A smile...( I have been story-making,) 😀

Does that mean those of us who are not competition-level have to take up the slack, whilst the top table have their creative juices flowing in rosette corner? Tough job to fill those shoes, but I'll do what I can!😊

Does getting peed in by a passing puppy after my own dog had pinned me against a tree with her lead by wrapping it around a large oak count? 🙄

Have you ever suspended a sexual encounter because the (insert number) of you were laughing so much, a break was required?

A pair of pants 😇

What's your most annoying habit?

Could be a frustrated writer having an orgasm face, perhaps? I should write a story about that...Oh hang on, I already did!😀

Seeing my latest development step, Maria's Countdown, up on the site makes me very happy, Not perfect, by any means, but the sense of achievement feeling is one I still enjoy and celebrate. Whatever you're striving to achieve, I know the feeling you get when you do get there and that's true whatever level you're writing at. I can't rid myself of the annoying baggage of brain injury, but striving to be the best I can be? I'll keep that up as long as I can draw breath.

NHIE known if I was boarding a plane last or not. If I looked around to check, I'd end up at the bottom of the steps in a heap.

You will have that moment of inspiration, I'm sure.

1,2 and 3, This won't change, I hope those who've ticked less/more of the seven are equally happy with their 'score' as I am with mine.

If it wasn't for the fact it would be rudeness in the extreme, I'd steal the picture of a stewed brain for my profile!😀

A very interesting summary of your motives for being here and writing. I think it's a good thing that people are inspired in different ways, because it means that even the same set of scenarios will produce a different story, depending on the motivation. Thank you for sharing what you said in the post, very illuminating.

Passionately put forward points and rightly so. I completely agree that relevance is more important than time scales being represented in proportion too. I might suggest that whether loose ends have been tied up is subjective, but to do so might sound like I'm disagreeing with someone who's forgotten more than I will ever know about writing, which I'm not and would never do,

I raised the point I did to illustrate that putting things together is a different process if you are new to doing so than it is to those with experience. Even the best had to start somewhere.

The challenges I face in trying to reach acceptable standards do make things difficult for others to understand, but it is no more their fault than it is mine that I don't have the experience of others,

I am extremely proud of what I achieve with a significant brain injury and will defend my right to be the best that I can be in this environment as passionately as the things others feel strongly about. If I don't have the experience others do of producing quality, there is nothing I can do but learn. It's rather like people being expected to understand what it's like to have impaired cognitive ability when they've never experienced it.

If reality doesn't always reach a point where everything is resolved and neatly packaged, why should a piece of fiction?

(>>> Grabs tin hat, runs away and hides,)

Never have I ever looked at at a vacuum cleaner and thought 'What if I...'

What is the most unusual item you find erotic.

Best in terms of random/unexpected...Went to meet on old fashioned 'pen pal' type friend in person for her birthday. Just about got the 'birthday' out and was grabbed by a woman who said her friend wanted to dance, Sixteen hours later, her friend was running me back into town in her car from her (flat, I think!), I was rather ashamed of my behaviour and phoned my pen pal to apologise, She couldn't stop laughing, teased me mercilessly and she reckoned seeing me get pounced on made it her best birthday for years, I didn't think I was the 'type' to be selected for such debauchery....and still don't!

That's a lovely comment and summarises what I try to do perfectly, Thank you,

My goals? Not intentionally different just to stand out, but I suspect they may not be the same as those of many others here!

1. To keep the parts of my brain that still function after the latest surgery on it active.

2. To work hard to achieve something and do so reaching the required standard.

3, To demonstrate and celebrate that my imagination is unaffected by events in the way other skills have been.

4. To improve and to feel happy when help, encouragement and positive comment is offered.

5. To enjoy what I do and do it to the best of my ability.

6. To bring a smile to the face of someone reading my stories.

....Well, you DID ask!

How dull would life be if we all liked the same thing? My experience in the real world limits what I feel I can include in my writing, It does so according to my 'rules' for me and is no criticism of anyone who does differently. Killing the beast of a bad experience was a part of my latest, beginner-level effort, which I have never experienced, but the act involved and the consequences of betrayal are, just not at the same time. I love to see the opinion and variety that is out there, but I'm comfortable with what I write and not looking to expand my horizons, I might seem boring, conventional and timid to some, which is fine, as I'm also happy!

Today, I managed to get something to the level required to be accepted, To many, that's run of the mill, but with a brain injury, even the ordinary can be a challenge, The site's reviewers are fair, reasonable and helpful and I would never want to be judged differently to anyone else, Some, quite reasonably, will look for plaudits, awards, likes, reads etc, to determine their success, They are right to do what counts for them. If they're as happy as I am to have reached my goal when they reach theirs, they'll have as big a smile as I have right now,

Time may be a great healer, but so is penicillin,

Roses are red,

But I holler "They ain't,"

Whilst turning them blue

With a lick of fresh paint.

Tots of rum are not as good as a long squeeze together, if caught under-dressed outside in the Winter,

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

In my opinion, the thing that draws me through a story isn't so much figuring out how it will end (it's erotic fiction - it's going to end in sex 99 times out of 100), but how the characters get there. In other words, I tend to focus more on establishing the circumstances and relationship between characters, building the tension to a point where the conclusion is inevitable. The sex at the end of the story is the payoff, but the payoff doesn't mean too much unless the characters have to work for it, to overcome some challenge or resistance that's keeping them apart. When the work has been done and the characters receive their reward, the story ends. I don't do sequels usually - they're too predictable and have too little tension left in them to be interesting. A story that spends too much time in 'happily ever after' gets tiresome and quickly overstays its welcome.

I'm a near novice and not ashamed to say that. With that caveat established, I would dare to suggest that some of the accepted norms of writing a story may not be as set in stone in this environment as elsewhere. ( The 99/100 statistic above being a big clue.)

Yes, you can have an unexpected twist in a story, but even that would need people reading it investing in the characters enough to care.

People can, of course, treat putting a story together like those here in exactly the same way as they would any other, but holding certain conventions dear when they're, at best, over the top, might do more harm than good.

Else was a fictional surname used when playing in professional sport as an amateur to avoid being banned. Someone Else and AN Other were both names I played under. A true story, folks.

Passages is almost as useless as the word 'orange' is for rhyming purposes.

If those who think the size of things is important stick together with those who think the same and those who don't believe it matters do similarly, we'll all get along fine, I'm sure. 😊

Even where you were born can make a difference to how you view and use a word. 100 % true, by the way,

I don't use the word and wouldn't when writing, This is, however, my choice and reflects my views, If someone was using it in dialogue in a story, I can see situations where it might convey a sense of urgency, frustration or desperation and be appropriate. As is the case with many things, if it's not my thing, that doesn't make it wrong, it's just not right for me.

Living in staff accommodation, whilst working in health care, the sight of my fellow trainees and friends naked stopped being a novelty very quickly. We gents were still outnumbered 20: 1 in the late 1980's, although knocking on the door of a sleeping gent's flashing at us when returning home from an occasional 'girly' night out was a kind of routine homecoming part of it.