Jdonley75

If I had to chose one, it would be the one that brought me here in the first place. @sojourn has a couple other really good reads too if you're into more rural/western themes.

I've never given serious thought about turning it into a profitable skill. 🤔

It's a rarity for me to be so into a story that I read it all in one sitting. Much less laughing out loud enough to scare the cats away. I loved how you expertly melded the serious with the funny and made it all so real. This was a really terrific read and I'm glad I took the time to enjoy it. Great job.

I do kind of an equal amount of taking notes and outlining. I never do it at the beginning. When I start, I just start writing and then later on, when I need to start arranging all the images, ideas and scenes that have played out in my mind into a coherent story. The notes get changed and at some point, the outline gets thrown out because I came up with a better way to tell the story. Then another outline and some more notes. More changes, then rewrites and so on and so forth. But, those notes are the main thing that help make everything link together.

As tempting of an offer that may be, there would be a slight snag in the overall plan. I have no idea where he is. And I am perfectly fine with that. 😄

There are portions of this story that I was all too easily able to empathize with. It's takes a strong will to follow through to totally remove someone from your life. Trust. I'm well aware of what it requires. My ex is someone who's name is never said. I used to think about him every day. And now, I barely think about him and even that's with an indifferent shrug. He's gone and I'm glad he's gone. He never deserved me.

There's nothing wrong with having an outburst. Especially when it's obviously warranted. The internet can be such a great tool at times. It's a shame sometimes people forget that there's a real, living, breathing person on the other side.

I'm looking at mine now on the shelf. I got it signed by both of them at GenCon about twenty years ago. The one and only time I turned into a complete fanboy in front of a celebrity. Oh my gods, so embarrassing... I think I managed to utter out like two intelligent words. Sure, I could hang with Gary Gygax at a lunch no problem or talk politely with Marina Sirtis for a couple minutes. But, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman? Total blubbering idiot.

Someone should have read Dragons of a Fallen Sun...

I'm trying to remember who all died in that book that could spark that kind of outrage. If you're referring to Tanis's death, then, yeah, I remember that vividly because of how... senseless it seemed. His was more of an ignominious death in my opinion. And after that happened, it was awhile before I read any new books. But, good thing I did because the authors kind of got back control of the series later. But, now there are no more books that'll be coming out anymore.

Reading this reminded me of the DragonLance Chronicles trilogy. In the second book, one of the main characters (a knight) died defending his troops to give them a chance to survive and win the bigger war going on. To me, I knew he was going to die from reading the first book and when he did, I just went with it because I knew it was a part of the story. Later on, in the third book, another character died but his death was just the ending of a long, full life. For some reason, that's the death that always moved me to tears reading. And every time I've read those books again (which I've done frequently) I barely register the heroic sacrifice made fighting the forces of evil but I still get tears in my eyes when the old grumpy dwarf takes his last breath. I suppose he didn't have to die and I often wondered why they added it into the whole narrative until many years later when I came to own an annotated edition of the book. And the authors (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) explained it this way. Flint's death, unlike Sturm's, was not determined early. But by the time we came to this book, we wanted to show that someone who had lived a heroic life should be honored as much as one who had died a heroic death. - MW Most death in the world is quiet - which sometimes blankets the fact that it is the consistency of a person's life that brings meaning to our existence. Not everyone dies defending their country or saving children from burning buildings. Some of the greatest heroes I have ever known lived strong, supportive, and truly great lives in small communities. Their names may not have been heard beyond a hundred-mile radius, yet they are no less heroes. - THR Depending on the genre I would be writing, characters dying would happen when they need to happen to further the story along. All those points made are really good ones and I really dislike killing characters just for fun or for whatever reason George R. R. Martin cooks up every five minutes. If I ever decide to kill off a major character, it's to make a point about the importance of life and how it is lived. Minor characters are disposable though, when it comes to furthering a plot. I'll kill off those suckers without batting an eye. You always seem to post topics when they're on my mind. How do you do that??

Told you so. 😉 Congratulations on your newest story. I know how much effort you put into this and how important it was to you. You did great. Looking forward to the next one.

So cute and warm. It had a realness to it and the simple emotions that played out got me laughing then worried, then amused and finally touched by the simple story of their lives together.

Wow, that was an amazing story to read. She definitely has talent. If anyone else tells her otherwise, beat them with a frozen tuna.

Don't give in to the feeling of guilt when thinking about going to a new doctor. If you feel that you're not getting the necessary treatment or empathy from your current doctor, no one will think less of you for it. It's ok to feel scared or concerned about what you're going through. But don't be ashamed or feel like you're a failure. You're having a really rough patch right now but, with the proper care, you will get through this. We are always stronger than we think, even when the difficulties in front of us seem insurmountable. Get the help you know you need. Ignore anyone else's negativity and focus on you.

OMG, I lost count how many times I've had that happen. And it can get so depressing watching 1,500 words on a page that suddenly have to go because they were just bad.

Sometimes, I need to just get away from the world(s) I create and go back to something comfortable and familiar. I love reading a book repeatedly in much the same way we all love to watch a movie again and again. My go to books are my DragonLance series and I usually go straight to the Chronicles trilogy. It's an old favorite from when I was a teenager. It's adventure and magic and gods and good vs. evil and all that great fantasy stuff I enjoy all rolled into one. It lets my creative side take a little bit of a rest and let it replay a book I've read probably dozens of times by now. And when I'm done, I can move back to whatever it was my brain was fixated on before with a better ability to take the thoughts and feelings and put them into words that someone other than myself can understand. Great article as always.

Thanks. People tell me I'm pretty good with words.

Okay. Well... wow... I've sneezed at times when it's felt like a euphoric sense of release, especially if it was a sneeze I'd been chasing all day long (ever have one of those sneezes that almost gets there but then goes away and it frustrates you because you know you'd feel so much better if it would just go ahead and get out but it won't because it's playing hard to get? Yeah, like that.) I've sneezed at times and it's felt better than sex in some ways. I have never, in my life ever rearranged my internal organs from a sneeze. That in itself is going to be a great story over drinks from now until the end of your days. As for your depression and anxiety is concerned, hell yeah, go to war over that! Be a superhero and beat the crap out of it in your mind. Life isn't easy but that's a good thing because it teaches us over time to really appreciate the good things that happen to us. So, if you're gonna bleed, then bleed. If you're gonna get bruised up or take a couple hard falls, that's fine. But, no matter what, you get up ever single time and you show the universe you are a lot stronger than it thinks you are.

I've been working on my new story, which is kind of a prequel/sequel of my first story.

Hm..... I think, for a small moment in the middle there, I saw the first signs of some anger starting to form. Which is not only understandable, it's completely healthy. When we've been hurt, physically, mentally or emotionally, we eventually come to a point where we can look back at who hurt us and how... and we just get mad. I think it took me a year and a half before I got really really mad. I didn't fly into a rage or start ranting and raving. But what it did do was help when those moments the memories and the feelings would come back and threaten to send me into depression again. That's when the anger would override the tears. "Wait, no. I am not shedding another tear over this asshole. He didn't deserve years he had me in his life, he's not getting my time now that I'm free of him. Hell no. I am done with this." And that anger, while it's not (always) out loud, it serves as a buffer to protect you from feeling the pain and loss while remembering. Not saying I expect you to be doing that in the next four hours. But, if I'm right, I'd say you're further along than you think you are. Just my opinion. Hope you have a happy New Year.

Not me... One of my characters in something rather big I'm working on. To do that, I have to re-learn how to make a truly evil character that doesn't have just a simple plan but rather a layer of plots and plans that are laid out over decades. I don't want to tip it all off at once, so I need to re-learn how an immortal bloodsucker that has existed for centuries plots and plans their way towards their goals. So I've had to go back to my roots and read up on some old books and see if I can find some of my old notes from twenty years ago and see how I did it then so I can do it again today.

Very nice. I'm not a poet but I enjoy reading it from time to time. I've spent the last couple hours on here, reading up on how to be evil again so I can write a good plot for a project I have my sights set on, putting some work on another story and thinking to myself how Andrew Luck could be a pretty sexy furry boy given the chance...

Only 6? Yeah, I know that feeling. Intend to write only 12 or 13 chapters and end up with 26. I'm still working on chapter 5 of my new one myself...

Admittedly, I did use the word "ancient." But, I made up for it by saying @Kitt probably looked cute in her bell-bottoms as well.