I put this in the comment section under my last post but I will do so here as well for those who quit reading the story for one reason or another.

Hello everone! I'm of need of some opinions here. My book Heroes of Justice has lingered in the backroom for ages. There're many reasons why, but mostly because of the lack of a cover. Yes, I do know that many has come forward with solutions, but for me it turned into a mountain of frustrations.

Finally, money problems has forced my hand, so ready or not.

This is a cover I've put together that I think looks half-way decent. My question is what do you my three fans think? What might improve it?
Hugs
Grover

Some time back I was outed by one of my nephews, a particularly nasty and unthinking individual whose actions have unfortunately caused me multiple issues, not to mention the total polarization of my ex-wife's family. My ex-wife was the only person outside of my therapist and my friends here who actually new that I was transitioning - my plan being to address this with my sons in the spring of 2014. My three sons, who at the time my nephew decided to tell the world were aged 17, 22, and 25, unfortunately found out in a less than optimal fashion.

After some initial run around that got taken care of by noon yesterday, I got the estimate to fix my Prius.

I'm beginning to get the impression that I could be doing something right either that or my eyes are playing up, because according to my kudos counter, I have 140,000 of the little darlin's.

I am really worried about Jaci. She seems really down over the rejection of her family, and it seems like its getting worse as the holiday approaches.

So on Black Friday I bought myself a Prius. It was silver. Now it's denty. I hit a deer. Bumper no long bumps, hood no longer covers engine, radiator bleeding some weird red liquid. My neck and back hurt. No airbags deployed. Geico needs me to get a police report and I don't know who to contact for the Florida Highway Patrol. Not happy.

For animal lovers: The deer lived, but I hope it gets eaten by a hungry rabbit.

After a minor repair to the database, Tuckerspawn is back up. It went down because of the brownout at our ISP in Denver last week.

Have fun!

Hugs,
Erin

I am in the process of getting my gender marker changed and have been thinking about what is required. Here in Texas, there are no hard requirements, because there is no legal procedure to get it done. Clerks in Tarrent county where I live have been instructed not to take petitions for gender marker changes. Therefore I am filing in Dallas county. There they require a letter from the Doctor and one from a Therapist as set by one of the local Judges.

You can thank Kylie for the cool image that goes with my latest story "Scavenger"

Give her a round of applause, folks!

M I A But not dead yet.

I have been picked up by a website that reviews and promotes LGBT literature. I must admit, some of their stuff is a bit raunchy for me, but each to their own. The site is called 'Bending the Bookshelf', and they intend to post a short interview of me tomorrow.

It is time for some GOOD NEWS!!!!

This is the one starring Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Sam Shepard, and the ever-cute Julia Stiles.

Modern day setting, original dialogue.

So, as we're well into advent, it's time to roll out my infamous Christmas Tunes Acronym Quiz again. This year, I've bumped it up to 160 songs - most of which are either carols or secular seasonal pop songs (i.e. ones that actually mention winter / snow / Christmas, rather than just those that share nothing in common with the season other than release date), but there's a handful of secular songs considered traditional and the occasional novelty / parody track.

I do apologise to those few readers who may have been waiting for another chapter of my last story "After The Ball". I have just not been able to come up with anything which satisfies me or seems to be a valid continuation and so I have retitled the previous post "Just For The Ball?" with very minor changes to make it a stand-alone. If anyone thinks that they can continue the tale please feel free to do so. Just run it past me before posting. Sorry,

Joanne

So, I keep hearing more and more about Windows 8. Is anyone using it? What do you think? My Computer is "OLD", like 2009 old. It has a Window Experience Index of 5.1, what ever that is. An Intel Core Quad CPU Q8300 2.5 Ghz, 6.0 GB memory, 64 bit OS, and one TB hard disk, about half full.

I'm using Firefox unless I have to get on the VA and then I use Chrome.

Any ideas?

Wahoo!

I am no longer unemployed. It's an entry level job. It pays less than my last job. But it's paying work.

I start January the 8th. Elvis' birthday.

I find myself wondering why I feel so fragile. Is it that in taking of the male mask I am more vulnerable than I have ever been? Is it that I am now on hormones that equal what a teenage girl deals with? Is it that trying to deal with both my gender issues and my abuse I dont have a lot of emotional strength left for anything else?

I don't know, but the truth remains - I am more sensitive, more fragile now.

So be extra careful in handing me, okay?

"Needless to say, the choice was oblivious."

I wanted to ,ry when i read this line in a story that Jasmine bought from amazon for $u

That and the 13 other typos made be set it for return

How is it that readers can read something brilliant and not be motivated to click on the kudos button or leave a comment? The authors here, many of whom are exceptional, deserve our thanks! They work hard to post wonderful, well crafted, stories and we, for the most part, ignore them. It's not right! How much effort does it really take to click that button in thanks?

http://io9.com/5916970/the-22-rules-of-storytelling-accordin...

There aren't so much rules as bits of advice on how to tell stories, how to get ideas, and how to get unstuck.

We interrupt this blog for a special news alert!

Well, things didn't go terribly well at work last night. I ended up actually sobbing from pain as my shoulder, my privates, my face, and my foot competed to see which one was gonna hurt the worst.

This one's pretty basic really and you can feed a lot of people pretty well with big this one.

You'll need.

I tin foil roaster or standard kitchen one. Either will do.

An article on today's Guardian site.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-women-bra...

As I fly towards my dotage at the speed of light, I seem to have gathered another anniversary of my emergence on this planet. All it seems to bring these days is another ache or pain somewhere new which seems an awful price to pay for a few birthday cards. Such is life (or my one appears to be).

Then again, I'm living the dream and have been for a very long time, so perhaps I shouldn't complain.

Had a long conversation with my brother and sister-in-law last night, and I am mulling over what my sister-in-law thinks of my transition.

One of the things I'm wondering about is if I'm making Archie a little too broken here in the beginning. I mean, yes part of writing fiction is torturing your characters for fun and profit. That said, I wonder if I'm being too hard on Archie too soon.

Things aren't going to get better anytime soon. Archie's story has some miles to go before it's done.

Just wondering...

A new book of short stories

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/kaleidoscope-ii/1...

only in print for now but will be ready for Kindle and PDF when I get back!

A story that my son emailed me about that is just now coming to light. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10486452/Child-taken-...

As most of you know, I am not TG in any respect, although I do seem to write a lot on the subject. I probably don't write as much, or as often as I should and my experience of TG matters comes from being on the outside, not the inside - which could be termed as a disadvantage.

My experience just got a little deeper recently however, and I would like to share that experience with you all with a little account here that I have just posted.

Outstanding movie with excellent performances by Judi Dench and Steve Koogan. I can see at least two Oscar nominations. It brought tears to my eyes.

Ever since I sat down and decided that I was going to give being a published author a try, I have been very conscientious about the choices that I make and what I put down on paper. I know I am only a self published author using technology to my advantage, but certain questions should be raised.

What is transgender literature saying about the community as a whole?

Are you happy with the message?

How do you feel about terms like Sissy, Tranny, Shemale, Ladyboi, Slut, Bimbo?

Do you think the majority of stories accurately represent your struggles?

Sorry folks, I'm going to watch, Saving Mr Banks, this evening and will probably be back too late to do Bike.

Angharad

On Turner Classic Movies they're going to be showing a completely restored version of Topper on the 30th at 2:30am EST 11:30pm on the 29th!

This book is written by a friend of mine from a local writer's group. It's a fantasy novel, no TG, but it is well-written and presents a very original idea. I helped with the editing. :

I apologise again.

After my travels, I succumbed to a particularly vicious cold/flu bug.

They say that it's better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all.

I used to be a regular subscriber to a British magazine called SFX. Rather annoyingly, the front page was always designed so that the 'F' was slightly obscured, giving everyone the impression that you were buying a magazine called SEX, but that's by the by.

The best feature was always right at the end, where considerable space was given to reviewing recent SF and Fantasy fiction. The reviews were often uncompromising. I remember one comment to the effect that any writer who uses the phrase 'in actual fact' should be hung, drawn and quartered.

First of all, I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all the American members of Big Closet. I hope all of you are having a great day with friends and family. For everyone else in other countries, I hope you're having a great Thursday.

I'm about to have a giant feel sorry for myself moment. So, if you don't want to read that, you've been warned.

***

Another holiday, and another one spent alone. I was supposed to have a house full of friends today. All of them canceled for one reason or another.

on this thanksgiving I am thankful for pretty good health, have a roof over my head, and will have a great dinner later. I also am glad I found big closet. there I found great writers and their stories. keep up the good work guys and gals
robert

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.

Holiday hugs and love,
Catherine Linda Michel

**Sigh** It is Thanksgiving again tomarrow & yet again I am alone & now can't even leave the state of WI,because I'm on Probation because of the crime of using my Old Male info at an Airport to travel & being arrested for it.I hate this stupid Goverment.So I can't even go to any Friends I have made like I was planing to for Thanksgiving

Well there's a chunk to get through, so I won't dither!

Firstly, the usual updates are posted today.

Just stumbled upon the music video for "Silhouettes", by Avicii. It is, as they say, relevant to our interests. ;-)

Cheers!

Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer on December 4th 1993.

Aunt Els Pumpkin Pickles:

Now a good number of people have heard of pickled watermelon and those that haven’t well yes they pickle watermelon. More specifically the rinds.

Now this is a canning recipe so you will need the usual things for that like Mason Jars big cauldrons…uhm pots of water and the like. Personally I like a pressure cooker and if you’re familiar with canning/bottling your own food then you know what I mean. If not look it up! It’s a seriously cool life skill.