any severe head-rushes when standing suddenly? I know my hormones are all messed up, but it's getting worse (I had my quarterly round of blood work), and in the past few weeks, if I stand suddenly, I get very light-headed. I've dropped like a stone once from nearly passing out, and occasionally, my limbs get tingly for a few moments. Has any one experienced this type of significant blood-pressure reduction when they were on Spiro to reduce male hormones? Or on E to supplement female hormones? Just to be clear, I am NOT on any hormones or Spiro.
When the system was being a little flaky, a number of messages and such were lost, vanished into the ether. So when I went to review the advice and such that I got, I found a lot of nothing.
I know the reaction to Op Rescue: In Plain Sight has been very significant (judging by comments and kudos). That makes me wonder if the audience as a whole considers this better than, on par with, or less than Op Rescue: New Co-Ed. The main reason I ask is that while New Co-Ed has a lot of hits, it has few kudos. That makes me wonder if it was as good as my latest effort, or worse. Or is it an artifact of posting a link to a PDF file (as opposed to a 450+ page story in the form!) so the kudo button wasn't accessible? Was it because New Co-Ed was too long for most people's tastes?
depression can be. One week, I'm totally in the dumps. Meds not working. Don't want to do anything. The next, things are rosier, and I manage to scratch out a few paragraphs. Or work on my 3D Bikini Beach model. Or other stuff. There's no pattern, and no predictability. As an engineer, I hate unpredictable things. It's weird, and quite annoying. If someone knows a way to make it all rosy, I'm all ears.
I'm starting to think that, no matter what I do, I'll never be able to top "Op Rescue- The New Co-Ed", at least in my mind. It may be my Magnum Opus, my best that was, is, or will be. I'm getting the muse back in action, and the work is a new Op Rescue story about a young boy who was a runaway - even though it will be multiple chapters, I can't see it even living up to my feelings about New Co-Ed.
So, after a long time, I managed to get a story written, one or two paragraphs at a time, and with great nervousness. That nervousness has changed to abject fear and trepidation as I just posted it quickly, so I couldn't chicken out. Now the fear is looking at the comments.
Damn, but I'm pretty messed up emotionally right now. Messed up and fragile.
Just so everyone knows what's going on, since most (and I emphasize MOST) of this group has been very supportive in the past (especially with my personal and health issues), I'm at a crossroads. The private-side reaction to Bikini Beach: Heroes has been ugly. Very ugly. What you've read in the reviews and comments is extremely mild. A lot of folks disliked the ending, and let me know. These comments were relatively polite, if at times a bit forceful.
This story has been an emotional roller-coaster for me, and mostly toward the depression side. I've gotten lots of comments, both good and bad, in the feedback and in my blog. That's the relatively benign stuff. What y'all don't see is the PMs and private e-mails that I've gotten, some of which are extremely hateful and/or spiteful.
In BB: Heroes, I obviously screwed up conveying the message I intended. Comments, both here and on another site, are either love/hate, and the comments I've received privately indicate an extremely strong dislike for the story.
The writing bug hit again, and this time, it demands a band - so my problem is that I need a good name for a fictitious band. Nothing real, but cool-sounding name. I hereby open the floor to suggestions. Winner gets - (drum roll please) - credit in the story. Sorry, but my bank account won't go for cash prizes.
This is ... interesting for me to post, and a bit difficult. I don't share a lot of my personal life except with those close to me. However, this is a forum that would probably have more information, so I've reluctantly decided to post and ask for answers.
I've been asked by a couple of people about writing stories in my universes. I appreciate people asking. I guess I did get rather snippy a few years ago over some of the blasphemy being done to Bikini Beach. I've got one very strong and promising author who has taken some of my story ideas and is turning them to gold. They are story ideas which were so far down in my writing queue that I'd never get to them in the foreseeable future.
and I'd like some help deciding what I should try to focus on until the other story gets free. I'm going to try to work on another story while this one germinates some more. If nothing else, even the discussion of what's in my queue may jar the current story free. Opinions welcome. Bear in mind, this isn't a democracy, so while I will listen to suggestions, I'll make the decision on my own.
Anyway, here's a preview of what's in the queue. What tickles your fancy about a next story priority?
As I was writing my latest, I originally intended that the protagonist would become the daughter of his lover, who he looked on with more motherly affection than physical love. My editors convinced me otherwise, and I think they were correct; I liked the ending more. But I still have the "stuck as a girl" ending as a preference - sometimes.
what would it be, and why. Only one thing. For example, if you changed your age, that's it. You're a younger you, with no other changes. If you change gender, that's it - you'd be a female version of yourself at your current age.
I've been watching comments from people over the years on stories, and some of the comments are accurately pointing out deficiencies in stories - either things that were implied but not obviously so, or things that could have been added for more description. As an example, I did revise "Customer Service" to add fix for Alison, and it was well received. After posting Dear Jenny, I had to do a small revision to Cousin Trouble to get it to sync up with the story line.
Ellie and I have decided to merge our writings of Bikini Beach together and form what we will call, the "Canonical Writings" of Bikini Beach. It makes it easier for everyone to find our works in one place. As a helpful bonus, I have asked Sephrena to add a title page to the Bikini Beach series to point to all the fan fiction created for our universe and provide easy access to finding them as well.
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.
