are indigent it MUST exist on donations because a fee-based site would not be able to serve them.
A few months ago, a friend who has read several of my non-TG books asked me to write a screenplay for a seven-minute film.
It was quite an adventure culminating a few days ago when we shot the film.
The film was about a high school girl and her male coach. She had learned that he was considering a job opportunity. He had coached her for five years and would be leaving before her senior year. She was feeling sorry for herself and upset with him. They meet in a gym by themselves.
It was an amazing experience to see actors bring my words to life.
Rasufelle has done a tremendous amount of good for this site with her contests. If you doubt that, just take a look at the current smorgasbord of offerings. Through her efforts, it appears that we have twice as many stories as usual.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
