Krista

Smacking around the QB successfully might get him left alone, sure. If that fails, then I don't think he'd be able to stay there either. Very risk. vs. reward. I think everyone involved loses in that scenario, most of all Joel. Being homeschooled by Celia might not be a pretty picture, she'll probably demand more from him than his teachers. He does need to better establish what he actually wants. Right now, he's being pulled by so many thoughts, directions. I'm not surprised he's not sleeping. and sigh.. Roy. Those brown eyes.

Ohhh.. maybe he'll stop being a prickly butthead. Davin doesn't seem to mind for now.

Opens document: Learned to Lie 19.1 (which I can't even remember where that falls in numerical form here at this rate, 26.1? 25.1?) Scrolls to the bottom where I left off: Colt, buzzed and teetering on a loose pile of rocks along the gentle flowing water of the river... --- if that's all it takes, consider that guaranteed. The boy's about to get soo wet, and clothe-clingy.. and jeans sagging to the top of his rounded butt cheeks. (I didn't ruin that with the use of the words butt cheeks did I)? And yes, I agree. I think that's the very lesson he does need to learn. And he needs to realize that he's living that life now and it perfectly okay to let go of the fear and guilt and welcome it. When he realizes that, he does need to get out of his own way. He needs to give himself a talking to. People have talked to him about this a few times. Maybe it will sink in. Hold right on now. Baseball is nowhere near the top of the list of boring sports if Golf is just above it. I mean, the only time pole vaulting caused a stir is when that one dude's dick cost him a medal, but it really bounced in slow-motion, didn't it? I do know the dude you're talking about, but I'd have to look up the spelling of his last name and I'm not going to. The only way I'd go see a theatrical release about baseball is if the title was: Jockstraps. And it was a musical, because curiosity would get the better of me.

Yeah, you don't disrupt Football season before the first kickoff. My goodness, I hope he calms down. And he did stand up for the entire table. Jaxton's anger might be more about what Lorianne did to him... spurned him, I'd guess. Davin and Rissa seem to think that's the reason. And, him wanting the "new kids" to know where they fell in his eyes anyway. It was a surprise for Jaxton when Joel did react that way. People saw him do it too.

Our boy could be a hopeless wreck of a lost cause. Jeremiah is also secretly rebel hot with his tattoos, scowls, and I'm not going to put up with bullshit whole snack, and Joel has barely noticed. I don't know why I put in so much effort if he's not going to appreciate what I do for him. Jaxton, the new Jonny? Also, for TBY readers, Jaxton's name is entirely intentional. I didn't want it so on the nose and call him Jackson, but yeah. Imagine me writing Jackson to the level of jock-bully-shallow that I have so far with Jaxton. I did a little bit, but the POV saved him eventually.

I don't know what's happened... Just because Davin and Joel are in the kissy-sneaky phase. I may have to write a very wet Colt, with a see-through shirt scene and slide that in somewhere. Put him in a pair of tight fitted ass-showy jeans as well. Colt needs this. Otherwise all he's got is Sierra. And yes, the school names are confusing to me. I actually had to CTRL F and change them more than a couple of times. Tempton is located in Johnston County, which I hardly ever name outright. I just refer to it being Tempton, but it is actually Tempton High. His new school, Fletcher, is Fletcher County High School, which shares the name with the county. It is too much work for little effort I put into this nonsense. I have no idea why Tempton broke the mold and decided that it wasn't going to be named after the County it is located in. As far as we know it is the only High school in that county. But like you said, that's not the issue. Although I just spent more letters in making it so. I do think he's starting to see that, or he's not really connected the two dots, but he sees that the same issues Tempton has, Fletcher matches to the letter. Trace told him that he might need to think about not being so backed into a corner, that it may be the only way he can feel differently. Maybe he'll connect the dots to the advice and get ahead of all this and allow himself to finally fall into the place he actually wants to fall into.

Yeah, not having a firm foundation in a place where all of that matters would likely make a person feel outside that whole culture. You do see it playing out on college campuses as well. It goes well past High School shenanigans, at least for four more years. I didn't see it as much after I got my Bachelors and started my graduate programs. It was sort of laughed at during my Doctorate programs and I was too busy to worry or fuss about school spirit. I wanted to be over and done with my education. But yes... it all seems so big in the moment, school pride and all that. Sometimes small towns, aside from a bowling alley and substances that leads to bad decisions, they don't have much else to do. Although, I don't find that a slight against small towns, I just see it as a difference. I'd not give up small town living. I moved my husband out of his little city, but he never really fit there anyway. And, I assure you that Joel's face is as smooth as an angel's, thank you very much. His hair is brown, with deeper auburn tones if he gets a lot of sun. You've turned on Colt, the boy can switch bodywashes! I can't believe this. Colt is supposed to be the blond, broody, periphery hot dude distraction. I'll scrub him up and slap a bow on his ass, if you want.

Ah. that just just seems too far-fetched and utopian, I would almost have to see it playing out in front of me.

I don't start out thinking I'm not allowing y'all to have nice things. It is just funny how it seems to always end up that way. I don't know what that says about me... I wouldn't read too much into it. 😇 Joel certainly seems to like Ag Science, doesn't he? I wouldn't call Rissa a friend, more like someone that's not pulled a shiv and chased him from the table yet. That may still be coming his way if he slips up... And one day maybe Joel can stop tripping over his own shoe-laces...

Thank you, although I find the scenes tedious to write... mostly because I've lived in these stories off and on since like 2004, it is nice to know that I'm still making them seem organic and authentic to experiences. Also, if I were into betting, I think there's no odds on that happening. You don't slight the king in his castle and get away with it, do you? Colt might be scared of rational talks with his parents. He knows them, so he knows how they operate. But yes, the sooner the better. It is a little cute that Joel is giving him his own advice back to him. Colt told Joel to tell Celia, because she would be the easier one. But, he hasn't told either of his parents his decision... because it is made, seemingly. The sooner he lets people know, the sooner things may change for him.

Yeah, the boy seems to be always going through a lot of emotions. When I read over this chapter, I knew that he was reading 'mean' so I understand the prickly comments. I mean, the boy can be a full on cactus. Rigid and prickly. I just hope there's still some faith in him softening to something more like a... I don't want to say kitten... something more manly than a wee little fluffball kitten. But something that is more flexible and doesn't sting the people that gets too close. Trace and Celia have shown him grace and patience, but that doesn't mean everyone will. Although the more prickly that Joel gets the more interested Colt seems to be in opening up to him and talking... so maybe I'm wrong. And yes, I do like the prickly comments for this chapter. They do fit him and they are 'different' slightly than the last two chapters... so are we seeing growth? Maybe... hopefully... yes? Baseball is important to him, so important that he's putting a lot of weight to that decision and a lot of emotion behind it. And yeah Mrs. Finch didn't just seemingly write this off as a new student new problem sort of thing. Still yet to be seen if she follows through on the Strike 1 threat Jaxton might have received though. He only has two more.

Yeah, he's seemingly switching from 'just' fear to, frustration and anger a bit. I wonder if there's a boiling point with him, or if he's going to let the steam out, because he might have kicked Jonny's ass on the creek... because Jonny is an ass that deserved it. Jaxton may be one too... but what he isn't is the town drug dealing drunk with no future, the fallout from that rash decision would be a lot different. So hopefully Joel will walk a little bit smarter in the coming days. Yeah, Davin still wants to talk Baseball, I'm sure he will... the twins don't like taking no for an answer it seems. Which for Joel, might be a good thing if he lets them keep talking.

With him driven by fear, people can put some weight on his problems. Tempton is a perfectly okay place for him to be, possibly. He didn't allow it, because he was unwilling to tell people about his sexuality, or have them know. Then his mother confirmed that for him. He may have found acceptance there, we'll never truly know with him making the decision to spare himself from that possibility. He was in the complete mindset to run to save himself 'only after' Trace talked him off the bride. So there was a lot of rapid fire thoughts and processing that happened, that I don't think he's recovered from yet. So yeah, the waffling between old and new continues, and his unwillingness to reach out for either one of them. I hope there's a shift starting in all of what you said and I responded with. If not, there's no growth for him left to make. But there's like 40k words left in the writing... lol. Increasing mind you, because now I have a chapter titled 19.1 which makes no sense to you guys, but perfect sense to me.

Also, my second favorite Disney villain.

Social cohesion? What the hell even is that? Small town tribalism, hmm... at its finest, I guess. There seems to be some hard lines drawn in the sand with some of them. A lot of schools have adopted a zero tolerance platform for bullying. It is a lot more difficult to get control over though, with social media giving such easy access and a screen and a bit of anonymity to hide behind. He is prickly with the wrong people right now. He has softened with Colt a bit, but to be fair Colt does pick at him some so some of that is just retaliation. But it is good to see that Colt is taking the time to pick at him and not ignore him with mostly indifference.

It might be a little late by social media standards? They waited for like half of a whole second day? And, I think Gavin had already started. I don't think he was the one that started the whole mess, not intentionally, but who knows. Rest assured I didn't write it that way, I couldn't do that to Gavin. It would be yikes for Joel to break the QB's arm in a fight. I don't think Fletcher would keep a kid that's two days in and already being this much of a concern. Hopefully Joel can smooth out those thoughts before he messes more stuff up. But also, if he were to take over and lead them to a District championship... Seven is late when you wake up around 6am. Or during a hunting season when your husband lets his damn alarm go off twice at 4:30 after you stayed up clucking and editing and writing with a certain Wildman until after midnight. I didn't know who I was wanting to murder this morning, but I hope one of the two felt something tingling in their bones that made them look over their shoulder.

Oh no... this is the first time you've posted one of these and I don't know how to respond when I go to search out a .gif. It is slightly terrifying.

After setting up my Chromebook, I couldn’t sleep. Instead, I stared at the ceiling as the hours slinked by, my heartrate ticking up then calming down as thoughts raced through my head. Davin being a hallway down annoyed me. I wasn’t done talking to him, but it never felt like we had the space to do any of that, not without making things weird. I wanted to tell him that my heart wasn’t with Fletcher, that it never could be. I spent three and a half years at Tempton High, but nearly eighteen in Jo

Oh gosh *hides eyes* I can't be here in the comments section until I've settled in and read the story. 😮 Dangerous! Also, "sports ball teams" I don't know if my mind should be in the gutter with the way it was worded, but it tripped right in there anyway.

17x1 would also be clever.

Yeah, I'll dodge that question, for now.

That's the POV of first. Unless the character tells your narrator what they're thinking, you just have to assume right along with the narrator based on underlying observations, evidences... until proven out. You have to think about Davin's nature, is he reliable, does he have hidden motives, etc. Joel isn't the most reliable narrator to be fair. He waffles a bit based on his fluctuating mindset. He thinks things in moments and then backtracks on those thoughts. I do want to write a character that goes either way and in doing so is also far more open to threesomes.

Woops, did I forget one? lol... because I didn't actively dodge one. Let me go back and look...

Learned to Lie wasn't my idea to begin with. It was an idea given to me by, @wildone. I think he was writing it for an anthology story. I got to read the portion of the writing. Then he lost motivation to continue it. So, I told him that I'd like to run with the idea, because I liked it. I changed a lot of the writing to fit my own personal tastes, but the beginning idea was his. The first chapter leaned heavily on that. It was also a bit of a seat of my pants decision to write it for the Secret Author contest. I knew I was rushing head-first into a deadline and a wordcount that would leave the idea a bit lacking with readers. It took some prodding and the completion of, "The Best Year," for me to start working on this story again. To answer your question. I do not outline my story from beginning to end. The most I do is character descriptions. I embed a few plot important aspects tied to those characters. For example for, "The Best Year," Jackson is a character study of someone who isn't serious, he is unapologetic, careless, and I wanted him to test the limits of readers on whether or not they found him worth reading, based on him not being likeable off the bat. I knew within the writing to make him end up being worthwhile that he would need to show growth. That's as far as I went with him though. I do plan out endings for some stories. I don't with others. I have an anxiety about ending stories. I never think I do it with the most conviction or in the best of spots. I knew how I wanted, "The Best Year," to end. I also knew how I wanted "Elias" to end. I did not know how I wanted "Ridley" to end, and most people would have much preferred that I continued that story a lot farther than I chose to. This story, I didn't not have a sought out and planned ending. I just knew the variables that I needed to work on before I could allow the ending to come. And it is absolutely true when I said that I didn't know going in who of the characters that I wished to write would be Joel's partner through all of this. I eliminated Colt at the beginning. I knew how I wanted to depict Colt, Davin, Gavin, Roy, Jonny, Lorianne, etc. I did not know who would be the best fit for Joel. Who I liked him with and who I thought readers would connect the best within the make-up of all of those dynamics. So, no it was not planned. I had a little * followed by 'Possible love interest' in their character descriptions and there were multiple names that had them. I knew Joel was going to remain with the Connley family though. That was the bigger plot aspect that should have read as obvious as soon a Trace met him on that bridge. I had to build tension in that decision, if it was too easy of one, then him being there wouldn't have landed. I knew that, but as far as him attending Tempton High, or Fletcher High, that was up in the air in the beginning. And since that idea was slightly up in the air, then his love interest naturally followed. Proximity is the best way to create chemistry with characters. If they never see one another, they can't form the chemistry. So, with that said, that eliminated anyone that I knew would be staying in Tempton. It also eliminated some characters completely, that never made my character sheet to begin with, truthfully. Anyone he meets after attending Fletcher hadn't been added to the character sheet either. ***To clarify - The decision for him to attend Fletcher came earlier in the writing. I want to say just after the fourth or fifth chapter. My mind was made up, but I allowed Joel's not to be. So, this very well could have been a bit of a different story, the constant being Joel and to a point the Connleys and Kepler twins. The ending is what I'm still struggling with. I'm being told by my brain that I need to work on it still. Or up to it better.

I'm guilty as charged about not deleting things after I've posted. I did it one time recently, somewhere, and it backfired and now I wished I left it for the person that needed to see it most. Prompted a mood change to uninvolved and everything. That mood didn't last long, it is one of my 'never going to change' faults. Again, guilty as charged. lol. Yeah, I did unintentionally belittle poor Davin. I mean I do write him with a little less care than I do Joel, so some of him is lost to the back of my mind and I let him fall where he does. Organically. So if he reads as you've pointed out, then I feel him a stronger character for it. I just didn't set out to make him that way down to the letter. His character sheet is actually almost mirrored to his Brother's in my character sheet descriptions. The rest came about through my mind at the moment. Which, I think happens with most writing. Putting flesh on a skeleton. Sooo.... Colt smelling like Sandalwood, does that change your mind on him a little bit? Or would you simply bathe him in the soaps you preferred. Thoroughly.