Carlos Hazday

@Cia You may need to do a little editing on the above...

Stay at your desk so your students can't notice movement below your waist.

You don't even know this, but I toyed with the idea of a romp between the four. What I felt like writing might not have fit in with GA's community standards, though. Y'all can let your imaginations run wild.

Groan... Jennifer Hudson didn't win either and she's done okay for herself. Even though the story's written and edited, I revisit each chapter the day before it posts. So far I've tinkered with all of them. A missing word or comma, word repetition echoes, and other small stuff like that. It would be easy to change the name announced at the end of the last chapter. I made sure not to mention The Voice when the reporters were sharing Squad micro-biographies during CJ's inauguration.

Thanks, kiddo!

You have my address for mailing purposes, right? May I suggest day drinking and binge watching as an alternative? Stay down for a couple of days!

Miniature chapters call for miniature cliffhangers. We'll see if there's any logic to his statement in the next chapter.

Good friends are hard to find, but when you do they can help you through the roughest of times.

While some of his other friends may have gone ballistic, Chipper kept his calm and sought help. Our kids are growing up!

Two party boys and two attorneys in addition to a great coach. I think he's in good hands.

Yup! Ethan might not have been part of the original crowd but he's proving his joining The Squad is something he took to heart.

Have you been reading ahead? LOL Manager discussion coming right up.

Chipper's talented but he needs to concentrate on his performance. Hopefully having friends in the audience I'm certain helps ground him.

Those men take their friendship seriously. Chipper's alone in LA so Ethan offering to visit him was a no brainer.

No guarantees on who the winner will be but it seems Chipper has a chance.

Six years after leaving New York, Chipper was a confident man. His anger at his father’s infidelity and having to leave his hometown had waned. However, the longing to stroll the congested sidewalks of Manhattan had grown. During his time at the University of Miami, he realized he was good enough to make it in the music business and able to plant roots wherever he wanted. That was in the Big Apple. Greg Nalbo’s attempt to dictate his future rattled him. The entertainment mogul was a roadbl

I'm in the same boat.

@Geron Kees I don't think there's a way to track reads and @Myr has never said the system does. Views is what we have. For a story as a whole, those can be skewed by the number of chapters, I agree. I divide total views by number of chapter and use the average if I want to compare with long-assed stories. Views are also influenced by other factors. You mention one, and I'll add two more from my own personal experience. There are times I don't want to be interrupted by notifications so I'll read without signing in. Myr mentioned that one. My chapters get a lot of comments, I add to the views myself whenever I respond and readers also increase it by going back to read comments and author responses. Authors like you that tend not to post in chapters may also have less views because readers may not want to tackle long stories without the ability to mark stopping points. In the end, although not perfect, views count can still give us an idea of how popular a story is. If one chapter has 50 and another one has 500, I'm pretty sure the latter one was better received. Views inflation is similar to reputation inflation. Those active in the chat rooms rack them up in a way someone simply sharing their work can't. In the end, the willingness of members to engage by leaving comments is a better indication of interest than any number.

Now you have me curious. My current story shows some 20k views on the story page but only 13k on the stats page.

Even though I knew the number of non-member readers was high, I was surprised to see they make up about 3/4 of all views for my stories. Anyone else on the same boat?

@avidreadr I hope I've done okay with my NYC descriptions. I think the only fictional locations I've used are the bar and the gym down in Chelsea. Most of the other ones I've actually been to. Last year I was there for my birthday, staying with friends who live in the same building Cesar and Brett have their apartment in. @Defiance19 came into the city and joined us for brunch before we headed out to Brooklyn. The chapter describing their trip to the Brooklyn Museum was based on our experiences that day. In the last CJ story I posted, we find out he served as US ambassador to the United Nations/ If I ever get around to writing about that period, expect a lot more of New York. I'm dying to have CJ and Owen attend the Met Gala and some of the fashion week events. Not sure if I'll write them all, but I'm slowly outlining spinoffs for the other Squad member. Obviously, Ethan's would take place in New York.

Good song and the subject fir perfectly in my quest to show Chipper as a rabid New Yorker.

NBC and The Voice have a different attitude than FOX and Idol did. There have been quite a few GLBT contestants and their story has been prominently highlighted during the silly, human interest portions. A transitioning half of twins was shown being scared of his voice cracking since he was just starting hormone therapy. During rehersals, one of the coaches encouraged a gay contestant to use boy instead of girl in a song he was to sing. Adam Levine has a gay brother, Alicia Keys espouses her support for sexual minorities often, and Kelly Clarkson always roots for gay contestants.

I didn't know you were a New Yorker! Chipper's love for NYC is based on similar attitudes by several friends. I've been visiting the city for over half my life and have never had a bad trip. EDIT: Correction, way over half my life. The first time I was in New York I was 11, my parents took my brother and I to meet our grandfather, He had left Cuba with his new wife before I was born.

My neighbors across the street have a camera that covers the end of my driveway. They've told me they enjoy watching me take the garbage and recycling bins to the curb while in my boxers and flip flops.