Mancunian

Thank you, @Comicality for an interesting article. I can only speak for myself, others may have a different opinion. I've written a number of stories, most of which fall in the category of having idealistic happy endings, sorry but I'm that sort of guy. The few that I have written without happy endings have ended with the main character passing away. I have tried to write them in a way that readers can accept the outcome as an integral part of the story and not just because I wanted to kill someone off, I hope that I have succeeded in doing it in a sensitive way. I agree that if we are writing about real life, or at least our fictional version of it, we have to understand that not everything about life is a bed of roses. I find that uplifting stories and happy endings are often easier to write, they are generally more popular with readers, and stories with unhappy endings or content about the grittier aspects of life are more challenging to write. What I question is, should we always write about the bad aspects of life with empathy or delicacy? Are there ever instances where we should write these aspects of a story in a surprising or even shocking way? Sometimes real life is surprising and shocking, there is no escape from that, we can't always sugarcoat the truth.

You make some good points in your post, which could be important to some authors, especially if an author is writing to have his/her/they work put into print by a print house. The numbers are small compared to a global readership potential if they were printed in book form and published. They are also small compared to the global readership potential for those who read online. However, when taken in context to the size of the GA community some of the readership figures are phenomenal. This brings me to my point in reply to your post. GA is not a publishing house it is a community. Authors post here for many varied reasons and are not necessarily concerned about having their work published. Some may have designs on becoming professional authors, using the GA community as a testing ground for their work. If that is the case I say good luck to them, I hope GA has been useful and helped them achieve their goal. However, I think that most of us are amateurs who enjoy writing for pleasure, although I could be wrong. Not all of us are interested in winning the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. I can only speak for myself some authors will agree with me, others will not. I write for my own pleasure, it is something that I have come to enjoy, I do not write for profit or commercial gain. I also find pleasure in sharing the stories that I write and enjoy reading the stories written by others who wish to share, for some of us, it has a therapeutic value. I enjoy reading and leaving feedback on stories, the different opinions and points of view are interesting and sometimes enlightening, this interaction is part of the enjoyment and I value it. I'm not here to make mega-bucks, I'm here because I like and enjoy feeling like a part of the GA community. In reply to the above comment, I say this. The hours of work spent writing are a worthwhile investment in the GA community, the return is being part of a community that is accepting, the online friendships made and the non-judgemental support that many of us receive is a worthwhile return. I did a blog over a year ago about why I joined GA, and a number of members commented in reply. If you follow the link you can read why I, and other members, joined and remain on GA.

Enjoy your night out, fingers crossed 🤞 you don't have a hangover in the morning, lol

Good Morning Terry, or is it afternoon where you are

I enjoyed this story and I love the stories in the Ravello series, I haven't finished reading them yet, but I will.

Don't be hard on yourself, you wrote a good and intriguing story that many of us liked. You only need to read the comments and reviews to see that. I look forward to reading many more of your stories in the future.

I've started a new chapter and got to a point where this song popped into my mind, I've used as a thought for one of the characters. I couldn't resist it.

Aloha Albert, how goes it

Thank you to Cia and all of the Site Admin team for a great contest, I'm looking forward to many repeats in the future. A special thank you to all of the authors, and their teams, for the stories they have written. You all did an excellent job and provided us with high-quality reading. You made it easy for us to enjoy and very difficult to guess who wrote what. Thank you for sharing your talent.

There is always more to write, lol. Sometimes it's better in another story as a follow-up, but not always. What I'm writing was originally meant to be a short one-chapter story, but then it grew lol

Another chapter is complete, finally. This one took more than a few rewrites before I was happy with it. Now I wait to find out what my trusted friend and beta reader thinks 🤞

I wonder which is the operative word here 👆

I'm flattered that some readers thought I had written one or two of the stories. But as can be seen I did not enter a story into the contest, but maybe next time I will. I only said maybe 🤔

Congratulations @Libby Drew, you did a fantastic job with 14,000 Days of Virtue, the reviews are there to prove it.

Hiya B, now I feel like having a nap, I'm shattered.

Aloha Albert, things are good thanks. I've just got in from work and had a good and productive day, now it's time to relax with a cup of coffee while I polish off more muffins, I've only a few left.

I'm so glad that you attended the bench dedication, I believe it will help you to move on and live with your grief in a better way. While it may have been good if some of your other college friends had attended I can see that there was a benefit that they were not there. It gave you a chance to connect with Steve's family and talk about him to others who knew him well, your presence would have been comforting to them as it tells them that their son/brother has not been forgotten and that he made a good impression on those around him. By sharing memories that each of you had you have shared Steve's life with those that were important to him, and they have shared his life with you. This helps to give you all more good memories of Steve, these will help you all to come to terms with your grief. I think attending the scattering of his ashes will help you and his family even more, with the connection you have made you will be a comfort to each other, that is a good thing. Treasure the good memories, in time they will help you to let the grief go. I wish you well and I hope that your future is bright.

🤐🥸😎😶 Secret author is a secret until @Cia does the reveal.

The tension is still there, it's just changed slightly. Naturally, Bryan and Caleb want answers from Calvin, and Diego must realise this. Trying to stop the boys from meeting Calvin Diego will, unintentionally, make it worse making him as guilty as Bryan for creating the tension. I agree that allowing Calvin to see either, or both, of the boys, is likely to create problems, but at least they will have a better chance to deal with the problems better. Any meeting between Calvin and the boys needs to be supervised and done in as safe an environment as possible. What we still don't know is what Calvin's intentions are, but it is safe to assume that they are not good as Calvin is a selfish prick who only wants to use them for his own ends.

Joel is a youth discarded by parents that care more for their image than their son. This is a tale of the immediate aftermath of Joel being thrown out of the only home he has known. I'm hoping the author will continue Joel's story, and I hope it has a happy conclusion. A tear-jerking read that covers a lot of ground and emotions in a short story. I recommend that you read it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I haven't got a clue. All of the answers will be a surprise to me and I'm looking forward to finding out.

You mean you couldn't even manage to get a D! At least you admit to it I suppose. @clochette he really needs your help.

Tea Party at mine, all are invited. But I have heard from the travel agent that there was only one flight out of Texas with a seat left, apparently, it's been booked by Spikey lol.

Which do you prefer, blueberry or chocolate, or is your choice the same as mine, lol

As soon as you can, I don't know how long they will last.