Cynus

In my generation there is a very common phrase of "my bad" when one makes a mistake. This must die.

When choosing to make Seth bisexual, he was modeled after my own attractions. I knew at his age that I was into both, though I didn't come to the realization of what that actually meant until later in life. In my sheltered Mormon upbringing I didn't even know bisexuality was a thing. But I did know I liked both. Seth is a bit more cultured than I was as a kid, and with how Logan and Seth actually became friends, Seth was forced to look critically at who he was for a short time. after weighing the knowledge he had, he came to that conclusion on his sexuality. But he's a kid. He might change, who knows? Logan hasn't stated a sexuality so far, only that "He's not gay" back in Another Day In Parodyse, which we now know he carries at least a little bit of attraction for his own gender. I'm not certain Logan will ever settle on a label(Even though I know what he is) And I think that he'll probably have a bit of confusion on that as time goes on. All I know for certain is that Seth and Logan have deep amounts of feeling for each other. What develops out of that feeling? I'm still waiting for them to show me where that path ends. :)

I thought it was hilarious the first time I read it, but... Poor Jamie...

I was in love with my Logan for a very long time, and I still am to be completely honest, though we are and most likely always will be friends. Seth is so much a representative of my inner child that I'm not surprised Logan is who he is to be his counterpart. Their future is still murky to me... I think that they are going to keep on surprising me, and hopefully at the same time, the rest of you.

I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen. They have minds of their own, and I can never predict how either of them is going to behave. Sometimes, I think that they're going to pursue those feelings, and sometimes I think they can be friends forever. These two are a complete roller coaster for me to write.

Amen to that!

You naughty child!

The interesting thing about this particular point is that I think a story that touches on that might come into play. The thing I don't know yet is how those friends will react. Some of them have distinct personalities already, based off of other things I've written, and others don't. I'll discover how they think and feel only if and when I write them, and then they may surprise me. I like letting my characters direct what's going to happen to them. The last two parts with Seth and Logan are proof of that, considering they were never supposed to happen. :)

Finally got around to it. It was worth the wait, surely. Definitely will be a hard act to follow.

Just to clarify, I do prefer Samuel, but I don't mind Sam. They're both okay.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words. This was as fun to write as the first one, and I think I will always enjoy writing these two... I have another project at the moment that keeps me from working on them, and will keep doing so for the next month at least, but once I've gotten that taken care of, I assure you that I'll pump out a few more. They really are adorable, aren't they? Thank you. Oh, and Samuel or Sam doesn't matter... I don't mind. :)

Another excerpt: "This isn't only relevant to the addicts I love. It is relevant to all of us, because it forces us to think differently about ourselves. Human beings are bonding animals. We need to connect and love. The wisest sentence of the twentieth century was E.M. Forster's - only connect. But we have created an environment and a culture that cut us off from connection, or offer only the parody of it offered by the internet. The rise of addiction is a symptom of a deeper sickness in the way we live - constantly directing our gaze towards the next shiny object we should buy, rather than the human beings all around us."

This article is absolutely fascinating to me. I think this applies in more way than just drug addiction... From the article: "This gives us an insight that goes much deeper than the need to understand addicts. Professor Peter Cohen argues that human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It's how we get our satisfaction. If we can't connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find - the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe. He says we should stop talking about 'addiction' altogether, and instead call it 'bonding'. A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn't bond as fully with anything else. So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html

I haven't been this moved in a while. Thank you for sharing.

As much as I love this one, The Ultimate Gift is still my favorite of the Lucien and Robin stories born out of that collaboration... as I've said before in private, while I can benefit from stories written from all perspectives, as a pansexual it's sometimes difficult for me to care as much about the ones that are so heavily rooted in the physical aspects of the relationship. Robin and Lucien are different, and especially with Robin being a pansexual as he is... I don't know that I've connected more to a character I've read than I have to him.

Stay tuned.... Muahahahaha! Logan is actually inspired by someone I know who did things like that for people. I think we all could use a bit of that in our lives.

Because I had an advanced reading of this story, I waited until this was posted before I said anything, but I adored it. Lucien and Robin are very similar to my own relationship, and I connect really well to it. Thanks for another great read!

One of my favorite articles that I think has bearing on this discussion. http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-proper-use-of-profanity/ My favorite line from this article: "Let us admit that technical perfection was left behind the moment we decided to start swearing, and work with what we’ve got."

A brilliant edition to the Sanitaria Springs collection. I loved every moment, and what sweetness there was in this delightful tale. Give Merkin's latest a read, it's wonderful.

Thank you, Colin. I appreciate the kudos! That was definitely an emotional piece for me, and I had to walk away from it several times because I was feeling too much. I normally write from negative emotion, but in this case I wrote from positive emotion, and it came out incredibly different than anything else I've ever done.

Thank you everyone for responding. I'll pass all of this information along!

I have a friend who is trying to get into writing stories, specifically LGBT stories, and I know there are some cliche elements that have been grumbled about in the past that I want to tell him to avoid. I know the one about the alarm clock opening, the describing one's self in the mirror, and the talking about penis sizes, but what others do I need to include on this list? Please and thank you.

I am a strong believer in the fact that every story has a soul of it's own, and normally that soul is crafted from the storyteller's. Sometimes this comes from emotions that we are comfortable with, that are longstanding companions. When we write from these places the writing may be good, but we don't notice the feeling as much because it's part of our everyday selves. But sometimes that soul comes from a place deep inside, hidden places that we don't often wander within ourselves. When we dare take the step into those parts of ourselves that we had previously left untouched that's where the magic lies, for that's when we are faced with emotions yearning to be freed. That's when, if we allow ourselves to free those emotions, we lose ourselves in the expression of those feelings. The muse is always telling us, like a stern mother, that we need to clear out the clutter and let the stories flow. I've found that my worst writer's block comes from when I refuse to let the story take the shape it wants to, often because I'm scared of facing the unknown, the parts of me I don't want unburied... But yes, I've definitely felt it. I've always felt that the best writing I've done has come about by facinh those emotions and letting them run free onto the page. I don't know if any of that made sense... Maybe I shouldn't post on three hours of sleep in the last 48 hours... Carry on.

Thank you everyone for the help and advice. I'll keep you posted if things don't work out.

Although yahoo messenger is a service that we did not try, we have tried google messenger, google plus, and a number of others. I can only communicate through my computer and he through his phone. He's having a hard time getting certain apps to work on his phone, and facebook messenger is so far the only one that has, other than an app that I can't get on my computer.