Lisa

I thought you guys would get a kick out of this: How the Grinch Stole Writing by Marcy McKay | 11 Comments Every Writer in Wordville liked stories a lot. But the Grinch who lived North of Wordville did not! The Grinch hated writing—the whole creative way. Now, please don’t ask why. No one knows what to say. It could be, perhaps, he didn’t own paper or pen. It could be he disliked trying again, and again. But, I think the most likely reason was this, dear, His heart was hijacked by nasty ol’ fear. Fear is the #1 enemy of every writer, near and far. But the Grinch held onto terror, like jam in a jar. Staring down from his cave, he watched the townsmen below, And vowed to destroy the stories they loved so. He thought, in this room, she reads. In the other, he writes. Then, they gather together to share laughter and delight. “I hate all their happiness! I despise all their joy!” “I’ll crush the imagination of every girl and boy!” He drummed his grinchy fingers and growled, oh so mad. He vowed not to stop ‘til they were nothing but sad The Grinch laughed, then sneered. “I know just what to do!” The he slinked through his cave to plot his evil, awful coup. He crept down each chimney, of each house, one by one. He stole everything they used for their writerly fun. Journals, computers, papers, pens and books. He robbed from each cranny, he thieved from each nook. The writers had no more of their literary stuff. Now, they couldn’t create their ridiculous fluff. Up the side of Mount Crumpet, ten thousand feet in the air, He rode to the tippy-top, then dumped the load without a care. “I’ve ruined those writers!” he was grinchily humming. “They are so stupid! They never saw it coming.” “They’re waking up now to their lives ruined for good.” “They’ll cry boo-hoo tears, just like they should.” “That’s a noise,” smiled the Grinch, “that will be oh, so grand.” He laughed deep from his belly, then put his ear to his hand. “Listen.” He heard a sound rising over the dawn and the snow. It started out soft, then it started to grow. Oh no! What’s this? That sound wasn’t sad. It sounded quite happy. It sounded quite glad. Every writer down in Wordville, the small and the tall, Still gathered for stories—they were having a ball! He hadn’t stopped writing. He hadn’t stopped their words. Stories flew from their mouths like air with the birds. “How could this be?” he said, aghast and aloud, As the townsmen grew into a huge, happy crowd. Maybe writing is not about computers, or even things. Maybe writing is about giving your imagination its wings . What happened next to the Grinch? Well, in Wordville they say, His icy, cold terror? It melted completely away. The true meaning of writing shined right on through. He gathered the stolen treasures. He knew what to do. The Grinch whizzed with his load through the bright morning sun. He experienced something brand new. The Grinch had some fun. He rode straight into Wordville. He brought everything back. The Grinch returned all the items. He had such a knack. Writing goes with us, wherever we may go. Stories live in our hearts. WE make them so. Writing will always and forever will be. I share words with you. You give yours to me.

MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!!!! All those pictures are really beautiful.

Carlos, there were so many funny lines in this chapter, too many to copy and paste! lol You have a terrific sense of humor! Merry Xmas!

Heya JD! You didn't answer my question from your first story - do I read this story after the Hallways story, or can I read it while I wait for the next chapter of Hallways? And not to be impatient - but when can I expect the next chapter of Hallways? lol Thx! =)

I think we killed it. Maybe I should ask Santa for a new one?” “Nah, it’ll bounce back, it always does. Plus I’ve become fond of the little guy.” These (among many other lines), were hysterical! Loved this story, Carlos!! Those boys knew exactly what Christmas was about - not about all this material stuff that the kids think it's about. Great story!

I read 3/4 of this chapter last night but I couldn't finish it until now. I think I'm a little confused. How long has Craig been back? Has he been at the same high school as John for the past three years? And John never recognized him? And Craig's dad has been the principal all this time and HE didn't recognize John? I would really like to know what that BITCH Meatball Meyer (or is it Mayer?) has on Mel and Michael that they would just turn their backs on John like that. As Meghan said, it must be something big. So Charlie, Craig, and John have all known each other since elementary school? And Charlie was trying to bully Craig into doing stuff with him when they were much younger? So Charlie knew EXACTLY who Craig was when John was telling Charlie about him, right? Charlie's such an ass. Just like that d-bag Dominick. Psycho assholes must run in their family. I'm so glad John is reading the book in order to learn who he was. Maybe some things, like the song about love, will come back to him the more he reads. What happened to Craig after the accident? Do we know if he lived? Oh wait, Meghan said she hadn't heard from him, but that would mean he's still alive, right? I gotta tell you, JD, this is such an original type of story. I've never read anything like this before. It's amazing. I'm riveted to ever word. Even if they are capitalized! lololol And yes, I am an editor and I would love nothing more than to help you out, but I just started a job and my time is very limited now between my hours and the stories I'm already committed to editing. I'm really sorry. I think I saw you request an editor a while ago. You could try again...maybe someone is available now. Truthfully, the writing is very good, JD. The only problems I see besides the capitalization of common nouns, which we covered last night, is the switching from past present tense to present tense, and the dialogue tags. I can send you a link on writing dialogue and dialogue tags (he said, she yelled, he asked...they all take a comma after the last word in the dialogue. Anything that cannot be spoken, such as laughed, smirked, grimaced, chuckled, smiled, grinned...takes a period after the last word in the dialogue. These aren't dialogue tags), if you want. Oh, and you should totally check out Cia's writing thread. http://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/37092-dialogue-punctuation/. It's excellent and very informative!! I recommend it for any writer, editor, beta, etc., etc. Now, is book two just a continuation on A Hero in the Hallways Revised or will there be additional chapters in this book? I just need to know if I can start that story or if I should wait to finish this one.

I'm sure Clem and Nathan wouldn't classify what Nathan did as rape, but it was, plain and simple. And the violence? Totally uncalled for. Nobody deserves to be hit twice and then raped. Nathan doesn't even deserve the tears Clem cried over him. He has some serious issues. First he's jealous as all get out over the waitress and Clem. That right there shows his insecurities. And what a homophobe! He thinks just because Clem wants to ease his tension by giving him a massage his b/f thinks he's some GIRL???? And boy, what an insult! lol Does he think it's ok to use the f*****t word? It's probably worse for him to use it than someone else. I hope Clem can stay strong and stay away from Nathan. Ok, on to chapter four...boy, I have a lot to catch up on!! Have a great Xmas, Sasha!

Lol, JD, ok good, but then you did it again with 'Update'. Only proper nouns (people's names, places, or specific things), are capitalized. Common nouns such as the trunk of a car or an elephant's trunk, book, and update are lowercase. There were also a few 'Johns' that were written 'john'. http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp Ok, NOW I'm going on to chapter three.

Man, JD, I have so many questions! When did Craig come back? Whatever happened to Michael? Was this the first time since the accident (or even before that), that Mel had contacted John? I agree with Elle; I really like reading the story w/in the story. On to chapter two.

Great prologue, JD! I can't wait to see where this goes. You have a few places where you switch tenses from the past present to the present, and a few words like 'Trunk' and 'Book's' shouldn't be capitalized. Other than that it's looking good! On to chapter one.

Jeez, my heart was in my mouth when I read Mr. Reed got stabbed! Hopefully the wounds in his arm aren't that bad and he'll be ok. I'm guessing Frank is going to try to convince Phillip to sing while he plays the guitar... I wonder if Frank will see those guys again running down his street.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY GREG!!!! I hope you have a great b-day tomorrow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!!! I hope you're having a great day!

Sounds like a great story, Renee. I'm looking forward to reading it. And yes, how can you go wrong with a line like that! lol

Thanks, Daddy, I didn't know. He was a great musician. Ah, now I know what the kid looks like! I'll try to picture his face when I'm reading Comsie's "Waiting Outside the Lines"!!

When did Joe Cocker die?

I had to add this after reading Tim's review - it's hysterical! As usual! lol And I think he hit the nail on the head too.

Congrats Jo Ann and Ron!!!!!

Terrific story, James! Loved it! What a great guy the narrator is, not taking advantage of Brad, like other guys would probably do. And it always feels great when you do a good deed.

Nathan is just annoying me. "We're the straightest gay guys around..." (I'm paraphrasing here) - why does he feel it's so important to be macho? And he's stereotyping. He kind of reminds me of Bey before he really accepted who he was. Penny and Dime!! I love it! It could have been Nickel and Dime...lame, I know. But I love it! Penny and Dime! lol I LOVE the way you wrote Grayson's accent! I can just hear the southern drawl coming through. =)

I agree with all your other reviewers; I feel badly for Clem. Nathan isn't treating him right. Lol, Sasha, Julie Newmar is wayyyyy before your time!! Julie Newmar played Catwoman in the TV show, Batman. Hey! Raelynn was on one of our local country stations this morning. I mean, she was there in the flesh! They were actually in New Jersey at a children's hospital doing a fundraiser or something. I didn't realize she was from The Voice. She said Miranda Lambert and her are bffs. Just thought I'd throw that in there since this is based on her song. Ok, on to chapter two.

The end of this chapter really had me choked up. Again. I'm glad Matteo is stating facts about Ren that contradict his cheating behavior. I hope Jonah thinks about them and reconsiders talking to him and finding out exactly what happened. And OMG, he cut his long, beautiful hair off!!!! lol That's certainly a way to make a 'clean cut'!

"Rick?" "No, Archangel Gabriel..." Lol, that was hysterical - along with many other lines in this chapter. True, Rick should have explained himself before he flew off the handle at Jonah, but he only got upset b/c he loves Jonah and doesn't want anything to happen to him. I can't wait to find out Matteo's take on the journal. And yay for Jonah for doing the hat thing! And I agree with Tim; if Ren saw Jonah and his hat, he'd be in Italy in the blink of an eye.

Believe it or not, Daddy, I saw this in one of those Get it Free (all a bunch of shit!), emails. They usually have videos on the bottom of the email and this was in one of the ones from last week. They do an awesome job with Taylor Swift's Shake it Off (one of my favorites). And the dad's not bad on the eyes either.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIT!!!!! I hope you had an awesome day!