Site-Wide Activity

Gratitudes this week, in no particular order:
— grateful for hot toddies;
— grateful for the energy and dedication of the people who have stepped forward to try to mitigate any damage to civil rights that is coming;
— grateful for a pellet stove on a cold dreary day;
— grateful for those who look beyond our borders and work to help those…[Read more]

Gratitude is more important to me this week, when so many people around me are in fear and mourning. Gratitude is tha antidote to hopelessness, focusing on what we have and where we are instead of what we have lost or what obstacles may lay ahead.

I’m grateful for my wonderful partner, Steven Barnes. I’m grateful for the company of other…[Read more]

I was unable to share most of my stories with my own mother, and that was painful. But…you have to be true to your own heart.

There is no “the best”. But if you concentrate on anthologies of the “Best of the Year” variety, or collections of “Best all time short stories” and so forth. You can find them in literary, horror, SF, Western, mystery, or whatever, but libraries and bookstores are full of them. Read and find your own role models!

I’d enjoy hearing your sankalpa. Mine is “1% daily improvement of my Morning Ritual.” It used to be “1% daily improvement in amplitude and congruence of body, mind, and spirit” but that is harder for an eight-year old to understand, and that’s how old my Inner Child is. Don’t worry about your relationship with this lady. Your focus should be…[Read more]

Slowly the fog gets clearer…

Some topics still remain:

1) How to handle the pain I get from this?:
For me having Sex with her is incredibly beautiful and she also loves it.
How can I handle the fact that she did all the incredibly beauty including very intimate sexual practices with guys she just has known for +- 2 hours (!!!) – That somehow…[Read more]

That said, I have started three short stories since the class began. I finished one. Another was a very hard sci-fi story where I got bogged down in science. I intend to spend the long weekend untangling some of that. The third I just… stopped. I should probably finish it.

Steven, how sure are you that the short story market still exists in a form that’s useful for new writers? Because what I’ve heard isn’t encouraging- on the cruise, I got to have dinner with Lynn and Michael Thomas, the editors of Uncanny magazine, and I was regaled with stories of the thousands of submissions they get every month for the very few…[Read more]

1-4 stories a month is the window. A story a week would get you to the next level (and beyond!) within two years. Amazing momentum, so long as you are fulfilling the other steps. Watch what you do, and what happens. If your GOAL/OUTCOME is to be a professional writer, the “Machine” is your ROAD to that. Your “Action plan”. If this is…[Read more]

“I can write better than this” is one of the most common reactions mentioned by writers. It is a powerful affirmation of possibility!

Here’s a recommendation: please stop writing books until you’ve published about ten short stories. You will progress FAR faster in your craft it you take this approach. And trust me: we’ve heard about any reason…[Read more]

You don’t need a lot of lovers to be a good lover. But you do have to learn, and grow. And genuinely love yourself, and relish women. If you help her feel delicious, you’ve hit the mark.

I’ve wanted to write for as long as I can remember. My earliest stories were what I suppose most people’s early stories are: retellings of stories I had read with new characters, new interpretations, new things. My mother approved of reading, but only of certain works. She was concerned that I might read “trash”, by which she meant anything that…[Read more]

I like to think I was “born” a writer, but I think being raised by oral storytellers with shelves crammed with books MADE me a writer by the time I was 4. I wrote and illustrated a picture book called “Baby Bobby,” and it was off to the races! (They say “Write what you know!”)

I have taken on the machine! I have made a committment in 2017 to write a story a week. I am a full time teacher and mom, however, I have decided it is now or never! I have been feeling a sense of urgency about writing and have been showing up to the page every morning since January 1. I am planning on keeping up this momentum. Whether the writing…[Read more]

Thanks Steven.
For the first time it seams I take myself REALLY serious…

1) As I lived in poverty for so long its unusual to do that. But ok, why not.
2000€ a month income would be great… Right now I make around 1000-1200 €/month I guess with which I can survive (and amazingly enough) and enjoy my life – so I dont REALLY perceive a lack of…[Read more]

All of your problems in this relationship are in your own heart. So are any advantages and positives. You have to love yourself enough to trust that you can heal and grow. Let’s look at your goals:
1) Financially: I would love to at least be able to pay everyday expenses from my clients alone
2) Emotional: I would be able to be in that…[Read more]

I see that you found the link to manage your subscription in the email receipt and have already canceled your subscription.

Ok. I keep in touch with that lady to learn and open up sexually.
I dont know if a long term relationship will work out though.

You`ve told me that my wound can be healed sufficently… does that it wont bother me being with a woman much more experienced than me?

what really bothers me is the “fact” that you tell me that the problem is 100% on…[Read more]