Zolia Lily

I've decided i really want to do this... but a) i have like 6 days (at least it's a long weekend...) and i'm not not not not not good at writing on demand... sooo.... i guess i'll see how i go!!! Eeeekk!!! * feverishly starts scribbling *... edit : HA that was supposed to be a ' b ) ' as in 'point b'. Silly emoticons lols

Lola, by The Kinks, because it's romantic and awesomely awesomely cute and just about my favourite song ever - "Well I'm not the world's most passionate guy But when I looked in her eyes well i almost fell for my Lola la la la la Lola... " "Girls will be boys and boys will be girls it's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola la la la la Lola... " and also a song called "Beds are burning" by Midnight Oil, because it gives me chills (if you listen to it though- the verses aren't great. Listen to the chorus) (and btw- NOT all Aussies sound like him. and Yes, most of us can dance better than him too). "The time has come to say fair's fair to pay the rent to pay our share The time has come a fact's a fact it belong's to them let's give it back How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning?" But mostly Lola

I'm what i call a just-in-caser, so i end up carrying lots of things - just in case. In my bag i currently have my wallet, keys, lipbalm, tons of receipts, any old forms or leaflets i've forgotten about, tissues (just in case), minimum 3 pens (just in case), diary, notebook, book, cardigan (just in case), scarf (just in case), and i lost my mini umbrella, but i usually carry one of those too (just in case). Generally though, i'm only completely lost if i forget a pen. Mobile phone? I can live for days without it. Watch? Meh. Wallet? Yeah, i suppose that could be difficult, but i've never forgotten it yet. No worries. But a pen??? Can NOT live without one. EVen if i have no notebook, there's usually a receipt / paper napkin / spare arm to write on. Oh, and my bag is purple with lots of multicoloured polka dots

You know that metaphor, about watching a train wreck in slow motion and being unable to look away? I've decided that's what this story is like. And not in a bad way; definitely not. In an excellent way. It's like, i don't know how it's going to end, and i so badly want to know, but every chapter begins with a different name and we know that Coop's going to do it again and it's going to be bad, but i have to read it and i have to find out and i'm so afraid of what's going to happen next but at the same time i just have to know!!! I can't look away!!! Really good stuff. Argh! more!!!

Hooked already! i really liked this start to the story - Clive's character is a great one ; lots of potential!!! And i got that Philip was actually Mr. Miller straight away- and loved watching Clive still not putting two and two together. Even MORE potential!! MWa ha ha! Seriously good! Can't wait to read more!

One of my sister's friends used to want his headstone to say "I told you i was sick" or "I want a second opinion". I kinda like BRB. We could freak people out and herald the Zombie Apocalypse all at once! But i don't think i want to be buried. Na ah. No thanks.

Ok, i can kind of see both sides of the argument here, but there were girls at my high school who got plastic surgery, and i hate to say it, but they were judged for it. In neither girl's case was it for anything disfiguring or obvious and i think because people couldn't see why they'd ever needed it in the first place they were judged for obviously not feeling good enough about themselves. Or who knows, maybe it was jealousy (i went to a girls' school). I judged them along with others, i'm afraid to admit, and it wasn't until a few years later talking to one of the friends of one of the girls that i understood just how badly this girl's self esteem had sufferred because of her perceived flaw. So i think i understand; IF you were to do it for yourself. But i also think you have to be old enough. And while, yeah, ok, i get that it might be different if i was the mother of the child, i think this is the here-and-now generation taken to the extreme. There are already problems out there with girls worrying about their looks and getting anorexic and wearing heels etc younger and younger - and now parents will pay for plastic surgery? I think the media have created a monster. Kids are exposed to so many images about how they should look from such a young age... they're not learning to accept themselves as they are or to love themselves as they are, which is going manifest in low self esteem and anxiety and depression and whatever else... and plastic surgery ain't gonna fix that. Oh, i'm really really afraid for my kids if i ever have any....

I've been doing some research on e-publishing etc recently- and i don't think it's just gay fiction that these problems / rules are confined to. From what i understand, it seems like it's only big mainstream novels and recent bestsellers that make it from hard copies into e-book format, and that works published solely as e-books are overwhelmingly romance and erotica stories. It's like Mills and Boon out there, in that there's a lot of cut and dried, very formulaic stories and plot lines, and a lot of perfectly chiselled really ridiculously good looking heroes (and heroines), but i reckon there's some good stories out there too! it's the sorting that's the trouble. Then again- on a positive note- doesn't it make you happy? I mean- if they can get that published online and sell some, I reckon some of the authors on GA could do really phenomenally well out there too!!! But also- when i read these ebooks, it's pure escapism: I read them when i WANT a story which isn't going to challenge me, which is going to give me a happy ending, and maybe some nice thrills along the way. And the great thing is that i reckon a lot of the time the authors KNOW it's not high literature, and they don't care. They can have fun with it and enjoy it, and i enjoy that SO much more than some author who's busy proving to you what a great writer he is or getting wrapped up in his / her own intellectualism and trying to be that writer. Give me a gay fiction ebook anyday!!! ... There's a LEND function??? I had NO IDEA!!! I get easily addicted to them too. I'm going to have to pick your brains and find out what i'm missing

Oh, i'd totally agree with Sucre! But at the same time, i'm not really good at making myself write at all. I write when i'm inspired, or when i feel the urge. If i don't, sometimes i can get there but othertimes i just stare at my screen and end up reading online instead. I know i need discipline, but getting it seems to be the problem for me..... The best piece of advice i've ever received though, was to not let a day go by without having written something. Even if it's only a sentence. I find i lose the flow of it, and find it really hard to get back into once i've stopped. but that's all i've got.

Latter Days Shelter also, Boy Culture. I don't know- i just really really enjoyed that one! lol. Also there's a German movie (REALLY hard to find!) called "Fremde Haut" or 'Unveiled" in English (rubbish translation, actually). (edit : just my opinion...) It's a film about an Iranian woman who is trying to get to Germany as a refugee because of her sexuality, but ends up in Germany under someone else's identity (disguised as a man) and falling in love with a German woman. I found it really beautiful, no sex, but really really lovely and deeply touching. I have another like 5 to watch this week (hooray!) - looking forward to 'beautiful thing' now

Cooking is a cool idea! Keep yourself busy and focussed on something... i tend to cry, bite all my fingernails off, procrastinate and hide, make myself ill stressing... cooking sounds much much much healthier. Maybe i should try this next time! lol...

I personally usually write the sex scenes, and what i do write tends to be explicit and fairly detailed. Perhaps i could skip over them, but i like writing them, so i don't. If you're worried about writing a sex scene if it will be a mediocre one (and therefore jar or not flow with the rest of what you've written), i'd suggest thinking about the short skim over people have suggested. It can be done erotically, even if it's very vague. I've read a number of sex scenes were the focus is emotional or a very general focus on the physicaly connection without getting into the details of things. I'd give yourself a chance though - if you come to that point in the story and you're not sure, maybe have a go, and see what you think. Or write two different versions (detailed and not) and have someone read them and give honest feedback. I also have to say- writing a sex scene is a lengthy process for me. I generally write something, then have to keep going back and fleshing it out and buildling on it and editing until i'm happy with it. I certainly don't find them easy. So if it's something you do want to do- keep trying! I think the most important thing is to do what YOU like and not what you think will appeal to your readers. Someone (curse my short memory!) recently said about his audience that they only thought they knew what they wanted to hear or read. And i really like the idea of that. I think it's really important to satisfy your own creative muse before anyone else's opinions about your work.

Wow i really liked this! Enough intrigue to carry the story onwards, and enough in there to really pique our interest and want to know what's next. I had NO idea at all where he was going in the building, and at first i thought Zoe was going to be his WIFE... Hope to see you continue this- definitely!!!

"I normally don't invite people home straight away. But you seem sensible in a non-boring way..." I'm still mulling over this one. I'm not even sure it IS bad...

This one- phenomenal cello rendition of Metallica (it does take a bit to get into it ) and also randomly enough - this one it makes my insides happy

Ninja nuns! Coz Ninjas are awesome and i'm more than slightly freaked out by the idea of A.I. And i love the imagery of some little old ladies doing kicks and taking people out Hiiiiiii-YAH!!!

It's supposed to still be Summer here, but Autumn's come early. I've already got the woolly scarves and socks out ! WAH!!! This is Australia! Totally not supposed to happen. No "Spring Break" as such, but i'm heading to Western Australia for two weeks to visit all my grandparents. My nana had a fall recently and she's ok, but still in hospital, so definitely definitely glad i'm going. And hopefully it will be warmer over there too. I plan on at least ONE day on a beach somewhere...

YES! While some are a little whiney / try hard, i have seen some scrummy scrummy emo boys out there. I'm sure one was making eyes at me on the tram once. * sigh *

What what what? I can't have read all the chapters already! I was just settling in for a long night of reading... Nevermind I'm going to enjoy the anticipation of waiting for more instead!!! Definitely enjoy poor Coop's guilt and attempts to justify his actions And Kyle's part in it too!!! Argh- on the edge of my seat

My Uncle married a woman 15 years older than him. I kinda forgot until today. They've been together for probably 20 years now. To see them together you might pick her as being slightly older, but it's never been something shocking or something that made anyone look twice. The only person who had a problem with it was my grandad, who was upset that my Uncle would never have children (his wife had already had children in her first marriage) and there would be no one to carry on the family name. Sadly he didn't see it as a matter of my uncle's happiness, or a matter of love. But they make it work, and they're happy. That's the most important thing.

Theoretically i don't have a problem with the idea. It happens in lots of the stories i read and it always seems really sweet, and it does happen and work in real life, i'm sure. However, in real life... i don't actuallly feel like a grown up... don't think i ever will... so dating someone that much older than me when i still feel like a teenager does weird me out a little. I don't think i could personally do it. That said, it'll probably happen now

I saw a busker with a sign like that once! except it said "Samurais killed my parents. Need money to pay for Ninja lessons". I gave him money.

I'm with JWolf and Sara. I need a good voice to keep me reading, and a writer who can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary is a prize. That said, I love stories which someone once described to me as "simmering romances". I love a happily ever after, but i do love even more an author who puts their characters through a lot before they're allowed to get there. I like URST and obstacles and angst and conflict and possibly pain and THEN a happily ever after

I know of one- not on GA though... let me find a link... Robcub has a pretty massive following out there! This was one of his first. http://www.literotica.com/s/listen-with-your-heart It scores a 4.71 out of a possible 5 on Lit, 21 comments and about 24000 views. As i say. Massive following. It's pretty darn cute too

I'm good at starting stories... finishing them is what i'm rubbish at. Sometimes this sucks, but sometimes it's cool. I found an outline for a story on my harddrive recently that i'd forgotten about totally- and i'm really excited about getting to write it now! But usually... i get close to finishing and then i think it's perhaps because of that i write other things instead. I'm not normally too worried about it. I know i'll always come back to them. BUt it would be really really really nice to finish something for once. Writers block hasn't been so much of an issue for me as of late. I wonder if, like Dark, it's just been a matter of finding my niche, or whether it's that i'm writing more and more often. My cure is generally to delete 5 or 10 pages and start again in another direction. I find it sort of unblocks something and then my path is clear again. So now i take writer's block as a sign that there is something wrong with my story. Maybe only the last paragraph, or maybe the whole concept for a scene. But going back tends to fix it