Jeff Burton

Gary you keep doing everything you've done. Sometimes things change in the story due to valuable feedback.

So do I man, so do I. 😂

I don't generally write many blog posts, I never really have. I used to keep a journal in my teens and honestly I wish I still had them to fall back on to see how my thought processes have changed over the years. Have I gotten better, have I gotten worse. I joined GA back in 2006, because I was friends with someone who is now considered a Classic Author, but never really posted anything. I was brought back again in 2011, 2012 but still didn't post anything. I came back this time because I started rereading some old stuff, and sent an email to @Comicality, we knew of each other back in the day because I used to run an IRC network that hosted his Shack Outback Chat for a bit before life sunk it's hooks into me and dragged me down other paths. And he of course wrote back. If you have never taken the opportunity to email him you should. He replies with veracity, and attention focused only on you. The reason I wrote him was of course for a couple of his stories that I had first found on nifty back in the day in the late 90's and writing was something he had never stopped doing, which I'm thankful for because I wouldn't be here or writing this if he hadn't. I won't go into details of what we bounced back and forth but he did suggest I come back here and try to write so I did. With the help of Cia, (thank you by the way for all of your patient responses to my DM's), I managed to get a couple of items through the moderation queue and here we are. I started with 'Salvaging the Road to Redemption,' which I started back in 2006 but never got passed Chapter 2. Then started to write Jacob's Advocate, which I'm still blown away at the responses from, even with it's literary mistakes, sins and crimes, (I promise I'll go back and fix those.), and now Life in Suspension, which is different in tone than the other two is still ranking on it's own with the other two. I can't even begin to explain how the reactions to what I've written have helped change me in the last few weeks. It was my own self doubt in myself that kept me from posting things throughout the years, and I'm sure it's happened to many others, and maybe happening to people reading this now. But thanks to a leap of faith in an email, and over coming my own doubts here I am. I'm a work in progress, much like the stories and characters posted on this site. I'm damaged, imperfect, and trying to find my place, like so many others. and that's okay. I think I've finally found the outlet, the safety valve for all the pressures over the last few years and I just wanted to thank everyone involved including myself for making it happen. If you're an author, keep writing. Your words have the ability to change the world, one person at a time. ff you're a reader, keep reading because stories can help, feed, heal, and shape your mind and make you feel, and together through words maybe, just maybe we can help make the world a slightly better place. I can only get better in both myself, and my writing from here. Thank you.

That's amazing, because that's exactly what it's like. Especially Nathan in this story. He's almost as mad at me as he half is for Corey because he doesn't understand Corey's angle and I don't either and Corey is aggravating sometimes. Corey doesn't speak with much emotion in his dialogue, like it's guarded on purpose. Nate can't get a read and neither can I. That's why Nate calls him a lug-head because his answers are always short and to the point, without complexity, without emotion. And poor Nate, he's on the fence, he sees good because whether he admits it or not he's enjoyed some of these interactions but at the same time he's afraid of them. The anger has to be a protection mechanism. Like I said I don't know. I feel like I should think this is all crazy, but then you put that study in front of me and I get it.

That was said so eloquently, I actually blushed.

The voices in my head usually do a good job. ❤️

And unfortunately have nothing for today or rather tomorrow mornings normal post time. I spent the time reading my bad lmao. Something might get posted tomorrow night's post time dunno yet.

I just wanna clue everyone in i have no idea what the hell is going to happen in this story. I literally don't it's like a free writing exercise gone nuts, so buckle up I guess. 😂

Oh my poor characters, they all need therapy lmao.

I'm in agreement with @Mikiesboy, I always feel like I'm not using enough, and trust me when I say Comicality, your work drips with detail and I love reading it because of it. As authors we always find ourselves being a little self critical, and I'm learning that with the feedback I get from actually posting something maybe I'm not coming up short. Maybe I'm just different in my style of writing which seems to be a little more in your face and direct. I still feel like I could do more setting up an overall chapter or a scene without sounding cliché, and I'm working on that instead of dwelling on it. In the end we are all wonderfully diverse, beautiful people, with varying backgrounds and personality that feed into what we write and if we can produce a work that can change a point of view, or a thought, or just make people feel something, all for the better, that's what really matters, not how you did it.

Yeah Nathan's got some shields up at the moment, just gotta wait and see what Corey's resolve and intentions actually are and how those around them react to it all lol

@weinerdog That little bit of detail was put in there just for you. Also you may not realize this but sometimes your comments make me question things and they end up being explored in detail in later chapters 😂 So keep that up!

I woke up the next morning on what you could say was the ‘wrong side of the bed.’ I just felt off, like something was wrong and it made me mad. To top it off, I woke up a full hour before my alarm which even made it worse. I was already a grouchy person when I didn’t get enough sleep. Now add this off feeling and yeah, I could tell I wasn’t going to have a good day. Since I was already up I decided to just get ready for school, took a shower, dressed in a simple white tee with black jea

It took me a minute to go through all the comments, and honestly quite a few emails since this story is cross posted elsewhere. All of you are way too kind with your comments. As I said what I write tends to incorporate personal experiences and pains, that I've seen and felt, while others are just a leap of faith because I haven't experienced them at all. Please don't wonder which are which lol. But woven together, along with your feedback, especially your feedback is what really has shaped this story. There is some still to tell, Travis needs more. He actually started out as 'background friend #4', and grew on his own as I wrote him. I would love for Amanda and Jacob to become closer because I still feel like she doesn't totally trust him yet. She says she has but I know in the back of her mind she's still playing that guardian sister with Tyler, and she wasn't at the hospital the day after I think there's something with that too. Matt in my opinion has been the strongest one of them all. He's like the keystone, and the unofficial leader which is great because he's straight. When something needs to be done he's usually the one doing it and I want to explore that too. And then there is Jacob's estranged father, Gavin and the way he is. And why does Tyler always seem to spend the night at Jacob's house and not vise versa. There's still Jacob's recovery, the first date, hell the first time. I've only written such full graphic scenes once in my life and I'm told it was great, it was never posted and I blush like a prude when I try. Lastly, you have have noticed no one seems to care that anyone likes boys in this story, but I'm saving that for the authors note at the end of the last chapter when I actually lay on my final thoughts. This story will probably be the first thing I've ever written to completion and posted online. That is if the other two don't catch up and beat it. I appreciate to those of you who love this story and my other work. Yes my writing is filled with little mistakes, but it's built with good intentions kind of like the author. or as Ben said in Chapter 1 of Salvaging the Road to Redemption, "Tattered and worn. Just like the author." Again from the bottom of my heart, thank you. --Jeff

No I don't I should probably get one.

Doctor Gavin Casey reached for the badge on the retractable lanyard and swiped it, the light on the reader turned green as it always did as the badge retracted back to the left side of his chest, on the white coat he rarely wore. He pushed the door open allowing him admittance to the Doctor’s entrance to the Emergency Room. It was late in the evening when both his pager and phone went off at the same time, and the message had been short, ‘UH ER ASAP,’ these calls didn’t happen often b

You are correct. I saw it happen during a middle school football game in 2011 or 12. Complete with the helicopter. And yes, the guy is fine, but he never played football again.

Still thinking about turning this into a series, I've had a few more memorable trips I could probably write about.

Sorry guys lol. I would if I could, but I've worked out a schedule since I'm running 3 stories at once and posting chapters has daily limitations. I still gotta get Life in Suspension Chapter 2 out, and Salvaging the Road to Redemption Chapter 3 out as well. I've decided at 5am central (gmt -6) would be the best way to stagger these out, so that maybe eventually if I have too I can get 2 chapters a day posted if required if I have to stagger story releases. Basically posting at 5am and again around 2 or 3pm

I wouldn't do that to you guys. I wrote Chapter 6 and part of 7 as a larger chapter 6. I ended up splitting it since it seemed to flow better perspective wise.

Two songs actually. The first one - Massive Attack "Angel" I listened too on repeat for Chapter 6 of Jacob's Advocate. The second one Massive Attack "Paradise Circus" is what wrote Chapter 7 of the same story. Music tends to be a key element when i write, it helps push me into the right emotional head space the characters are in even when it hurts. I got quoted one year in my high school year book saying, "music is the doorway to the soul," and it's a thought that's stuck with me always.

I just finished Chapter 7. The aftermath of these kinds of things are difficult to deal with emotionally in the real world and they're just has hard in the written word. No spoilers, I just hope it moves everyone in how it moved me when I wrote it. I'll schedule it to be posted tomorrow morning. As always thank you for following me in this journey, and all the kind words. It's been worth the effort.

Yeah, I cried too.

The next day, I didn’t see much of Jacob except for second period, due to going to practice with Matt and Travis, but we had an exam so we didn’t get to talk. The way he looked at me though when we shared glances made me melt, honestly I was happy just to be in the same room as him. Jacob did however give me a heads up at the end of class he had news to share at lunch. The next couple of periods just screamed on in agony because he wasn’t there, and I was eager to hear this news. “Yo

Yeah I don't know what to think yet, but I eagerly await chapter 3 while I figure it out.