Thirdly

Best blog ever!?!?!? 😍 Now we dont have to hunt for each of your individual reviews and can reference this, too!

We all have different methods. Some of us are more detailed than others, some are more action-centric, others are more about the romance...I struggle with settings, atmosphere, and humor these days (which is ironic because when I first began writing, the comedy flew right out of my fingers and onto the pages...I've been losing senior family members back to back lately though, and grief is a stronger beast that impeded me more than depression does, though both states are like cousins to one another when it comes to keeping me from writing the humorous things I want to write.). The point is that from here on out, it is just deciding what you want to write about and what interests you.

Took me a while to get back but I finished it! I love the writing style and the characters, the details, and the setting. I would have liked to have read the "scene change" moments as their own separate chapters, as many didn't feature Juan. I'm not the biggest fan of chapters that don't have the main character in it, but in my first stories, I did the exact same thing. It wasn't until I went back to read them years later that I changed it all to focus on just one character instead of the others. The pacing on my first story was way too fast, but I am too lazy to go back and fix pacing issues in my older stories. The pacing of this one was very steady in the beginning, but it wavered a bit from steady to fast-fast-medium speed-fast-fast which makes it feel like you were rushing to finish, and I understand why since this was supposed to be for one of the events. Things like pacing and following around just one main character are stylistic choices you figure out on the way. Even with the not-as-steady final third of the story, it was a VERY good and entertaining read. I would read anything else you choose to write. It's seriously 3 times better than any of my first stories. I look at this and wonder why you haven't written us anything before.

It can be any 2 dialects that popped in your head while reading. This one is one of my simpler stories, and I still think I could have been more descriptive, but I'm glad you were able to envision it! I was initially trying to go for a fairytale style mini story. This final draft is not as complex as the other projects I'm currently working on. But I did enjoy writing it, nonetheless.

Update: I managed to talk to her briefly this morning, and THAT had me blubbering. I'll try to get more information during lunch.

It's all posted, though not on an exact schedule, as I lost track of which days I scheduled and it's too late to change them. But I can say for sure that it is 6 chapters long. No real mention of humans in this story, but I was greatly amused picturing this! 😂

Beneath the dark waters of the Sein channel, my heart raced in my chest, a symphony of fear reverberating in my webbed ears as I forced myself through the thick reeds. I plunged downwards, my hands trembling as I frantically dug my tail into the sand. As the mounds of sand rose, forming protective walls on either side of my rainbow-hued scales, I hunched over them, shielding my bright colors as best as I could. I cursed inwardly, the vibrant hues that made me stand out, a beacon in the darkness,

Peter and Griffin meet at the edge of their communities and become fast friends. They yearn to meet in the middle and live a new life together. But their own people are a much bigger barrier to their love than the massive brackish water path that physically separates them. [BL, mermen]

What is worse is waiting for news and reaching out to everyone with not so much as a text back. It's both anxiety-inducing and stoking my anger, because whenever anything happened, I was the one giving everyone the information. But you know how it is, it's pointless to hold others to your personal standards.

Status Update: My friends, I am sad. I received news that my grandma is in the ICU. I have yet to find out any cohesive details, as the family members that were there relayed mixed information. But it sounds like she might not make it out of this one, and I am too far away to go see her in person. My heart hurts.

It is indeed all about moderation. I am SO glad you came out on the other side of that! We'd had never gotten to chat otherwise, and all my conversations with you are the highlights of my days.

As someone who is ruled by the slightest changes of hormones, I have mixed feelings about any kind of substance abuse. But then again, I also have mixed feelings about certain prescribed medications. It's in exerting all of your time and effort into trying to control yourself, bottling it all up instead of addressing it in that very moment that ages us faster, isn't it? When you drink, you lose those inhibitions and aren't constantly trying to check yourself and your behavior no matter how pleasant or atrocious your behavior may be. That's just my theory on how some alcoholics live longer than expected.

You say it's plenty of time, but to very slow writers...😂 either way, my new concern is "make sure this is under 25k words." And thank you!

Is there a deadline yet?

Blast! Just when I was getting started, I realized I had to leave in 10 minutes. Before I forget, one of my first thoughts was ‘Sanchez potteries and ceramics’ - As common as Sanchez is as a surname, it reminds me of this one time that my dad's family name was plastered on a van in Puerto Rico and I think they were plumbers. 🤣 Just a fun thought that if I had been born to that branch of the family, I'd have known more about plumbing. I'll be back to finish reading after getting home!

I apologize if someone already posted this one within the last couple of years. *drops the ear worm and scampers away*

Over the top my butt, @Headstall!

Though it also feels like cheating, one thing that came to mind other than what @kbois wonderfully suggested, are handwritten notes. 👀 I was a teenager once and I remember playing messenger passing notes from girls to boys, or girls to other girls, and so on. When writing from one friend to another (or anything intimate between couples), so much can be read between the lines. It's why there is a collective panic whenever someone intercepts those notes, especially anything incriminating like calling an ex a fusion of a magical girl and their scent of choice "Sailor Spice."

Well, that anthology sounds like it's right up my alley. 🤣

Same to you and yours! 🥰

Status Update: Just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays and many good things to eat! 🥰 My boss baked us salted chocolate chip cookies and tangy lemon raspberry cookies. I am so easily bribed by food. 🤣

On the note of passing the torch, there isn't anything wrong with that (published authors sometimes like to shake things up by having chapters led by other character other than the main one, and it still works if the information is pertinent to the main character or affects them in some way). You just run the risk of snapping the reader out of the immersion. I learned that the hard way with one of my older stories, just how close readers can be to the main character. In my case I also realized that it felt like I changed the genre and tone of the story towards the end, which is even more jolting to readers (to me it didn't feel like the genre and tone changed at all because it was all planned ahead of time, but I didn't convey it well, and that's something I personally am still working on...it's like when milk used to come in cartons and you had to shake it because it wasn't homogenized? I didn't shake the carton well enough with the genre and tone to make it feel like one cohesive thing the whole way through).

EK, I wanted to clear something up. That wasn't criticism, merely reactions and my personal opinions. Always take anything anyone says with a grain of salt. If you feel like polishing this story up at some point, you totally can. I've done it in the past with my oldest story. I gave you my opinions and some of the methods I use to see what you choose to use for your next project (you don't have to use any of it if you don't want to). Remember, you already have me beat by finishing a story of this genre. (I am still haunted by the crime one I have to eventually finish. So much research.) What I try to do is really figure out what the most important parts of a chapter is and try to make sure it is illustrated well with a decent limelight, something I usually do with my comic pages. The trick with mysteries, though, is not withholding information, but hiding it in plain sight or in pieces to make readers try to piece it together themselves. What I like about what you did with this one is that the information you gave from one chapter to the other was gradual and in increments (at least for me who read it in one sitting). The pacing was great, as well, the action slowed when it needed to slow and picked up when it needed to pick up. Anything I haven't talked about or mentioned is top notch to me: characterizations, descriptions of locations, the plot itself, the ease and flow of reading...

“Michael will be with you shortly. May I bring you a cold coke, sir?" es, please.” - Feeding the addiction. He shook his head. “Somehow, I was too nervous to get anything done today. My boss had pity on me and prepared this for us.” - Aww. He was nervous. “Once, she asked my date whether he was top, bottom, or versatile.” - What if he's all three? "I know one is not supposed to talk about that on a date, especially the first one, but you’ve told me that you had four relationships that didn’t work out. Tell me more about that.”“Oh Mike. That’s so Germanic. Straight to the point no matter the costs.” - True, true. Had I known about the police rumor mill before joining, I’d have chosen to apply to a different police force than the one in which my dad was a response shift sergeant. - Ooooh. That sucks. My then-lover had only been after popping my cherry. - That jerk! One night when I was out on patrol, I saw him outside a nightclub passionately snogging another guy. - That jerk! The long distance thing didn’t work out. I’d put a lot into our relationship, more than he was willing to invest. - Well, at least this one was sort of reasonable. Brian shaped me to become a manifestation of Leon Scott Kennedy, the main character of his favourite game, the remake of Resident Evil 4. - Oh, the otaku asshole. Forgot about him. Giving gamers a bad name. This has nothing to do with what you’ve told me, I would’ve asked this anyway, but would you object to testing together with me for any STDs? - Mike's thinking ahead. “You’re silly,” he giggled while trying to take off his jacket.“I’m something else right now.” - 👀He sure is. “Please, let me hold you a little while longer.” He smiled and did. - Told you he was a keeper!