Carlos Hazday

There were some issues with the GA software which didn't generate a notification for it. If you follow me or the story, you'll get notices whenever I post something. It'll keep you in the loop!

Thanks, bud. Glad you're enjoying the new installment in the series!

@avidreadr It's good to be back and to have you along for the ride! The nature of the story gives us some leeway on what can be discussed here or in the CJ Series Discussion Thread. Heck, we've had plenty of pro/con comments on firearms already. I promise if it gets out of hand, I'll try to dial it back a bit so none of us get in trouble with the dreaded moderators (Sorry, @Reader1810 LOL)

@shyboy85 Are you implying or choice in 2016 was less than ideal and someone needs to get blamed? And I have no idea what you mean by Coulter. The character's name's Fran Poulter LOL If you're interested in politics you've found the right story. Chapter 2 is light on it but there'll be some more coming up starting in the third chapter. I look forward to hearing what you think of subsequent chapters.

@chris191070 Thanks for reading and leaving a comment, Chris. If you liked the group scenes, get ready for some more in the next chapter. Group motorcycle trips are a great way for friends to bond.

@Daddydavek So glad you liked this one. Hopefully, you didn't find it as rushed as the last one. The end-of-life-directives conversation was influenced by seeing my maternal grandmother spend the last few years of her life in a vegetative state, with a feeding tube stuck in her abdomen. My brothers and I swore we'd never allow that to happen to us or our parents. Even my mother regretted authorizing the procedure afterward. And yes, the convention is in the next chapter even though I had a senior moment yesterday and told someone CJ would be in Philly in this chapter.

“Don’t forget to text us after you land, okay?” César glanced in the rearview mirror as he slowed the car by the departures area at Washington National Airport. “Really, Dad?” CJ rolled his eyes in disbelief. “I’d think by now you’d know better than remind me. Weren’t you the one who told me a while back I didn’t need to check in all the time anyway?” “Don’t get smart with me, boy. Just because you’re a high school graduate doesn’t mean I won’t put you over my knee if you get too big f

I keep trying to show balance in CJ's life. Maybe it's because I've experienced getting lost in a cause and ignoring friends and relatives in the heat of a campaign. Since this chapter was a recap and expansion of previous events, I did use a faster pace here, but future chapters shouldn't be as daunting. Glad you liked the speech, I was kinda proud of that one myself LOL Thanks for sticking with me, Parker!

@Wesley8890 Admit it, you like CJ because he beats people up with fists AND words. And because he owns a gun!

@Lacuna, @Cia, @lilansui This may be part of a new bug. I experienced a somewhat similar issue last week with a chapter I uploaded two weeks ahead for later publishing. AJ had to go in and fix something manually. Y'all may want to check with him since our conversation took place in PMs.

After reading your comments on the thread discussing why someone stops reading, I decided to give something of yours a try. Your premise is good and the characters are engaging, I see potential for a good story. However, both chapters are riddled with technical errors. Most are the same many of us made when we started out. I can recall writing something and feeling elated at how good it was. When I read over those early posts now, I cringe. it took me several months to find an editor for my long-running series and I'm glad I resisted the urge to post without someone reading it over first. I deflated when my editor returned the first chapter. There were so many corrections I questioned my ability to write. I stuck it out, paid attention, and tried not to repeat the same mistakes. Today, after posting close to 3/4 of a million words, I still won't publish a chapter before my support team goes through it several times. This story would benefit from such an intervention. The multitude of mistakes detract from full enjoyment of the two chapter posted so far. Ask for help and at least try to hook up with a beta reader with experience. Someone who won't fawn over you but will provide honest feedback. I'm certain in the long run, you won't regret it.

@Dmrman Youll get there. I'm not sure you'll be caught up by the time Georgetown:Roar ends but maybe by the next book. Somebody told me they binge read the entire series during the most recent hiatus and I was impressed. There's a lot of words to read! Chipper's curiosity led a few readers to start up Team Chipper in support of his candidacy for CJ's boyfriend. Harley and Owen also have their rooting sections.

It took me some time to find this. I really need to clean out my PM inbox. This is one of the recommendations the promotions team made when I became a Promising Author. It was something my editor had already made me aware of and I was working on implementing. I always hated the constant use of them and thought this was a good trend to latch onto. Continue to reduce your reliance on speech tags. While nothing is technically wrong with using speech tags, it is becoming less acceptable to do so. Work on using narrative/actions to convey who’s speaking, rather than using speech tags.

Don't apologize for using British English, if it fits the characters it's what you should be using! Our interconnected world means we should become less insular and more global. One of my main characters is an Aussie and I've tried to mold his language use accordingly. I've failed miserably at times. And with a British character, one Brit reader told me I made him sound like a caricature but gave me points for trying. Like @Valkyrie I have a couple of Australians I now use to help me do a better job. However, a couple of Australian authors have shared the fact the younger generations sound more American than Australian at times. We can thank TV, movies, and music for American culture having such a large influence on language. I had a young Aussie call someone an arse and was told the author's 18yo son would never use the word. Because of that American influence I mentioned, the kid was more likely to say ass.

Am I the only one who's read through all these comments and realized at some point I've managed to do something which alienates certain readers? My initial reaction is to become defensive: "Yes, I did that, but in this particular instance..." Insert appropriate justification after the ellipses. For many of the items brought up, there are times when an author using them fits with the story. I approached one of the members commenting on this thread trying to determine how bad I've been! When I shared a preview of the first chapter of Summer asking for feedback, I was hammered for having too detailed an architectural description of a house. When I posted my first anthology entry, Allah's Revenge, Cia ripped me a new one and did it again when I included too much sex in a subsequent one. My primary editor, Mann Ramblings, must have pulled out half his hair when he worked on my first book in the series, the number of comments and corrections had a higher word count than the actual chapter (okay, slight exaggeration.) I could have gotten upset and walked away but chose to listen to them because they had experience. Instead of quitting I chose to apply myself to a new craft and try to improve. I think I've learned a lot from all the criticism and it's reflected in subsequent work. At least @Mann Ramblings seems to enjoy my writing these days; his comments are often snide remarks and flight-of-fancy scenarios. When an artist shares their work--visual or written--with the public, they expose themselves to criticism. If we can't accept not everyone will like what we offer and some will let you know in clear language, we need to reconsider what we're doing.

@spikey582 Technical stuff first: As far as I know, beginning in 2010 several states have passed laws allowing concealed carry in establishments serving alcohol. Many have no specific restriction on the practice. Although in this chapter the reference could be considered wishful thinking, I did use my author's privileges in the next chapter. You'll see what I mean when you read it. It's interesting Cia posted a topic over the weekend discussing what makes people stop reading a story. I should have mentioned an aversion to politics when I commented. LOL When I gave Mann a quick summary of what I wanted to do with this book, he admonished me to avoid making it all politics. He encouraged me to include daily stuff to break up the political scenes and use those to further the story. I tried to do so and hope you can live with the results. But, this was planned from the time I decided to make CJ the main character. As I mentioned in another comment, politics has been at the core of the story since the first book. It's not meant to be a political intrigue tale but CJ's involvement in the campaign, his words and actions are all relevant to what happens in the future. I'm glad you muddled through the chapter. Thanks for trusting me.

I've skipped right over many a story when the description was riddled with typos!

I've borrowed characters from other authors a couple of times with their permission. My way of paying homage to a well-written story or an author I enjoy reading. During a trip to Australia, I had the lead in a series of mine attend a concert. The performer was the main character in Marcus McNally's Love on the Rocks. Marc was supportive and approved my use of Tyson Hill. He read the scene ahead of time and even offered me his characters to use again. I've shamelessly plugged a couple of Mann Rambling stories too by having a character mention he was reading them. It was fun to do and reader reaction was enthusiastic. I've also named characters in honor of a few fans and was honored when @Parker Owens named a character after my MC. Hopefully he'll be happy with how I used his own characters in an upcoming chapter. I turned down somebody who wanted to write a fan-fic story using my characters but mentioned I'd be happy to allow their appearance in a guest role as long as I got to see the story before it was published. Finally, I have two separate series where the two characters from one make frequent appearances in the other one. I think of it as a spin-off type thing even though it wasn't the original plan. In a way it's good marketing. I get to plug my own stories! LOL

I skip scenes designed to elicit tears. Overly dramatic/romantic scenes designed to twist my emotions are lost on me. I like it when simple, unpretentious scenes make my eyes water out of happiness but fail to see the appeal of reading sad stuff which seems written only to do so. If I want to be sad and upset, I'll read the front page of the newspapers.

@bbonnett3 One of the hazards of writing a story so grounded in real life is readers knowing the outcome of certain events. We might be aware of who won the election but the story's not about the candidates or who ended up on top. It's about CJ, his actions, and his beliefs. This is one of those instances when the trip surpasses the destination in importance. Though someone may disagree with what CJ does, I hope everyone realizes his thought process isn't arbitrary. At a time when civility has fallen by the wayside, when our leaders malign and bully others, CJ should be a beacon showing us how to be respectful. Even when he despises what others say or do, he'll stick to facts and reason. I can only hope real kids his age will follow suit. It's the only way our democracy can survive and flourish. Thanks for reading and taking the time to leave a comment.

Hmmm... #feelingneglected Wondering why I'm once again left out of the update. Can't be a confusion over posting both on Friday and Sunday this time.

And welcome back to you too! I hope previous followers find their way back after the hiatus. I'm really excited about sharing this installment with readers. Modesty aside, I think it has some of my best writing to date. Both technically and plot-wise.

@GomezSC LOL You're really going to hate me after today. As soon as I finish doing a final read, I'm loading up the next two chapters. At least you know there won't be interruptions in posting!

LOL I think Fran Poulter's views inspire some but, damn! Yeah, there was backtracking with some previously described events like the Chicago wedding thrown in to tie the story back to Walls. Take a look at my reply to Dave's comment and you'll see what I was trying to accomplish. All new content in the next chapter. Very little drama in it and more of an exploration of family relationships.

Sorry I shorted you! LOL The fast pace of the chapter was intentional and I suspected it wouldn't work for everyone. I wanted to recap some of what had transpired in order to set the stage for what comes next. At the same time, I didn't want to repeat myself and tried to move the story forward. The Pulse scenes were tough. You're not the first person to tell me I skip over some of the emotional actions/reactions and it's something I've tried to address but can still improve on. But to be honest, I'm not sure I could have done much better in this case. Writing those sections took a toll and each time I've read the chapter I end up tearing up during CJ's speech. As an aside, that speech is an amalgam of my words and those of a county commissioner during a memorial service for Matthew Shepard. To me, the Orlando shooting echoed the senseless murder of Shepard in Wyoming. Thanks for the insights, Dave.