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.

Well, Jaci is gonna laugh at this one. Writing my autobiography has reminded me of a very strange incident. I was still in grade six, and I was on my way home from school when I saw some of my usual tormentors, but this time they had friends. Friends on bikes. Friends with knives, chains, and baseball bats.

I ran for my life, and somehow managed to get to my door ahead of them. I called the police, and decided I would do something rather stupid - I opened my door and told them the police were on their way.

After years of being a lurker, and that was before I registered on the site, I'm finally taking a more active role. I'll be posting the first chapter of a new story later today. (Yes, if I say that here, then I've got a deadline I have to meet.)

That said, I want to get a discussion going on the writing process itself. I've noticed that the appropriate section of the forums is rather dead. Goes back over 2 years on the first page of threads. So, I'm posting here.

Ok so work is running me ragged. More so than they used to. I'm having to fight for every peace of mind I can get in that place and I still end up with the short end of the stick.

Hi everyone,

it finished fr today. Just barely been able to edit Maiden of Bronze. Maybe something before the Christmas episode. Though each day seems to be a little more exhausting. wish could sleep

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:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Catherin...

Well, yesterday was an adventure, all right. First, we were later getting going than I would have liked, then a train kept us waiting for 10 minutes, and then I lost track of mom, so by the time we got there we were both seriously stressed. But the actual event was nice, and one lady complimented me on my pigtails. Other than my relatives using the male name for me, it was a decent night.

Do not rob a jewelry store with a crossdressing partner.

I am still around, I've just been busy. At work we've lost all of the new people (4 in a month, 2 of them in just one week)and one older person. So I am working Sundays stocking the pets department. I have also been getting a ton of overtime, thankfully I can get my bills under control now. I hope that it all evens out after Christmas, but for the next few weeks, my schedule will change weekly.

I shall resume Tracy and Hope soon.

Well, tonight I go to my brother's birthday party, and its expected that some of my relatives will be there who have never "met" the real me. So I am a touch nervous ...

ah, well.

Is Ellen Hayes alright?
Her last note, on her site, said that we could expect a new part of Tuck be posted by mid-September.
While that would be nice, she has been having some problems.

I have been thinking about my nightmares the other night, and I think I see the silver lining. See, unlike most of these instances, I was able to do something inside the dream.

I fought back.

I'm feeling better now but I woke up at 330 AM last night with diarrhea and vomiting that lasted till a bit after noon. I kept drinking things like lemonade and Seven-Up and hot tea and water, to keep my fluids up even tho a lot of time they just came back up. At noon when I thought I could keep it down, I took an anti-diarrheal pill.

Just a quick note to say hello. I have read this site for years. I find you all such wonderful and magical writer's/folk.

Well, I wanted to talk about some positives about being trans, but last night I ended up fighting nightmares of rape basically the whole night. Probably triggered by my trying to write my autobiography, stupid me.

I will survive, but this isnt the way I wanted to start my day...

Ah, well.

Or Lauren Mcnamara. She has lots of Youtube videos. I am not actually sure why she would reveal she is Trans. In looking at her videos, I am not sure why she would reveal anything at all about her past. She is bullet proof in my opinion.

She may be talking about Trans issues because her own presentation is so strong. Please take notice of her voice. The pitch is in the female range, and her inflection and resonance make so many of us seem like pitiful pretenders.

So, life has been crazy as of late. Between PTSD diagnosis and treatment, kidney stones and other medical misadventures I have barely been able to focus on writing. I have gotten a bit better. I finished the first draft of the last chapter of Written In The Body so I do have hopes of getting to the last several chapters of 300 Rains. That is my plan at any rate.

I know a lot of readers here eschew the output on FM but I'd like to recommend 'Ms Yates' by Dreamweaver. It's just finished and I think most people here would appreciate it. So override your prejudices and have a read :). It's garnered very few comments and it deserves more.

I'm in a pretty bad place myself right now (nothing to do with sexual identity as much as general depression brought on by partly by short, miserable days and long dark evenings) but this has gone a small way to cheer me up.

Robi

Contributions to the Hatbox continue to be what keeps Piper and I able to keep this website and a dozen others used by the TG community active and running.

Angela Rasch's "Voices Carry Over Water" is now available to contributors to the Hatbox and we will soon have the revised version of "To Alleviate Suffering" there, too. Thanks very much, Angela. :)