comicfan

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday, Dear Mark, Happy Birthday to You! May your day be filled with great surprises, wonderful wishes, and terrific new traditions. All my best to you on your special day now and always.

I watch them stroll down the street like they do every year. The times have changed and so have the costumes. Once there clowns, hobos, ghosts, and princesses with crowns made of tin foil, then they were homemade costumes the kids wore and their parents went parading around with them. Now the nights belong to Dora the Explorer, Transformers, and the odd Darth Vader or Yoda as the kids go from house to house trick-or-treating, in their store bought costumes, mostly by themselves.

Tomorrow is Halloween. I'm closing, or to be more accurate I am working a midnight release of another crappy video game at my damn store on Halloween. i don't know if my car will be egged, people will be in costume or what. All I do know is i can't get dressed up. I'll just be my boring old self. Unfortunately with the hours I had this weekend I didn't even make a holiday party at all. I made it home late tonight and missed the start of my show, Once Upon a Time. Anyway, the countdown is also on at my job for Christmas and Black Friday. Funny, even before I worked retail I thought that was an idiotic idea. Working it I find it simply pathetic. I still don't understand why anyone in their right mind would set up a tent on Thanksgiving at a store at 8 p.m. to be in line for a store that opens at 5 a.m. just so you can be sure to get some sale item in the circular that day. Sorry, I like warmth and comfort. There is nothing I need that bad that I will give up sleep, warmth, and all for it. I mean I've seen snow fall, six plus inches, and idiots sitting outside wrapped in coats and blankets for an item. My health and peace of mind are worth more than some tv or toy for Christmas. While I'm on a rant, and excuse me for it, I'm also pushing myself to finish a little Halloween story I have based off a prompt. I'm trying my best to get it done. Lets see, on the list of things to get done: Finish Chapter 29 of Charlie - he has been a pain and chapter is now 7 pages and no where near done. Going to be a loooooong chapter, Finish Chapter 6 of Jonas so Andy can beta the sucker, wait for Seeon to come back from Beta and Editor, complete second chapter of Seer for FSO, complete Halloween story. Um, good lord, when did I become Nephy? I'm not even sure how I'm keeping them all straight other than the fact that each one has a completely different world. Oh yeah, I have a rest until Tuesday when November starts and then I do the novel for Secrets Kill. Any volunteers to come see me in the mental ward. I'm afraid I might break down. The sad part is the deadline and stories are all mine, but my mind is on overdrive and I'm barely getting sleep. So when massive amounts of stories begin posting, well, you know why.

Sorry Stu, usually the new one goes up today but running long on the chapter. As for who it is, well you will just have to read.

Happy Happy Birthday Bee. Here is hoping you enjoy every moment. Happy Sweet 16 to you!

Okay, so here we are just two days away from Halloween. I mean you should walking outside, enjoying the falling leaves, the colors still changing, and air beginning to a sharp nip to it. Mother Nature however, has other plans. Today we are getting a snow storm. Let me correct that, there is a snow storm five miles north of me, I'm getting rain and hail. I have friends who still live up in Connecticut. They have been without power, buried under snow, no heat, and all the joys you might expect of a storm in the middle of December. There are parts of it up there that are already under a foot of snow in OCTOBER! I am not a fan of the freezing rain and ice that I will be facing tomorrow. For all those in the Northeast, I feel your pain but also am so glad that the worst of this storm hasn't hit me. To everyone else, I wish a safe and warm night to you.

Now that was a different sort of Christmas Ghost story. I liked how you handled the whole thing. Nice job, Jamie.

Alright I'll vote after I read. I'm barely keep up with what I have now. LOL

The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien The Landover Series - Terry Brooks The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowlings I have a few books by Erma Bombeck which I read and reread just so I can laugh and know I am not the only one with problems. Everything I ever needed to know I learned from Peanuts - Fun read and Charles Schultz had a great view of the world Um, if the geek alert hadn't gone off for you yet - The complete second series of Wonder Woman from DC comics. I bought all the comics of that series that began in 87 and have read them all countless times. I liked the play on Greek Gods that George Perez introduced. Sorry, I'm a sucker for well written story and when he left there were good and bad till the series ended earlier this year. I have the complete collection of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. In case you couldn't tell I sort of like them. I also have the complete works of Hans Christian Anderson. If you think his stories are happy tales you haven't read them.

Thank you Cia and Breeze.

Okay so I don't care who you are what you are trying to accomplish but sometimes things go astray. I'm human. I do things I know I shouldn't. For the last two weeks at Weight Watchers I gained. It wasn't huge, only .6 lbs a week, but after two weeks that was 1.2 pounds I had put back on. The reason, I simply wasn't careful. So moving on to this week. I've been working more, running like an idiot all week, and oh yeah no sleep. So I wasn't exactly expecting to see anything on the scale this week. Granted there were days I hadn't used all my points but I was more tired and didn't have time do much extra. However, this has been one of the biggest weight loss weeks I've had. I dropped 7 pounds this week. That was a major drop in weight for me. That brings me up to a grand total of 29.4 pounds so far. I have a pound and four ounces to go and I will have lost 10% of the total weight I walked into Weight Watchers with. Already they are warning us of the holidays. Tis the season to eat. Halloween is a kick off of food and sugar. You have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve coming up and to be honest I am not worried. Being single I won't be out much so no real panic. So whatever you are working on in your own life, remember it isn't just an end goal. It is part of a long ongoing journey that is going to have ups and downs. Some good, some bad, but it is your life so don't let someone or something ruin it for you. Stay on your course, enjoy it, and if you get a little off from where you want to be, remember there is always time to correct it and start over.

You conveyed a sense of theater with this. I could easily see how he worked the jury like a master actor. Jordan really doesn't have much of a chance here. Nice to know Martin was conscious of his word choices and how the jury was reacting. You could tell he worried he might be losing the one juror with the 'fag' comment but over all, was a fantastic read. As for the verdict, well there is going to be on hell of an uproar if we find out Jordan got off.

I am, I am. Andy is working on Jonas, I'm writing Accidents now. lol. Fosty has Seeon, so I'm busy. I promise.

Yes, you read that right, I said Damn Prompts and I meant it. The problem is I create the suckers now. I felt I should use some ideas for stories I had but just hadn't had time to get to. Smart idea, right? Wrong. There is a reason some of these things have launched much longer stories than just the small page to two pages stories they should. My real complaint is that I read Cia's take on one of my prompts and felt inspired to go ahead and write my own take on it. I loved her interplay with the characters, the opposites who are compliments of the other. I figured what could go wrong. I'll tell you what can go wrong. That two page story got away from me. Cia laughed and said hers was a bit long. Let me tell you, the damn thing spawned a nightmare. I am presently trying to finish Accidents Happen and get going with The Strange Life of Jonas Marks. Well, A Wedding for Seeon sort of sprouted out nothing to force these two projects to the side. In the meantime, Seeon's tale grew, and grew, and grew. Now it is in the hands of one of my editors and is sitting at exactly thirty eight pages. That is thirty eight pages in less than three days while I was working! Well, now I am just waiting to get to Thursday. That is my day off. Guess who has major writing to try to finish then? When will I learn? Sigh.

Sorry, I'm old and like classics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ywRiJWYl_U

well the chapter should be out later this week. Glad you have been enjoying the story.

I think everyone has memories of someone that they have loved and lost. It is how you choose to look at those memories that make them either a comfort or pain. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on them.

lol. Everyone is always saying my chapters are short. LOL. Well you will have to wait to see who is coming to the party. Unfortunately, you are showing our ages with the Sidney Poitier reference. Ah well, not much left but I always try to keep a surprise or two right up till the end.

Now why on earth would you consider "leaving it to those who can" when you can as well. Interesting use of imagery here Billy. If anything you can easily expand on it. That is the one thing about writing from life. You can play with it and turn it into many forms. Keep writing.

Well glad you will be around for the party. Cameron should be there I suppose. I'm so glad you enjoy the Wagner clan. They have been a great deal of fun. Thanks as always for the review, Frosty.

Chapter 28 – Outings and Homecoming The school week was going to be a short one for Charlie and he was grateful. School let out on Wednesday and Christmas Eve was Friday. Knowing that Wednesday was a half day he expected many of his students to start their vacation early. The kids came in buzzing on Monday morning. “My mom and dad are taking the family down to Disney. I can’t wait,” Debbie was telling Maya as they headed to the coat closet in th

Out of your comfort zone? You were writing about the places you know best and love. How could that be out of your comfort zone, you silly writer you. Beautifully crafted and nice touches all around Mark. Was truly a great read.

I really like this Cia. You really went to town with this prompt. I enjoyed it. So different but sort of a yin-yang match. It sort of inspires me to do my own prompt now. lol.

Well I made Wabe be able to play the Huntsman or Woodsman in his dream but Lone wasn't going to harmed in my retelling. Sometimes it is the little tweaks that make it so much fun.

First the waiting. I am as bad as anyone else when it comes to stories. I hate waiting. I have had to do it often enough. Stu has a wonderful story, Seeing Double, that had a few months between chapters. I know because I have been waiting for the end like everyone else. I presently am keeping everyone waiting because I am still trying to get things back from my editor and beta for Accidents Happen. I had hoped it would be done by chapter 30 but realize it will now drag on for one more chapter. The second part is the wondering. I don't know how people like Andy and Nephy do it. How do they keep putting out two stories at a time. I am just about finished now with Accidents Happen and working on a second project now. I have to keep going from one mind set to another and stopping to make sure I don't screw up. I give those who are able to write multiple stories at the same time a great deal of credit. I mean it wasn't hard when I was writing Red. That was only a short story that was four chapters long. I'm working on Jonas now, having to expand it and add characters and all so the piece really comes alive. I mean a short piece for the Anthology isn't the same a fully fleshed out story. What you do in four pages isn't the same as 30+ pages. Granted now you get to see a lot more and see some of the fun I had in mind but didn't have time to write in the original. I wonder what people will make of talking swords and magic underwear. lol. All I can say is remember to read the fine print that comes with anything you buy at Kroger's Emporium. Oh well. I have to get ready to run for work. Have a good day all.