Carlos Hazday

CJ and Chipper are both in mourning. Or at least they'll be when they sober up. I wasn't surprised. Miami overachieved this year and the media frenzy about the Turnover Chain made people talk crap about hot the U was back. Coach Ritch said we'll be back when we are competing for National Championships year after year. Until then...

NYE in NYC is something I've been wanting CJ to experience. Maybe I can have some woman kidnap Sean in the middle of Times Square. What with Kathy Griffin having been fired from CNN, we need a slightly mad, wine drinker to make an appearance.

Funny how writing and learning not to use THAT all the time worked better than drugs ever did in the past.

I like writing group scenes with several people talking at the same time. LOVED the one in the bedroom between the suitmates. That was masterful.

It wasn't the best of years, it wasn't the worst of years. But it was the definitely a shorter year. Okay, fine. It was only 24 hours shorter than the previous one, but it sure felt like it went by in the blink of an eye. I think it's age related. Two years ago tomorrow, on January 1, 2015, I posted the first chapter of CJ's story. Two years, 119 chapters, and over half-a-million words later, the damn kid's wormed his way into my heart. And apparently, he's had a similar effect on some of you. Some initial readers abandoned the story; I assume something I wrote didn't sit well with them. Others have come on board, read from the beginning, and are now clamoring for more. To each of you, lapsed, current, and future fans, my thanks. Your reactions, comments, and reviews are treasured. It's gratifying to know I've been able to entertain and at times move some of you, my apologies if I disappointed others at any point. I'm committed to finishing Georgetown, there are three more books in the works. Regardless of what I may have said, subsequent entries are possible but not guaranteed. A historical novel, relying on actual people, places, and events, is hard to write in the future. Georgetown concludes in May 2020 and I'm finding it difficult to exclude those little things which have been integral to the tale. Let's see how I feel after CJ graduates from college. Some of it will depend on what happens in the White House, Congress, and the State Department. Some, on how loud the characters scream. What began as therapy for crippling depression has become a joy. I now have a cyber family on Gay Authors, and an imaginary one in CJ, Ozzie, Cesar, Brett, Ritchie and all the others. Both make me smile on a regular basis, something I didn't do much of when I started writing in the summer of 2014. Whatever I decide, please know I've come to appreciate you more than you can imagine and should the story continue, I promise to do my best to remain faithful to you and the characters. Maybe I'll even improve my writing some more. From me and the Abello-Davenport-Liston-Peterson crowd, HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2018 bring you and yours health and peace. Everything else is secondary.

Great twist about Bailey being a cornerback. You surprised me with his home situation, I conjured a dead or jailed father and a 'lost' mother, not an abusive one. I think you're setting up Declan to be a hero and hope you won't drag it out too much before you have him do the right thing.

Am I the only one who likes Declan. Tough macho attitude but underneath... Well, that's two predictions in two chapters. I better quit now.

What a pleasure to read a well developed and written story with interesting characters! Even if I could see the the Declan-Bailey 'thing' coming a mile away. I'll pace my binge reading so I can savor the remainder of the posted chapters.

A little something to tide us over until Georgetown: Over The Rainbow begins posting. I hope I did The Boss justice when describing his appearance. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-bruce-springsteen-perform-rip-trump-at-clinton-rally-w449082 EDIT- I'm such a sap. Watched the clip for the first time since right after the election and I teared up again. That man can WRITE. IMO, he's the poet laureate of my generation. A long walk home indeed.

@IBEX Some great ones north of Tallahassee riding into Georgia. I really need to write the next chapter, takes him to New Orleans and I was just there so have some interesting stuff to mention. Youll be happy to hear CJ's riding his bike to Laconia in 2019. Writing those scenes next week.

@Potterslashfan First spouse?

The easy part first. There are four sections to Georgetown. I decided to split it in four because each section has a unique event crowning it. Roar covered the beginning of CJ's college experience, Over The Rainbow covers the remainder of his freshman year and summer break. Book's written and editing's almost complete. Seven chapters. Time Goes By tracks with his sophomore year. Book written. Seven chapters. Lovely will finish up the college years ending in his college graduation. Book in process, about three chapters to go. total projected at ten. Now comes the hard part. First I want a break even though the characters have already started whispering dialogue lines and scenarios. Two options for what follows and I really haven't decided. We jump ahead one year with a short story, another jump in time and a second short story, followed by a jump to 2035 and a multi-chapter story. The first short story I have the idea and a rough outline. The second one I have the idea and location but nothing else. These two may not get written and could be incorporated into the final one in short flashbacks. The last one has an outline and a bunch of the chapters have a rough draft. The first epilogue is written, the second one has the opening but needs a couple thousand more words. Anything after Georgetown's tentative. I do ride a motorcycle and I want to go skydiving for my 60th. As far as what your '8 years' implies, I refer you to Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing. Not a chance I could match that masterpiece. In case anyone out there is a fan of the show, here's something dated last month: http://ew.com/tv/2017/11/29/aaron-sorkin-reveals-idea-for-west-wing-revival-and-it-wouldnt-involve-trump/

I'll save long replies for comments on the next book. For now, let me just say THANK YOU. I will, however, take the opportunity to once again highlight @Bucket1, @Reader1810, @Kitt, and @Mann Ramblings. I could not have done it without them.

@Potterslashfan I think there are as many reasons behind comments as there are readers. Each one of us gets something different from anything we read and that affects our reactions. Some readers dislike politics period and are afraid of getting tainted by anything that includes politicians LOL Some of our most liberal members objected vehemently to CJ's attitude towards guns and some on the right objected to his logical approach to selecting a candidate to support. You're right I never made it a secret there would be political involvement by him. It started in Summer when he met Brian Sims and cascaded from there. I'm flabbergasted by the amount of support and number of readers reacting to the story, never expected such popularity. But the most popular stories around GA tend to be MM romances involving teens who are often filled with angst. I bucked all those trends by having a smart, thinking kid and supportive parents who encouraged him to be his own person. The sex, drugs, and 'butch' activities (motorcycles and sports) turned some people off. When I first showed CJ smoking pot while visiting his cousins in Chicago someone told me CJ would never do that. My stories are not for everyone, but I've tried to be honest and realistic in portraying a millennial gay teen growing up in an affluent urban environment. Thank you for the encouragement. I'll continue in the same vein but hopefully with improved technical writing.

So much to read! Not enough hours in the day if I want to keep writing. I would reduce TV time but too many good bowl games in the next few day LOL I have a bunch of open tabs on my tablet for whenever I have time.

Owen's a little more reserved than CJ. He'd rather have his other half in the limelight. CJ, on the other hand, keeps pushing for people to recognize what Owen does as or even more important than his involvement in politics.

Okay. The extra night in the hotel was legit and not just an excuse. Happy? LOL If you haven't done so, you should read Thin Blue Line and Hunting Season. Those two stories stand alone (mostly) but they fit in the continuity of the other books in a weird way. They were my reaction to actual events so I posted them when I wrote them instead of fitting them in with the other books. Line fits in between the last two chapters Walls. Season takes place sometime after Roar.

Fixed!

@Potterslashfan And I appreciate all your comments! They've made me revisit chapters I'd not looked at in a long time. I do have a bone to pick: No comment on CJ using a certain 3 words in the last chapter? LOL

@Potterslashfan Forrest Gump meeting President Kennedy may have flashed through my mind once or twice while writing about CJ's involvement in the 2016 political campaign. If mindless super-hero movies (I'm a HUGE fan) can have a message so can amateur internet stories. I've tried to highlight organizations/companies I believe in so in those instances CJ's actions mirror my own. Of course, while I may contribute $50.00 he'll do $500.00. Unfortunately, I never had a trust fund! Trying to write a realistic story, CJ rooting first for Miami teams and then Washington ones seemed appropriate. I often use those as settings for whatever conversations/events I wanted to portray. Why have the cast sit around the dining room table all the time when I can take them out to the real world and have some fun with sports or whatever at the same time.

@Potterslashfan Try this link. There are a few relevant images and the t-shirts are there too. Recently, I've posted images in the discussion thread instead of the galleries since those are limited in size.

Liz is closer in age to CJ than Ritchie. She did ogle him when they first met and she was disappointed when she found out he was gay. Word count crept up in this book. A result of moving away from chronicling daily events and trying to cram a month's worth of activity in one chapter. Sometimes a lot happened, other times the pickings were slimmer. A couple of chapters I had to split in two because there was so much I wanted to cover. What happened in each was often dictated by the calendar and real-life events. Magic words? You mean Let's Have Sex? I'm sure he's mentioned it once or twice...

I've been told before I don't always milk certain scenes to produce more drama. But as I mentioned before, this is a feel-good story and I don't want conflict to hang around for long periods most of the time. Couples will argue no matter how much they love each other and it would be unrealistic to have CJ and Owen not having disagreements. Gun ownership was a perfect way to show their difference over something grounded in culture. Plus, firearms will play a role in defining CJ's political beliefs.

@Potterslashfan I'll have to license the characters to another author so they can write the details of what went on in the apartment. I don't have time to do it. CJ: The XXX Files We don't know if Owen and Ethan ever had sex while CJ was dicking around. Figuratively speaking. Experience has shown me many a friendship between gay men starts with sex and develops into a platonic relationship afterward. Whether those two did anything or not, let's hope the results are the same. Maybe all Ethan needs is a steady man in his life to get over wanting Owen.

Damn! Not much else I can say. Ten-word limit. LOL Now you know how we feel about the WB word restrictions. Dr. P is right, that was a rough way of telling Kohen but Captain is probably accustomed to speaking without beating around. I'm kind of partial to the sink or swim approach myself.