Mark Arbour

I am with us.

Thanks!!

I think JJ would have to give a shit about normal people to be effective on a foundation, but we'll see.

Every day? Wow. Now that's dedication

I try to make things fun.

No problem. I'm alive and well and BUSY. UGH

That was generous of you!

JJ is one of those people who has the world by the balls but doesn't know just how tightly to squeeze

I took a SW flight a while back and kept visualizing JJ dealing with it.

I'm glad I made your night a little better. I'm still not back to my normal pace, but at least I got something done

Why thank you!

Brad doesn't come around all that fast, but when he gets there, he's formidable

The regular world is a challenge for him.

Thanks Gary. I think Buzz is an enigma for all of us.

Thanks Gary. I think Buzz is an enigma for all of us.

Thanks. XXOO

Hope you got to do both

Dumber, as in intellectually, or dumber, as in dorkier?

August 14, 2003 New York, NY Brad Stef and I sat in the elevator, and even though it was getting warmer, it wasn’t overly unpleasant. “Have you talked to Buzz about Triton yet?” he asked. “I laid out the situation for him briefly over the phone,” I explained. “I think he understood the gist of what was going on, and he seemed more than willing to help out.” “That is a good thing,” Stef said. “He’s going to me

Jeremy sent me a whiny email asking me to post something to the forum, letting you all know what was going on with me, and that sparked a considerable amount of guilt, prompting me to do just that. Or this. I haven't checked the forums for posts, because I figured it would be better to share my point of view in an uninfluenced way. I've had some life challenges, but nothing that is dire. It's more that my real life has absorbed an increasing proportion of my time, which is probably as it should be in a normal state of things. The thing that has baffled me, and what has made me avoid this place for awhile, is that I've faced these challenges before, and my writing has never suffered as a result. Yet now it is. I'm not sure why. I constantly think about the two serials I'm working on (CAP and Bridgemont) and extensively plan out what I want to happen with the characters, at least in my mind. But when it comes to sit down and actually write, I find myself unwilling or unable to actually do it. In the past, I've been stymied by plots where I've written myself into a corner, or characters who didn't turn out like I wanted them to, but that's not the case this time. In this situation, I know what I want to write, I just don't want to \. That bothers me, because it's so different than what I'm used to, and because I know it bothers you. Conventional wisdom suggests to me that the writing bug will bite me again, that it's only a matter of time. I can't imagine abandoning the characters and the world that I've built. At the same time, it's just no fun if I have to force it, and that's going to impact the quality of what I'm putting out. And I'm not willing to do a half-assed job. On a positive note, I have three chapters of Black Widow in various stages of editing, and half a chapter of Valiant written. There has been some activity, just not much. So the bottom line is that, as an update, I need to let you know that for the foreseeable future my productivity will probably be seriously diminished. At the same time, I want to reassure you all that I'm fine, just a bit busy, and that I remain committed to continuing the stories I've been working on for such a long time. And that my head is partially shoved up my ass. That should surprise no one.

You realize, of course, that I'm just setting this up to be a big slap in the face, since we find out later that the Blackout came from flaws in Ohio. I remember being in Toronto when that happened, and when the accusations first flew at Canada. The Canadians I talked to were pretty indignant about that. I left the next day, though, so I didn't get to enjoy their "I told you so" moment.

Thanks for the review! I think that Zach and Will could ultimately make it, but I think it's going to be really hard to do so without a break up along the way. Those early college years are pretty challenging. The only CAP characters to make it through that unscathed are Jack and Claire, and that was back in the 80s. Not that that matters. I think JJ is developing almost a Talleyrand-esque characteristic: he's busy in his mind, and behind the scenes, but he doesn't want it to appear that way. I don't think he minds doing things, but I think ongoing responsibilities chafe at him.

True points. Of course I'd include the Blackout. I got stuck in it when I was in Toronto on vacation.

And the same to you!

That's a very good point, although I think Zach has a lot of encouragement to continue playing football(from his team and school), while JJ has largely been ejected from the figure skating world because of the scandal he's caused with Alex.