The first chapter of Bob's new version of this classic story is now up at http://stardustr.us

Got have a look. :)

- Erin

I've got a ton of stuff to do but I took the Fourth off to laze around at friends', eat, cook and talk. I came home last night and slept 10-1/2 hours, very unusual for me. Now I feel like crud, aches and pains all over, stuffed up sinuses and a sore throat. I'm going to take it easy today, do very little and hope I feel better tomorrow.

Hugs to all and especially those of you waiting for me to do something in particular,
Erin

Acer returned my laptop this week, complete with a new hard drive and completely reloaded software.

I'll be picking up the pieced of where I left off soon, and for my 3 fans (special thanks to all three of you!), I shall soon be back with more installments of Nothing Stranger Than Life.

Y'all have fun and thanks for your patience.
DD

Okay, apparently, not only does Inspiration know no bedtime...

It's freaking nocturnal

I recently read a story that had a lot of quotes as the heading of the chapters. Also I've noticed a number of quotes coming with a review. What are your favorite quotes?

Some of mine:

"I know G_d created the Heaven and Earth. I'm just trying to find out how." A. Einstein

"The reason I can see so far is that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants." E. Hailley

"Only Nixion could go to China." ST character, Spock

"In this galaxy there are millions of planets and millions of people on those planets. Don't lose the one called Kirk." ST character McCoy

I was constantly beating the odds of bad things happening, in my first 20 years. So much so, that I had the reputation of being the clumsiest person in town. When I was in high school, there was a contest in the town newspaper that described some of my injuries and the circumstances that led to them. The first 50 correct responders to the newspaper office would receive a coupon good for a free sandwich from a local fast food place. All 50 coupons were claimed before an hour had passed from the time the papers hit the shelves/streets

FPI -- Frilly Pantied Investigator

Copyright 2007 by Heather Rose Brown

Recently, my unpredictable muse presented me with an interesting concept for an action/adventure type story. I came up with a really neat title image, got a first scene, then ... nothing. Well, not actually nothing. I do have a feel for where the story might go and a vague idea of whodunnit, but no real story. I'm hoping someone else might see what I have so far and maybe have some suggestions on how to get from here to the end of the story. Here's to hoping!

I don't know how many saw this story in the news a couple of days ago, this is an AP story from Yahoo:

Due to illness again. Yeah... illness is a nice, safe way to describe it without giving mental images that everyone would regret...

I have been looking at some of my work and deciding how my personality molds my own stories to reflect a part of me. I had often thought that a professional could write on almost any subject and make a success of it.

I, on the other hand write about my inner most desires.

A while back, I was talking to my counselor about why I need to be punished. We decided that for me it is a way to feel secure and owned. This is probably abnormal, but so what, I have nothing to hide anymore; no church boards to fear, no employeer to satisfy.

Well I'm afraid to say that I have had to put that on hold as we can't agree who's going to be the bride. I'm not going into this in an argument situation and as it is, there are already going to be far too many bridesmaids.

As if the catering isn't going to be enough to organise, getting that many matching dresses is going to be murder.

So until we can resolve just who's going to be wearing the strides, it's going to have to be put back by at least a week.

Everyone's on edge at the Nick B household (both of us. The cat doesn't seem to understand or care) today after I got news of a possible new job in the same neck of the woods as Kristina LS.

That'd be weird since she lives half a world away from me - literally.

This means a move to Australia from little ol' England. The language won't change, but the lifestyle sure as hell will.

Will I be able to keep writing? God I hope so.

I certainly won't give up with BC since you're all such a nice bunch here and I think that I would definitely want something familiar nearby.

I thought I would throw this out to get the opinions of some of the fine folks here.

What are your thoughts about wearing pantyhose with shorts?

I've got lots to do. But I'm going to go get in the car with my laptop and go for a ride. I may stop somewhere and get online to see that things are okay. I may do some writing. I may drive to the coast or up to the mountains or out to the desert. I may be back before midnight. I will be here tomorrow most of the day. Be good to each other, everyone and see you when I get back.

Hugs,
Erin

Hi all I posted a story this morning named "Ultimatum" that I later took down. I believe that it needed more context to make it understandable. I am working on a companion piece that I more than likely will use Ultimatum as the preface for. Sorry to have confused anyone!
Hugs for all who wants them!
grover

Part IV of Echoes will be up soon, following a quick re-re-re-readthrough and a few minor changes to try and make it seem a bit less whiny. With any luck, I'll have it up by Wednesday or Friday!

If anybody wants to read through it and maybe give me ideas on what to change, I always appreciate offers of help, especially from those who have an interest in the story. Thanks!

Melanie E.

I collapsed and could barely lift my head for about half an hour, so writing took a back seat. I was in bed until about an hour ago. I don't think I'll get Episode 7 out today, but I'll likely get it and Episode 8 both out tomorrow...

Sorry to disappoint

Edeyn Hannah Blackeney

I was using today to catch up on other things that I've been too sick to do earlier this week... but now I'm writing -- well, I will be as soon as I've posted this :)

Edeyn Hannah Blackeney

Hello there:

I published a few stories on storysite and then quit writing. The idea of going back to it appeals to me and by now, after years of practice, I may be able to publish something decent.

The story that is almost ready is staged in an Islamic society, and deals with forced transformation along with advanced medical proceedures.

Most of my interest leans toward Sci Fi, Transgendered, and romanticisim. XXX does not appeal to me much.

Please wish me luck.

Gwenellen

If anyone is interested in seeing an example of other stories I've written, this morning (before I admitted to myself that I felt like crap) I uploaded the first 8 parts of a fantasy setting story of mine

I put it up at my Fictioneer Page (thanks, Erin!). The series is called, The Original "Intrepid Heroes", categorized under the 'intrepid' marker over there

Direct link to my ( Fictioneer Page )

My laptop hard drive is sick. I think I have my story safely recovered into another partition but I have no back up of the work I had done other than what I have posted here to bigcloset.

At this point, I am diagnosing if it is only a data/software issue or if the hard drive needs replacement.

I guess further installments of Nothing Stranger Than Life will be delayed until I deal with this minicrisis.

Y'all have fun,
D

From Zoe Brain via the transgendernews group. Her Blog at http://aebrain.blogspot.com/ has some good trans info and links as well as this "Rancid Joke"

Two Prawns

Far away in the tropical waters of the Caribbean, two prawns were swimming around in the sea, one called Justin and the other called Christian. The prawns were constantly being harassed and threatened by sharks that inhabited the area.

Finally one day Justin said to Christian, "I'm fed up with being a prawn; I wish I was a shark, and then I wouldn't have any worries about being eaten."

Hello Everyone, this is to let everyone know that i have taken on the persona of a female teenage girl when dressed as one. Dennis/Betty Sue

Hello I've just opened the door to the Big Closet as a registered user and I'm buisy finding my way around the place. I've been into TG fiction for years mainly the reading of it and I've found the Internet an Aladin's cave of some good TG material. I'm very fond of reading Petticoat Punishment stories as this has been a favourite fantasy of mine for many years and I would like to write about it.

Had an unusual experience over the last week. I 'chat' via email to several people. Some daily, others every few, others occasionally. Last Saturday I sent off a couple of messages and... nothing. After a few days I was able to ask a couple of said 'chatters' here via PM..'hey what's doin'?? Huh they say... where ya been?' Or words to that effect.

Hi Girls,

I thoroughly enjoyed writing my first story for the new "Big Closet" and hope that you enjoyed it. I like to write g-rated stories of childhood feminization that delight both the child's mother and other female relatives as well as the child himself. The latter doesn't always immediately appreciate being prettily dressed but after a season in cute dresses, he usually begins to enjoy being a mommy's girl. Please feel free to contact me to discuss the story, your own experiences, or ideas that you might have for future stories. I try to answer all my mail promptly.

Cordially,

Most people with Gender Identity Disorder, transgender or however you want to describe it, demonstrate some degree of obsessionalism. For most of us it manifests as a form compulsion to indulge in what begins as our alter ego; only we find it isn't, it's the real us.

Some ISP problems, sorry about that. Seems to happen everytime the weather gets hot. Maybe they should keep the server inside in the A/C.

- Erin

Here is something that was sent to me at work, I'm not sure how it got past the filters but I'm glad it did. I found it to be very funny and I'm sure everyoe here will agree. After all what better audience for this very short story, or is it a long joke? Oh well, someone will have to tell me the difference some time.

So, I finally got around to posting chapter seven of Being Christina Chase, though a few days late. Even though this chapter has essentially been in the bag for probably a year or so, I made some last minute changes due to Holly Logan's invaluable feedback. It would have been on time had I not recently fallen irrationally and hopelessly in love and that I'd been traveling all weekend.

Tonight on ABC's Home Makeover show there was a cute scene that I couldn't resist passing on. It was the usual needy family in a fix and the design team was interviewing family members on the type of themed bedroom they would like. Well there was this cute set of 4 year old twin boys and one said he wanted to be a fireman. The other with a big smile said he wanted to be a policewoman. The double takes from Paul and Preston as they digested this was priceless, but Paul playing along said he wanted to be a policewoman too. Preston then asked "How about a policeMan?" and the kid nodded happily.

I'm spending a lot of time lately either hauling my Mom to and from doctor appointments or waiting for hours in doctors' offices. So please understand that I'm not able to give BC the nearly every hour attention I normally do.

Being the sort who tries to be precise about such things, I was looking for information about just when a full moon occurred on Halloween to set the date for "Turning the Tables."

Needless to say, our friends at NASA come through in spades.

NASA's listing of dates for phases of the moon from 2000BCE to 4000CE. The times are UTC (Greenwich Mean Time), so you may need to convert to local time.

well about time i started blogging somewhere i suppose (giggle), i am just taking a break from fighting with heaven can wait as its turning out to be a hard story to write. Not because I am trying to please people but like most of my stories it contains pieces from my past and how some things I wish I could of changed or avoided.

I suppose I write to examine myself and how I interact with others so it does make it harder to write fiction as always trying to dig away the harsh parts so it doesn't offend people and make it too dark too read.

I kept waiting for one of our more articulate members to post some meaningful comments on the incident at Virgina Tech on Monday, but as nobody else has spoken up, I feel compelled to do so.

I just queued up the next chapter in my self-indulgent, crappy story for a Friday morning release and it got me to thinking about all the helper monkey software that I use.

Chapter three of Being Christina Chase should be up. It's the first chapter that has any TG content. I talked it over with Holly, and she seems to think I sold the premise. Which is good, cause I went through a lot of trouble, and if you don't buy it, well, then I guess you just won't like the story too much. I think I've done a decent job of allowing the premise to happen. I buy the execution, though I'm not a crossdresser, nor am I transgendered. People are either going to take the leap with me or not at this point. I hope people like it. But, if they don't, well I dunno.

The title of Janet's blog post reminds me of another occasional role that editors/proofreaders may enjoy -- touting their authors' forthcoming stories. ;-)

From the mouths of babes. This gem was found on a blog post elsewhere.

Me: "It's about a DVD"

Child #1: "What gender is it?"

One thing that really burns my biscuits is Circumstantial Exposition. This is my name for when a sloppy writer wants his characters to act in a way that makes absolutely no sense, and they just drop in an explanation right along with the offending behavior.

For example:

And then, Billy decided to get into the car with the stranger. Did I mention that Billy was extremely trustful of strangers? Well he is. Cause he was raised in an orphanage in Ecuador where he lived with deaf mute monks. Since he couldn't speak with them, they were like strangers.

An owl called from outside my window this morning. You should understand that I am, by no means, an early riser and this was several hours after sunrise. I know that not all owls are nocturnal, but that sound should have been: she sounded so plaintive and lonely.

Thanks for the well wishes you sent Janet; she appreciated them.

Now another on-line friend, Itinerant/Nichole Harrison has had a hard time of it recently. Things finally got back to reasonably close to normal then another RL crissis hits.

Today, I went off to help at a bike-jumble held by my cycling club. Not something especially exciting to blog about, spending most of the morning with the other women in the kitchen, toasting tea cakes and washing plates. The men of course, were dribbling over assorted bike bits, brakes and derailleurs, cranks and handlebars; they were also eating most of the teacakes I was toasting - if ever I get fed up with healthcare, I could have found my vocation!

It's strange, I've posted over a hundred episodes of stories elsewhere, all fiction of course, but this is neither fiction nor a story, it's about me.

I have been conflicted for a long time about the appropriateness of commenting on authors' works for whom I don't 'work'. There is no question that I have a particular style and set of standards and it may not be compatible with every author.

Yet, I also want to help others grow in the craft and that can not happen without constructive criticism.

It seems, though, that some may have misunderstood my goals and intentions. I truly regret that.

Bob's Stardust First Anniversary Sci-Fi Story Contest is over, the votes have been tabulated by the esteemed accounting firm, Dewey, Fleecem and Howe and the awards ceremony is being prepared even as we type. I don't know who the guest presenters are going to be but I understand that the MC is going to be WFS, old Mr. Sincerity himself. :)

I have the first few pages of a new story started. I have had ideas float freely through my damaged brain for months, years even, but nothing concrete enough to actually take the time to type, though I did have an outline going on a science fiction type story, but I lost that and don't know where to look for it.

Anyway, this is mostly about the absurdity of real life and how it can so easily be way more weird than anything we could dream up if we tried.

Y'all have fun and I hope to have it finished soon

DD Weldons

Thanks for all of the good wishes during my absence. I needed some 'revision' surgery after my SRS. All worked well and I am home, albeit a bit sore.