aj

I guess I should have tried to somehow make it even more obvious that I was referring to gay-oriented stories found on the Internet -- the focus of my post -- and not to great literature. I apologize for any misunderstanding. I suppose I should have made it even more obvious that it doesn't matter whether we're talking about gay-oriented fiction on the net or great literature...there is no difference, in this case, between the two. The art of writing is no different, and the way in which it is used remains the same. aj

Why do i find myself in these positions? I suppose it's because I can't let a statement like: "It is the positive and uplifting stories and their authors that are remembered." or "We hope the dark and negative stories are mostly forgotten soon after they are read.", go unchallenged. It's my observation that the opposite is actually true. Most of the great literature of the world is notably lacking in upbeat, uplifting tales. "Anna Karenina"? not known for it's levity. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"? not exactly upbeat. Milton's "Paradise Lost"? Not terribly uplifting. Yet all of them are surprisingly enduring, even so. I understand why your site features positive and uplifting stories exclusively: it's because your site has an agenda to maintain, and that's ok. It has been considered a worthy attempt to push that agenda by people whose opinions I respect. Nevertheless, to dismiss those efforts which contain elements of 'negativity' out of hand as dreary reminders of an unpleasant reality, strikes me as pretty cavalier. When art becomes a tool to advance an agenda, it runs the risk of becoming propaganda. cheers! aj

You know, there's room in gay fiction for a variety of styles and points of view. Unlike the aforementioned republican statement, this is not a whitewash. Codey's point of view gives me hope, and James' point of view grounds me in the reality that we still have a long way to go. We need both. Is there something wrong with believing that the world can change, and become a better place? no, I don't believe so. Should we write about that, and maybe give some hope to someone somewhere who needs it? yep, that's a good thing too. On the flip side, there's nothing wrong with writing about the shit that can happen either. Do not be deceived--living in the world is like swimming in a shark tank. There's a lot of predators out there, and maybe knowing something about how they operate will help someone avoid them...though I find that most people learn by direct experience, rather than by reading something. cheers! aj

Anybody that loves a dog would be touched deeply by this story. I happen to live with four of them, and love all of them to distraction. The thing that amazes and inspires me about dogs is their ability to live absolutely in the present. Everything is in the now for them, and TR captured this so perfectly by writing the story in present tense. Additionally, but not secondarily, dogs are absolutely creatures of habit and routine--the use of the phrase 'it was "done correctly." is so perfect for dogs. And finally, of course, dogs are the most faithful and devoted creatures on the planet--with the exception of Mike's cats, of course. This dog knew that his man would come for him if he just waited long enough. This is an amazing and lovely story. cheers!

I do run the spell check on a story after I've done all my work on it...just the other day, it found that i'd overlooked 'chlorine' spelled wrong about four times in one chapter. So yeah, it's good at catching low-level spelling errors and the like. The grammar function, on the other hand, is a total loss. I ignore what it tells me about pretty much anything. I find the most useful tool to be the 'find and replace,' under the 'edit' button on Word. I use it for 'then' vs. 'than' and for 'it's' vs. 'its' on every piece that i edit. cheers! aj

The most difficult part of your plan, as I see it, is finding a suitably suicidal horse. One wouldn't, of course, want to include a horse that wasn't terminally depressed. Perhaps a burned out police horse? cheers! aj

I assumed that the setting was the seashore, since I know that hermit crabs are saltwater creatures. I don't know of any that can tolerate fresh water. Do they live in brackish water, as one might find in an estuary? I have no idea, but i'm inclined to think they don't. It's also been my experience that shells are pretty much a saltwater phenomenon. cheers! aj

You're no fun at all... This is fascinating for me, and quite educational. As I said early on, I'd never seen anyone else's editorial process, and this was all I was hoping it would be. Thank you very, very much to all who participated, and big hugs and kisses for Graeme--both for his unquestionable courage in subjecting his story...er, volunteering his story for the demonstration, and his work in preparing the results for posting. So, where do we go from here? Do we want to continue this process and have another go at a second draft of the story, after Graeme incorporates the changes he likes, or do we let it go at that? I'm up for either option. One consequence I hadn't considered at the outset, but which is now glaringly obvious, is that this demo gives our author-types on the site a chance to see what kind of work we do, and to make some kind of informed decision about who they'd like to work with--if any of us, as in the case of James. Anyway, once again a sincere 'thank you' to all who participated. I can scratch one more fantasy off my list (yes, I know it's pathetic, but I did have fantasies about this kind of demonstration). cheers! aj

This is some good stuff, pr. The last stanza is great--they really don't want your heart anyway, so they probably consider it a good tradeoff. cheers! aj

I mean, think of it...a nice cucumber salad, followed by escorting Miss Elders out the door and then a romp with the ever-so sexy Seth Green, and in a safe way, no less. I could think of worse things...including Pauley Shore. My vote for most nightmare-ish scenario: instead of Jocelyn Elders, Kid Rock. cheers! aj

Not to worry, aaron--we're not pulling your license this time. Seriously though, I've had errors like that show up in my stuff too. It's just part of the game...nobody is perfect, and we shouldn't expect that we will be. I--yes, even I--have been offered an editorial service for my forum posts (at a very reasonable rate, I might add) because I make silly mistakes and don't catch them. And it would figure that the one blooper in the whole lot would be the one that would make it to the main page, huh? I feel your pain... :D cheers! aj

It was an anachronism. There was no evidence to suggest that french had ever existed in this particular world, so where did this french term come from? After a little word of explanation from the author, however, i withdrew my objections. cheers! aj

I think it's mostly a matter of too much going on...editors are rarely, in my experience, without about 150 things more to do than they have time to do them in. Currently, I have three chapters of the scrolls sitting on my desktop, I'm working on a fourth, and Jamie is threatening me with another one. I'm supposed to be sending a clean copy of the last chapter I edited on another project, and rusticmonk's JDTIN is waiting on the backburner... cheers! aj

LOL...You should have heard the fuss i kicked up the first time he included a french term... cheers! aj

so I heard back from the garage...looks like two ball joints on the same wheel, an upper and a lower; tie rod ends; brake hose, and various miscellaneous parts. This ain't gonna be cheap. Still, as I said before, it's better than the alternative. I think James' point about having the others checked is a good one...I'll ask the shop guy to check out the ball joints on the other front wheel as well. i don't think the rear wheels have ball joints, because they don't have to be able to swivel. Are all y'all (see? the thread was not wasted!) familiar with "The Book of Bunny Suicides"? It's a charming little volume of methods by which rabbits commit suicide...I am a fan of black and morbid humor, so it worked for me. I particularly liked the one with the picture of the bunny standing on the ledge below Big Ben, at 12:30. The bunny has tied a noose to the minute hand, and the other end around his neck. anyway, thanks for all the comments guys. cheers! aj

This evening, as I was driving the '66 t-bird to work, putzing along in traffic at about 20mph, the front passenger side ball joint broke. For those of you who don't know, this is the main joint that connects the wheel to the axle. There was this very loud 'clunk!' and the car dove to the right and then stopped dead as the wheel kinked out at an angle that car wheels are definitely not supposed to adopt. I happened to be passing the driveway to an automotive garage at the time, so I limped the car into the driveway out of traffic and stopped. Thank gods for cell phones--I called my best friend and business partner, got him down there to deal with the tow truck and hoofed it on into work. As I was working away, I was struck by this thought: What would have happened if one of us had been driving down the freeway at 70mph when this had happened? I doubt that whoever was in the car in that case would have survived...even at 20 mph, the car was hard to control when this happened. In all likelihood, the car would have rolled and been struck by several other vehicles. So, tonite I'm very grateful that I'm able to write this. Whether it's some god or other looking out for me, or because my Karma is good, or just pure, random good luck, nothing happened except I was late to work and a little annoyed--and I'm ok with that outcome. Yes, i'm pretty sure the repairs will be costly, but i'm ok with that too, considering the alternatives. cheers! aj

Randy english schoolboys, great fishing stories and a foodies perspective--how can ya go wrong? Add to that a great eye for detail, a lucent and simple style and...um, did i mention the randy english school boys? Oh yes, so i did. Anyway, one hell of a good tale! cheers! aj

I'll second that...good to hear from you! cheers! aj

...being a virtue, of course. What I'd like to know, looking back over the thread, is whether, when you saw Graeme, it was you panting or him? cheers! aj

WHOOOOHOOOO! cheers! aj

We need to gather them all somewhere, and then send both the edited editions and the unedited story to Mike. If you'd like to send them to me, and then have me send them on, that's fine...but since you already seem to be receiving them back, why don't you wait till you have all of them, and then send 'em off to Mike from your addie? Either way is fine with me...I'm not particularly posessive about this thing. Mike will be the one to decide how to display the demo...so we'll just send 'em off into his capable hands and let it go at that. BTW...did my first edit of the vignette this afternoon, and i'll send it to you tonite. cheers! aj

There was a guy that was the janitor in my high shool up in AK...He was from Mississippi, and had such a thick accent, sometimes I wondered if he was still speaking english. I also had a friend from Pennsylvania who used the construction 'you's' (or maybe 'youse') in place of 'y'all', with the same intent. aj

Hey WBMS-- For $50, I'll let you...er, I probably shouldn't say that on this board, huh? After all, I'm supposed to be upholding the dignity around here... cheers! aj

That looks good, Aussie. I hope that a couple of the other editorial types will join us, but I actually think 4 is not a bad start on this particular demonstration. After all, it's got to be posted in it's entirety 5 times--once to show before the edits, and once each for each of the participating prosemenders. Anyway...I look forward to getting the story, and can't wait to see what those guys do with it. cheers! aj

No one, and I mean NO ONE is doing any better writing out there than this woman. There are people doing brilliant things in other genres, and doing them every bit as well, but this woman is flat out genius level. cheers! aj