VOTING ENDS TONIGHT (March 29 2023) AT MIDNIGHT PDT!
Hop on over to the BCTS Patreon and let us know which entry YOU feel deserves to take home the prize! Or prizes, as the case may be. You can vote for as many stories as you want, too, so don't feel afraid to select ALL your favorites!
Just as a reminder for folks, today is the last day for entries to go up in the 2023 "Abducted!" story contest! I'd originally intended to give people 'til midnight their own time zone and go on trust, but for simplicity's sake I've been asked to move that to midnight PDT (or, just under 16 hours from the time this blog will post.)
First of all, big hugs to all of my brothers and sisters here at BCTS. We have an amazing community of diverse and creative people.
That said, I feel like it might be a good time to remind everyone that we're all in this together. We have many different views, many different concerns, many different backgrounds, but we're all here for much the same reason: to enjoy a quality community and some quality stories.
Welp, folks, here it is, the first competition of 2023, and it's a fun one!
According to the internet, March 20th is Alien Abduction Day, so what better way to celebrate with a competition built around stories about all things extraterrestrial in origin?
I fished my keys out of my messenger bag and handed them over to Brian, getting a shoulder-pat in thanks.
"Next week we're taking separate cars."
"Next week it's my gas we're burning."
"Maybe the week after that then," I decided, pausing only a moment when we reached my car to circle around to the passenger side while Brian hit the beeper to unlock the doors.
Alright, so. My life is hopefully moving in a direction where I'll be able to spend a LOT more time hangin' out with folks here, like I used to. I'm super excited for that, and I'm excited for some of the opportunities that potentially opens up...
Like more contests!
I know it's been a long time since I've ran any, but honestly, I'd really like to start doing so again. They were always a really fun way to get writers posting, and more than a few of my favorite stories have come from them.
First things first: I have no official affiliation with BCTS as a business entity. Outside doing a few stories for Hatbox/Patreon and the occasional cover, I have zero input into the goings-on or function of our site.
That said... I love BCTS, and want it to succeed. I've been an official member for almost 16 years, and I've picked about for longer than that. I've been a member of this community for longer than I've been able to legally drink!
I feel like a lot of people around here expect a lot of the moderation and maintenance staff here at BCTS, but that they don't tend to get nearly enough recognition for all the hard work they do.
As such, I would like to take a moment to list them all, so we can all show each of them the love they deserve.
BCTS is probably the most important constant in my life.
Some might consider that hyperbole... but in so many ways, it's 100 percent true.
Without the community this site has provided, the outlet for both creativity and pain, the *outreach* it has allowed me... I wouldn't be here today.
Without the wonderful people here, who are so incredibly generous in so many ways, and the love and support they have given me, that I have done my best to return in kind, but know I can never truly match... I wouldn't be here today.
So, just wanted to let anyone who might be curious know I'm still around.
I haven't posted anything in a while... but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on stuff!
Believe it or not, I've got several stories in the works, a book on the way through Doppler when I come up in rotation, and I'm working on a few projects with a rather illustrious partner that y'all will eventually see the fruits of too!
Because sometimes your brain won't let you sleep, and instead insists on another round of beating the dead horse that is your shitty emotional state.
What does your trans-ness mean to you?
For all of us, it seems to be something different. For some it's about freedom, from societal expectations or toxic masculinity. For some it's about expression. For others, it's something as simple as a fetish, or as complete as a feeling of cosmic wrongness needing made right.
For anyone who follows the BCTS Patreon, Erin's been posting chapters of a story I was writing -- Double Date Dare -- over there for quite a while. There was a hiatus for a bit, but I recently finished the story, and re-wrote it for publication through Doppler.
Except there's a problem.
See, since I started posting chapters of the story, *another* trans fic author -- of erotica, no less -- has used my beloved story title for a book of their own.
I am friends with Erin. Quite good friends, I would like to think. So, when I'm talking to a friend of mine and they're a bit miffed because of response to a story they're writing, naturally I want to see what's going on.
Sometimes there are weeks where I'm writing-writing-writing for days on end, it's all I wanna do.
Sometimes I'll go for months without writing anything at all. Much like with my art and music, if I'm not feeling it then sometimes it's impossible to get myself to do it no matter how much I want to complete project X or project Y.
Well, right now the stars are aligning, and I'm less than 5K words away from finishing a book!
I could wait until my parents are gone and take a bottle of painkillers or muscle relaxers from their room. By the time they got home it would be done.
I could break into my dad's gun cabinet. Glass doors are only a deterrent when the person getting in is worried about damaging them, and what would I care, given the end goal?
I could simply walk out to his shop. A rope from the rafters, or his chain wench, or any of the various knives, power tools, and so on, depending on how much I wanted to make myself suffer.
First off, to anyone who's getting a little annoyed at all the Roses blogs, I understand. We are, as a group, collectively VERY excited about the project we've been working on, and the effort for some has been tremendous. So, bear with us for a couple more days, please, and I promise, you won't regret it.
Lately I've been working on a group project with a few of our other authors/authoresses here, and one of them has been asking me about something I used to do....
See, many many moons ago, I posted multiple forum entries containing a year's worth of story challenges at a time: one for each week, one for each month. This person has expressed that they found these challenges a lot of fun, and would love to see me produce something like that again.
So, here's my question: would anyone ELSE like to see a new edition of my Ultimate Writer's Challenge?
I have shared here both times that I've posted my book 'Enamored' to online stores: first, on Smashwords, then on Kindle.
I've gotten a few sales of it, but both times I've asked for reviews as well, and that's been a lot harder to score so far. In fact, on Kindle -- arguably the higher profile of the two options -- I've gotten precisely two star ratings, and ONE review. One of those two ratings was a two-star with no explanation, knocking my book as a whole down to a 3 1/2 star total.
So lately I've been finding a lot of transgender YouTubers getting recommended to me (more and more the more of them I actually check out, though that's unsurprising.)
You know what's tough? Self care. Self care is super, super tough.
But when it goes right, it's a great thing.
I've been letting my self-care slide a lot the last few years. I've gotten somewhat better about it in the last year and a half, since I sort-of left the work force and started focusing on work-from-home pursuits, but I've still languished in the land of 'I'll get to it later' on some things for far too long.
So I've been thinkin' about writing a lot lately, and a few recent stories have spurned a bit of an odd series of thoughts in my noggin'.
A lot of trans fic, whether intentionally or unintentionally, tends towards fantasy to some degree or science fiction. That's not to say ALL stories do, but even when it's very light -- whether it be the miraculous power of subliminals to change you utterly or a brand-new magic pill that does the same -- a lot of trans stories delight in utilizing fantastical gadgets or wonder drugs to do the dirty work.
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.
