No . . . this site should never change its mission. But Erin needs help and I thought that blog title would get you to open this.
A few days ago, I posted a blog that suggested people could support Big Closet by serving on committees to help the site.
Okay . . . so people either don’t like committees (which proves they’re sane) or they didn’t care for the ideas I presented. The response was lukewarm, maybe even COLD!
But . . . out of that blog came a PM from Melanie that got me thinking that maybe the better answer is to concentrate on one area.
I rarely read serials because of the high percentage that are never completed. If I do read a serial, it's after the entire story has been posted.
That's just my preference after two decades of being left hanging out to dry by well-meaning authors who either got bored with the story, or wrote themselves into a corner, or simply had better things to do.
Just today a blog indicated frustration for a story on FM that was apparently quite good but never completed.
For years I had this itch and didn't know how to scratch it. . .or even what it was.
I had to write quite a bit, in my business. People frequently told me that I had a real talent for writing. Some close friends said I should write a book.
It wasn't until I started to read TG fiction that I said, "I can do that. Writing is my itch and I'm going to take care of it."
Big Closet is true to its mission to be A friendly place to read, write and discuss Transgender Fiction. However, in order to execute that mission, Big Closet must fiscally sound.
Every month Erin sounds the alarm – and every month the same small group gives financial support. Relying on so few for so much is a recipe for disaster.
Nothing is going to change, unless change is provoked.
I know how crazy this is going to sound, but maybe it’s time to start charging people to post their fiction.
Someone said the other day that in the current political climate it is becoming harder and harder to say anything that doesn’t sound like a slur against one party or the other.
I sat down this morning to write a blog about contributions. I’d decided to base the blog on the question, “What could Erin be doing if she wasn’t constantly forced to spend her time fund-raising?”
In the near future, DOPPLERPRESS will publish Baseball Annie.
This will be the fiftieth title published by DOPPLERPRESS.
Baseball Annie will be the sixth book they have published that I’ve authored. Only two other authors have had more books published by them than I have, which means I have an opinion based on multiple interractions.
As you might expect from an Erin-driven operation, DOPPLERPRESS has been extremely author-friendly. I’m especially pleased by the covers they’ve created for my novels.
A filmmaker friend has asked me to write a seven-minute script. He's won several local festivals and once worked for me so I know he's making a valid offer. I've often thought about trying a script.
1.) Can anyone suggest a good inexpensive software for scripts?
2.) Can anyone suggest a good book on script-writing?
You stated, “This is an excellent story by Angela that wastes a lot of potential by not giving us even more. We get vignettes of the protagonist's life when we could have had stories. What's here is very good. What's missing would have made this book gold medal quality.”
How are new readers and authors attracted to Big Closet?
Maybe the financial problems could be solved through an increased user base? It would seem likely that the more users BC has the more contributions Erin would receive.
I came to BC many years ago (probably over two decades ago) when Erin sent me an invitation to post here after reading one of my stories on FM.
How did you find BC?
Do you have ideas for attracting more readers and authors?
A few days ago, someone made the suggestion that if it would help the site run more efficiently that the tallies for hits could be eliminated. Erin mentioned that these tallies consume large amounts of computer capacity. Maybe we should discuss this more.
This is Erin's site. She has the most at stake. More importantly to us users, through her leadership, this site has survived. She knows more about what her customers want than anyone and has skillfully implemented and monitored.
I live about half a mile from what is called the “High Bridge” in St. Paul, MN. The high bridge has a well-deserved infamy as a suicide spot -- with seven people jumping from the deck of the bridge which is 160 feet above the Mississippi, during 2015.
The bridge has been closed for several months. They’re installing a nine-foot high barrier to cut down on the jumpers.
I’ve long suspected and only recently realized, that anyone who does things that are different than the way I live my life . . . is wrong.
It would be great if I could cut you a break and allow for variances depending on your individual circumstances, but that would prove foolhardy and dangerous for both of us.
Simply put – everything you do that is not something I would do, so should be terminated immediately before it’s too late.
In the future, you should add one simply step to your decision-making process.
In 2000 I voted for W. My tendencies are quite liberal, but he seemed much better than more Clinton years via gore. This week I was reminded why I thought so highly of W. when he said the following.
"Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone. It provides permission for cruelty and bigotry and compromises the moral education of children. The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them."
Recently I purchased an e-book -- From Man to Woman by Lindy Smith on Amazon. It was a compelling story marred by typos and some continuity issues, but still worth spending considerable time reading, EXCEPT it stopped in the middle of nowhere. From the way it was written, to that point, I would estimate several chapters were missing.
I will try my best not to be political, but I'm so disgusted I don't know what to do other than to suggest that you read a story I posted nine years ago.
Yesterday, during the discussion of the military ban on Transgender a person who was anti-ban spoke to a newscaster.
He said that he’d served in the military and didn’t believe that trans people were a problem. He said, “You’re either a man or a woman, and once you’ve completed the transformation your become one or the other. End of problem.”
Arghhhhhhh!
I wonder what percentage of our society believes that?
What is this utter fascination with a binary society?
I can't remember exactly when it was that I started writing TG fiction, but it must be coming up on twenty years ago (I removed fifteen stories from Storysite in 2003).
I sold another business and am now semi-retired which has dropped my income by two-thirds -- at least until I can get more consulting work.
We bought an old house (1906) and are doing extensive remodeling.
Although I have limited current resources for contributing money to BC, I am buying quite a lot of remodeling supplies on Amazon and using the link you provided. Yesterday's purchases included the kitchen sink! Hopefully, since our purchases are adding up to a large total, BC will receive a nice commission.
I love movies almost as much as I love books and reading.
This time of year the worthwhile available new movies are slim pickings.
I decided to review "TG" movies as rated by Rotten Tomatoes. I realize Rotten Tomatoes isn't always right, but the audience scores generally provide good direction. After reviewing this list I added about thirty movies to my Netflix queue.
I hope you find some value in this list of Rotten Tomatoes audience scores.
The following lists is in order of my personal opinion based on each person when they were, again in my opinion, at their peak. There are a least a few on the list who would challenge my firm beliefs about my sexual preference.
For example: Robert Redford in The Natural is . . . quite attractive.
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.
