Soccer can be a cruel game. Many times the score isn't indicative of which team played the best.
For a game that probably lacks in significance you'd think the USA won the most vital contest of the year 1-1. I coached youth soccer long enough to have four of my children play for me. I've experienced my share of ties and know they're bittersweet for both sides, even in under the best circumstances.
It's nice to see contributions running slightly ahead of projections. Obviously, people appreciate this site and understand that Erin needs financial help to sustain it.
Should any of those who subscribe to Hatbox find the stories I've written to support this site "less than compelling", they should let me know. I will immediately send them triple the money I receive as author.
A few years ago a writing magazine suggested over 25 million people are attempting to write fiction for commercial publication. That same article stated that less than 2,500 people in the world make a living as a commercial writer.
Another blog has discussed the ethics of authors’ rights regarding posting online for free and later publishing for sale.
To me the bigger question is — how do those authors expect to make enough money from publishing to make it worthwhile?
A few months back I noted that I had just received (that day) a single vote on more than half of my stories. This has happened again. I assume it is a software glitch. Has anyone else received votes on most of their stories today? I'd like to believe that somehow thirty-one of my old stories received votes today, but that's about twenty-nine more than what I normally would receive on any given day.
When I set out to tell the story of Bob Isle and Mattie Grant in I’ll Grant You My Wish I decided to draw heavily from my youth. In my original outline, Bob’s a twelve-year old boy who is dragged into femininity by a domineering Mrs. Grant who is seriously disturbed by the loss of her own daughter. In the end, Bob decides he has to stand up to Mrs. Grant and rebels. Since he is basically a nice boy, when he puts his foot down it is done quite gently.
I absolutely love the ability to edit my stories as easily as we can on BC.
I wonder if all writers are aware they can edit their stories once they're posted.
Most of my stories have been edited dozens of times after I've posted them. I learn something new about writing almost every day and try to keep my stories updated to reflect what I now know.
The last few days I've been editing "Danny's Perdition" and just finished. It's a story set in the 23rd century, but is based on a poem written in the 14th century. Some have told me it's a Divine Comedy.
I've said it before, but I just have to say it again -- the new Random Solo feature is an absolute smash hit.
One of the features of BC that I absolutely love is the ability to quickly and easily edit your old stories. When I have an odd moment I often bring up one of my old stories and go through it looking for ways to improve the quality of the writing. Some I haven't read for years. It's like reading someone else's writing. I almost never change the plot, but I always find something to fix. Sometimes it's humbling to see how much needs attention.
Erin shut off the comments on Samantha Jay's blog and I don't want to discuss Forced Fem -- so I'll take the discussion on a different path.
When a person decides to write and post a story they create an implied contract with the reader. That much I think we can agree upon. It is at that point that we, the authors of BC, hold vastly different opinions.
All of us have our calling. For a while, I thought my calling was to be a monk. That passed.
Currently I feel my calling is to express a qualified opinion regarding hits, votes, and comments at least once a month.
There appears to be a number of people who think the number of votes a story or part of a story receives has a correlation with the quality of the writing. In my experience this just isn't remotely so.
In order for the law of large numbers to come into play -- which makes statistics creditable - there obviously has to be LARGE numbers.
A huge part of marketing food is obtaining shelf space. Big corporations have been known to actually pay to have their products displayed by grocers at the right height and in a large enough amount to suggest huge consumer demand. Coke and Pepsi have gone to the mattresses several times over shelf space wars.
What I'm going to suggest is only logical since we are talking about a limited resource. (I have an economic degree and will use it to justify my premise if needed. You are warned.)
A few days ago we had a discussion on this board about GLBT and its in-fighting.
Thanks are due to Erin for allowing this discussion to continue, even though it was frought with peril. Thanks are also due to all those who took part in a civil discourse regarding an important issue.
After thought, I felt a need to clear my remarks publicly.
I said, "No . . . Penny. Your anger shouldn't be aimed at those who lump you in with gays. Your anger should be at those who have saddled you with the prejudice that makes you feel upset that you are considered gay."
Intellectually I know that the number of votes, comments, and hits have no direct correlation to the quality of the writing. Good pieces go unnoticed. Badly written pieces sometimes hit all the right buttons. But in my heart I would love to be elected homcoming queen. Caring what others think of you is called sanity.
The level of quality of the text is quite plain; stories drop like rain from a throng of gifted writers upon BC. The process is twice blessed: to those who read these gifted words and also to the keyboard pounding wretches who enrich their own lives through their hair-pulling efforts.
BC has enjoyed talented writers for as long as it has been in existence. Some who post today have been here for the duration, many others have come and gone, but never in the time that I have been part of this site have there been such a huge number of outstanding writers producing so much good literature.
Now that many of us have had a round or two of "votes" added to all or most of our stories I'm left with perplexing questions.
Since it appears this had to have been done mechnically and is not the work of some super-appreciative speed-reader I'm no longer troubled that two of what I consider to be my best stories (An Affair of the Harte and Carl's Eyes) received no votes.
Yesterday someone voted for thirty-eight of my stories. The person had (1) vote so it wasn't an author. That person didn't leave a comment on any of them so I don't know how to say thanks except in an open blog.
If this mass voting was meant to be some sort of lifetime achievement award, I accept the honor under the protest that I'm not that old.
On some of the older stories it was the first vote the story received other than sympathy votes from me. I hate to have my stories feel completely unloved so I vote for them so they don't think they were totally scorned.
If you were to believe the vocal minority who write most of the comments and probably do most of the voting for stories -- no one likes forced fem.
Their wailing and gnashing of teeth anytime a story ventures close to femdom asserts that such writing should be banned from this site as inappropriate.
Recently two very good authors suggested to me that they wanted my help to make sure their stories didn't cross the line into femdom. They were concerned about adverse reader reaction. Arrrgh!
We spend much of our lives in the pursuit of creating options. Family options. Friends options. Economic options.
It's natural to be unhappy when someone who shouldn't restricts our options by telling us what to do. In other words, we put a high price on our individual freedom.
The other night I had a conversation where females competing in sports came up. I mentioned that it wasn't that many years ago that women were prevented from running long distance races in the Olympics for fear their ovaries/uretus would drop out.
Can anyone lead me to confirmation of this? I really think this was the prevailing CW in the sixties.
Reading Jill Micayla's recent blog caused me to think. She felt badly because Terry did not include any of her stories in the contest. Jill suggested she has never been a winner.
A few days ago Sue Brown listed seven basic plots and asked if there were more. A lenghthy discussion ensued during which I mentioned non-confrontational plots. I ascerbically stated I didn't think anyone would want to read a TG story based on a non-confrontational plot.
After additional thought I decided to write U Go To Hell which I posted yesterday. It features a non-confrontational plot. It is a slice of life leading to a revelation.
You can judge for yourself if anyone would want to read that kind of story.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
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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.
