Rasufelle

A Bad Case of Writer's Block Isn't Always a Dirth of Creativity

I know I've never been the most cherished author here, but this has always been the place I felt most comfortable sharing my creativity. I love writing, and I love stories, both reading them and sharing them, and for much of the last 10 years BC has been THE place I did so.

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A Day Without Pain

A Day Without Pain

A Hatbox Short by Melanie E.

-==-

"It's the least we can do."

That's what they had said when they had come into his hospital room, clipboards in hand and curious, though not unkind, looks in their eyes.

It was natural for those who were healthy to be curious about the dying after all, and that was exactly what he had been doing, slowly and agonizingly, for the last three years.

It had started out innocuously enough, with a twinge in his temple when he would stand up or turn his head too quickly. The twinge had turned to a spike, and the spike into a burning lance, piercing his head with every movement.

For years he had devoted his life to becoming one of the most promising young talents in the computer technology world.

He felt it somewhat ironic that he would die not being able to stand looking at a monitor for more than five minutes without a morphine drip in place.

I'm usually an advocate for "Every Vote Counts,"

And that if you don't vote when you can, you shouldn't (not CAN'T, never 'can't,') complain most of the time, but this year....

This year.

I was registered on time. I've been following things, planning to cast my own vote (the 'Deez Nutz' ticket, if anyone's curious.) But when it came down to actually going today, seeing every single Trump sign up and down the roads, knowing just how the ticket would fall regardless of whatever I did.

Call me a coward, but I stayed home.

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Sometimes "Just Do It" Isn't Enough

I am SO. FREAKING. BEHIND.

I think everyone here's seen just how dead my writing, or even reading on the site has been of late. I could make excuses, but there's really only one reason behind it all: I just can't seem to make myself do it.

PFH? 1/3 done. Phoenix Soars? 2/3. I have various other projects hovering between 1/4 and 3/4 done, and plans for oh so many more, but it seems like if I manage 500 words in a month any more I've pushed myself hard. It's just... ugh.

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Not Every Story Needs a Sequel

We authors here at BC are blessed by our readership.

Really! BC has a large, mostly active community of readers and writers, and comments on stories are quite common, which is a wonderful change from the majority of other fiction sites I've seen, even mainstream ones. The community here is supportive of new writers, positive in their outlook on most tales, and generally a great place to be a part of.

Now, having gotten THAT out of the way, on to the point of this blog.

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A Palace of One's Own

I quite like Sherlock. Not only is Benedict Cumberbatch a great choice for the role, but the individual cases are usually interesting, if not quite as complicated as I'd like at times. Then again, I've only made it through the first and second seasons, so I may be missing some of the best.

Back on point, the series has a lot of great elements, but one of the ones I've found most attractive is the concept of the Mind Palace. I loved the concept from the show, and after doing some (very superficial) research into the ins and outs of its purpose and the method of using such, I decided I should have one of my own.

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Cultural insensitivity, or poetic license?

I've been watching a Travel Channel series on Netflix called Expedition Unknown. Not only is the series itself great -- Josh Gates was always amazing on Destination Truth too, and is more than a little hunk-y -- but the places he goes and the things he sees are nothing short of awe inspiring.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-Girls

When I was around a year old my aunt Paula moved in with my mom to help take care of me. My sperm donor was never much of a parent, even then, and between me, her job, and a little sister on the way, she needed the help. To this day, my aunt has been a huge influence on me, both in the things I like and the way I see the world.

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Non-TG related, but seeking answers

Anyone who has spent any length of time talking to me already knows this, but just so it's stated... I'm a video game geek. Not like some casual "yeah I play on occasion" or "I like X series but not much else," but a dyed in the wool, I-can-name-you-the-processor-chip-from-every-console-ever-made kind of obsessed gaming geek.

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POST!

Tomorrow is the last day for submitting your stories for the March contest, so if you haven't done so yet, please do. We're still sitting at only seven entries,with the last one being posted Sunday. At this point I'm honestly tempted to just ask the entrants if they would accept a 3 month sub consolation prize and call this month a bust; we got some great entries from wonderful authors, but the volume of turnout has been pretty lackluster.

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Contest extension?

Entries are short, and the deadline is near.

I was going to ask if people wanted an extension, but eh, I'll just go ahead and do it. The March "On An Adventure!" contest deadline is being moved to the 19th, giving interested authors who have uncompleted stories an extra week to finish them, with votes likely being tabulated the 24th.

Please, more entries! Everything's been great so far, but a contest without competition isn't a contest at all!

Melanie E.

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Reminder: contest deadline is March 12th!

This is just a quick reminder for everyone that the final day to submit stories for the March "On An Adventure!" contest is this Saturday, March 12th, so if you are interested in taking a shot please do so!

We've had some really great entries so far, but response has been a lot less than it was to last month's contest. Remember, 10k words is the CAP, but that doesn't mean your story has to be that many words; your story can be as short as you want, from fifteen to fifteen hundred, all the way up to the limit.

Here's looking forward to everyone's ideas!

Melanie E.

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Let the adventures begin!

As of today, entries are officially being accepted for the March 2016 contest, "On An Adventure!"

As a reminder, here is the original blog entry, including instructions on what the terms of contest entry and final prizes are. Y'all have two weeks to get your entries in, but with us utilizing the Kudos system for votes there is a minor advantage to posting earlier, though not as much as you might think! (Just look at the last contests' entries to see THAT!)

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Holy background change Batman!

I keep the BCTS main page, as well as my own tracking page, open at all times, and routinely refresh them throughout the day to check for content. I keep the site's scaling slightly smaller than my monitor, though, so along each edge of the screen there's about an inch of the site's default background color.

Imagine my surprise today when I refreshed, and that went from a very very soft, creamy pink to a much darker maroon with dots!

After recovering from the surprise, I think I like this better though. It mellows the site's appearance a little bit. Good choice, elves!

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Going on the Honor System here

So, if you've got a story for the competition and haven't posted it yet, I'm trusting y'all to get 'em in by Midnight (February 5th 2016) your local time zone. With the response we've had I don't see any reason to prolong the due date, especially after the idea being submitted garnered minimal concern.

Also, just a reminder: as of right now the prizes are:

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A list as long as my arm

That's what I have, in regards to stories for my mini-contest thing. I've read about half of them, but most of my open browser tabs right now are stories starting with the words "The Crush."

People, you have no idea how much this means to me. So much, in fact, that I'm upping the prize for the winner to a 3 month sub, rather than a one-month. Well, okay, I was probably gonna do that ANYWAY since there's not a non-recurring option for one month any more, but still, the thought counts, right?

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Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's a Story 3


Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's a Story 3

By Melanie E.

Suffering the interminable wait until new compy parts arrive via the wonders of UPS and internet purchases while my brain slowly melts out my ears due to exhaustion after a long night at work. Heck, what better time to try and write a bit of story?

One hundred forty-two

That is how many pieces of fiction I've posted to the site.

Of course, this is a bit selective. I skipped title pages, obviously, but I'm also not including things like the lyrics to the "Hollywood!" theme song (a story I still plan to write, one of these days,) the BC Chat Gaming posts (don't remember those? not surprising, nobody read them :P ) and similarly not-really-stories-but-in-the-stories-list-anyway bits. Likewise, it ALSO doesn't include blog entries or forum topics, both of which have seen short bits of fiction shared as well.

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Sometimes Things Just Go Right

There are some things in life that are unobtainable, like the legendary white stag. Everyone has that one thing they've wanted, and every organization has that one lofty goal that every member seeks.

Today (or, in point of fact, last night,) I have obtained one of those goals.

I am now a full-time employee.

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Melanie's Rules for Non-Suck Writing: Addendum

I had a user of the site (who I hope to see more stories from soon!) contact me about my last list of Rules for Non-Suck Writing and ask my advice about a couple of things. While I was talking to them I made an observation that stuck me as something that could be really useful to share with everyone else too, so I thought I'd add it here:

Rule 11: Every Character is Don Quixote

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Melanie's Rules for Non-Suck Writing: Part Deux

My first post about my personal rules for what makes writing -- whether it be games, movies, stories, etc. -- good or bad did really well, and a lot of people seemed to think I had good advice, and good points.

Well, of course I'm going to take a chance of mucking all that up by adding more!

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Pathfinder players!

For those participating in the role-playing game tonight...

If you aren't already aware, the chat server for BC has changed to http://chat.bigclosetr.us/c/ . It DOESN'T auto-reroute you to a room, though, so you'll have to manually direct to the dungeon via the [/JOIN dungeon] command.

I'm heading there now, and I hope to see everyone for the game tonight!

Melanie E.

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For the curious, an update.

Yep. I'm still here. I check the site every day, in fact, though I've been quite remiss in my commenting.

Work is keeping me thrashed. Writing is, as a result, going slow. With luck the more I get used to the former the better I'll do at the latter. Until that time, though, sorry for the delay on any and all projects I've been working on, though just so everyone's up to date...

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Satoru Iwata

For many of us who've grown up primarily over the last 25 years, Satoru Iwata was an important figure in our lives. As a member of the team at Nintendo, and CEO, he's influenced a lot of us more than we may care to admit, and for many of us -- such as myself -- the products he's helped bring to the market have been one of the few things in life at times that helped us deal with the pain of transgenderism, adolescence, and just life in general.

I'm not sure what Satoru's stance on trans issues or LGBT stuff in general was, but it really doesn't matter at the moment.

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