Marzipan

Cute. Lovely Christmas present from Norah. Thank you for sharing!

Hey Anyta ! Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas! (I bet growing up it sucked to not have a seperate birthday from the most festive season of the year. )

Klingon, lol. You're the best, Tom ! Merry Christmas!!!!

Well, imagine my horror I just wanted to share the image XD

Merry Christmas to all!!! Kisses and hugs to everyone. Try to unwind and get some inner peace.

Thank you Colin! I think I managed to locate and eliminate the meanie virus with your advice! Hopefully naked Emma Watson sitting on a toilet seat won't pop out anytime soon Merry Christmas!

I think I need help with a freaky virus/maleware attack... I have tried Norton and Avast but they say my lappy is clean. But how can it be? I get thrown on random sites when I click on links even here, in GA. It is scary... Please, any suggestions welcome!

I read this the first thing I woe up and I wanted to go immediately back to sleep. Not because I was beored, but because I felt I wanted to hold on to them. I'm sure they could've just kept on dancing in my dream too! I think this fits my mood so perfectly. Raw emotions, heartbreak, loss, it was all there. Sigh. Thank you for sharing! I want more short stories from you

My five cents here: Read a lot, figure out what you like. Think what kind of story you would want to read. Write it. Get in touch with people here, find a team to work with, beta is useful even in the early stages to bounce back ideas. Maybe write some short writing prompts we have here in GA and see what kind of "author voice" you have. When you start your story, think about the beginning and the end, and what happens in the middle. Fall in love with your characters, even with the darkest ones. You gotta care for them to make reader care for them. Enjoy the process, have faith in your story. If you don't FEEL it has to be told, then it probably wont entertain readers either. Panic all you want, but remember it is supposed to be fun! I started writing a little over a year ago and I'm totally addicted. I try out new things and test my boundaries. One of the best moments of last year was to complete my very first story, it turned out a bit over 70k words and it still has a special place in my heart. I didn't expect it to be perfect, but I did spend much time working on it. Happy writing

Hey Bill, please don't let this be the end of it. I have enormous respect to you entire work. Please don't stop posting. I would like to see something good following from this (not a public lynching of the neg critter, like I wouldn't mind doing right now ) but where you started the discussion about respectful and supportive criticism is a start. I thank you for bringing this issue up, but please don't let this be the end of your stories. I wish you will just re-spark and see that the MAJORITY of GA would just break their hearts if you give up. Sincerily, Maria

I agree with Nephy, but you also deserve it because sweet personality aside your work is great.

LOL Purity ring - giggle - drunken holidays and hooking up and a wedding - major giggle. I liked it. I liked the lightness in it and the sense of family. This story was filled with hyper realism as I would love to see one day come true. Maybe some families do embrace the gay surprises like that, hurrah for them.

You took me down a painful road to Davy's childhood memories. The shifts between past and present worked well and created tension. I still wanted to know if Linda and Davy worked things out later, I assume they did after Billy reached out for him. And if she became a political activist, maybe she did understand the complexity of gender too as she grew up. I was dreadful when I realised we were at the funeral at the beginning of the story. Then as Davy went back to his childhood things grew so sad so fast and he was so confused what was happening and I really wanted to shake off the ignorance of the kids around him. Then, Billy made me believe that world isn't that bad afterall. Private things that we hide from others. Personal shame and loss. Things that no one should go through just because of common prejudises. Thank you for writing this, Sam. I was touched.

May you have a splendid day

Happy Birthday John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love Amy Lee!

This is such a thrilling story! I'm pleased to see you started posting it here I have absolutely no issues with using religious attributes or 'sacral' elements in a story. I think you did it well and with class. Can't wait for the continue!

LOL. Should you maybe talk with someone who has much expperience with a difficult, needy yet eccentric mum? (me) or someone who is a mother of many (Cia) or who is quite anunconventional mother (Nephy) and ask for their help. Just naming few possibilities. What kind of mother is the character going to be? You are not giving us much about her. You need to be interested in the mother to make her deep enough for us to care about her. Again, you can just limit the screen time if you don't find it in you.

Happy Birthday Anya!

*Sends happy Birthday and lots of hugs from Finland to Wayne*

I think you really need to talk with him. This might have been heavy on his heart and even if you find out something that you might not want to hear it will be for the better. Truth will set you free. You might find out it's nothing to be worried about. Or it might be something you guys need to deal with together. As much as you might desire to hide your head in the sand it will probably end up eating you up alive. You will doubt everything. Trust me, I have been on the other side of this that you are thinking is going on with him. I was in a long relationship with a man and at the end of it realized I was extremelly attracted to a female friend. If he'd pressured me to open up and talk about it earlier, we would have both been able to move on much earlier than we eventually did. Our relationship was doomed for so many reasons. You guys might have a chance, just be honest with him and ask the same from him. Good luck.

Hey Nomoretears! Welcome, I've read all from you on the other site I hope to see you posting here as well!

Stay optimistic. Love much. Take care of yourself too.

W_L, thank you for this plog. It brought a smile to my face. I like what you are saying, a lot. I think we don't have to agree on every issue, but mutual respect would make a huge difference. I must admit I have been feeling low for a few days since the 'fat people on planes' thread really took of. I read comments there from people I personally admire a lot and felt let down. I won't point them with finger. I like that we all have our minds about things, that should be the richness of GA. We all come from different cultures and different backgrounds with different skills and likes and dislikes. For me what the problem comes down to is selfisness. I'm the first to admit that I'm utterly selfish, stubborn and opinnioted too, yet every now and things happening around me shake me from my bubble. I thrive for a more open minded view of the world. I hate the things that make me narrowminded - I fight it when ever I realize I'm down that path. M

What a brave kid. My thoughts go to him and every single person who is bullied for whatever the reason.