Wombat Bill

I could find a copy in the story, but I doubt that would help. You sound almost disappointed in Andy. There seems to be a lot of love in the room for Carol. See there's some good in everyone. I've actually never given her a family name. Carol is her given name. Any suggestions. Due to there being so many story lines already, Carol's backstory may need to wait. You are correct. See above re Carol's story. Yes 20s. Funny you should mention Alex, he comes back in chapter 16, along with James, the mothers and a whole new cast of characters and new story line, that will be a relief from the lockdown Shenanigans at Crystalline. Yes, purely a figment of your imagination. But food for thought, nonetheless. Let me assure you its not pure brainpower. I use multiple spreadsheets for characters' names, relationships, story lines and chapter order. Old accountants never die, they just retire and write about the life they with they had led. So of course they keep it all in a spreadsheet.

Yes, indeed, symptoms of being closeted for so many years. Yes, this is my favourite relationship in this book so far. So I didn't want to rush it. Whatever are you suggesting? I want a solid relationship for Thomas and Dante so don't go getting any naughty ideas.

No, this was a bit of self-indulgence. My partner (a Filipino) showed little interest in reading my story, so when he was about to take a trans-Pacific flight, I loaded my first story on to his phone for him to read in flight. Upon return when I asked what he thought of the story, his reply was as Romel's and no more since. @quttzik, maybe new evidence will show up, yet. @Summerabbacat, here is the one I had in mind. Almost a replica of my mother's, that I inherited, but since discarded. Clearly I did not know its true value.

Jonathan was in his office checking on messages and his commitments for the next week. He called Carol to bring him tea and settled back to read the minutes of the latest board meeting. Suddenly Lachlan burst through the door yelling “The bastard, he’s done nothing about those bloody blackberry bushes. They’re coming through the fence again and I can’t stop them from our side. I really need to get to the rhizomes and poison them” Finally he stopped for a breath and Jonathan said “What

When Jonathan asked Lachlan to invite Dante to another session in their bedroom, he got a rude shock. “Since when did I become your social secretary?” asked Lachlan. “I don’t understand, I just asked you to invite Dante.” “Yes, and I am always the one to invite people to our bedroom at your request.” “Are you jealous about having threesomes?” “It’s not that, though I do sometimes wonder. For now my problem is you treat me as a servant to do your bidding. If you want to i

When he was watching a news report about Australia’s SAS soldiers being accused of war crimes, it triggered an interest in SAS soldiers. He didn’t know much about them other than what was reported in the news or portrayed in movies. He did a little internet research and discovered how intense their training is, how they were sent on the most dangerous missions and how many had difficulty fitting back into civilian life after service. This inability to cope with life led some to taking their own

As the next chapter teaser points out, @ReaderPaul & @chris191070 Edward may be in trouble if he does not mend his ways. As a first time writer perhaps he sees it all as being just in his head. In his effort to get it the story on the screen, he is not thinking of the reaction or feelings of others. Yes @Summerabbacat, Peggy will make an occasional cameo. Alex and James will be regulars in this book from chapter 15 onwards, so that the story lives up to its name. They will each have their own story to tell and not merely be brothers. Dialogue - Let me tell you, when I started writing book 1, the first few chapters had no dialogue in the first draft. I wrote only as a narrator, because I felt I could not write dialogue, not being a great conversationalist myself. One day I tried and found it not too difficult. Now I find dialogue takes up more page space than narration. I also find it interesting to have the characters tell their own story and sometimes challenging to represent their emotions via dialogue rather than just say "Johnny was sad to hear the news" And by way of a prompt, where is @NimirRaj these days?

When schools closed, Julia and Hannah came to an arrangement. Julia would keep their law practice running and Hannah would stay at home to supervise James during on-line study. When it came to their children, after health, education was the mothers’ main concern for their sons. The plan worked well. With lockdown, the law office was slower and Julia could handle the load on her own. But, when necessary, Hannah could still meet virtually with her clients if they insisted. Otherwise Hannah d

Yes, it was explained in chapter 6, during their threesome. I could take this personally. Always the romantic @chris191070

Yes, Gramps "Death" does seem to be an ongoing subject that that won't go away, and still remains a mystery. Oh did I just hear Dante ask Lachlan, after their ride, howzat? If need be, someone else can explain it to our non-cricket-playing friends.

Is he really the seducer, or just a willing seducee (Like the other Bill who used to write, I reserve the right to invent words)

Thank you @ReaderPaul, the prompts have gone into my future ideas file.

No, there will be no shower scenes of the Dynasty or Psycho style.

Thomas was having trouble sleeping, so after tossing and turning for about an hour, he decided to get up and go for a walk in the garden. He went outside wearing just his shorts, but the night was just cool enough to feel the freshness of the night air tingle on his skin. He did one round of the rose garden, then sat in the wisteria pergola. It had been some time, over a year since he last lunched there with Virginia. He missed those days and now found his life really without purpose. He had no

When Lachlan was having difficulty digging out the roots of a long dead shrub, he asked Dante for help. He put the longest pinch rod they had into the roots and both men put their combined weight into prising out the roots. As they strained with every muscle in their bodies, they both looked at each other’s shirtless body and silently admired the musculature they saw in each other. They were just about to give up when suddenly the tap root gave way, the stump flew into the air and they went down

@Howzat, welcome to CWB "Live". At this stage I am publishing chapters Mon, Wed, Fri. so that I can keep ahead and not be writing to a deadline. Join the conversation by continuing to comment, as you are in good company here with a supportive and friendly group of regular readers.

Dante accepted Lachlan’s request to join he and Jonathan for a little after cognac experience. “Thank you for agreeing to join us” said Jonathan. “I hope it will be all my pleasure” replied Dante “I was a little surprised that a young man, such as yourself would be willing.” “If you’re referring to your age, then it means nothing to me. As my mum used to say to my mates, age is just a number.” “Mmm, I don’t think I’ll ask for an explanation about that.” “Now what do

The three flatmates shared a light breakfast on Christmas morning, during which Dean asked “Where are you going to spend the day, Thomas?” “I think we’ll have a session in the Jared’s studio this morning and then go over to Crystalline for the rest of the day.” A nervous Dean then asked “And when you say we, you mean....?” “Jared and me, of course.” “Oh that’s a relief. I thought you might mean....” “Oh no, I don’t need your help, now I’m with Jared.” “That’s good,

Craig came home from a night shift, just as Justin was preparing breakfast. “Good morning my love, you’re right on time. Coffee’s ready and I’ll put the eggs on as soon as you give me a big morning kiss” Craig gave Justin a peck on the lips, sat down and said “I really need coffee” “Apparently more than you need me” replied a disappointed Justin. “You call that a kiss?” “Sorry, I’m just a bit uneasy about the way some people at work are treating me” “What do you mean?”

Edward placed his fingers on the keyboard, centred the cursor, pressed caps lock and typed THE END. He then leaned back into his chair and stared at the page until he was interrupted by Romel. “How’s it going my love?” “Fine thanks.” As Romel approached Edward and looked over his shoulder he noticed the words on the screen and said “You’ve finished already? That was quick.” “No not quite, I’ve a bit more to do yet.” “Yes, I can see that.” “Anyway, what do you want, you k

We seem to have hit the right note so far, judging by your comments. . While it is true that @ReaderPaul does hold the title of resident soothsayer, this time it is one other among you who has predicted the future.

You may all have noticed that while we have had references to anal, oral, sounding, S&M, fisting, ball torture, piercing and maybe a few other perversions, even I have forgotten about, there has never been any reference to tattooing, and will not be, unless it is in a negative context. Bugger, I just revealed a bias.

When it became obvious to Jonathan that his ‘gardeners’ were spending less time pulling weeds and more time pulling each other, he declared that he was going to employ a professional gardener before the property went to rack and ruin. *** During lockdown, it was permissible to attend job interviews but travelling to work at Crystalline daily would be a problem, given that gardening was not considered an essential job. Jonathan arranged for the new gardener to live in. He would be assi

This varies according to the story. When I first started publishing CWB 1, I had both books 1 and 2 prewritten, but as two separate stories in a parallel time slot. The first book was about Craig and Justin and their friends, and of course there were minor characters. When I finished that, I then wrote about the minor characters such as Jared, Thomas and the Prices in parallel to the first book,but gave them starring roles. When I decided to publish on GA, I merged the two books with minor adjustments to make them dovetail together. BUT, as I published and got comments and questions I added chapters in a few places and the final two stories finished up being about 50% longer than the originals. Book 3, was all new story lines that I wrote about 15 chapters ahead. However, by publishing daily, I soon ran out of chapters to publish and had to take some time off to catch up. I don't like writing to a deadline so it is my aim to be ahead and if I get ideas from your comments I like to include them, where possible. The fires are a good example of that. But when I decided to include them in the story line I didn't realise how difficult that would be. Those chapters were the hardest to write. Not only because of the subject, but also because I had to put fictional characters into a real life situation. The events at Mallacoota are true and many of the quotes and text messages are from research. That brings me to now. I currently am 20 chapters ahead and want to stay that way, so I wont' be publishing daily. Probably two to three chapters a week depending on inspiration and the dreaded writers' block that occasionally happens. Hope this helps and please continue to ask questions.

Alfred Prentice, the owner of the Flinders street property that houses Poppy's etc. Yes, they'll all be back.