Carlos Hazday

Damn! I'm getting REAL old. I had to expand the screen so I could figure out the emoji was the applause one! Thank you! Glad you enjoyed that!

I think I made a few readers relive an unpleasant experience with this one. Putting aside my personal wishes, from a dramatic point of view Trump winning was good for the story. CJ doesn't always get what he wants, his charmed life has a big ole smudge on it. It also forced me to be creative on how I wrote about it. I had to focus on CJ and Ozzie's emotions instead of it being a celebration. CJ and Ozzie will be in NYC in March 2018 for the Big East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at MSG. I think they have extra tickets. Maybe you can join them. I'm sure Ethan and Sean will be using two of the tickets CJ scored. Marina hates basketball, you can take hers and go with Ajax. If you don't mind going out with a bunch of gay, hunky, good-looking gay men, that is.

Fascinating and dispassionate look at how the urban gay community has changed. I've told you before I see a lot of myself in you even with the 30-year difference in our age. I just paged through Scruff and most of the guys on the first page listed PrEP or "Treatment as Prevention" under safety practices. Living in an international resort town/gaycation destination, many of them are from other countries and they too claim to be on PrEP. My doctor visits every three months include tests for the STDs we forgot about during the pandemic. We seem to have outbreaks of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia every few months. Is this the new normal? I haven't been to a circuit/after/sex party in a very long time and I'm wondering if the little baskets full of condoms are still around. In the end, it comes down to personal responsibility as it always does.

Close enough. To keep it to Fridays, let's shoot for February 2.

@chonga Thank you! And the same to you and yours. Glad you enjoyed the chapter and the book. Hard to build any kind of suspense when we all knew what happened but I tried to concentrate on how CJ and Owen reacted to the events. Politics takes a back step in the next book and we'll concentrate on the family instead. And on CJ being a college student!!!!!

@Remijay I think most of us would love to step into CJ's shoes! LOL Your comment perfectly captures the current situation. Working on the campaign and having so much trust placed on his shoulders has helped CJ mature even more. He may still have childish moments in the future, but I think he's going to be ready for whatever the world throws at him in the future. If and when he returns to the political arena, he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Until then, let's see how he handles college and the responsibility of being the glue that holds the Squad together.

Thanks, JP. I've been trying to show Owen's not a wallflower. He's overcome his early jitters about money and insecurities around CJ; that can only mean their relationship will grow stronger. Let's see if they can make it long term.

I like to end books on a positive note. Even though this one finished on a sour note, I hope the conclusion of Roar left readers with a satisfying feeling at how CJ handled the disappointment. The kind of experience he lived through will remain with him for as long as he lives. Let's hope it helps shape him into a better man.

Thanks! For reading and commenting. With over 100 chapters and more than half-a-million words, the CJ series is a heck of a lot longer than I originally thought it would be. But I'm still having fun writing it so you'll have more to read soon.

Think how I've been feeling. I started writing this chapter last year and I've read it so many times I know some sections by heart. I've had to relieve the events countless times. Since I can't reply to reviews, I'll mention here yours captured what I tried to do perfectly. Yes, the campaign and election were important to this book but it's still about CJ and those around him more than about any of the politicians or famous people. Although I'd throw them all away for a chance to meet Springsteen. You're right, I loved writing that scene. I also loved writing the opening one on Halloween night. I still laugh at Cesar's reaction even though I wrote it! In a comment on a previous chapter, I remember you saying something about CJ sharing his views with adults and wondering how they would react. You'll get some of it in the first chapter of the next book. Ozzie was right about others wanting to keep him involved in politics and we'll see how CJ reacts the first time it happens. I'll also tell you that chapter opens at a Miami HEAT / Washington Wizards basketball game and not a political rally and a few weeks after, CJ's back in Australia. Time to return to a more 'fun' atmosphere.

@Parker Owens And thank you for the continued support, Parker. You have no idea how much it means. I think the entire nation's reeling, even those who supported Trump. The storm unleashed on our country will have long-lasting effects and I can only hope when this is over, we can once again be proud of our elected officials.

@turtleonca Thank you for the warm holiday wishes. And thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Every election has winners and losers and the 2016 presidential one had more losers than winners. About 3 million more thanks to the electoral system. It's led many to call for eliminating the electoral college but I'm not so sure about that. The Founding Fathers wanted to ensure smaller states had a say in who became president and in this case it worked as designed. I keep thinking one day it may favor a candidate I support. CJ's involvement will help shape his thinking in the future and that can only be a good thing. We are the sum of our experiences. His contempt for social injustice has already been seen in Hunting Season, which takes place about 9 months after the election, and will be prominent in other future books.

Did you? I tried to capture their speech pattern and personality even though the dialogue was obviously all mine. That's always my intention when using someone who's well known. The most recent chapter I wrote just went through a special beta reading and the reader helping me said I captured the personality of the person (a TV personality interviewing CJ). Of course, I watched the show for like a week beforehand. Somebody at Comcast is probably trying to figure out why I've been using the DVR to record daytime talk shows when their records show I rarely watch the stuff.

Jeff- Thanks for the chapter comment and the story review. It was tough to write a chapter about an event everyone knew so well. In the past, real-life situations have been less reported so I could build a little suspense. With this one, I tried to concentrate on CJ's reactions to what was happening and the atmosphere surrounding him and Owen. I tried to give their perspective on what was going on instead of focusing on the actual election results. Hopefully, I succeeded.

Spamming, eh? If it wasn't because it takes so long to get a chapter ready, I'd love to publish continuously. But since my support team is all volunteer with full-time jobs... As you read in other comments, Over the Rainbow's written and moving along the edit chain. Look for it by the end of January or the beginning of February.

@quokka Thank you! You'll be happy to know the next book will have the men back in Oz for a visit. I'm glad I made Ozzie and Aussie LOL gives me a great excuse to have them travel on a regular basis.

It'll be more than a couple of days. A couple of weeks is more realistic. The campaign may be over but CJ's a political animal and he does live in DC. Politics and politicians may creep into future chapters a bit. LOL

@Sweetlion I stayed home on election night and watched the results alone. I was taking notes all night and didn't want distractions. When the analysts started talking about how tough it was going to be for Clinton to capture Florida (I live in the most Democratic county in the state and our results were mostly in) I knew it was over. I waited until it was officially announced and then turned the TV off.

@tor200534 Thanks bud!

@dughlas I enjoyed writing the Philadelphia scene a lot. It wasn't really about the politics; it was about what you mentioned. CJ's delight at introducing his parents and boyfriend to the people he'd met before made have caused my eyes to water a bit. I recall watching it on TV and seeing CJ in the midst of all those people in my mind. The next day I tried to flesh out my the scribbles I made while sitting on the couch. I saw Springsteen two days before election day 2004 at a John Kerry rally in Miami. His involvement drew criticism from conservative fans but some were still there to see him even if they were Bush supporters. I want something similar for CJ. I want his political views not too detrimental to his future image. Politics takes a back seat in the next book. We won't go cold turkey, but he'll concentrate on other things and his experiences in the campaign will color his future activities.

You know me sooo well! What was that line about not selling a wine before its time? I feel the same way about my writing: I won't post a story before its time. The more experience I gather, the more paranoid I become about sharing sub-par stories. Yes, there'll still be errors; with your help and that of the other team members, they're not as frequent as they would be otherwise.

Thank you! This was a difficult book to write. It was important to cover CJ's involvement in the presidential campaign; it helps shape his future. At the same time, I needed to show growth in how he dealt with his family and his political convictions. I wanted to show him moving away from the black and white views he once held and which led him to say all Republicans hated gay people. Some of it was written before election day; the results didn't affect this book a lot but I did have to scramble and make revisions to my outline for the next book. There went the inauguration balls and dancing all night. My intent from the beginning was to write a feel good tale. I didn't want characters full of angst and self-doubts. CJ and the supporting cast are meant to be take-charge type of people who deal with adversity in a straightforward manner. Trump's election was the ultimate in adversity but I don't think that fiasco will keep our young man down for long.

@jwh6868 I've been known to begin posting new books on Jan 1 so the second wouldn't be that out of the norm. But not this time around. Over The Rainbow is written and in the process of being edited. It'll go live a little later than you suggest but when it does, there'll be no interruptions in posting.

@chris191070 Thanks for the comment and the review. CJ and Owen will return in a few weeks and there'll be big changes in their lives. Stick around and I promise there'll be a few surprises in the next installment.

@wkramer Thank you! This book ends on a sad but hopeful note giving us a bit more insight on how CJ thinks. The next one will focus a bit more on his first year in college and the gigantic changes coming for him and his family. I think you'll like that ride even more.