Graeme

There's always hope for a sequel. As I said above, this is one of the stories where I would like to write about what happens next, but I don't have a firm enough idea of the direction the story would head to start. I learnt early on that I need to have that direction if I'm going to complete a story, and so I won't start writing until I do. During that hiatus, I tried writing, but things just didn't work. I wasn't happy with what I wrote, or I just couldn't come up with ideas. The kickstarter was when I had the ideas for Life After Death and My Roommate's Gay. The first was inspired by the movie Ghost (I had been going on a buying spree of old movies) and the second was inspired by all the online gay fiction I had been reading because I wasn't writing. After that came my Leopards series, which was inspired by an openly gay footballer who plays not too far away from where I live, and also by an old newspaper article by an ex-AFL footballer that talked about the challenges that would await the first AFL player to come out of the closet. The two together formed the first story, and that naturally led onto the sequel. I'm still not overwhelmed with inspiration, but my major problem now is finding the time to write when I'm not tired or distracted.

I do what I call a semi-plot. I know where the story starts, where it finishes, and a few highlights along the way. Herding the characters from the start to the finish can be a fun challenge sometimes, especially when they refuse to do what I want them to do, but that's part of the fun of creation. What this approach does for me is that when I have options on what happens, the future direction can often narrow down those options. Sometimes, I have to drop some of my highlights along the way, or make alterations to what I had planned, but there's an overall direction to that I'm following. One example of having to drop something along the way is what I mentioned above in my reply to Tim. In The Rainy Day, I always knew Brat was gay, but it never made it into the story. It was an item that just didn't fit with how the story unfolded. That didn't stop it from influencing what happened, though. After all, there may be a second reason why Brat preferred Stephen to serve him at the greengrocer

This is one of a number of short stories for which I've considered a sequel or expanding it into a novella or novel. In this particular case, there's one aspect that didn't make it into the original story: Brat's gay. Why didn't it make it into the original story? Because his sexuality was of much lower importance to him than simply putting food on the table for his brother and sister, and then doing what he could to keep them together. Having said that, I'm still not sure if Stephen is gay, too... He is, however, an obviously decent guy and shouldn't have any problems if he ever discovers the truth about brat.

I agree no child should have to do what Brat has done, but sadly there are too many who have no choice It will take Brat time to let go and let someone else parent his siblings, but I'd like to think he could do it.

I think the application would've gone through. The bureaucracy isn't completely heartless. As the lady from the DHS said, they prefer to keep siblings together, but it's not always possible. If it becomes possible because someone asked explicitly for all three, then most of the time I believe it would happen.

As brat mentioned early in the story, Stephen has a reputation at school for being smart

GMT+1 will be 6am I'm currently in New Zealand which has just gone onto daylight saving, so it's GMT+13. It's just after 7am here, so I'll be back online when I return from work in a bit under 11 hours' time.

Happy Birthday, Steve!

The licensing laws were recently updated so the pubs can stay open all night, just for the rugby The hotel I'm staying at has a sports bar associated with it...

I'm currently doing a lot of work in New Zealand where, as you can imagine, there are a lot of rugby-mad followers. There's a big poster just outside the office where I'm working with the full schedule of the world cup, including the times of every game (including the ones that start at midnight, local time).

Congratulations! Being a parent can be a chore, but it can also be an absolutely wonderful experience I certainly wouldn't want to give it up.

Congratulations to Jarryd Hayne on his debut with the 49'ers Switching football codes isn't easy, but the Australian ex-rugby player seems to have successfully make the change.

I loved this story the first time I read it and I still love it with this re-read. I especially love how adorable Luke is when viewed from Worf's perspective. Well done and thank you for a wonderful start to my day.

Funny you should mentioned that because it was inspired by the character Frank Spencer from the British TV show Some Mothers Do Have'em. So, from point of view, there's already a TV show!

This is a great topic One word of caution: some authors don't like public criticisms. If you're going to point out a weakness, be careful. It's probably better to do it as a PM or email, rather than as a public review. If you know the author doesn't mind (a lot don't, including myself), then post away, but some authors are very sensitive to criticism and that should be taken into account. When I respond to reviews, I quite often don't address a lot of the points raised. That's because I don't like giving out spoilers or hints as to what's going to happen. I slip up from time to time, but as a general rule, I'll comment on background or points from previous chapters that may have been overlooked, but I try to avoid talking about futures except as generic speculation.

Thank you! I agree that no kid should have to do that, but for too many kids (and one is too many), it's a fact of life.

Wow! I didn't expect this. Thank you! As a small aside, the name of the story is a small joke. The theme of the anthology before this one was "The Rainy Day". C James joked that I had mixed up my anthologies

Thanks, Steve! I had a lot of fun writing the story, though there were a lot of challenges, too. It needed a lot of research, but I thoroughly enjoyed finding out some of what goes on behind-the-scenes in the AFL.

Thank you! As you've indicated, there's a lot that I can't respond to without giving away spoilers. However, I can clarify the situation with the draft and school. Because most of the kids who will be drafted are in their final year of secondary (high) school, the draft national four-day combine is deliberately timed to be during the break between school terms 3 and 4. That way the kids are not taken out of school for the testing. The one-day state combines are also timed to try to minimise the impact on schooling. In the case of the Victorian combine, it's on the last Saturday of the school holidays. The AFL then tries to have nothing to do with the kids until late November, after all of their school exams are finished. This is to allow the kids to concentrate on their studies and exams at a critical time for them. The results of their exams (conducted from early to mid November) determine if they are able to get into the university course they want. Since most of the kids in the draft will not be picked, it's considered important that they have the best possible chance at their exams. So the draft occurs after the end of the Year 12 school year (the earlier years tend to continue on into December before the school year ends, usually 1-3 weeks before Christmas, depending on whether it is a private or state-run school). In January, the universities send out their first round of offers to students. Students are allow to turn them down or defer. In the case of an AFL draftee, the club will often organise for the student to take their degree part-time. Just because they're an AFL player, that doesn't mean they can't also be a university student. Indeed, the AFL Players Association encourages their members to continue their studies, because for a number of those kids, their AFL careers will be over within four years. The university school year starts either late February or early March, so there's a big gap between the end of Year 12 and the start of university. The secondary (high) schools tend to start late January or early February.

Thank you! The grand final is, naturally, the highlight of the football season and it deserved to be treated as such. I don't think any other game has gone for much more than half a chapter, but it deserved it's own chapter...and a bit. I did try writing it as a single long chapter, but that was going to be too long which is why I chose to break it into two.

I don't have a date for when the next book will start posting, but I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that the next book starts on the day after the grand final.

Thank you! Yes, this book is done. I originally intended to write through to the draft, but while for most of the story I had a 10-12 buffer of chapters ready to post, by the time I finished writing this chapter I was down to only a handful. I already knew by that stage that I wasn't going to be able to keep posting weekly, so I decided to finish this book with the grand final and spend the next book on the lead-up to the draft. As for writing 24/7, I'd love to, but I'm doing so much travel for work that I'm not getting a lot of writing time. I often have the intention to write when I get back to my hotel at night, but I'm usually too tired. I'm a morning person and that's when I do most of my writing...if I'm not busy working instead.

Thank you! Yes, they've been through both highs and lows, but they've finished the season on a high, which I think was good. Even Dave is showing signs of thawing

Thank you! Book 3 is progressing slowly. Unfortunately, very slowly, but at least it's progressing Ty can't refuse to be drafted, but as has father said in a very early chapter, he doesn't have to try after being drafted. For example, he could just not show up, but that would mean goodbye to any potential AFL career. Of course, Jim might have something to say if he tried doing that...

Thanks, Tim! Patrick is concerned about the other teams becoming interested in Ty, but he's leaving that until later. However, Ty doesn't get a choice in which team he joins. As his father was told in a very early chapter, by nominating for the draft, he has already agreed to join any team that drafts him, no matter which team that is. Patrick's concern would be that the other teams learn that Ty's attitude problem from 2013 has gone, and telling Ty just might be enough to let that cat out of the bag. As for training, Ty's planning on supervising Deon, not running with him (he's got Dad to do that). He'll workout with Deon in the gym, but only on things that don't stress his knee.