Ron

My first prompt for 2015 and based on Prompt 385. By and By

My cache of all prompt responses - 2015 and beyond. All stories rated mature even if not needful of the rating—you must decide.

He swung his legs out and onto the pavement. He stood and stretched his arms out and up in an attempt to relieve the pain between his shoulder blades. He'd been feeling the pain in the last couple of hours. That can't be good, he thought, but at least my knees aren't acting up. He reached into his piece-of-shit car and across the driver's seat, grabbed his backpack and the ever-present bag of fast food—too much trouble to cook for one and too late for the trouble—and headed toward his apartment.

Since you asked for opinions about continuing or not ... I say no, I don't think that you should, at least not as a continuation of short prompt 'chapters.' Though there is creativity involved in working long stories out of strings of prompts, if one gives you a story idea, why not use it for as long as the idea holds up and be done with it. A longer story can stand alone with multiple chapters and never need to be part of a collection such as this (and still be a response to a prompt). The story: It would have been nice to get a better hint of Garry's (unusual and confusing spelling for Gareth) profession in the first paragraph. Muddy hair, what can be drawn from that? The young girl wrapped up in the blanket was better imagery for the later reveal of a fire (still not aware of Garry's role: firemen? fire inspector?) and paramedics and being wrapped up in a blanket, which she took off in. We can make a connection easily. The mini epilogue at the end was unnecessary and the three lines of Lucas' arrival could have been done away with, you really wouldn't have lost anything, and the story would have been tighter. I liked that you wrote Mia as living just a short distance away. It makes the imagination conjure up events of Garry seeing her somewhere, maybe even have interacted with her. That's a good kind of clever.

The first few paragraphs back in chapter 28 had me chuckling with Marshall's anticipation of his subsequent plugging and in this chapter the underlying humor was still in evidence. Poor Marshall, once again, ready to just get-on-with-it and still managing to hold back for the anticipation and ultimate reward of it. Lee has that whole demand and supply chain down well; create the demand (need) and then supply the goods. He knows how to 'work his boy.' The playful way you go about writing this makes me think that you're enjoying the writing of these two characters. As I'm enjoying the reading of them.

Happy Birthday! May there be many happy returns.

Sorry, man. Something exactly like this happened to a friend of mine (in Boston) and her apartment in Rome. Luckily, the person who checked on her apartment for her happened to pop in the day that it flooded; it could have been worse. Best of luck getting it sorted out.

I'll keep you all in my thoughts with affection, care and sympathy so you'll have it for whenever you need it.

Whatever floats your boat. Let's face it, you love the person you love and that's all there should be to it. It shouldn't be more complicated than that. Exploiting a relationship in order to make a buck off of it is just gauche.

I admire your ability to latch on to the emotional depth of a story while digging deep into the underlying rationality of a character's behavior—the reasoning for doing what is done, if you will—in your reviews. These elements make for a great review. They are also essential to get right for a great story. I suspected that if you were to attempt your own story, that your ability would serve you well—and it has, Gary. I was struck by Kendall's despair. It came through loud and clear, as did the underlying determination of his need for distance—and clearly, his desire. The description of Michael made me think of rock stars and sports heroes followed by groupies named Candy willing to grab on and ride as long as they can, but not able to offer anything of substance. I grasp hints of the depth of what Kendall's friendship means to Michael—and what the loss of it might mean to him. <-- This is very important to not lose track of, I think. Aside from the formatting snafus, which seem to be inevitable at the beginning—me included—and, maybe, leaning on the emotional aspect, you've a fine first chapter, Gary.

Me too, I hope you have a really great day, Cassie. Happy Birthday! Many, many happy returns.

I got rid of the car a couple of years ago. In the city you can do that and probably should--voids the need of looking for parking. I noticed the gas station sign yesterday and it displayed a price of $2.999 for a gallon in Boston. That's down from four dollars and up. An article in the paper suggested that the savings was helping New Englanders pay their electric bills--some of the highest rates in the nation.

No worries, Wayne. You've given us a whole lot of enjoyment and exercise at writing with the prompts. 384 prompts and 1 repeat ... get outta here. Save the apologies for something big and important.

I often view fiction that includes this type of scenario with a critical eye. Viewing these fictional depictions as somewhat fantastical. Your reality has now trumped some of those fictions. I'm sorry. I know I had no hand in your situation but I'm sorry anyway.

Tech is great. Young gay males (underage and no car) no longer have to sneak around in Walden Books (me) to secretly read gay fiction while their moms are busy shopping in the other mall stores. lol ... And yes, CM, I get up in the middle of the night and jot down story ideas, too, just like you do. My newspaper is available at the touch of a finger (admittedly, I do like the paper version) and no more wet paper or stolen ones (I don't miss those), and not to go into detail, magazines. Hell, I can watch just about anything and everything nowadays: TV; tablet (for me, iPad); or on the computer. All of my music is converted to lossless files and it sounds fantastic (your mileage may vary depending on your gear). But yes, I think, it needs balance. There is nothing like curling up with a good book; the feel of the paper under your fingers and the anticipation of physically turning the page, and furthering the adventure. Digital, for all of its convenience, cannot beat that connection, for me. I'm still a little old school, after all.

Starting the year out with tears, I see. Oh my, what's the rest of the year going to hold for us? As to the story: All of the pieces were there for a rather sweet vignette but I wasn't quite convinced this time, though I know that you've the finesse to do so.

Yes, I think that last word just about sums it up. It's a catch-all word that makes for useful expression. Tough, tough subjects to be tackling and you've done a fine job of reaching, without going over, that line into excess. Knowing when to push and when to pull back can be deceiving. An author with good instincts . . . See where I'm heading? Kudos, CM, and all that!

Thanks for reading and reviewing, Sis. Capturing the senses as fully as can be was what the prompt was all about. I'm glad to hear you liked that. Yeah, it seems that for awhile Max was able to grab some good to hang onto.

I wish you two the best of luck, Sasha.

Happy Birthday Dughlas! And many happy returns.

Good effort. That was a hard prompt to pull off. Kudos for tackling it.

I have so many newsletters from topics I am interested in already (that I never get to) that I'm afraid one more would get lost. But this link is one I'm definitely going to check out, at length, after having just taken a peek at it. It's in my 'Writing Resources' web folder now. Thanks for blogging it, Cia.

I'm not sure that . . . that, could have been done better. Touché, to yourself. Edit to add: Remarkable!

I have to remember, and write 2015 on checks, now? Happy New Year! To each and everyone of You.

Friends that become family are deeply missed and well remembered when they leave. You have my sincere condolence for the loss of such a great friend to you, Joann.