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I'm having trouble resolving the trans/gay issue.

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I have been living full time as a woman for about three years. I am heading for Thailand to finish by the end of the month.

To be truthful, since my Orchiectomy and beginning Hormones, I don't have a sexual attraction. When I return, I shall be fully female, but there is no physiological reason for my desires to change.

I have not recently sought male companionship, but I do have several female friends.

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I have my laptop back!

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Acer returned my laptop this week, complete with a new hard drive and completely reloaded software.

I'll be picking up the pieced of where I left off soon, and for my 3 fans (special thanks to all three of you!), I shall soon be back with more installments of Nothing Stranger Than Life.

Y'all have fun and thanks for your patience.
DD

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Silliness

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Hi Everyone! I was scanning though my favorite web sites this morning and ran across a movie trailer for "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" I was a little turned off by the title and idea that it was just another Holiday movie. However once I watched it I got SRU flashbacks not that anyone was transformed but just by the sets and madcap staff. Maybe the Wizard has a younger brother? here is a link to the trailer in case anyone is interested.
http://us.video.aol.com/player/launcher?ar=us_en_video_640x7...

Hugs!
grover

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Oh Happy Day

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Rick Reilly is by far my favorite columnist. His “Life of Reilly” appears on the last page of Sports Illustrated. For years I’ve read Sports Illustrated from back to front. Many times his column is all that I read, but I try never to miss it.

This week’s column is a shocker. He wrote about a friend of his, a past co-worker on the Los Angeles Times, Mike Penner, who is now Christine Daniels, who still is a sports writer for that paper.

He talks of how good-looking she has become because she now is smiling a great deal. He speaks in positive terms throughout the article.

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Not a fan

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I'm not a fan of forced fem stories. If it's not voluntary, making someone do something that will put them in danger -- either at the time or later on -- is wrong and would be construed as child abuse in most of the cases in which they do this. I guess I see them as way too formulaic. There's also the fact that I was severely abused as a child... from about age 6 months to around age 15 when I finally stood up and stopped taking it

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Famous Quotes

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I recently read a story that had a lot of quotes as the heading of the chapters. Also I've noticed a number of quotes coming with a review. What are your favorite quotes?

Some of mine:

"I know G_d created the Heaven and Earth. I'm just trying to find out how." A. Einstein

"The reason I can see so far is that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants." E. Hailley

"Only Nixion could go to China." ST character, Spock

"In this galaxy there are millions of planets and millions of people on those planets. Don't lose the one called Kirk." ST character McCoy

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Writing a BDSM oriented Sissy

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I am writing a story (what I wish did come true) which essentially shows life as a without owner submissive/closet CD and a vanilla wife. What transpires is that she finally catches on that she can have the sex life she wants, the clean house, all at my expense. My humiliation is that she starts a transformation process with me doing the housework as a sissy... and progresses from there. Has bdsm elements, if anyone cares to preview it to see if it's worthy let me know.

Eddie

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Writing Aids

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I was wondering what other authors use to help themselves write their longer stories. Do they write notes on paper? Do they keep notes in a file? Do they use any software? If so, what programs do they use?

I keep notes at the bottom of the file in an outline format by chapter. Since the notes are at the bottom, I'm always reminded of the next scene I want to write. After I write the scene, I delete the notes relating to that scene. Then I have notes for the next scene to take their place.

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Serials vs. Novels

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So, a recent topic got me thinking in a new direction now. What's the difference between a serial and a novel published a few chapters at a time? Is there a difference of story structure? Does a serial need to be episodic?

The ever faithful Dictionary.com defines a serial likes this:


anything published, broadcast, etc., in short installments at regular intervals, as a novel appearing in successive issues of a magazine.

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Some folks are just Unlucky, some are Clumsy... and then there's me

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I was constantly beating the odds of bad things happening, in my first 20 years. So much so, that I had the reputation of being the clumsiest person in town. When I was in high school, there was a contest in the town newspaper that described some of my injuries and the circumstances that led to them. The first 50 correct responders to the newspaper office would receive a coupon good for a free sandwich from a local fast food place. All 50 coupons were claimed before an hour had passed from the time the papers hit the shelves/streets

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Search Engines and RSS Feeds

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Just banned a Sweden-based search engine from the site for too many redundant page loads. Over a three day period this dumbass robot ate up almost 1/18th of all the processor time spent building pages. Google's search engine did the same job over the same period for about 4% as much time (nearly twice as much time as that spent by an actual live visitor who checks frequently and reads a lot but still, not bad).

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No wonder it was so crowded

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I just had to share this. I went by our local Home Depot this evening. On the way out I saw their sign advertising their upcoming 4th of July sale. It said:

Don't miss out on huge savings!
Get a bang for your buck!

For some reason I kept hearing 'Afternoon Delight' in my head on the way home...

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Note

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This message is in order for me to say goodbye.

As some of you know, I been battling stage IV cancer for over 5 years. Last year I came close to dying, but due to other complications caused by my cancer, not the cancer itself. The five year survival rate for my cancer is less than 10% but somehow I've made it to almost 6 years. I may get to six(September) but not much further.

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Start of a story

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FPI -- Frilly Pantied Investigator

Copyright 2007 by Heather Rose Brown

Recently, my unpredictable muse presented me with an interesting concept for an action/adventure type story. I came up with a really neat title image, got a first scene, then ... nothing. Well, not actually nothing. I do have a feel for where the story might go and a vague idea of whodunnit, but no real story. I'm hoping someone else might see what I have so far and maybe have some suggestions on how to get from here to the end of the story. Here's to hoping!

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Including TM, (R), and (C) in stories

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I've often wondered why people put trademark, registered trademark, and copyright indicators after the names of certain products or organizations. I can understand why it's important to show respect for someone's trademark or copyright, but is it mandatory to put such indicators in the middle of a piece of fiction?

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Where are the Amazon Updates???

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Not so much a question for me as an answer for anyone asking the question themselves. I've had a few e-mails asking where the next part is and thought some explanation was in order.

John in Wauwatosa has alluded to what's happening, but my family has had a series of painful events this year.

A nephew passing away at 25, another with advanced cancer who's not even 45, and another family member with a (so far) not life threatening pulmonary embolism.

It's been a bit tough to get any writing done.

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The desire to submit

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I have been looking at some of my work and deciding how my personality molds my own stories to reflect a part of me. I had often thought that a professional could write on almost any subject and make a success of it.

I, on the other hand write about my inner most desires.

A while back, I was talking to my counselor about why I need to be punished. We decided that for me it is a way to feel secure and owned. This is probably abnormal, but so what, I have nothing to hide anymore; no church boards to fear, no employeer to satisfy.

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Tales from the Gabycon.

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My journey to the Gabycon was delayed in starting as it took longer to pack than I'd anticipated. I shoved things in bags for days beforehand, washed clothes, even ironed them, not worn favourite things because I would 'need' them. It seemed getting the kitchen sink in the boot of my car and then sticking a bike rack on the back took longer than....oh yeah, I've done that bit.

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New Story Idea

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I was reading one of Ardvark's stories last night and then when I went to bed, I dreamt about a variation on his idea.

Being a Muslima, I often wonder what the sociological reason is for women world wide to have found themselves in such a subservient position. Anthropoligically, we know that women are only 87% as large as men, but that sure does not seem to hold Feminist American Women back today. They are dying in Iraq like everyone else.

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Story Length

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Cindy started a thread on story length at FM. Here's my contribution from there:

Writing a novel is hard work, writing a short story is difficult.

A novel is a big project, like building a house by hand.

A short story demands a level of clarity and precision that's different in kind not just in scale, like crafting jewelry.

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Lessons in forgiveness

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One of the inspirations for my latest story, was the tragic death of Mary Karen Read. Here is an article from the Catholic Herald. It explains a great deal. My wife and I lost a son 4.5 years ago. Daniel lived only 14.5 hours. One of my stories was dedicated to Daniel and based on the experience my wife and I had with our lost son..

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Wedding speculation...

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Well I'm afraid to say that I have had to put that on hold as we can't agree who's going to be the bride. I'm not going into this in an argument situation and as it is, there are already going to be far too many bridesmaids.

As if the catering isn't going to be enough to organise, getting that many matching dresses is going to be murder.

So until we can resolve just who's going to be wearing the strides, it's going to have to be put back by at least a week.

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Part IV!... Again.

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The proofing/test reading of my story by my loyal subjects (I R UR QU33N LOL) shall be finished shortly, and as soon as I have all required feedback, may the posting begin! I'll try to have the next set of chapters up sooner, as well. After all, it's been, what, almost a month now since the last update? Yeah, that's a bit TOO long for my tastes, so I'll try to make more expedient postage in the future.

Thanks for the support, guys n' gals!

Melanie E.

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New vistas?

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Everyone's on edge at the Nick B household (both of us. The cat doesn't seem to understand or care) today after I got news of a possible new job in the same neck of the woods as Kristina LS.

That'd be weird since she lives half a world away from me - literally.

This means a move to Australia from little ol' England. The language won't change, but the lifestyle sure as hell will.

Will I be able to keep writing? God I hope so.

I certainly won't give up with BC since you're all such a nice bunch here and I think that I would definitely want something familiar nearby.

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Toxic Mice

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Well, I hadn't seen my friends and former roommates, Griff and Danny since November so when we got together yesterday, we yakked for about 5 hours and talked about everything.

Then I went home and went to bed a bit early.

I had a very strange dream, a science fictiony one.

In it, Griff was the leader of the household troops of the king of some almost-medieval country and I was his science advisor because the science was all more than up to date.

The great powers had passed our little kingdom by and we had become sort of like England was during the Cold War.

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Fair warning

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Since I started posting Leeway, I've somehow managed to get a new installment ready consistently each Saturday morning. I'm afraid that's going to change going forward. I've come to the end of the chapters I had already written when I started, and in spite of my best intentions I've only been able to find time to edit and polish each installment in time to post it, not to write any significant new material.

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Taking the afternoon off

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I've got lots to do. But I'm going to go get in the car with my laptop and go for a ride. I may stop somewhere and get online to see that things are okay. I may do some writing. I may drive to the coast or up to the mountains or out to the desert. I may be back before midnight. I will be here tomorrow most of the day. Be good to each other, everyone and see you when I get back.

Hugs,
Erin

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Weird, funny, flaky, stupid, annoying power problems

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The BC server in Los Angeles is having problems with its power supply. This may cause the site to go up and down unpredictably for an hour or so until they get it fixed. It was down for three hours before I woke up and called the techs. Sorry about that.

BTW Wednesday set a record for unique visitors at 3842 for the day. YAY! :)

Hugs,
Erin

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New to Big Closet

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I'm not new to TG fiction writing. At Fictionmania I have 25 stories published. All under my writing handle Danielle J. It was shalimar who talked me into posting my stories here.

Earlier this week, I published my my most recent story. Altered Fates- Only the Strong can forgive. This story was a labor of love for me.

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Suspicions about Paris

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Not to be snippy or anything. Lord knows that life is hard enough.

I have a few suspicions about what the medical issue is about why Paris got out of Jail. Notice how evasive the Sheriff was about the specifics. I don't have any animosity toward the child, (yes child). If I was in her position, I'd be as outrageous as her perhaps. Just letting a little exhibitionistic bent show here.

As I am, dresses as a Muslima, I don't get to show off or anything, boo hoo. giggle

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Ultimatum

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Hi all I posted a story this morning named "Ultimatum" that I later took down. I believe that it needed more context to make it understandable. I am working on a companion piece that I more than likely will use Ultimatum as the preface for. Sorry to have confused anyone!
Hugs for all who wants them!
grover

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Troop 37

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Visit Troop 37

Read this funny webcomic from a link over at FM. It's about a pre-teen boy who gets turned into a teen-age girl while on a boy scout campout. Each page is done by a different artist, well just go check it out and if you can draw, you might want to do a page. ::grin::

-- Donna Lamb, Flack

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Part IV!

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Part IV of Echoes will be up soon, following a quick re-re-re-readthrough and a few minor changes to try and make it seem a bit less whiny. With any luck, I'll have it up by Wednesday or Friday!

If anybody wants to read through it and maybe give me ideas on what to change, I always appreciate offers of help, especially from those who have an interest in the story. Thanks!

Melanie E.

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What's the difference between Chapter Numbers and Outline "Weight"

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Quickly put, the weight of an entry in BC's outlining should be the magnitude of the chapter number.

Chapters 1-9 -- weight=0
Chapters 10-99 -- weight =1
Chapters 100-999 -- weight = 2

This gets winkled with if chapter numbers are spelled out or done in Roman numerals but the reason to do it this way is sothe outliner pages will alphabetize the titles correcctly. All the titles with lowest weight are done first, then next higher weight, etc.

Multi-book works like Me and Sam get more complex. :)

Hugs,
Erin

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Taralynn's Crew Shift

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What's up? For those who enjoy TG Sci-fi adventure Taralynn has finished her Crew Shift story. It could almost be a Star Trek episode but takes place in a universe all of Taralynn's own. There is even some Art work attached. My personal rating for this is very good fun read.
enjoy! You can find it here.

http://taralynn.sincomics.com/

grover

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Feeling much better!

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First off, for all the folks that PM'ed me or commented, wishing me good health, thank you very much! I feel much luvved

I'm still coughing a bit, and coughing up a bit, but I'm so much better... First time since Monday night that I've been able to handle solid food was this morning's breakfast. If a half a bagel and being full can be considered breakfast, that is

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As I move toward publishing my work again.

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Hello there:

I published a few stories on storysite and then quit writing. The idea of going back to it appeals to me and by now, after years of practice, I may be able to publish something decent.

The story that is almost ready is staged in an Islamic society, and deals with forced transformation along with advanced medical proceedures.

Most of my interest leans toward Sci Fi, Transgendered, and romanticisim. XXX does not appeal to me much.

Please wish me luck.

Gwenellen

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The Edeyn Edition

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If anyone is interested in seeing an example of other stories I've written, this morning (before I admitted to myself that I felt like crap) I uploaded the first 8 parts of a fantasy setting story of mine

I put it up at my Fictioneer Page (thanks, Erin!). The series is called, The Original "Intrepid Heroes", categorized under the 'intrepid' marker over there

Direct link to my ( Fictioneer Page )

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Laptop

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My laptop hard drive is sick. I think I have my story safely recovered into another partition but I have no back up of the work I had done other than what I have posted here to bigcloset.

At this point, I am diagnosing if it is only a data/software issue or if the hard drive needs replacement.

I guess further installments of Nothing Stranger Than Life will be delayed until I deal with this minicrisis.

Y'all have fun,
D

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corny joke

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As Erin has asked for more humour in the blogs I've resurrected an old golfing joke which I hope you haven't seen before and that you'll enjoy. Perhaps, I should state at the beginning that I don't play golf so forgive any technical errors.

Golf Joke.

A man and his wife were playing a round of golf together. It was also their fifteenth wedding anniversary and they were planning a quiet celebratory dinner that evening, just the two of them.

About half way around the course the man puts down his club and says to his wife, "It's our anniversary today and I love you dearly."

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A Religious Reason FOR Transitioning

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This past Saturday in synagogues the portion of Numbers called Naso was read. Part of this portion of the Torah includes the blessings that The Kohain gave to the people in the wilderness of Siani and is used today for a general blessing. That includes, "May the L_rd grant you shalom(peace)." Shalom is not only the lack of war. It also includes, but not limited to, peace with one's self. Those of us that are truly transgendered have an inner conflict of the man vs the woman within ourselves.

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Rancid Joke

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From Zoe Brain via the transgendernews group. Her Blog at http://aebrain.blogspot.com/ has some good trans info and links as well as this "Rancid Joke"

Two Prawns

Far away in the tropical waters of the Caribbean, two prawns were swimming around in the sea, one called Justin and the other called Christian. The prawns were constantly being harassed and threatened by sharks that inhabited the area.

Finally one day Justin said to Christian, "I'm fed up with being a prawn; I wish I was a shark, and then I wouldn't have any worries about being eaten."

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Jennifer Boylan at Southern Comfort Gender Conference

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I was talking with someone today about Jennifer Finney Boylan's book,
She's Not There - A Life in two genders. The ending of the book bothered me a bit because I felt Jenny glossed over the affect her transition had on her wife Grace who stuck with him/her through everything. But that is not really the subject of this post. (Anyone who wishes to pursue a critique of the book, PM me or open a forum subject about it.)

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Taking Responsibility

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In today's Guardian newspaper (23.5.07) (www.guardian.co.uk - under life & health, story titled, 'Mistaken Identity'); one of the leading gender psychiatrists was censured by the General Medical Council for inappropriately referring 5 patients for surgey. He didn't stick to the rules regarding referral so the censure may be appropriate, but I won't comment upon the case directly.

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Open Invitation

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Open Invitation Anybody interested… feel free.

I posted a story a couple of days ago called

" Should Have Stayed in Bed "

A few people seemed to enjoy it and some wanted me to continue.
I hadn't planned to, but I was tempted. I've decided to go with my original idea and not follow on... but...

If anybody would like to do so, be my guest. The only stipulation I put is that you try to keep the same light feel.

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Incomprehensible Ingratitude!

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Dear Readers,

Let me begin by stating that I enjoy writing tg fiction. It is not a laborious endeavor for me but an activity that I find both relaxing and challenging. Because of this, I do not crave public recognition or adulation for my work. The fact is, I have written many stories that I haven’t even bothered to post. However, I am nevertheless appalled by what I see as the widespread ingratitude shown towards the many excellent authors that post on this site.

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New Kid On The Block

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Hello I've just opened the door to the Big Closet as a registered user and I'm buisy finding my way around the place. I've been into TG fiction for years mainly the reading of it and I've found the Internet an Aladin's cave of some good TG material. I'm very fond of reading Petticoat Punishment stories as this has been a favourite fantasy of mine for many years and I would like to write about it.

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The New Edit of The Making of Nibs

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Hello readers of my work, I hope this forum message finds people well.

Me, I've not been idle at all, I've uploaded the new edits for The Making of Nibs, and decided that a one volume book was too big for people, the The Making of Nibs is now three individual novels, each detailing a section of the overall story.

The first follows very true to the first chapters upto the start of the Wacker War.
The second follows the adventures during the Wacker War.
And the last details the adventures upto the Narrizan Inc operation.

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Newsweek Gender Articles

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Hey all,

Newsweek had a pretty good article on "The Mystery of Gender", as they called it. Their website has more associated stories than were in the magazine. However, while the stories themselves are well done, you should see the comments,(or maybe not)some are a very depressing view of intolerance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18618970/site/newsweek/

Jamie

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Communication Breakdown

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Had an unusual experience over the last week. I 'chat' via email to several people. Some daily, others every few, others occasionally. Last Saturday I sent off a couple of messages and... nothing. After a few days I was able to ask a couple of said 'chatters' here via PM..'hey what's doin'?? Huh they say... where ya been?' Or words to that effect.

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Forced Feminization: A Writer's Explanation!

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Dear Readers,

As a writer of fictional feminization stories, I thought it would be helpful to provide my readers with a brief explanation for my motives in writing. As a boy, I was never forced into dresses but my mother did indeed wish that I had been a girl. I did wear dresses at times and the experiences were pleasant ones for me. However, I do not advocate forced feminization of a child in real life.

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Sweet, tg stories!

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Hi Girls,

I thoroughly enjoyed writing my first story for the new "Big Closet" and hope that you enjoyed it. I like to write g-rated stories of childhood feminization that delight both the child's mother and other female relatives as well as the child himself. The latter doesn't always immediately appreciate being prettily dressed but after a season in cute dresses, he usually begins to enjoy being a mommy's girl. Please feel free to contact me to discuss the story, your own experiences, or ideas that you might have for future stories. I try to answer all my mail promptly.

Cordially,

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Kind of exciting

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Bob called to point out something, we had over 85 visitors on BC at the same time. That meant some special load balancing software kicked in, turning off the right column stuff and the ability to make new blogs or forums. After a bit of twiddling, I decided the limits were too low so now the "throttle" won't kick in until we have about 95 visitors at one time. :) Thanks, Bob and thanks to everyone that was here between 11 and 12 EDT, today to give the system a workout.

Thought at first we had a harvester chomping at things but no, just people reading and maybe downloading by hand. :)

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I'm thinking...

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I'm thinking I'm gonna go ahead and post the next two chapters of "Echoes", though they haven't been proofed recently.

Also, to anyone reading the story:

There was a suggestion in the comments on the first two chapters concerning Miriam's name: I used some of the phrasing from that comment, and there is an explanation in the story- and it's a lot better in my opinion than that I didn't bother to check name spelling before writing the thing :P

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Everyone needs a good laugh now and then.

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Here is something that was sent to me at work, I'm not sure how it got past the filters but I'm glad it did. I found it to be very funny and I'm sure everyoe here will agree. After all what better audience for this very short story, or is it a long joke? Oh well, someone will have to tell me the difference some time.

Enjoy one and all.

Huggs & Giggles
Penny

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Dominoes

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So, I finally got around to posting chapter seven of Being Christina Chase, though a few days late. Even though this chapter has essentially been in the bag for probably a year or so, I made some last minute changes due to Holly Logan's invaluable feedback. It would have been on time had I not recently fallen irrationally and hopelessly in love and that I'd been traveling all weekend.

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Go easy on the grphics, please?

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I am one of those cheapskates still using, GASP!, dial-up.

Recently a number of stories posted with graphics on their title/synopsis page and the load time for BC went gaga. Well chosen graphics can enhance a story and entice the reader but go easy on them, please?

John in Wauwatosa

P.S. Maybe I should upgrade fron that tincan and string phone system?

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I wanna be a policewoman

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Tonight on ABC's Home Makeover show there was a cute scene that I couldn't resist passing on. It was the usual needy family in a fix and the design team was interviewing family members on the type of themed bedroom they would like. Well there was this cute set of 4 year old twin boys and one said he wanted to be a fireman. The other with a big smile said he wanted to be a policewoman. The double takes from Paul and Preston as they digested this was priceless, but Paul playing along said he wanted to be a policewoman too. Preston then asked "How about a policeMan?" and the kid nodded happily.

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Super Comments

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This morning I found a wonderful surprise waiting for me. Gwenellen commented on "Peaches." Not the updated version of "Peaches" that Erin has for sale -- she commented on the version of "Peaches" that was posted here two years ago.

It isn't strange for old stories to get hits, my average "old" story (one that is no longer on the front page) seems to get forty to one hundred hits a month. It is, however, very odd for someone to take the time to comment on an old story.

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Ratings

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Hi y'all,

Having been away recently (at work, not in a fitted canvas jacket with the men in white coats!), I came back to find a form of rating system implemented.

Whilst the comments can tell more or at least be more precise, I think this was a wonderful idea and the voting mechanism updates the tally without having to reload the page. For us poor dial-up merchants with slow data rates, this is marvellous!

I do however have one small gripe and that is that the ratings only display those on the 'front page'.

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Writer's Resources -- Phases of the Moon

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Being the sort who tries to be precise about such things, I was looking for information about just when a full moon occurred on Halloween to set the date for "Turning the Tables."

Needless to say, our friends at NASA come through in spades.

NASA's listing of dates for phases of the moon from 2000BCE to 4000CE. The times are UTC (Greenwich Mean Time), so you may need to convert to local time.

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aaaaaargh

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well about time i started blogging somewhere i suppose (giggle), i am just taking a break from fighting with heaven can wait as its turning out to be a hard story to write. Not because I am trying to please people but like most of my stories it contains pieces from my past and how some things I wish I could of changed or avoided.

I suppose I write to examine myself and how I interact with others so it does make it harder to write fiction as always trying to dig away the harsh parts so it doesn't offend people and make it too dark too read.

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Sperm from women?

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This article from The Independent (UK) reports on research that indicates the future possibility of using stem cells from women to create sperm that would only produce daughters.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/artic...

I'll bet Aardvark would like to have had this when writing Sappho. What kind of new sci-fi stories can be based on this?

Amelia

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Reading and Writing, but not 'Rithmetic

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I find that when I am engaged in writing a story, which is different than thinking about writing one, it is incredibly difficult for me to actively read stories. If I find a good old book, it does have the ability to drag me away to a comfortable chair and let me focus on reading, but I do not have the same focus for anything I read on a computer. It is just too easy to cave into the pressure of opening the wordprocessing tool and the text of what I am working on. At that point it is unfairly difficult for an author to fully grab my attention.

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