I just wanted to encourage people to comment on stories, by pointing out a few things.

I've got a new story ready to roll, but I would appreciate someone taking a look-see first and making sure its okay.

Any takers?

When I was in high school, we were assigned a project that involved creating a coat of arms that would represent us. Mine ended up having a sun ray of hope, a cross of faith, an open book of knowledge, and a broken heart held together by a band-aid.

Looking back on it now, I think that it shows that even though I saw myself as "broken", I continued to have hope that some kind of healing was possible for me.

I've told you that story so I can tell you this one:

Just an update on a couple of fronts:

Well, I just wanted to pass along an update on a few things.

Well, today has been a pretty tough day.

A while ago I talked about an older man at my church who decided what I needed was someone to flirt with me, and today, he took that flirting to another level.

Things are a little stressed around here. My mom is sick, my dog is sick, and I had a tough moment with Sharon. See, the other night I took my daughter and her mother out for groceries and mentioned I had just written a story and was pretty happy with it. My daughter, who loves stories, wanted to know what I named it, and Sharon butted in and told her "You don't want to know that stuff. It isnt for kids."

So apparently, I cant share the one part of my life I'm actually proud of with my daughter, and it hurts ...

My dear sister Jaci is feeling sick, so if you're so inclined, send her some good wishes.

Well, my adventures in dog-sitting is over, and I'm glad to be home. I was happy to find out I would have Wi-Fi there, so I was able to peek in on you guys to see if you were behaving, and most of you were ...

Now, I would take a moment to be serious, and talk about putting yourself down.

I have been very guilty of it over the years, but finally, someone managed to make me see that in calling myself down I make it true. Every time I call myself stupid, or ugly, or whatever, I help make that the reality.

Well, my friend Jaci is gonna laugh about this one: I was having a conversation with my next-door neighbor yesterday, and she said I was "more girly " than she was ...

I was reading an excellent science fiction book a while back and it got me thinking about the process of creating a society for a story.

a while back Bailey Summers did a bit where he used the analogy of using spoons to represent a portion of one's physical, emotional, and psychological strength to deal with life.

There was an interesting article in a local paper yesterday about a woman who had lost her hair due to an autoimmune disease, and for the last 3 years refused to be seen in public without a wig, until she finally decided to "come out of the hair closet" by letting herself be photographed without it.

In some ways, my transition has been like her story - years of hiding and self-hate, then coming out and discovering just a big a relief it is to be honest, and then finding out that most people ignore me, some accept me, and some love me regardless.

Well, I found out the source of my panic attack before going into a shower.