and some weather!

First: I have been guilty of that which I complain about and now see the error of my ways.

When entering your author name on a story it is easier to navigate if you have carried through with some consistency. I understand that there are several Authors that use more than one name. I have three though primarily use "Gwen Brown".

I’ve been traveling this week to deal with some family issues, so I’ve been kind of quiet as the contest goes into the final stretch. I have been keeping on top of stories coming in, though. Here’s my latest set of reviews. Great reading!!!

The Promise

To dispel my own irritation, here are some important definitions:

Space is anywhere outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Deep Space is outside this Solar System.

Galaxy is a generally spiral shaped collection of stars and other matter that is thought to orbit around a Black Hole. The number of stars in our Galaxy is thought to be in the billions. At light speed, Scientists say that it would take 200,000 years to cross it.

The Universe has unnumbered Galaxies in it. Our own Galaxy is thought to be in a group of Galaxies that occupy the Lanea kea group.

Hi all, I was thinking about a book/short story I read years ago and I wondered if anyone here could remember the author or book name.

The story is set in the future and it’s about cars that can drive themselves, people who look after them have years of trouble free motoring but the people who don’t have nothing but trouble, the story comes to a point where a badly treated vehicle goes all “Christine” on the owner.

I believe it was called ‘Automatics’, does this ring any bells for anyone?

Hoping you can help
Sammi

For all of you who are wondering what's happening now, and want to know what's going on, my In-Laws have filed again, after being denied an emergent hearing for custody. This time the judge is having us all go into pre-trial mediation to see if we can solve this outside of court.

This has nothing to do with the criminal case but is still nerve-wracking, I thought you would all want to keep updated (we are still representing ourselves pro-se, because we have yet to find a lawyer that will help us for less than a $3500 retainer for Family Court).

-Piper

I plan to release the 10th and final chapter for "You're Only Human". I never wanted to have it be a "love connection" between an AI and the human narrator but I moved the needle into that direction and found it shoved back the other way by the AI. So, the story will end on a not so happy ending in "virtual love-land" but more of a way to have the narrator not confide so much with a program but with others in the flesh.

...Not Suicidal...
Just embarrassed???

Not feeling too well just now so got in a tub of hot water to soak away the joint pain. With all the ruckus over illegal drugs, I'm not about to try to find something illegal. I tried a light dose Tylenol (Paracetamol) but it did nothing. The hot water just made things worse, so I got out. I am too shy to go to the ED on the week end, and I have an appointment with my Doctor on Wednesday. I'd planned to use a Taxi Wednesday if the Bus seems too much.

... Simple math on the number of contest entries (115 is the most recent number I've seen), times the minimum entry length, says we have dump-er-inflict-er-deluge -er- "sent" our Judges well over 277,500, to perhaps around a half million words!

Plus comments. And our responses. And Contest reminders and 'house-keeping' ...

To our Judges and all others involved, may I offer my condolences on y/our success!

With only a few more days before the deadline for the New Year's Resolution story contest, I want to give a huge shout out and THANK YOU to our beloved organizers: Jill, Emma, and Joanne. You all are amazing and really have outdone yourselves with this effort, huzzah! And additional thanks to all those helped fund it!

Right now, "Resolution Evaluation" has 63 kudos, and "Night Shift" has 58 "kudos. I'm curious if "Night Shift" can catch up, so I'm kind of competing with myself on the subject.

Of course, "Resolution Evaluation" has 28 comments (half of which are my replies), while "Night Shift" only has 10, so its not likely "Night Shift" can catch up in that area before the contest ends, but it looks like the kudo count will end up being close.

Any one heard from WolfJess7 it's been awhile from the last time she posted anything

Up in the middle of the night and wandering around my apartment, I discovered a dead tree book called "Nine Princes In Amber", Book 1 of several. The author, Roger Zelazkny, is not a TG author.

I am not more than 1/4 of the way into the work, and must say that the odd seeming 1970's language and break from TG drabble is most refreshing. While not a terribly prolific author, his story seems good enough.

These days, I seem to survive on a series of naps of 1 to 2 hours, and have been told not to worry by my Doctor. Lots of time to cast about in the middle of the night.

I recently responded to a comment by another member here. The original comment was posted regarding Amazon making a change which resulted in the comment’s author losing purchased reading material on kindle. However, my comment was regarding another comment made in response to that comment.

Despite Explicit Underage Sex stories being excluded from the contest, it seems to have thrived.

The New Year's Resolution Writing Contest has resulted in the following to date:

New stories – 110. . . 100 Contest Qualified
Hits – 121,214
Kudos - 9,851
Comments – 1,447
New authors - 6

Fifteen More Story Comments:

When we started this contest, Jill, Joanne and I guessed how many stories we would get. I’m normally the cautious one, guessing low and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. But this time I threw sense to the scirocco and guessed that we would more than double the number of entries in the last contest, hitting . . . 55. Joanne, with the sunny optimism of the Aussi girl she is, aimed higher still, thinking we might get seventy. Jill, though, is savvy in the world of sales. She said we’d get a hundred. Amazingly enough, we’re almost there, and we still have a week to go.

Amanda keeps attracting bad boys. Maybe it's the Dr. Pepper?

We had a small leak from yesterday's rain, and a bucket was under it, but about half an hour ago, the ceiling in the bathroom collapsed into the tub.

Ah, me. Forecast is for three more days of steady rain.

Hugs,
Joyce

A while back I was contacted by someone named Alicia Radford to say that her girlfriend had read my two novels, which make up The Kelly Anderson Chronicles as a teenager, and that it had helped her to come to terms with her own transgender identity.

That in itself was incredibly rewarding to hear.

So fair warning, this may be hard to read. You've been warned.

So, Hey everyone. Last time I posted a blog I told you that Aimee and I and our lil ninja were homeless and working with an agency.

for the record, that agency is DYFS/DCP&P/CPS or whatever they are called these days.

They are still paying for our hotel and helping us try to find more permanent lodging, but that has been hindered by a few facts that I alluded to but didn't directly mention.

More great stories are coming in!

Here is my latest review of fifteen randomly selected Contest Stories:

Resolution Revelations

Maddy passed on Sunday dinner cooked by someone else!

Has "Sixteen the hard way" come to an end or is it on hiates?

You’ve written your story and now are faced with deciding whether or not to create a cover.

I’ve posted about one hundred and fifty stories on BC and have never created a cover. Mel and Erin have made covers for all of my Doppler Press books. I’ve often wondered what difference an attractive cover makes to BC readers.

I have had two reports of bereavement in the last few days with the funeral process tomorrow taking up most of the day. As they say, one sign of old age is going to more funerals than weddings. One is my elderly neighbour, who at 97 years old could be seen as inevitable, the other a good friend and widow of an even better friend, who died some years ago. This good lady died from a stroke, which given my own experience of a similar affliction, makes it even more poignant.

Well, sort of.
For the next month I will be living in a catholic dorm for girls. Or more precisely young women aged from late teens to early 20s.
I don't want to log in on BCTS from that place so you will largely be spared my comments.

This blog's views, thoughts, and opinions belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the management of Big Closet, the Writing Contest committee, or any other group or individual.

I have long contended that there is very little correlation between the number of kudos, hits, and comments received and the quality of the story.

My province has decided to hate on trans kids.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/alberta-unveils-change...

of 2024!

So the news is saying 4 current and one former NHL player have been charged in relation to an alleged sexual assault that happened 2018.

What makes this interesting is that Hockey Canada, who was responsible for the players at the time seemed more interested in making the problem go away, giving the accuser a lot of money in a lawsuit settlement.

I seldom wake up rembering my dreams, but this morning I woke up from an argument with a red headed, asshole boss in an office setting. After a few minutes I realized the redhead was an adult version of the photo I used for Lucy in The Elliptical Path. Good thing I'm not planning a sequel, I will hate to see my character turn into an asshole.

And this is how I am cheating.

There has to be scores, perhaps hundreds, of on-line grammar and spelling checkers, free, free trial, paid, and perhaps other arrangements.

I 'landed' on (thank you Google and your rankings):

https://www.scribbr.com/

They have >a lot< of paid services, so it took me a lot of poking around to get to their page (https://www.scribbr.com/grammar-checker/) that said "type (or paste) your your text here."

While doing the wash, my wife picked up my new bra and grumped that I had nicer bras than she did. It was my first underwire style and closed in the front, an experiment for me. (The experiment has been a success.) She said she wouldn't mind one in that color for herself. So what could I do besides log into Amazon and get her one in black and one in rose?

Can anyone recommend a sci-fi story, or stories, on BCTS? I'm thinking of and have just written the first few paragraphs of something I feel has something to it, and I'm looking for the vibe of sci-fi stories on here.

Mary Weiss lead singer of the Shanghai-Las, a group mentioned in my story, “Who Wears Short Shorts” famous for among other songs “Leader of the Pack” died last week.

THIS STORY WAS BASED AROUND THE GREAT SHIP TITANIC. THE BOYS FATHER WORKED ON THE SHIP BEFORE IT SAILED BUT THE BOYS FATHER WAS VERY ILL AND DIED RIGHT BEFORE THE SAILING. THE BOY MANAGED TO GET ON BOARD AND MANAGED TO GET SOME FEMALE CLOTHES AND HID IN AN EMPTY ROOM. HE RAN INTO A FEMALE FRIEND AND HER MOM BASICALLY ADOPTS HIM AS A GIRL. I THINK THE STORY WAS ALMOST TO THE FATEFULL DAY THE GREAT SHIP SANK .ANY HELP FINDING THIS STORY WOULD BE GREATLY APPRICIATED .

I found some semi permanent, non stinking, bright pink hair dye. Just finding someone to put it is the biggest problem. A beautician is more than $120. It is less the money than the BS some people put people like me through, you know the T hate. I'm so sick of it.

No threats of Suicide.

Gwen

Of a sort. I haven't been in much evidence for a while and there may be a good reason for it. A chance remark to my Renal consultant meant a trip to X-ray and the discovery that I have heart problems. I'm on the waiting list for a triple bypass.

I thought I might have another entry for the the New Year's contest in me, but the story has petered out after about 400 words.

Ah, well, I should go back to some of my unfinished ideas . . .

Yep, can't keep the weather out of things!

At this point in my "career" on BC I've written nine entries in my Toni With An i serial, and one entry for the New Year's competition, Marking Your Card. And I've been thinking about how a story appears on the front page, and whether I should include a story summary or blurb. (You should all enter the competition, it's a challenge and enjoyable but not too difficult. Flex those writing muscles! It's fun, I promise!)

A few days ago, Jill provided some thoughts on the first fifteen entries in the contest, with the goal of getting more of our readers to check out some of the amazing stories that have been posted so far.

Well, I spent 7 hours trying to help Sharon get medical treatment for her hand, which was swollen and apparently painful.

Rather than go to her own doctor, she insisted on going to an emergency room instead.

Well, they are called "emergency rooms" for a reason - they treat the most critical cases first.

So after 7 hours, she gave up and wanted to be taken home.

Any suggestions we gave to help were dismissed, and it seems that she has given up on getting help from doctors, and will go back to prayer and faith healing.

ah, well.

or not as the case may be!

Howard Jacobson is a famed British author .... quoting from an article in the Telegraph 20/1/24:

'Complaints about realism often dog him.
He had to fight to keep a character in his last novel, Live a ­Little: a 90-year-old man who has never had a relationship, being ­crippled by shame at having been caught trying on his mother’s underwear as a boy. Jacobson’s publisher found this implausible. “Then I asked a group of Jenny’s psychologist colleagues if this was likely, and they all said ‘Of course, it’d ruin your life, no question’.”

Hey there.

I posted a second story for the contest. I hope some of you like it.

Once again, I couldn't figure out how to mark my story as "Solo" so admin, please change that for me.

Thanks!

- Terry

WOW! We've been getting some fantastic stories for the contest. And let me tell you, picking the best of the best is not going to be easy. You can rest assured that Jill and I will be careful, thoughtful, and diligent -- it's why we're getting the big bucks! Nonetheless, we recognize that every reader will have their own favorites.