Last week MS automatically installed two new programs on my computer without my permission. A year earlier I turned Win updates off via Registry Edit. Somehow with reboots over the past year Win 10 refreshed all it's command prompts for Win startup. I didn't catch it as it was stealth. The programs MS installed last week was MS Edge and One Drive. I only noticed because my HD was running excessively. Started a search for the guilty program taking up loads of memory and HD intercepts. It turned out to be MS Edge and One Drive. Searched for the install date and it was last week.

Allison Zero is turning out a little longer than I expected. Maybe 35/40%-ish extra to get to the point Part 12 makes it now, at least according to standard sci-fi novel word counts. Although I have added some elements that should make the later parts of the novel more accessible, as well as to answer the primary medical transition questions — which I decided not to hold back on quite as much. Part 12 is, though, a significant turning point, something I’ll deal with later in this blog.

I'm interested in conducting a survey of the members here and I hope to get you interested as well.

1. Are you currently acting as a proof-reader or editor for other writers?
2. Are you willing to help others with their writing?

If you are on Inkitt and following Aiméé Ménard's World Beyond series a new chapter has been posted.

Just a note since the question came up: you need to have your own account to post stories on BC. It's free and essentially anonymous, but yours alone.

Hugs,
Erin

I can't say what has happened to the Internet. I thought it was only in the last two weeks, but it may have been actually going on for much longer. ONE person has actually reached out to me, offering help and I gave them all my contact information.

It's been nearly 20 years, and along the way several people have asked for help, and I have done my best to respond. I've tried very hard to be responsive to the site administrators. The record is there, if they kept any.

I had 2 rather encouraging dreams last night.

In the first one, I was in a contest where I had to climb up what looked like a life-size pinball machine.

In the second one, I was back in university and realized I had forgotten to write down the location of one class, so I went to the office to get it.

So what was encouraging?

In the first time, I wasn't afraid to take a breath and plan each step I took.

In the second I wasn't afraid or ashamed of asking for help when I needed it.

and that's encouraging.

I was recently in a discussion on line, and I was called a 'snowflake.' Here is what happened:

Holly Snow

Thank you for the wonderful compliment! I am a proud snowflake, unique and beautiful.

Reply

Holly Snow actually, that's a pretty good come back. You got me. Enjoy your day.

I would love for more people to embrace the term 'snowflake,' and respond like this.

It is profound to me that some are just busy about being who they are no matter what the self-proclaimed experts say. We all know them, and it is not about gender, though sometimes it is. They are just born that way. Some born leaders, some are followers, some are healers and others are warriors. Some have a high need for order knit right into their souls, so are police whether there is a badge or not. Some tear clocks apart all their lives. There are those here who are Wordsmiths and others want to be...

For almost a week, the Internet has been unavailable to me, no email, or online purchases. I don't know if my old win 10 computer died or if I got hacked or what? Eventually, I gave up on it because I knew that by August Win 10 was not going to be supported anyway.

are still at it, joined from time to time by the various Blue, Great and Long tailed Tits that make up the local small bird gang!

well, believe it or not, I managed to bang out a third entry in the "Fresh Start" contest!

you can read it here: https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/102626/star-tower

please kudo and comment if you like it!

Well there's a mob of them attacking the bird feeders with some gusto so i presume they're hungry!

I just happened on this while messing with a new tablet.

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/culture/lifestyle/miss-ma...

A bit of good news for a change.

2:00 AM, going to be hot. Not breathing well. Despite the site rules, are non-TG stories allowed? I think so. Just checking.

Gwinn

I am still only about a third of the way through writing the next Masks story, so I am posting an unconnected short story. This is set in the same world as "The Master of Cuts" and "In the Hollow of the Devil's Hand."

I didn't think I could, but a new story idea came to me last night, and I realized it fit the idea of a fresh start.

here it is, please leave kudos and comments!

https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/102586/little-bit-his...

That's right folks, we've got less than two weeks left on our 25th Anniversary story contest!

I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed we haven't had more entries so far. For such a big event, and with us wanting to go fairly big for prizes, I was expecting a lot more interest. That said, at least part of that has to be on me, since I haven't been pushing it particularly hard.

THAT BEING SAID!

Diane tries to bond with her new Mom....

with plenty of stuff happening!

I might just be the last person to learn about this and I know the place and people have been mentioned on here before.
This morning I found a BBC video about the wonderful past getaway place for crossdressers in the Catskills. I hope those interested can get to this:

Casa Susanna programme 93 minutes, personal stories, many pictures.

I have been more sick than not, with several hospital stays, and have missed a lot on BC. There seem to have been a number of changes here that I missed out on, which I won't get into. But I've noticed that Ignore User doesn't seem to be working anymore. Has it functionality been discontinued?

Melanie Brown's new serial "Poison" is running on BC Patreon free for everyone.

https://www.patreon.com/collection/562682" title="Poison on Patreon">

Poison
by Melanie Brown
Read on Patreon

It seems transgender children are the easiest target for the self-righteous rightwing parties to target, so it's good to read a positive story for once. It may only be a drop in the ocean of hate that seems to exist these days, but it made me feel glad that someone is trying.Here is a link to the Guardian report:https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/29/tran...

One blink and its gone!

I find it odd that even though I have said repeatedly I am dangerous, almost nobody believes me.
I wonder why?

or, to show my age, Spring Bank Holiday.

So I was having some pain in a tooth that was damaged many years ago by a 2x4 and a truck axel. I went on vacation the beginning of April, and while on vacation, I started having more and more pain, and even started getting daily headaches. To make a long story short, I had an abscess in the gum, and the infection was causing bone loss. Now, I've got a nice 2 tooth gap in my mouth, and I keep sing "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

Home in both senses of the word. Back to BC, that's the main thing.

I have an idea for the 25th anniversary story contest. The problem for me is that it will mean writing twenty or more characters. I don't like writing "spear carriers". I try to have some feeling of every person in the story even if it isn't obvious (Did anyone catch the leather biker's "craft" magazine in The Worst Day?). I'm afraid of having four people and a bunch of cutouts. That's the kind of story I have trouble finishing. How do any of you deal with making secondary characters real?

The contest is now live! You can find the tag above, and I'm excited to see your entries!

For many of us BCTS is a huge part of our lives, or has helped us pull through rough times thanks to the community and stories the site has helped to foster.

Well, what better way to show our appreciation of that than a 25th anniversary contest?

Yep, that's right -- BigCloset turns 25 in June! And to celebrate, we want to give back to the community with some prizes and a contest.

It's just after 3:30 am here, so around 11:30 am in the UK, and I'm thinking about some of the stories I have most enjoyed. Of course, it goes without saying that "Bike" is one. "Twice Removed" was another. "Somewhere Else Entirely" is one... My mind is too foggy this time of day for perfect recall of dozens of others... "Deception Of Choice" came at a time when I needed it and it probably saved my life. Stories of 'Pete' have provided a welcome distraction.

I'm getting confused by the checkbox at the bottom of the new story submission page, I think.

It's labelled 'Ongoing' but it also says "Click to mark as completed story", so is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?

I never submit incomplete stories, but a tick against 'Ongoing' appears to apply a flag called 'Completion'. But there's also a way to toggle 'ongoing' when viewing the story itself, so, uh...?

I certainly looked like i'd been used as a salt pan when i got back from todays excursion!

Hello friends. I am now home from Cobb WellStar Hospital, two tumors and a fair amount of intestine lighter. But the cancer is now out of me and we have some breathing space to plot the battle. From here, it will be 6 months of chemo to be sure anything too small to have been seen is dead and once we're sure of that, a follow up surgery to repair my lightened intestines.

Tired, sore, beat up and sobered.

Almost died on the table, but thanks to the quick thinking and decisiveness of my surgeon, I'm still here and home. And I got news an old college buddy my age died.

is here! Well that's the news over.

Too lazy to dress properly to ride my bike, so I just stayed in my Ankle length A line skirt, a top, with a pretty flowery Jacket, and of course HELMET. Of course my ebike has a drop frame, so my exhibitionistic efforts were not as blatant as I had hoped. I went into a market for some goodies, and a woman told me she had not seen a woman in a skirt on a bike since Amsterdam. :)

So I'm off to the big smoke tomorrow to have some work done in the body shop (on Thursday morning).

Regrettably I won't be getting the body I want, nor will I have any desirable mods. Just a decoke and some pipework replaced.

I should be back on Monday 20th but I don't know if I'll be in any fit state to login that day. Or maybe even the next, who knows?

Anyhoo, I won't be looking at BC from now on for a while, so I would suggest not adding comments.

Penny

I remember watching the movie Moonstruck starring Nicholas Cage and Cher in 1987 when it first was released, probably by streaming. It remains a very good movie. And a key part of the plot is when after an over-night fling Ronny (Nicholas Cage) promises to never bother Loretta (Cher) again if she attends a performance of La bohème at the Met with him. Loretta is deeply moved by the opera and eventually breaks up with Johnny (Danny Aiello) and accepts Ronny’s proposal.

Ok all will tell what I remember it starts out a boy goes to Florida to stay with friends or family ends up dressing as a girl acts in a Christmas elf meets a rich family and goes out with the son there is a chase and caught on film becomes known back at home stays a girl and goes back home and has to deal with the kids at school as a girl that's all I remember think it was on fiction mania not sure
Charlize

I dropped in to wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day.

I've been debating this blog post for most of the week, but I believe it needs doing as a warning to folks who may need it.

Before I go on, I must preface with a few details about my father - he's a brilliant man, a scientist, full of great heart and wisdom. He is now in his 80s and he still does meaningful work for a university. But my mom was lost to us a year and a half ago (has it already been that long??), and he is beginning to really feel his age - and at times says he feels lost in a world that has changed so much from what he's known.