Krista

There has to be a legitimate reason to do a sequel. Stories have first, Good characters. Second, good conflict/tension, plot, and/or reason for the characters to exist in the world that they do. If all of that is covered in the original, then you're asking a whole hell of a lot for a writer to continue in that world with those characters. As we have to create something 'else' to make the reading worthwhile, as well as the writing. Writers tend to love the characters they create, the plot or world they produce for the characters, and the conflict that drives them along. If we're asked to do it again, you may get more than you bargained. Authors for example... may get a little evil and kill off a character to end the sequel. They could break up a romance that was loved in a sequel. They could turn a seemingly good character into the next antagonist to overcome. Like I said, 'something' has to drive the sequels, otherwise you have more of the same. A story needs conflict and it needs resolution. If the story has naturally moved along and the characters have their end, sometimes it is good to let them keep it. I do not like sequels really. There are authors that can carry them along quite well, without a lot of emotional damage and carnage along the way. I am much more interested in reading stories based in the same world, but with different characters. Those types of ideas will always hold more water with me than an outright sequel.

Easy, Wildthing better be good at dodging projectiles... or he's eating a potato. I am reading endless parts of, "Learned to Lie," from the other Secret Author contest, because I cannot and never will be able to write a stand-alone short story that doesn't need 5+ more parts to make it a complete story. The super power I've always wanted was to control Plants, more akin to Poison Ivy and not that little girl from Encanto.

If I recall correctly, the two times you've given me distinct new chapter breaks caused cliffhangers. So, there's that. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I'm writing larger parts on my newest project, instead of 5k, they've all been around 12 - 14k, which has been a massive change for me. I don't know if I can keep that up or not. Walls of text with no breaks would be an insane read... migraine inducing. Chapters make things easier to theme out the story, so glad they're a part of this whole thing. There will be snack packages available. Be sure to buy them before I am able to run him down, he's kind of slippery.

sorry, I seem to have laxed on my duty of keeping sir cheeky in line.

I struggle with short stories. I once thought I was blunt and to the point. Not so many words or themes that wouldn't add a lot of length. Now I know that was never true and I fooled myself. I have plenty of failed Anthology stories that went well past the word count sitting in folders. I hardly ever finish them. I'm working on one now that should have been a short story and I am closing in on 7 parts and 70k. It would strain me and drive me insane, I think, to truly sit down and write a pure stand-alone, fully fledged short story with a defined beginning, middle, and end.

Congratulations!

I am 53k into the last Secret Author contest myself.

Fireworks had me in its corner until the last second of the film. Also, the mother/son dancing scene was completely cringe inducing. I had to skip it, as it kept getting worse. I think that was the point of the dance, as the mother character is a bit toxic, but the son initiated the dance and it was his behavior that made it weird. Maybe it was the age of the character and the combination of her toxic behavior as well. Either way, the scene was difficult to watch. Overall the film is nice, I liked it. And, I know the ending is loosely based or dedicated to a true event. But, the film itself is based on entirely fictional characters. The time period for this film also pointed towards the ending, but for every... ending like that, there were so many more that weren't. I felt if the film was going to dedicate something to a real life event, then the filmmaker should have done the research for it and evolved the film into a retelling, as close as they can get it. Instead, we were taken on a mostly enjoyable ride, until the latter half when it all goes to shit. I just think, the way that it was done in the most small and split-second way, it would have been a better film if it ended open and subdued, like it 'almost' did. Either way, it got me and the wildthing talking about it one night, so maybe that's the point of the ending other than the loose dedication that preceded the end credits.

Thank you everyone for your kind words about my little poem. I am not a poetry person at all. I do find myself writing for these poetry themes every now and then, but I have really only basic knowledge of the writing of them. When this theme was announced, she came back to my thoughts and I wrote it quickly, then I didn't look at it for a couple of days. I decided to post it, because at the time there weren't a lot of poems linked, but after I saw a lot more coming in I almost chickened out and asked for it to be removed. In the end I decided to keep it listed for the anthology. The comments here were nice, I haven't responded to them until now, because I honestly didn't know how to. She was important to me and I think of her often still. Posting was bittersweet for me, y'all uplifted me, the entire process, bringing her back the way that it did, that may have been too soon. Regardless, I am thankful and blessed you took the time to read my poem and review/comment.

I'm a canner, I garden, pickle, can, etc. So I've looked into spoiling vs. canning, vs. store bought canned goods with preservatives. It is a bit of an eyeopener when you really look into what you should look for, smell for, and even taste for when determining what is spoiled and what isn't. I do tend to toss canned goods that are over two years old, even if the seal is still firm. Nothing I've canned the past couple of years have ever made it past the first year and a half though, usually by the time I have enough garden stuff ready to can... I'm nearly empty of last year's stuff anyway. I am far more worried about vegetables, lettuce, and fruits. Especially in salad assortments, and that's within the sale by dates. Stuff like sour cream and mayonnaise makes me wrinkle my nose... but I still give it a few taste tests to make sure. If it is a food I don't like at all and won't eat it, if I see it expired I do toss it. I don't trust the husband and the brats to not food poison themselves. I do not refreeze leftovers, I know a lot of people that do, but I just think when something is heated/cooked, and frozen, then thawed and re-heated it loses a lot of flavor and texture. It is more of a.. space issue in my freezer, and the fact that my family just won't eat it due to the change in texture/taste. It is wasted effort for no rewarding outcome. I am also really considering dehydrators and freeze drying, although that can be expensive, I think it pays for itself in the long run. There's a lot of waste with gardening and if I had access to both, there would be a lot less waste. And freeze dried candies are damn good and lets be honest, that's the real reason I want one...

You were a Gift You came into my life like the new of Spring, Energy in endless tapping toes on hardwood. Easy to love from the start, all legs and chocolate brown eyes. Meanness that tried my patience, and goofiness that got you out of everything. You were a gift I didn’t know I needed. Summer found you grown, shining in the sun, a smile on your face. Playful still, your youthful spirit still holding you barely to the ground. You gave away your joy so free, and peace at

Written for the 2024 Poetry Anthology - Seasons

Thank you for reading! And thank you for sharing a little about yourself as well. I thought about the friend groups a lot. It is pretty rare, even in small towns for best friends to remain that way. But, I mirrored it with my own life. The first 10ish years, I've been able to cultivate and keep those relationships. Kids, marriages, and jobs that takes us farther apart took some of my closer friends away from me. It is a natural drifting, the pandemic didn't help. I still have 4 really close friends from high school. I think Jackson would easily retain Toby and Derek... and by extension Lily if Derek and her were to stay married. That's me projecting where I wanted to go though, but since it was a shorter time period.. where they likely were still being invited to things, going to one another's weddings, etc... they maintained relationships. The big hurdles of time and personal goals taking them away wouldn't be happening as fast, but may beginning to start as more of them graduate and start careers and families. Good time to finish the story though.. as drifting friends would not be a fun write for me. If I went that way, some people can remain friends easily, it isn't out of the norm either... but basing it on my experience, I would likely mirror it. Family just becomes more important and easily accessible as time passes... if there are connections there to begin with.

I forgot who Matt was there for a minute... lol. Woops. I was like:

Yeah, he was being a jerk. Although, the school has never helped Jackson, it isn't a school sanctioned sport. Probably a good thing as far as Jackson is concerned, because then they could have been more disciplinary with it whenever he did act up. This is the first time I think Jackson went well out of his way to be snarky since the beginning chapter. It was with Welker again and they have had 4 years of butting heads. Doesn't excuse the behavior any. and yeah, both of them were doing Prom preparations and it is the weekend. So unless Jackson told him at Prom, then I don't think Welker should have expected to know until later on... lol. I was a bit back and forth with how this scene was going to go, it may have been a bit overkill in hindsight, but I've always wanted Jackson to keep parts of what made him difficult to like. I don't think people change entirely, especially in the span of a few months. I see it in writing a lot, complete turns in characters, and I just find it awkward... I think these growing pain scenes are awkward, but they're more realistic.

This was one of the more difficult chapters for me to write. I think I DNF'd it twice. Thank you for reminding me by leaving a comment that it is also one of my favorite chapters in the whole of the story as well. I think this one solidified the rest of the story, coming out of the high of Prom, taking risks, learning more about one another. I liked Luke in this chapter a lot.

Yes, I remember people asking me if this was a Gay story, or a character who may question his sexuality and then eventually come to the conclusion that he was straight or bi-curious, but not curious enough to do anything. Either way, I feel you're far enough into the story to know where Jackson falls with that. I'm glad you didn't look at the ending, as I feel the ending is rather straight forward... I struggle with endings, but people have said that I've gotten a lot better at ending stories, so maybe with this one it's all a go. I also don't blame anyone for waiting for a story to be marked completed. Myself, I have put my readers through it with breaks, and long times between chapters. I hit a few bouts of writer's block and lacking motivation. Full time mom, full time job, full time everything else limits my time as well. It took me a really long time to get this out... admittedly, it is longer than some of the longer novels in print at the moment... and professionals struggle with that wordcount, I doubt it is ever as long as it has taken me to finish this story, but I'm far from a professional.. haha. I am glad you stuck with it, I have got notifications of your progress. I wish I could remember all parts of this story so that I know where you're at and what you're about to wade into. I also agree about films and books that may go 70% in one direction, and are advertised as an LGBT Drama and they don't go the rest of the way. Or, what is there is in a span of two or so scenes. It's okay if done well, but most usually it isn't. There's one director that likes to do that and I have fallen for it a few times.

I won't talk you down from that curiosity. Although, I think at this stage of the story most people were wondering where the hell I was going with it. lol. I remember a few PM's asking me when I was going to make it a "gay story..." Seven chapters in though.. yikes, the chapter numbers left may seem a bit daunting as there are so many. Unlike the ones that read this as I was posting it, you don't have to wait... the chapters are there waiting for better or worse. If you do end up taking a sneaky look at the end, I hope you come back for the journey of it too. If not, at least we had chapter 7 together.. haha.

I admit I went a little overboard in these "prom" chapters. But I hadn't written one yet, and this was the best opportunity to do so. Maybe it shouldn't have taken 2 - 3 chapters for it to all wrap up, but... I'm not ashamed that it did, lol. And yeah, Cindy overstepped. Olivia's parents either didn't know, or allowed their daughter to go out in that dress. Although, Luke was also surprised at how much she had it altered. Either way, the school was okay with it and she was there acting as a staff-chaperone, so she needed to keep those opinions at the door... but of course she didn't. I went to four proms... the first one was scary as I was the youngest one there by far. The second one was boring, as I didn't have anyone but my date and his friends to really talk to, aside from older teammates from the various sports I played.. lol. My Junior and Senior proms were a lot more fun.

Yeah, Tony has a small and selective team to work with. I worried that Jackson may have improved too much, but since I already depicted him doing well last Districts with just 'raw' talent, I thought the new training from Emily/Tony should have boosted. With the better mindset he had anyway, I could see that drastic of a change making him regress a bit, but I would have had to make Jackson a bit... awful for him to regress, I think. Yeah, I don't think Tony would have held anything back, as he has nothing to lose with Cindy. She isn't a sponsoring parent, she doesn't have a kid on the team. And, he'd feel protective of Jackson as a swimmer that needs a cool and collected head. So, yeah, Cindy would have definitely met her match with him, possibly.

Wouldn't we all like to be the flies on those walls overhearing those conversations. Too bad they all happened whilst Jackson was away at college. Henry, the pastor, and Luke probably had their wits ends tested. I was on the fence about having her react at all, aside from her being there in the flesh. I didn't want her 'not' to be there. I wanted some progress, I just didn't know if there was too much, or too little. I rewrote her statements to Jackson, I think over four times... this one was the.. more distant one. I like to think that maybe her and Jackson can get to the... normal mother-in-law stereotype instead of being half-ass afraid of her. Or maybe being half-ass afraid of mother-in-laws is the most organic and I should have just doubled down and made it so, but in this case it is because Cindy never truly warmed to him or the relationship.

I loved the prank chapter scenes. And I found out Mustangs aren't the best for all that sex stuff in the writing of the scene.. lol.. they're a bit small for the occasion.

🙈 Definitely didn't get that far into the show. Lol. Oh well, I will continue to miss out.