Mark Arbour

So true. That squeaky wheel theory is overplayed

In Stef’s mind, “affairs” probably connotes a relationship while someone is already in a relationship…somewhat related to cheating. That’s different than Robbie having a high school romance. Sigh.

Granger was Viscount Granger before. The Earldom is new. His title is now The Right Honorable George Granger, Earl of Brentwood. William would now presumably become Viscount Granger.

Caroline could go batshit insane, but remember that she's also a keen politician.

Don't worry about that. That's just @PrivateTim. Oh, you meant the story...🤣

I am laughing my ass off, trying to imagine the pain that Will would inflict on Stef if Stef hid Travis on his yacht and didn't tell Will. Yeah, that would be more epic then cutting Brad's shoes in half.

March 25, 2004 Escorial Palo Alto, CA Will I almost felt like I was the one in hiding. Sean and Jake had been adamant that I not talk to anyone about Travis, but that was impossible, and they both seemed to get that. Of course, they didn’t change their advice to me; they just sympathized with my plight. Sometimes it was hard to like lawyers. Monday had been weird, because while I’d known Travis had vanished, his family probably hadn’t figured out that he had

Yeah that’s what it is. Let me show you how that works. 😈

You are very convincing, so much that I agree with you. I incorrectly linked education to smoking and obesity, when the dynamics are significantly different. Personal blame for what?

I got a little farther than you with Bros, but not much. I was trying to evaluate why I liked RWRB so much better than Bros and it came down to the main characters. I found that with RWRB I was genuinely cheering on Henry and Alex. With Bros, I found the characters incredibly annoying.

I don't disagree that education is important, but I think there are limits to its effectiveness. For education to be the solution, we would have to assume that people were rational, or made rational decisions when it comes to having sex. In my opinion, education is much less effective when dealing with something that would require 'willpower' to avoid. To that end, I think that sex is worse than most in that regard, especially for younger males, because it comes with its own drivers (hormones). Ponder the person you see smoking a cigarette, or an obese individual walking down the street. Do you think that person smokes or overeats because they don't understand the cause and effect between their actions and the results?

I have all of my books in PDF format and I would be happy to provide them if I got a PM. 😀 You know me so well. 💕

GA set up an entire e-book area, which was pretty cool. I understand the ROI issue, but I'm also wondering if there isn't a way just to make a PDF or Epub file available without a lot of fanfare? Maybe as an attachment to the existing story?

This is a niche community. What you're proposing is moving this site to a broader market, but there are a few huge problems with that. 1. The site is called gayauthors for a reason. In and of itself, that's a bit misleading, because not all authors on here are gay, but it basically connotes a site with stories about gay people. Trying to write stories that cater to straight people defeats the purpose. 2. There are other sites out there that do just what you're suggesting, and where gay readers are a minority. So GA would move away from the niche it fills and dilute itself into a market where there are already competitors. 3. There is nothing stopping an individual author from doing just what you suggest. Maybe if an author did what you suggested, they could generate more readers and could ultimately drive more traffic to this site. 4. One of the beauties of this website is the fact that there is such a strong community. I feel a very deep bond with my readers. I would be pretty upset if this site completely changed directions, and everyone scattered as a result.

I think that you (and the admins) think they are much more powerful than they actually are. 😀 It would be interesting to see if, when they promote a story, how much it drives up readership numbers.

You mention that the best an author on GA can hope to get is about 1000 views when posting a chapter. I haven't closely tracked Comsie's numbers, but my own experience validates your hypothesis. I'm writing two series right now: CAP and Bridgemont. When I posted the latest chapter for the CAP story (The Gap), I got 1000 views during the first week. When I publish a chapter in Bridgemont (Northern Exposure), I got 800. That being said, there are a lot of readers on GA who don't follow my stories, so that would suggest that there are many more than 1000 readers. I think this is explained by remembering that there are varied interests on this site. For me, I know that there are people who aren't interested in what I write, but that doesn't bother me at all, because I thrive on those who do read and comment. To me, it's a big shared journey between me and my readers. If they like the path I carve, they'll stay with me.

If the shoe fits. 😀

I'm with you. I loved this movie. My favorite scene is when the President's Chief of Staff is sitting on the couch with Alex right before she calls her boyfriend to put Henry on the phone. Her facial expressions are priceless. Yes, it's a cheesy rom-com, but both of the main characters are likeable in their own ways, and I thought their chemistry was great. This casting beyond the main characters generates mixed results. I thought Uma Thurmann was horrible, and Krista was spot on about her accent. Her husband just didn't seem right for the role. Too short, too wimpy. Sorry. Just my read on it. But the worst characters of all were the King and Prince Phillip. The King was very overweight, and while I'm not a body shamer, there haven't been members of the Royal Family, at least in recent memory, who were obese. He also has terrible teeth. I know the Brits aren't known for dentistry, but his teeth are worse than Camilla's. And lighting up a cigarette? That's pretty preposterous. Prince Phillip would have been much better if he'd had some more depth, and been less petulant. They were like bad cartoons. On the other hand, the President's Chief of Staff, Amy (Secret Service) and the Equerry did great jobs. What I really find hilarious, though, is that the movie has amazed straight people who didn't seem to realize gay guys could have missionary-position sex. 😀 Another myth busted.

I'd be interested to know how you found out they were straight. From what I could gather, neither one has made a clear statement about their sexuality.

Thanks for pointing out the temporary hold tag. Fixed that.

July 2, 1801 Portland Place George Granger ate his breakfast as he read the morning papers, feeling surprisingly relaxed despite the exertions of the past few days. Yesterday, the King had officially closed Parliament, which was Granger’s first opportunity to wear the robes of an earl. His father had graciously given Granger the robes he’d worn as the Earl of Bridgemont, which was another signal that their relationship was starting to heal. Meanwhile Daventry had managed to

In this situation, Will is reluctant to intervene because he can’t talk to Travis first. After his knee jerk reaction, which he moves beyond, that’s where he ends up. I actually think that is a good approach.

Sometimes you really nail a musical rec. Like this one. 💕

March 22, 2004 Escorial Palo Alto, CA Will We’d ended up getting home late last night, and it was my fault, just one more thing to feel guilty about. Today was the day that Travis planned to vanish into invisibility, and I’d wanted to spend some extra time with him. We’d spent time in the bedroom on Stef’s plane, just the two of us, while the plane was parked on the tarmac at Burbank. The only person who had been annoyed by the delay was Brittany, but that was just

The correct term was inoculation, which started in the 1720s.