empath

Elisha has struggled mightily and unsuccessfully for years to make peace with his faith and his flesh. It’s a battle Marcus knows all too well. When they are brought together unexpectedly by a mutual four-legged friend, each sees something of themselves in the other which leaves them both uncertain and unsettled on a day destined to impact many lives forever.

Hi, welcome! 🤣

Hey Ken! Welcome! The heart emoji was an attempt to send love from MN. I hope you find community and belonging here as I have! You are not alone!

Apologies for not reading the post again more carefully and making you repeat yourself, but thank you!

I am not done and won’t be sending on Monday. Is there a word count limit @Valkyrie, either for entries or for single chapters in the system? This short might turn into a full-blown novella. lol

I have a title, characters, and a plot. My writing brain has been hijacked of late, but I’m moved by the story bouncing around my head. We’ll see if I can do it justice before the deadline.

I said the right words; And believed the lies you told. It almost killed me. If you only knew, My thoughts, my hopes, my desires. I’d be known, but loved? Existence is sin, When a person breaks the mold. Unacceptable. To be who I am, To live a life of meaning, I must be honest. It’s not hate to speak - To divide and isolate? Othering in love. Cut out what offends. Diversity is evil.

What a nice and positive break in the stream of otherwise distressing and depressing updates in my email this morning. ❤️

Beautifully written! And then the adoption talk! ❤️

Good to hear from you @Cane23, @drsawzall, @Summerabbacat, and @Paladin! An image is starting to image as the threads weave together, but it is incomplete. Many questions remain, even for me.

The conversation in the comments certainly helped the author cope!

Perhaps, this is true all the time. Seeing, even solving, the problems of others is simpler than our own. The brain is wired to create habits and interpret the world through the formative experiences we have before we can understand them objectively. Recognizing the limits and lies and re-wiring our inherited biases and beliefs is often beyond hard, requiring bravery and often outside help. That young man is fortunate to have someone outside his family that cares about and for him. As he matures, your influence will make a huge difference in his ability to see and pursue ideas and opportunities he might never discover otherwise. I certainly have benefitted from chosen family in that way. Just knowing that he is wanted and not alone will make a huge difference in his life, and like Roger with Thomas, you benefit immensely as well.

I appreciate your comment. Doing justice to the victims without traumatizing the reader (too much) is important to me. It isn’t a light read, as you say, but I hope it offers hope in an honest account of the horrors exploited children endure.

Welcome back @Gary L!

Nice to hear from you @andy cannon! There are so many minds to explore! Your takeaway is profound @CincyKris - each is dealing with life altering events and the resulting questions and doubt. @Anton_Cloche, @Mattyboy, I keep asking myself: “What will Angelica do now?” Will she turn to her new friends, of keep things in the family as she has been trained. And yes, what about Henry?! Angelica wasn’t the only cliffhanger. How will Lawon and Chantel react to Teyshawn’s confession? @HARRYWALTER, I’m working on Chapter 11. More soonish!

“And now ‘Lil Willie is dead, son.” Manny Corelli had been interrogating members of the 624 for hours and had yet to find anyone willing to tell him what happened either inside or out of the mid-rise residential tower earlier in the day. Fortunately, he thought, the department paid him by the hour rather than per confession. “I ain’t yo’ son, foo.” “Apologies, and you’re right. If you were, I’d be calling you a sciocco, and telling you to think real hard about what you want out of

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! Writing is my current rebellion, a platform to explore and diverge from the generational expectations of race, nationality, gender, and religion. This story hits on many of the cultural wounds now rupturing and festering in America as well as many other places across the globe - a dysphoria felt, in some way, by almost everyone, fueled by racism, elitism, toxic patriarchy/misogyny, extreme ethnocentrism, homophobia, violence, lust for power, and financial greed. It’s painfully timely, in my opinion, and hard to write about as it feels like an extension of the daily news stories I find so upsetting. Chapter 10 is drafted, despite all that, and off for the first round of editing. I’m jumping into 11 today… Can comments contain cliffhangers?

Your gif game is strong @Calvin! Lol

I spent the morning re-reading the published chapters of Face Value and refreshing my notes. This short interlude was mostly written before my unplanned sabbatical, and I am now off on and running on the next chapters. It may take a bit to get back into the swing of things, but there are characters like Lawon trapped in a cold Chicago January begging to step out into 1997 to find their stories. More on the way soon!

Sounder By Lawon Jones My big bro loves Sounder, by William H. Armstrong. I tried to read it, ’cause he said I should. I didn’t understand it, and I hated it even tho I just read a little of it. I decided I wasn’t gonna read it or write about it. But I finally did because my bro almost got killed and I needed to stop thinkin’ ‘bout it and how scared it made me. So Sounder. The name of the book is the dog’s name. He big with a big bark, but the story ain’t even really 'bout th

Love God, love others - The foremost of commandments; Your Gospel of grace. Be perfect like God; Pray harder to be set free. Yet that is no cure. Attracted to men; A lover of all mankind. I am simply me. Monster, Faggot, Creep: Labels hurled by the godly. Does love beget hate? Proud, Christian ideals; They divide, condemn, and kill. In the name of Love. "You

@Anton_Cloche, et al, It is summer in Minnesota. I should have known better than to start a long form story just as our long hibernation was coming to an end. I apologize for the break in the action as I work on my tan as well as my physical and mental health! Life and my mind will slow down and the story will continue. There are several characters in limbo and plot lines in need of resolution! I feel it. Thank you for your patience!

Thank you for reading @MastaMak! I wish the darker aspects of the story weren’t as believable.

Just a check in. I have been working on a few side projects and myself the past week and a half. Don’t worry, I’m coming back to this story soon! Promise! ❤️

A unique twist on the dirty endoscope plot. I like it.