Andrew Q Gordon

Geez Mark, chapter 25? Christmas is the 25th are you becoming a sentiment old bastard in your elder years? Seems to me that Daddy taking away from Bridgemont and giving to Ge. & Bertie isn't go to sit well with Freddy and Davina. George better watch his arse figuratively and literally because Caroline didn't step in it she shoved Davina's face in it until she passed out. She's gonna be out for blood soon. Thanks for the early Christmas gift. Andy

Glad to see you reposted this Bill - would have been a shame to have missed it. Two thoughts, both evil, but I'll share them all the same 1) Good thing they found a cure cause it would have been a bitch to repopulate the world with only gays and lesbians and bi people. Wouldn't be a whole lot of reproductive copulation going on would there? 2) Had they not found a cure, we could have finally found out whose naughty or nice - err wait, sorry wrong holiday - we could have found out without a doubt all those closet cases we suspected of being gay Nice job. Andy

Thanks Ivan, now you know I'm going to expect something from you for the next anthology - right? Thanks for reading and glad you liked it. Andy

Another one from when we were kids and my father would serenade the family with his horrible, off key voice as he sang along with the old Victrola 33rpm album. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus Just because it's Christmas, here is the Jackson 5 doing this too. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Another day of being right up to the edge to post my selection, but this is a twofer. Oh Holy Night - by Eric Cartman

HRMPH!!!

Pretty much it's still the same, but then I didn't think it was that dirty. It, like all circles in DC is federal property. The US Park Police have jurisdiction and the department of the interior maintains it - in theory. Woo Hoo DC. SOOOO When now? I'd say late no sooner than late April - if you do it during cherry blossom season you won't get rooms. and before July 4th - too hot after that to be enjoyable. I'd say early June would be ideal, colleges will be out and it - again in theory - won't be too hot.

Lugh!!!! I'm so thrilled you've joined the: Cia For Queen of Cliffhangers Bandwagon. You've made my day!!!

Happy Birthday C-man - now give us all a birthday gift and finish book two

When I started Purpose, I was trying to get a feel for how would someone like will, basically a good, decent person, cope with being forced to kill over and over without turning into something worse than those he killed. [now we could debate if being a vigilante isn't worse, but you know what I mean, hopefully ] Thanks again for reading.

Thanks, George, the side trips were meant to back fill parts that I couldn't really get out in the story without really detouring so it's good they helped

Eeek, being compared to those writers makes mine look so amateurish, . Thanks for the reading Bill, glad you enjouyed it.

Uff, almost missed it again sorry. I was singing this the other day to Baby Q as we were walking around the mall looking for a gift for her daddy - [no I was not shopping for myself ]

When not changing diapers etc, I can get out a few hundred words at a clip fairly easily, it's stringing them all together in a meaningful way that makes it harder. Glad to see you enjoyed it. Hopefully the 'more' will be sooner than later

First: Ivan - welcome Second: Ignore the dark one Nephylim - okay just kidding. She gave you some good advice - thought I would ignore the whole panic thing. My suggestion is get yourself a beta reader -someone who will be honest with you, who understands the structure of how to write a novel, including plot, sub plots, character developments etc. Some one who is not going to be afraid to say - this part isn't going to work and here's why. Editor is very important too. One question I have is are you looking to post it on line or are you trying to get published? I ask because they are two very different things. Many of the very good stories here would have trouble in the rigid world of publishing because they violate too many 'rules'. If you are just trying to write for because it makes you feel good, then you can pretty much do as you please, write as you see/feel it. But if your goal is to be a published author - then buy a few books on writing, read what they have to say about structure and what not and then - again as Nephy said - practice by writing a lot and soliciting feed back. There are two very important elements here - one is vision and the other is execution. Vision is the plot, basics, concepts etc. If it's just a rehash of a common theme filled with lots of cliches i.e. nerdy, beaten down boy falls for hot super popular jock and they fall madly in love and everything works out and they live happily ever after, then it's probably not going to do so well. The plot needs to be interesting and can't be too predictible. The execution comes down to how well you develop your characters, do they feel alive to the reader, does the reader care, can the reader relate, do they have distinct personalities, do they remain in character. These are all elements that give depth to your story. Okay, I've said more than enough. If you have more questions ask them in the Writer Corner Forum for best results. Andy

Bill, If this is indeed your swan song, I'm saddened by the news. Hopefully you'll rekindle your fire some day and feel the need to write again and then share with everyone else. I fear I am more in the camp with Krista - please don't faint dear, you know I love you. I've gotten some angry public criticism, some of which was right on the money - some I ignored. But the point is - if you put your work out there AND ask for feed back, and almost everyone does ask for the feed back, you have to expect it won't all be great. I think - again agreeing with Kirsta - that bitching is not welcome at all, either in public or in a PM, but telling people you're characters are flat, or you're head hoping, or your confusing us because - and explaining why - this is not negative feed back as much as constructive criticism. Yes this is a free site where no one gets paid to share, but it would be silly to say - 'Positive Reviews only, I don't want to hear anything critical, even if it's right.' That's kind of like the Emperor Has No Clothes. The vast, vast majority of writers here. came to not only share but to improve. I could name a half dozen authors easily whose work HAS gotten markedly better over the short time I've been here. In fact I was told this in a review left for me by someone I rather like. My main point is that if all one should do is say positive things in reviews and only give the critical one in private - how does that help the community at large? If someone comes on the site, reads a story rife with novel writing no - nos and all they see is, 'This is great,' 'you're so talented,' 'this is the best thing since sliced bread,' when they think the story is trite, banal, needs work, seriously needs an editor, etc, what are the odds said author would stick around? But I think you last point is well taken - anything that quenches the fire of young and new writers is to be discouraged. The trick I suppose is finding in advance which authors truly want to learn and those who give lip service to it and only want to here platitudes and praise. If you have indeed posted your last story, then I would like to say thank you and may good fortune smile on you with whatever is next for you. Andy

Steve, You have it backwards - must be a Canadian thing. It was I who approached CJ about helping me give this award to SHE who rightfully deserves it. CJ, being the magnanimous sort that he is, graciously agreed to help. Go back and look, before I ever spoke to CJ - and you can pull records for this - I nominated Cia for Queen of Cliffs last year. I was told - by non-other than the Future Queen herself - that I would fail, that CJ was a lock to win. Despite my best efforts, CJ did in fact win last year and CIa came in second. All I'm doing is making good on my promise to Cia last spring that I was going to nominate and campaign heavily for her to win this prestigious award. Bad mouthing poor CJ - who, as I've already stated, has graciously agreed to ask his fans to vote for the truly deserving Cia - is not very nice or Canadian of you. So, please reconsider and come over to the right side and be a card carrying member of the Cia fan club. Remember: Vote early. Vote often. Vote Cia, Queen of Cliffhangers.

Hated it! Just kidding, you know I'd never really say that if I meant it. Anyway, this was cute, sweet, nice - perfect actually. Nothing too deep, but deep enough. Kinda breaks all the stereotypes you think of when you think college men, I give it a new and improved

Something a little different:

Well let's not flood the field, there is already a huge push underway to re-crown King CJames, if we put forth more than one candidate it will split the opposition. I say it's Cia, after all she ALMOST won last time, she came in second, time to improve on last years results, no? Well said JC, - down with King CJames, Long live Queen Cia!!!!

Wait - how did I end up in that list? Please, like last year, the only truly deserving candidate is . . . drum roll please . . . . Cia, Queen of Cliffs. This year we must reverse the travesty that resulted in CJ winning an award he did NOT deserve. Vote Cia - she's the best!!!!

Others have commented on the science of this so I'll let smarter folks than I do justice to what was truly fascinating. I was struck by the detail you paid to the small things that you'd never think about when you think space travel - the time lost, the small quarters - nothing like star trek at all eh? the fact they'd never see their kids or other family again, the inability to shower or go potty - [sorry I have a new born we're learning to speak all over again] I know the end wasn't mean to be sad, but for me it was terribly so. Never to see your family again - especially my child - would tear me apart -even if my husband and I were still together. So despite the hopefulness of the ending it was still saddening as well. Great job with this.

Geez, I haven't seen such a comedy of . . . of . . . well since The Bird Cage - Armand and Starina Gaston and Chord, complete with crazy families and all. It Was - err - sorry that's your line - well it was different for you. One star of Chord, One Star for Gaston - One for each family and one for the chick who couldn't get the gay boy to put it in her. 1,2,5 - three sire - err sorry 3,4,5 stars. And no I'm not drunk.

Wait, someone else thinks Cia should be the Evil Queen/King of Cliffs too? CJ you're my new hero - I tried last year, but no one agreed. So - since Steve did it, how about I do it too - **CIA FOR QUEEN OF CLIFFS** I'm going to sign all my post like that from now on. Sorry CJ, isn't has as evil as Cia.

A bit late but still - I know this was posted by Adam earlier, BUT as I said I had a list and I'm working off it.