Today is D-Day. A day to honor all those who went and did what they had to do, to ensure the freedom we all cherish. Take a moment today to remember all those who risked everything, to help give US everything. Some came back, some did not. Thank a Veteran today.
Okay. I have a story ready to post. It's one I've edited by another writer. Here's my question. It's about 80,000 words, according to my info thingie in word. Is that too big to post all at once? Do you all prefer shorter chapters or do you like to read a story in one shot from start to finish? Will the site accommodate a story of that size without problems? Is there any size limitation on the length of a story?
called "Transformation Treasure Hunt." She wrote it in 2006, but while reading it, it seemed to be constantly reminding me of Bob Arnold. The link is here. Go read it and tell me I'm mistaken. Bob was such a huge part of all of our lives and is still missed... always will be, by all the lives he touched and enriched during his all-too-short stay with us.
This is Memorial Day weekend, 2014 and I think it behooves us all, no matter what nationality, race, creed or religion to take a moment and thank all those who have served and who are serving in the armed forces of their countries. Without their sacrifices, without them doing the job they either volunteered or were drafted into doing, we wouldn't have the freedoms and privileges we have now. Some returned from far off battlefields and some didn't, but we all owe every one of them our thanks, our gratitude. Let's also not forget the Merchant Mariners.
So, it all began a few days ago when my modem decided to limit my time on the internet, dropping the signal and kicking me offline. It did it three or four times in one 24 hour period, so I called my internet provider, Time Warner and informed them that my modem had somehow developed an overzealous and random sense of trying to keep me offline. They set up an appointment for someone to come and check the modem or replace it, if necessary. Pretty cool, right?
That's what I turn tomorrow. An auspicious date certainly. After all, the Titanic sank on April 15th, Lincoln died on April 15th and, just to top that off, there will be a Blood Moon at 2AM EST(EDT?) on the 15th. Quite a trifecta,to say the very least.
I seem to have reached that awkward age. You know, the one where most of the people in the newspaper obituaries are younger than I. As Red Green so eloquently put it, "when I furrow my brow, it looks like a rump roast made of corduroy."
What is courage? Is it that thing that causes a soldier to rush a heavily occupied enemy fort, knowing he might die in the attempt? Is it that thing that causes someone to do the right thing even though it might hurt them? Is it making the right decision for oneself, knowing that all the other choices presented are worse in the long run?
Due to what was likely a brain fart, I neglected to include chapter breaks in part of the story that I edited for Barbie. I have since corrected that error and I hope the story will be easier to read for everyone now. There are also a couple of spelling errors that snuck in under my radar. They were pointed out to me by a kind reader, but I have left them alone. They are very minor and do not really affect the telling of the story at all.
I will not mention her name in the interest of respecting her wish to remain as stealth as possible. Nevertheless, it's been more than two months since I last heard word one from her and, with the things that have happened to her in her life, it worries me that something bad might have happened.
Since last weekend, that is, the weekend of Dec 1st, I had been fighting an abscess on the back of my shoulder. That Sunday I went into the emergency room to have the abscess lanced and drained, which they did, after some big time pain. I left with a large bandage on my shoulder, and not much else except a couple of pricey prescriptions which I couldn't afford.
Instead of placing this in a simple comment, I chose to place it in a blog entry so more can see it. I've just finished re-reading MAU and Whisper. In case you were wondering where the extra kudos came from, it was me.
I'm very impressed with your storytelling skills. Both stories held my attention and enthusiasm all the way through to the satisfying endings. Your characters were very well thought out and fleshed out, til they became more real people to me as opposed to characters in stories.
At this time of year, we take time out to thank whatever God we may or may not follow, whatever person or thing that makes our lives just a bit better and hopefully easier. Remember who or what you are thankful for and bear in mind. However bad you might think you have it, there are many who have it much worse.
Thank you all for everything you have all offered me in the past and present. God bless you all, every one.
To my utter amazement, my book, Headlights Girl, is available not only at Lulu, Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but also at Tower.com, Abe Books, Loot.co.za, Itunes, Alibris.com, booktopia.co.au, Nook even! Here's where I found all this info:
Just to let you all know, I am making my way through all of the RetCon stories. It's been a good long while since I read them all and I've been looking for something to occupy my spare time.
We talked for a few minutes, but Bev had to go see to her wife, who is home from the hospital. The storm that hit England a couple of days ago, missed Bev and her family by several miles, but the rest of the U.K. really got clobbered. I hope all the rest of our friends in the U.K. came out of it okay.
Barbie Lee has graciously allowed me to edit and post her new story, "Jessica Rabbit." It was originally posted last week at Fictionmania and, having read it, I felt it deserved to be here with so many other great stories.
I have corresponded with Barbie several times since then, doing the edit and making sure I would be able to do the story justice and abide by Barbie's requests that certain parts of the story remained unchanged regarding coloqualisms and other things. We have exchanged several emails and I believe I got it right.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one who works SO hard to help keep our site open and running, with little in the way of thanks for her efforts. God Bless your day and life, Piper.
Beverly Taff's wife is in hospital suffering from an incurable brain tumor. They have operated and removed all they can get of the tumor. Beverly is such a good person and I would like to ask all of you, whatever your faith or beliefs, to send prayers and good wishes to Beverly and her wife.
It's been a couple of months since she last posted anything and she was also having upheavals in her personal life. i've been waiting to hear something from her, but she seems to have vanished. i always fear the worst when someone goes silent with no prior notice. As I have a history with Sasha, I am even more concerned. I know she said that her time was severely limited and her situation was such that she couldn't speak openly about a lot of things going on in her real life.
In my humble opinion, a very well handled and TRUE depiction of how Transsexuals are treated by others AND by the law itself. Frightening, frustrating, and maddening... but true.
Every so often I reach a point of surfeit. Where I've taken on too many other people's problems and woes and I need time to find me again. I am not leaving Top Shelf. I am, however in desperate need of time alone so I can get centered again. Losing Holly seems to have brought me to the point of finality and I just can't deal with any more problems or concerns right now.
I find it incomprehensible that some people can't be decent when commenting or blogging. Remember, when you WRITE something, there is nothing that indicates anything but the WORDS you use. There are no other indicators that could soften the impact of words that appear unkind or severely critical. Normally, when people communicate, there are visual and verbal cues that can soften the impact of words that might otherwise seem unkind. When you write, all there is, is the words.
In the wake of our loss, Beverly's mom in law passed rather suddenly as well, just the day before we lost Holly. Beverly is a warm, talented and loving member here and I felt it behooved me to at least make you all aware of this fact.
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.
