Wayne Gray

You're right. Those people made it clear that I was still welcome in their circle. So ... the next time I was invited to a party and my friend wasn't, I went. Then I told them to never bother inviting me to anything again if they can't invite us both. I left, and never got invited back. Suited me fine.

I have a few pagan friends, and I have always loved the idea of it. So much that Kevin and I incorporated a handfasting in our wedding. We made the cords we used in our ceremony, very similar words were used by our officiant, and everyone understood what was happening and the symbolism attached. It was sweet, meaningful, and I'll never forget it. Thanks for reading and commenting, Fae.

OMG! Dom Gray?! Noooooo .... no no no! You trying to get me in trouble?! 😮

Sleep well, Mike.

you have to take care of you first, molly.

The stuff I write is always in need of a lot of polish after. yours is different. It's almost ready, right away. you're methodical, purposeful, and every word has its place. I fly, but what I leave behind always needs work to shape into anything worthwhile. I have to write that way. The words don't stay long in my head, and if I miss the chance then they are gone. Different ... but we made it work.

Hehe. Good! They're past the assessment (by accident), and already signed to a contract for the whole season. So they're trusted to come up with worthwhile scripts without the oversite of the test/focus group. Though, Gail seems the type to make them rewrite an entire episode if she didn't like where something was headed. And you'd better be sure she's keeping tabs on these guys! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, Parker. 🙂

Yes ... absolutely. I did something similar when I wrote Guarded, and it's the only thing that saved me from giving that story away. I know I probably drove you crazy, tim ... all the notes, comments, bulleted outlines, etc, but my brain couldn't hold it all! Thanks for putting up with my methods. I know it wasn't your preferred way of getting the writing done, but you adjusted and mastered the process. It was so fun learning to work with you. 🙂

Whoa ... how'd this end up here? 😄 Thanks for whoever got this on the CSR's radar!

Yes! Haha. It’s so weird to intentionally be bad at something we take pride in doing. Cheesy, stale, snooze-inducing ... as proven by Frank and Ben falling asleep! That was the goal. From the sound of things, mission accomplished!

Exactly! Yes ... it's soapy all around. Thanks for commenting and reading, Mike. I hope you enjoy the rest of it!

Yes. And that's the idea. We both wanted to do something new, something that challenged us. This really did in a number of ways. I can't speak for tim, but for me the transitions back and forth between the soap and the "real world" scenes were hard. We had to do it in a way where the reader knew they were now immersed in the soap. I'm happy with how things turned out, but it was difficult to stitch it together in a way that was coherent. We'd get ideas for scenes, write it, then it'd sort of float in the body of the chapter until we could figure out a way to make it work. We had note after note at the end of chapters to remind us to do things, and to expand sections, etc. It really was a challenge, but I loved it. It was a wonderful process that really made me stretch.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, chris! Cozy is one way to describe how Ike and Devin were interacting. 😄 Just wait. Every chapter is a tiny twist on the Drama-meter, so there's more coming!

Get used to those. I mean ... we're writing a story about a soap. So ... 😉

"A fireman? Wow." Devin sat on the large sofa next to Ike. He sipped from his glass of red wine. "That’s kind of dangerous, isn’t it?" Ike stared at the waifish, handsome newcomer. "It can be, but we’re careful." Ben watched the pair and how Devin kept touching the big man. It was supposed to be innocent, but Ben knew better. His husband loved big, capable men and he never hid the fact. Every time we go somewhere! I need to start asking first. Oh, by the way, is your partner over six

Thank you, tim. That's the crux of it, really. You distilled the entire message down into half a sentence. "... each of us, is human and deserving of a decent life and love." There it is. The entire moral of the story. Thank you for reading, my friend.

Thank you, Tony. There's more for our guys down the line. 🙂

Thanks, Chris. I am happy to share this story here, and in a better state too. You know the next part, and we'll get to that soon. I want to get the first few chapters ready to go before I start posting it.

Thank you for the great comment, Philippe. Maybe you're right. Maybe it takes a broken piece to tell the story of the other broken pieces out there. The community has a long way to go toward acceptance of those not like itself. Perhaps it's the nature of the beast ... exclusion from mainstream builds a desire to fit in somewhere. And when that is found, people want to protect it ... even if that means becoming a microcosm of exclusion: becoming the thing they despised in the first place. I watched this happen to a really good friend when he seroconverted HIV+. Yes ... we have a long way to go. Thanks again for reading. I appreciate that.

Thanks, Larry. There are details that I needed to expand and add, and that happened for this version of the story. I had the chance to make it better than it was before, and I took it. Thorn helped immensely as well by sharpening the mechanical aspects to a fine point. I've learned my lesson about serial postings. I'll never begin another story without having finished it again. I've never failed to complete something I started to post, and I don't want to start.

Thanks, Jeffrey! There's more to come for our friends at the campground. It will be a bit of time, but it's coming.

Thanks for the nice comment, Drew. And ... it's funny that you mention Harlan. He shows up quite a bit in the continuation of this tale. I'll see what I can do about getting that one ready to go a bit sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading and commenting, Parker. I'm so happy that the story-lines resonated with readers. It's not the tightest story I've written in terms of plot ... but I want people to take something hopeful away with them.

Thanks, Dave. I feel as you do concerning the jump in quality thanks to the great editing work by Thorn. It really did help a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed the revision!

Thank you, molly. I'm happy that you've enjoyed them and their journeys. It was a wonderful thing to write, but more so to chat with people who read the work. A Silent Song will come later, but probably not for a few weeks. In the meantime, there's a Trainwreck to post.