C James

Nope, merely pointing out the facts. Because I was, until recently, unaware of this shocking development. It seems that Graeme was being less than forthcoming about his indictment... which I suppose is to be expected, when one is on the run from the law. However, all is not lost! We, the good members of G.A., will soon have an opportunity to serve justice, and this will occur is less than a month's time.

It is my sad duty to report that Graeme has been indicted by the police. An all points bulletin was issued for Graeme, whose current precise whereabouts are unknown, but it is rumored that he may have fled to the far ends of the earth. Here's the link, in case anyone thinks I'm making this up. I hereby call upon Graeme to do the right thing and turn himself in to the appropriate authorities. It might behoove us to bear this indictment in mind in a few weeks.

Well, we all know I'd never, ever use a cliffhanger, right? And as proof of this, I offer, in advance, the fact that I will not get even one vote for 2009 King of Cliffhangers! For one thing, as our resident amphibian will reluctantly attest, there were no cliffhangers at all in anything I posted in 2009. Therefor, I am ineligible! Now, it is my sad duty to attest that, at the moment, Shadowgod is also ineligible, doe to not having posted a chapter so far in 2009. (if he gives us one by dec 31st, he's eligible) Therefor, I hereby and forthwith declare my unstinting dedication to the campaign to assure that Graeme is soon wearing the crown for King of Cliffhangers! Wouldn't an echidna look good wearing a crown? :king: BTW, I am aiming to resume Tuesday postings. Chapter 3 will be up on Tuesday at the latest.

But, um, I always say I never use cliffhangers! Okay, well, perhaps I'm not someone who should be chiming in on a topic of this nature, but that's never stopped me before. There are many kinds of cliffhangers. Some could be physical; a character or several characters facing imminent death with little to no obvious way of evading it. One random and hypothetical example; suppose your the characters are on a small passenger jet that has been crippled by an explosion, killing the pilot, and none of them are pilots. Then, to complicate matters, they are targeted by a trio of air-to-air missiles, and then the scene ends with the inbound missiles closing for the kill. Some might describe that as a cliffhanger. Or, there are emotional ones, such as a character about to leave with a broken heart, etc. Cliffhangers can also be used for effect, such as to make certain that an injury that is important to the plot remains clear in a reader's mind. As a hypothetical example, suppose four brothers are your central characters, and you have a scene with them doing a little rock climbing, just having fun. Then, you close the chapter with a scene of another character finding out that one of the four brothers died, and toss in a few contradictory hints as to which one, but don't say which one. However, the report turns out to be a little exaggerated (but you must lay the ground work for that in the prior chapter!) and the character is merely injured; say, a busted ankle, that is important to the plot of the story. Using the cliffhanger in that way keeps that fact at the forefront of the reader's minds. CJ

But, it's true, isn't it? (and we all know that I never use cliffhangers!) Oh, and as proof that I never use cliffhangers; I hereby predict, with utter certainty, that I will receive zero votes in the 2009 King of Cliffhangers category of the 2009 GA awards. But, your Amphibiousness, surely it will last for the entire story? But, but, but! If a Catamaran glided up to a cliff, surely it would be at the base of it? Lagoon 55's are wonderful boats, but flying is not amongst their abilities.

I'm all in favor of goat's milk! It's roast goat that worries me! :fire: Love the pic! Thanks Linxe!

Thank you Steve!! You are, as always, very insightful. There is very little that I can say without running afoul of the Echidna, who is ever on the lookout for spoilers, But one thing I can mention is that we don't know all of why Trevor is like he is yet. What? Me, misdirect? Never! Wow, very thoguhtful, I love it! I can't say much of anything at this point, as the anti-spoiler Echidna is lurking hereabouts. Now that I can comment on! I probably shouldn't, but I can! Sailors meaning Navy, right? Well, it's true that most of the time the Coast Guard isn't part of the Navy, but... Not all the time. Check out 14 USC PART I CHAPTER 1 Sec. 3. - Relationship to Navy Department The last time this occurred was WWII, but 14 USC 3 is still on the books. Sincerely, the nit-picking goat.

Hrmmm... I'm known to lurk in certain forums (I'm a known lurker, after all) and I've been arbitrarily banned from the soapbox (By C James, darn him!) due to spending way too much time there instead of writing. Now I'm trying to get my forum going again. (I was on story posting hiatus for way too long, but that's over now.). Yet still I lurk hereabouts, and drop in to bug Mark.

Hey now! That's my line~! And you do so write cliffhangers! I used to favor 5-6k chapters, but lately I've moved to letting the chapter subject determine it';s length. This is especially true early in a novel, where I've had chapters under a thousand words. For serial posting, I just post more than one at a time, that way the reader isn't shortchanged.

RedA has joined the team, and he's a yachtsman. He has been of enormous help in writing Circumnavigation. I've rarely been at sea in anything smaller than a cruise ship, and the largest boat I've ever owned was a 14 foot racing sailboat when I was in my early teens. So, I desperately needed expert advice, and RedA stepped forward. As with all my team, this is a job with many drawbacks, not the least of which is having to put up with my raw drafts. Thank you RedA!!! CJ

Thanks Bugeye! And yes, I see a resemblance! Welcome aboard to another four-footed forum member. But.. Talonrider, that's not quite so; I just have a touch of red-eye at times... such as if I misplace my sunglasses. Tiger! What a thing to say about sweet, innocent me!

Hi Happyreader! Thanks! Absolutely no cliffs in this story! There have never been cliffhangers in my stories, and goats, like leopards, never change their spots. Lisa is one of my favorites; she's a lot like Trevor in some ways too. Oh, and by the way... I think you will very much like some things in coming chapters. ;-) Lisa likes to meddle, for sure. Thanks Jan! Yep, Atlantis' page is very, very helpful. Its an unusual boat (a 55 foot cruising catamaran) and though I tried, its hard to envision the deck layout, etc, without the guide. What!?!?!? Surely there could be no tension here? It's just a happy, feel-good story that begins with Trevor's mother and her catamaran Ares. And what could possibly go wrong at sea? Cruising catamarans like that are awesome boats. Far more stable, and far faster, then monohull boats. They also have far more interior room than a monohull of similar length. There are disadvantages, such as being harder to maneuver, but the speed, stability, and room are huge benefits. CJ

I've just uploaded the start of Circumnavigation to my site. Sorry for the long wait. CJ

Happy Thanksgiving, MArk! I just wanted to have a thread in here too. Oh, and BTW, I was wrong about getting Circumnavigation up Friday. It's up now.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! And BTW, "Circumnavigation" was originally promised for this weekend (Okay, I know I've been promising it for months, sorry!), but thanks to my team, it might be a bit early. If I can finish the HTML, maybe Friday (tomorrow). I'll try. And BTW, for those not having the traditional turkey dinner, might I suggest a French alternative? Frog's legs. Ingredients: 1 pair of frog legs -- cut in half salt and pepper -- to taste 1 pound flour 8 fluid ounces buttermilk ***FINE HERBS BUTTER*** 8 ounces unsalted butter -- soft 1 tablespoon parsley -- chopped 1 teaspoon fresh tarragon -- chopped 1 teaspoon fresh chervil -- chopped 1 teaspoon chives -- sliced 1/2 teaspoon garlic -- minced 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon salt Directions: Combine all the ingredients for the fine herb butter and mix well. Pat the frog legs dry and season them with salt and pepper. Dredge the frog legs in flour, dip them in buttermilk, drain and dredge in flour again. Deep-fry the frog legs until golden brown and done, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, place in a stainless steel bowl and coat generously with the fine herb butter. Arrange the legs attractively on a plate, garnish as desired and serve hot. CJ

Hey now! I don't use misdirection! Why, that's as alien to me as cliffhangers are! As for whether or not there will be a circumnavigation of the earth... I'm not sure what I can say without provoking the Anti-spoiler Echidna. I know I can say that circumnavigation means going around something... so maybe we're talking about the protagonist going around the block? Or around his back yard? BTW, Circumnavigation, Like FTL, is part mystery. It can be read as a normal story, or a mystery, reader;s choice. CJ

OOps. Now y'all can see why this is a team effort. I'm very prone to such goofs. If you think that's good, get team members to tell you about some of my more-notorious goofs. One recent one; A character had to move three suitcases on board in one go, and did so by taking one in each hand. Of course, my team gets overly particular when characters start spouting extra arms and hands, so there ya go.. I also managed to create a new sea; the Editerranean Sea. Editors would have approved of the name, maybe? And yep, I'm working on the new website pages now. All being well, it will be up inside of a week. (Circumnavigation, not circumcision!)

Thank you, Mike and Jan! You've solved a worry of mine; I know it is very common for writers, like software developers, to talk about what amounts to vaporware; stuff that really doesn't yet exist. So, naturally, I look at my own posts claiming that "Jake" is complete and that "Circumnavigation" has more than 20 chapters, and I think "Yeah, if I read that from somebody else, I wouldn't beleive it either". Now, nobody has seen some of the Circumnavigation chapters (they are just raw drafts) but some of my team HAVE seen the first dozen or so chapters of Circumcision and they've seen all of Jake, so hopefully that proves I've actually been writing, not slacking, because they really do exist. (and don't forget, the chapters are a team effort, and my team has been working very hard too!) Today, I'm doing HTML work, getting the Circumnavigation site ready for upload. It's getting closer.

Stories? Plural? Yep! "Circumnavigation" should begin posting within a week. I have some HTML work to finished up, and then it will begin to appear on my site. Also, the novel "Jake" will be appearing in Premium very soon. Circumnavigation has been underway for a while. I had to get well into it because I needed to see what happened before posting the beginning. (in case changes to the start were required). Sorry for the very long delay since Changing Lanes wrapped; I never intended for it to be this long!! CJ

ACK!!! Now, now, now... I think you are twisting things! The fact is that nothing bad ever happens in my stories! There are, perhaps, a few ever so slight inconveniences for the protagonists to deal with, but nothing more! So, ya see, no need at all for a conspiracy! BTW, my hiatus is over. I'm baaaaack.

Happy Birthday, Emoe! :2thumbs:

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

Hrmmmm..... I tend to agree with the "Give them the benefit of the doubt" camp. As for me... I use pictures of myself for an avatar and personal pic, and a salute could be arranged if need be.

I just got back from my trip about an hour ago. Tired, but happy to be home! I missed y'all! More later. And BTW, anyone with a fear of heights should not view some of the photos I plan to post from my trip. :-)

LoL! I'm never at a loss for story ideas; they just pop into my head (Proof that nature abhors a vacuum and endeavors to fill it). Many don't come out when I start writing them down. Some I just find boring, others just come across as awkward and stilted, and with others, the premise is untenable. As a result, I have quite a colection of barely-begun stories. All I can suggest is just keep trying.