I posted a new story two days ago. In terms of reads it is my most successful yet, and I am very grateful to the readers and those who have commented, but that is not the point of this blog.
I just read an obituary for a 100 year old Dutch lady named Miep Gies. She and her husband were the couple who sheltered the family of Anne Frank and another Jewish family in Rotterdam when it was occupied by the Germans in WW2.
She had been an employee of the Franks and gave them sanctuary (along with a few other employees) when the Gestapo were "cleansing" Holland of Jews and it was she who preserved the famous "Diary of Anne Frank" and returned it to her family after the end of the war.
Here I go agine, somewhat emboldened by Angela Rasch. I posted a story five days ago. The first two days 500+ hits, 50 votes and half a dozen comments. OK, not a stellar success. I can live with that, but for the last three days, 300+ hits and virtually NO votes and not a single comment.
I wish that someone would tell me if I'm wasting my time posting here, that I don't gibe with the BC vibe, that there's little interest in what I post, that I'm a lousy writer, anything but this deafening silence. Indifference; disapproval??
There are recurring stories about plagues or diseases decimating (I use the word in its modern sense, not the Roman one of one in ten) humanity. There has not yet been a disease that took more than one in three of the population, which is not to say that a more virulent disease could not arise in the future.
However, if we experienced now a plague which took one in three, the problems are that first our medical resources would be overburdened to breaking point, and so would all our infrastructure.
Our civilization is now so complex that it could not survive a plague of this magnitude.
One of my early stories "Choices" has just passed 4000 hits after about 18 months. This shows that people do continue to read submissions when the gloss of newness and novelty has worn off.
Here is a list of nine common expressions used by women and a translation of what they REALLY mean for men with an understanding impairment and to give the girls a giggle:-
For a long time when I've voted the register has shown 2 hits. Recently it has sometimes been registering 3 hits and the other morning I even registered a 4 (lucky TD). I'm not complaining. I just wonder why it varies. If I knew I was going to score a 4 I could be a big help to my favourite authors, or maybe there's a market for votes. Any offers?
Joanne
This may or may not be connected to the server move, but I thought I had better let you know, Erin and Bob, in case anyone else is experiencing the same thing.
Erin,
I know you warned us but I was almost watching it. 5,000,000 hits on January 31 at this end of the world. I went out for dinner and when I came back it was over.
WOW,
Joanne
I just watched America's new President give his acceptance speech. I know some of you are probably already thinking "Oh, no, not again" but I'm half a world away so I didn't get a chance until I finished work this evening.
What is happening with FM? I check every day but just get the "This page cannot be displayed". While BC is my favourite site I miss FM. There were stories there that I did not like but there were many that I did. There was always a degree of cross-pollination with authors posting on both sites and I would hate to see it disappear for ever.
I log on to BC as usual-no problem, and then I go to My Account. That's OK and then I try to get into the Tracker function. The software tells me I have to reconfirm my user name and password, which I do. The info bar says "login successful" and returns me to My Account, so I try to access Tracker again, and back to reconfirm password, etc.
This has just happened today. Is it me or is anybody else experiencing the same glitch? Everything else seems to be normal,
Joanne
This is not intended to be political as such. I just think the people of the U.S.A. should be congratulated on choosing the first black President. That will show the world that America is a different country to what many of them thought,
Joanne
I've just come from seeing "Mamma Mia". Yes, I know it has no TG content, but I'm a silly sentimental old tart. Probably many of you have already seen it but I think it's a lovely movie and Abba didn't get the credit that they deserved both for their lyrics and their melodies. I cried all the way through. Silly me, but I loved it,
Joanne
I was checking "My Stories" to see if anybody had read one today. I do this infrequently, not as if I'm anal-retentive, usually only once a day (OK, twice a day) and there was a "run" on the first piece I ever dared to publish on BC. Twelve reads!! What's going on? I wondered. Then I was scrolling down and I'm in the Jewel Box for a year ago. My first effort, a year ago already.
I submitted a story to the 2008 Summer Romance competition. I don't know why. I have never entered a contest here before and I certainly did not expect to win. If I bought all the tickets in a chook raffle I think I could manage to lose. However, as the days rolled by I was surprised and delighted by the reception my story got,not spectacular but respectable (by my lights, anyway).
The subject of food reviews has been aired recently and one caught my attention today, which was half travel and half food in content. I thought it was so well-written and entertaining and, to me, everything that a good review should be that it was worth sharing. It's from the International Herald Tribune, a paper that I regard as the best English language newspaper in the world today.
A tip of the hat to Ceri for the blog about writer/editor relationships. That and some of the comments made me start to think about those self-important "head firmly embedded in their anus" individuals who inflict their presence on us through the media and make us go apoplectic at the sight or sound of them or the words they write.
I have just received an advisory that a new and dangerous virus is being spread under the heading "Invitation", and can be spread by infiltration into the email addresses of any contact. If you receive any communication with this heading the advice is to shut down your unit immediately even if the email is ostensibly from a friend.
Mahatma Gandhi has been in the news somewhat this year, the 60th anniversary of his death. I came across an interesting observation about him.
As you probably know he walked barefoot most of the time, so his feet were extremely callused. He also ate very little, which led to his frailty and, with his odd diet, gave him bad breath. This made him a super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
It almost slipped past me, but I saw a notice of the death of George McDonald Fraser and I thought surely there must be other BCTS readers who liked his novels. In fact it was Alys's highwaylady that jogged my memory (pure accidental mental association, you understand).
On my computer the voting and comments counters have gone crazy, plus the registration for the number of reads on an individual story. I don't know if this is system-wide,
Joanne
Last week I participated in a funeral in the Taoist tradition in Hong Kong. While funerals are not most peoples' preferred activity the older you get the more of them you witness.
The Chinese experience is so different I thought I'd share it. Firstly, Taoism is the traditional religion of China with multiple gods and "saints". The terms don't translate exactly, so I'll approximate.
I see a lot of heat being generated about the "BC" community. As I see it there are a couple of hundred people who contribute to this site either as authors or as bloggers or as commentors or all three. There is also a silent group who must enjoy what goes on here.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
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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.
