Cynus

Then they mixed with my own I shed while writing it, surely.

Thank you for commenting. I'm happy to see you here.

Thank you. This was extremely cathartic for me to write, though I can feel myself starting to slip back to my normal state of mourning already. Well, perhaps slightly above my normal state.

Thank you, Sammy. As always.

Gary wasn't paying much attention to the speaker at the front of the room, though he was sure his parents were. The speaker was an older gentleman preaching of the great sacrifice the missionaries would be making, and how their dedication would bless the families they would be leaving behind. Gary didn't care about all of that, and he felt he was ready to leave his family behind. As long as he wasn't surrounded by everyone who had told him how to think his whole life, he might get a chance t

That can't be the case though. The Souls series has a strong following, and with almost 20,000 members here, there has to be someone else who enjoys it.

I'm apparently out of likes, but I've loved every single thing that's been shared so far, so I'll come back when I have more available and make sure to like everything I haven't already. Here's something that isn't a quote, exactly, but it does inspire me. It helps me remember not to stereotype, and is funny at the same time.

Oak Shadows will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first of my stories that I legitimately fell in love with, and it's the second short story I'd ever written. As for their relationship, it was going to be outside the norm from the beginning, regardless of how it went in the future(Which is described in my story, Ashes of Fate). I didn't even try to normalize it, lol.

I don't know how I missed this review from way back in February! My apologies. These characters actually live on in my story Ashes of Fate that is found at Awesomedude.com.

I have felt loss this deeply, and it has an interesting way of motivating me to do things in my life. Thank you for sharing. I loved it.

It definitely counts. If it's inspiring or motivating, I say anything goes.

I like sharing quotes that inspire me and help motivate me to work on writing and other endeavors, and I thought you all might enjoy the same thing. I went looking for a forum topic on the subject but couldn't find one, so I figured I'd start one. I'm going to share two to start us off. First this iconic one from Ira Glass: “Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” And then my favorite Miyamoto Musashi quote, which I also use for my signature: “Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.” What quotes have inspired you in the past?

I thought of another one that bothers me a lot . . . "You wouldn't understand . . ."

Welcome, MasterJ. We're happy to have you, and I look forward to seeing your work. There are a lot a great writers here at GA, and you'll find many more stories to make you laugh, smile, and cry while you're here. And we do hope you'll be around for awhile. Peace, Samuel

Don't tell me I'm the only one excited for this game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sMc2bnRc0o

This topic sparked a new story for me. I was so driven to write it that I was able to post the first short chapter last night. Thanks for asking the question.

At the end of the day, it’s the silence that gets to me. It’s when I whisper into the darkness and realize that no one is going to respond. There is profound emptiness in that silence, reminding me of the cavernous expanse of my own soul. I try calling to him every now and then. I try calling to him, and the rest; all of those that I’ve lost. There is never a response, just an echoing of my own cry as it reverberates endlessly through the void of my memory. I cry at the top of my lungs, but

Autobiographical in nature, some chapters told through an attempt at a chiasmus. My thoughts and feelings on life, based upon my own experience. Reading chapters in order is unnecessary.

I was going through to see if there were any reviews I ever missed. Looks like this is the only one. Thanks, Dave!

Welcome to GA, AlanK.

Thanks for this. I have a nasty track record of forgetting to save, and this just reminded me that I'd written 1500 words and hadn't saved yet. My scariest word is actually the absence of them. The pause on the other end of the line, the lack of an email from someone you've been corresponding with regularly, or a person you care about walking away from you without answering an important question. Or the emptiness of the answering machine tone when you call someone who is no longer with you.

I hope that learning more about the Church won't scare you away from reading it, like it scared me away from attending it!

Oh, all four boys are based at least in part on myself, and then have pieces of all sorts of people I know. None of them are representatives of any one person, but I like to think they're all real in some ways. And since I can be both endearing and irritating, I can easily see how you'd get that impression.

My background with the church is quite extensive. I was born into it, and as such I had the opportunity to learn what it's like to grow up with this culture being thrown at you from every angle. In that aspect(And probably only that aspect) do I relate to Jason Hadley. I also know what it's like to leave the church and then come back as a know-it-all high school kid who has been knocked down a peg. So I relate to Luke Phillips. And I also know what it's like to experience the good things of the church, and to find peace in religion. This is why I relate to Chris Knight. And I definitely know what it feels like to be hiding who I am because of fear of familial disappointment. So I relate to Gary Dumont. This story is written from an extremely complex part of my history, and I hope that the complexity will be enough to propel the story forward.

My thoughts exactly. Unlike with my last story, this one isn't completed yet despite me posting already. I'm only a couple of chapters ahead, and I'm already surprising myself with some of the things the characters have done. With any luck, you will have as much fun with their antics as I have.