Overall, I’d have to say 2019 was a pretty good year. Looking back, I’m amazed at everything I accomplished this year. I did a lot of work in my house, clearing out a lot of junk, organizing, and having some renovations take place. I got new windows, a new couch, had my bathroom gutted and completely remodeled (something that needed to be done for 10 years), and finished assembling 14 shelves for my model horse room, then unpacked my collection and finally have it displayed. All of this was d
On August 9, 2013 I decided to take the plunge and join GA as a member instead of reading stories as a lurker. While I'd dabbled a bit with writing poetry and some creative fiction, I'd never actually finished anything I started writing. The closest I came was a vampire novel I started writing in the early '90s (which I may yet finish ) The atmosphere on GA was so welcoming. It felt like a place where I wanted to interact with others, and one of my favorite things was reading the weekly pro
October is Down syndrome awareness month, so I'd like to do my part and spread awareness of this often misunderstood syndrome. In 1866, Dr. John Langdon Down, a British physician described the syndrome and called it "mongolism". Until the 1970s, people with Down syndrome were called "mongoloids". In 1959 a French geneticist discovered that individuals with Down syndrome possessed an extra chromosome. The correct name is Down syndrome, not Down's syndrome. In the past, individuals with Down
About twenty years ago I stopped at Tim Hortons to grab lunch. I needed to go grocery shopping, but had to wait until payday and had five bucks to last the rest of the week. A dollar went further then than it does now, which meant I had just enough to pay for some cheap groceries until I got paid. It was very crowded due to it being "Camp Day", when they collect donations to send needy/ill children to summer camp. There were several people with boxes collecting donations and a girl approache
Ten years ago today, I left work and headed to my car, cursing the light snowfall. While not unheard of, snow in October is rare in my area, especially early October. I headed home, figuring that it would stop and melt off fairly quickly--a dusting, at most. By the time I turned onto my street, it was evident that this was no mere dusting, and we were in for a lake effect storm. On October 12th. I made it home early enough that I was able to park in my driveway. I spent the evening listeni
I wanted to give an update to let everyone know what writing projects I have in the works. Chapter 19 of "The Hollow Hills" is almost complete and will be sent to my team soon. I hope to have it posted within the next couple of weeks. I am very appreciative of all the support I've received for this story. I know my posting speed is excruciatingly slow, but it's very important to me that I focus on producing the best story possible vs. cranking out chapters quickly and not being happy with th
I've been having 'female issues' since the beginning of the year and recently underwent some updated testing. About three months ago, I had an ultrasound that showed a small, septated cyst on my left ovary. I also had a cervical polyp that was removed during the examination. Septated means segmented, and as far as cysts go, that is generally not good. The plan of action was to wait 2-3 months and have a repeat ultrasound. Well, the repeat ultrasound showed that it had doubled in size, so I was t
It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I wanted to give an update regarding my writing. I had a long bout of writer's block, which finally seems to be over. I've had a lot of ideas lately, which is a good thing. Now I just hope I'll be able to write them all! I have three ideas for upcoming anthologies - one of which has been written and beta read. I've started a second anthology story and have jotted down some notes for a third. I have an idea for the holiday story contest, whic
My uncle passed away on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 69. It's hit me pretty hard, even though we weren't particularly close. In fact, my first memories of him aren't pleasant at all. When I was a kid we lived in a house with an inground pool. I hated that stupid pool. My parents had my brother and I take swimming lessons at the Y because neither of us knew how to swim. Those lessons were torture. I don't have specific memories of the lessons, but I do remember that the
I wanted to give a little background into my response to Prompt 381. The prompt was a challenge to create a detailed scene describing an uncomfortable situation. My response can be found here:
https://www.gayauthors.org/story/valkyrie71/2014promptresponses/38
The image that immediately came to mind when I read the challenge was of a person sitting on a stone bridge over a river, contemplating jumping in. I hadn't completely formulated the reason the person was so despondent when I sta
