Richard Norway

You're right Cole. I guess I'm just too anxious to continue being involved in Abner's world the way Paul is giving it to us. I'll give him until the next day. LOL Paul, Don't feel pressured by us. We're writers and we love to read good writing, and I was being comical. But in all comedy. there is an amount of truth that makes the comedy real and enjoyable. The truth is that you've wetted a writer's appetite with something that is what readers want to read. There is real life in there. I was serious when I said that we want to read more. Please don't feel pressured. Just understand our desires to read more of what you obviously are capable of. :)

I didn't see it coming either, but in a way I'm glad I did. That last line spoke volumes about who he was. Good to see you again Trab, but I'm one to talk. I've not been around much either. :(

OMG Tim. What a slice of real life raising good kids who are part of a family. I have two foster boys, and it's like I'm seeing my 9 year old. As I'm trying to write this, my 9 year old has built (by himself) a boxing ring out of our patio chairs as end posts with rope strung around them as the ring. He just drug David out to see it and play with him, but he was not pleased that I had to finish this post. Gotta go to be a part of his excitement.

Almost all large retailers use independent companies to manage their credit card sales and collectables today. They are not the parent company. I laud JC Penny for their stance. You know, as a kid I always loved their Towncraft, all cotton, tight-whities briefs.

Okay Luggie. I need a jacket. I'm into ice cream with chocolate syrup. Still waiting Eelcivil. I have a gallon of vanilla ready.

Like someone told me a million times. "Write what you know."

Hi Paul, I think from all of the comments that you've received here that you now know that you have the interest in your writing by some very good writers. You do have a way with words that bring a story to life without the baggage of drone narrative. But you've also heard the request (some almost demanding) that you continue with this story. You've left us with somewhat of a cliffhanger, because we now all want to know what will happen to Abner and how he's going to feel and react to a brand new world. You have a challenge, you know? The folks here have an insatiable appetite for good writing. You've shown us that, and they want more. Okay. Let's make a deal. How about we get the next installment (or chapter), say, by September 30th? Oh! Some of us can't wait that long. So how about by the end of July? Hold on a sec. Dude just texted me. Okay, he won't go for that. He can't wait that long and wants to see something by the end of June. Oh Christ! Another text. Hold on. Camy, Cole, Chris, Trab, Blue, James, and Colin just all texted me. I can't keep up with it all. Hmmmm. I think Cole's asleep. hehe. Okay. Here it is. The consensus is that we should all expect the next installment by... By... By... Tomorrow! Richard ps. This is a truly engrossing story that needs to continue.

Hell, I'm still learning the rules, and now Des wants me to break them? I just learned about the "Oxford Comma" a month ago.

The most important thing about Bi Janus' work is that he makes you think. I enjoy that. Not so much for the challenge, but for the opportunity to think, really use my mind. It's as refreshing as breathing in fresh mountain air and opening my eyes and mind to the world around me. I'm in awe, because I can't do what he does, but by reading his words, he makes me a part of this world.

Where can I find this story?

I remember diagramming sentences in some grade in school, but I can't remember which class. I loved it at the time, because it made me feel in control of the language that I was using. After following this post, I looked up "sentence diagramming" and was shocked at how much I had forgotten of the mechanics. At least I had forgotten the rules of sentence diagramming. But, I hadn't forgotten the logic behind analyzing a sentence, That has kept me focused on the other decisions I have had to make in my life. I learned to separate the emotions of a decision and focus on the facts, to get at the essence of the issue. My logic classes gave me nothing, but diagramming sentences gave me logic, Maybe being an anal engineer helped too.

Hey Luggie, I think you're like most of us. We try, but sometimes we just do things wrong and are always trying to play catchup to salvage what we did wrong. But it's important that when we realize something in our lives needs fixing, we go after it (My Bowflex is winking at me.). Okay, tomorrow I start.

I'm sorry, but this is laughable. It really makes no difference what the size of anything is, but rather how it is used. In a loving relationship, it's the love that counts and the expression of that love.

The video has been removed by the owner. :(

HA! Des, you're in trouble. I finally saw the cause of the fire and am going to spring that dessert on our foster boys, and David. My kitchen is safe as I know how to "properly" flambe, well sometimes. The fire department has been notified.

I've just started reading, but it's good so far.

This still gives me the faith in humanity, This kid deserves a chance.

Quote Colin Kelly. "...probably the first time in his life that anyone did that for him." Sorry, I haven;t learned how to be a nerd yet, Colin, I think you hit the nail. We are the 23rd home he has been in since he was 3 years old, some of which I don't think were good foster homes. He has been let down and even abandoned by adults his whole life. His sense of self worth is ZERO. He frustrates me beyond measure, but I can't give up on this kid. He has worth. He's so intelligent that he scares me sometimes, but he's used that to understand the system and is doing what he can to survive on his our, The concept of "family" is so foreign to him where everyone comes together. We will continue we make him be a part of us, Colin, I know what you've experienced. Richard

This will be a hard post for me as I want to let my friends here know why I haven't been very active here but can't give out confidential information, as I want you all to know something of what has been going on. I'm not going to go into detail as they are confidential with a foster kid living with us. He's in trouble over some of the things that he has been doing, some of which are against the law. We had a major confrontation this morning. I was robbed last night. Of course, we called the sheriff . Many things came out of that. David, my partner, is a life couch and had a consulting firm for his practice. He was in high form this morning when we talked to our foster son. He was involved. New Mexico Protective Services wanted to fry this kid. But something amazing happened this morning, I think he saw that we are on his side, no matter what he had done, and his trust in us became evident when he opened up and talked to us about what he had been doing. at considerable length. This was a first. He's still trying to fit in, and he's only been with us for 5 months. I'm not ready to give up on this kid. BTW, he's 15. I wont, because even if he doesn't realize it, he has worth. I guess I could go on and on about what has happened, but what I want to relate is what David had said in his blog tonight. It speaks for itself. Kids are our priority. "Distractions, Priorities and Hard Choices I have been working on a major grant application for the past few weeks and not getting very far. I have been distracted by drama on all sides. The major drama has been “kid drama”. All I will say is the “kid drama” was serious, more serious than we realized. The good news is we seem to have arrived at a turning point. The next few days will be critical in this turning out positively. This brings me to priorities. Several important commitments are due in these same critical few days, what should the priority be? All of the choices are important, some to the centers project, the community and to the kiddo. What trumps what? Not long ago I would have said the community and/or center trump everything; I would have been wrong. The centers project is already having an impact on the GLBTQ community and will continue whether the current grant application is finished or not. A young person’s future is at a critical point and in need of support. I have asked funders what one youth’s life is worth in terms of investment when seeking funding for Rainbow Youth in fairness I have to ask myself the same question. The response I am looking for from funders is tens of thousands of dollars, when in fact there is no cost too great. The hard choice I made was to cancel a trip to Los Angeles related to the centers and pass on the grant because the time needs to be spent on supporting the kiddo. Whether folks think I made the right choice or not, I believe I have. Part of leadership is making potentially unpopular choices and standing by them. I often don’t take ownership of my leadership because I’m an introvert and not completely comfortable in the leadership roles I find myself. In this case I am comfortable and totally own this as a leadership decision."

I use both Microsoft Office and Open Office. I've used to MS Office for years and only recently loaded Open Office. It's come a long way since its beginning and is just recently outshining MS Office.

When I was a kid growing up in Southern California, we had to break apart our medal skates and nail them to a 2x4. How things have improved! These kids are fantastic with their skill.

I'm wondering if having back problems is a consequence of being a writer. It seems that most of the writers that I know have back pains. Although with me I know that's not the case. I only started writing about 20 years ago, while I started having back problems almost 48 years ago. I had ruptured a disk in my lower back while teeing off at the second hole at Alondra Golf Course in Torrance, California when I was 19 years old. As I grew older, the back pains persisted and got worse. A doctor friend of mine explained it to me this way. He said your backbone (spine) is like a flag pole with three guy wires to keep it in place. These being the two muscles that run down either side of your spine and your stomach muscles in front. When any one of these gets flabby and not able to properly do its job, your backbone becomes unsupported. As in most people, we know which muscle gets flabby, right? The front one. When I hit 50, I was 6'-0" at 220 pounds. I'm still 6'-0" but I'm now at a comfortable 178 pounds. Taking off the weight has realty helped reduce the number of times my disk would bulge pinching the nerve in my spinal column. Oh, and a pack a day keeps everyone away.

But...where would I find the paragraph?

I have a question. Something that I had written in the 3rd person omnipotent was reviewed, and the comment was my overuse of the names instead of shifting to the pronouns of he, she, them, they, us, etc. This seems to be a feel kind of thing. When I start by saying, 'person' said, " ..." I would usually follow with a pronoun unless another character interrupted and was heard. Then I would use the first person's name again to identify him/her as taking over the action. In my first novel, I overused the use of the character's names. I'm not sure if there is a 'rule' about the use of pronouns over the name again, but I would like to know how you other authors feel about this. In the 3rd person I feel that the names are necessary to identify who is taking control.

Chuckle...chuckle.