Years back research was done on slicing and dicing MtF, FtM Gay, Lesbian, and "normal F and M" brains. Years of medical research papers along with all the follow on research from that initial lab report was a mixed batch of agreement and denial from medical and scientific teams around the world. Gay and Lesbian publications jumped in on the positive claiming Gay was hardwired into the brain. Naturally I had to send the Medical Research Report to several publications.

and any other colour you can think of!

I expected several of the contest winners to donate their prizes to Big Closet.

This has been a BC tradition.

I was not prepared for double-digit participation in giving. This occurred without solicitation.

It appears our community is as strong as ever.

Thank you!

Jill

The January 2024 Writing Contest is over. I had the distinct pleasure of being one of the two judges with Emma Anne Tate. We scored the stories independently. The following remarks are my opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Big Closet management, Emma Anne Tate, or Joannebarberella.

The vast majority of Big Closet authors are terrific storytellers with vivid imaginations. They are passionate about their beliefs and eager to please the readers.

As true now if not more than it was in 1949.

I just want to take this last-minute opportunity to thank Jill, Emma and Joanne for running a wonderful, epic, and truly marvelous contest!

And hugs also to all the authors, commenters and readers!

Hugs,
Erin

Here is a link to the story: https://www.yahoo.com/news/oklahoma-transgender-student-dies-allegedly-125629309.html

I am sick and tired of reading stories like this over and over again. I am sick of depraved people using other people as the others to rally votes. I am sick of conservatives saying they are the party of Jesus. I am sick of conservatives who will do nothing but offer thoughts and prayers when they have the power to do something. I am sick of people who vote those conservatives in and try to say they are allies for civil rights. You cannot vote for people in power who have as their main platform treating others as second-class citizens just because you think you are going to get another tax break. I am sick of conservatives saying they are for personal rights yet time and time they fight to take them away. I am sick of conservatives saying that we do not have issues with discrimination.

Something strange is happening to me writing Allison Zero. It’s not that this has never happened, it’s the intensity with which it’s happening. I spend quite a while working on each part of the story, and generally edit as I go; often reading back over pages after I’ve written maybe half a page extra. And I do this multiple times to maintain the flow of what I’m writing. This is how I’ve always written.

which isn't ideal when you have stuff to do that involves going outside!

For years when my computer booted, 'Facebook' automatically loaded and I used it quite a lot. Recently the owner of that site has been sued for damaging children and had to testify in one of the US Government houses.

A day or so ago my computer would suddenly load without it and it has been quite enjoyable.''

:)

Gwen

The contest is closed to new entries. Here’s your chance to discuss which stories you liked the best!

maybe i'll get back to my usual programme this week?

Ugh. Next "Freddy on the Loose" is coming along but very slowly.

I keep having ideas for what to put in the next Masks story.

Has anyone else had the "Error 503 Backlash" or whatever it's called with this website as of late? I just had it when I was trying to publish the last chapter of my TMEP serial, and I almost panicked. I thought I was gonna lose the ~2000 words that I had written! Luckily, I tried again, and this time it worked. SO relieved to not have to rewrite that whole chapter from scratch...

Since my previous blog post about story summaries and blurbs, and after all the helpful advice, my "process" has had a new addition. All my Toni With An i stories now have a blurb on them, so does Marking Your Card, and Allison Zero has been getting a blurb right from the start.

I don't know how it's working out, but I feel it's beneficial, and it's something I want to continue. I don't think comparing kudos/readers/comments across stories is very helpful as blurbs only play a small part, but I would hope readers are finding them helpful. I certainly feel justified in doing them (based on nothing but gut feeling and what people previously asked for in the older blog.)

I got a new story up.

Sorry, its not my fluffiest entry. In fact, its kind of dark.

Here are my thumbnail sketches of the last stories to come in. Nothing random this time; these are the 15 stories I hadn't already reviewed!

Marriage Counseling

and some weather!

First: I have been guilty of that which I complain about and now see the error of my ways.

When entering your author name on a story it is easier to navigate if you have carried through with some consistency. I understand that there are several Authors that use more than one name. I have three though primarily use "Gwen Brown".

I’ve been traveling this week to deal with some family issues, so I’ve been kind of quiet as the contest goes into the final stretch. I have been keeping on top of stories coming in, though. Here’s my latest set of reviews. Great reading!!!

The Promise

To dispel my own irritation, here are some important definitions:

Space is anywhere outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Deep Space is outside this Solar System.

Galaxy is a generally spiral shaped collection of stars and other matter that is thought to orbit around a Black Hole. The number of stars in our Galaxy is thought to be in the billions. At light speed, Scientists say that it would take 200,000 years to cross it.

The Universe has unnumbered Galaxies in it. Our own Galaxy is thought to be in a group of Galaxies that occupy the Lanea kea group.

Hi all, I was thinking about a book/short story I read years ago and I wondered if anyone here could remember the author or book name.

The story is set in the future and it’s about cars that can drive themselves, people who look after them have years of trouble free motoring but the people who don’t have nothing but trouble, the story comes to a point where a badly treated vehicle goes all “Christine” on the owner.

I believe it was called ‘Automatics’, does this ring any bells for anyone?

Hoping you can help
Sammi

For all of you who are wondering what's happening now, and want to know what's going on, my In-Laws have filed again, after being denied an emergent hearing for custody. This time the judge is having us all go into pre-trial mediation to see if we can solve this outside of court.

This has nothing to do with the criminal case but is still nerve-wracking, I thought you would all want to keep updated (we are still representing ourselves pro-se, because we have yet to find a lawyer that will help us for less than a $3500 retainer for Family Court).

-Piper

I plan to release the 10th and final chapter for "You're Only Human". I never wanted to have it be a "love connection" between an AI and the human narrator but I moved the needle into that direction and found it shoved back the other way by the AI. So, the story will end on a not so happy ending in "virtual love-land" but more of a way to have the narrator not confide so much with a program but with others in the flesh.

...Not Suicidal...
Just embarrassed???

Not feeling too well just now so got in a tub of hot water to soak away the joint pain. With all the ruckus over illegal drugs, I'm not about to try to find something illegal. I tried a light dose Tylenol (Paracetamol) but it did nothing. The hot water just made things worse, so I got out. I am too shy to go to the ED on the week end, and I have an appointment with my Doctor on Wednesday. I'd planned to use a Taxi Wednesday if the Bus seems too much.

... Simple math on the number of contest entries (115 is the most recent number I've seen), times the minimum entry length, says we have dump-er-inflict-er-deluge -er- "sent" our Judges well over 277,500, to perhaps around a half million words!

Plus comments. And our responses. And Contest reminders and 'house-keeping' ...

To our Judges and all others involved, may I offer my condolences on y/our success!

With only a few more days before the deadline for the New Year's Resolution story contest, I want to give a huge shout out and THANK YOU to our beloved organizers: Jill, Emma, and Joanne. You all are amazing and really have outdone yourselves with this effort, huzzah! And additional thanks to all those helped fund it!

Right now, "Resolution Evaluation" has 63 kudos, and "Night Shift" has 58 "kudos. I'm curious if "Night Shift" can catch up, so I'm kind of competing with myself on the subject.

Of course, "Resolution Evaluation" has 28 comments (half of which are my replies), while "Night Shift" only has 10, so its not likely "Night Shift" can catch up in that area before the contest ends, but it looks like the kudo count will end up being close.

Any one heard from WolfJess7 it's been awhile from the last time she posted anything

Up in the middle of the night and wandering around my apartment, I discovered a dead tree book called "Nine Princes In Amber", Book 1 of several. The author, Roger Zelazkny, is not a TG author.

I am not more than 1/4 of the way into the work, and must say that the odd seeming 1970's language and break from TG drabble is most refreshing. While not a terribly prolific author, his story seems good enough.

These days, I seem to survive on a series of naps of 1 to 2 hours, and have been told not to worry by my Doctor. Lots of time to cast about in the middle of the night.

I recently responded to a comment by another member here. The original comment was posted regarding Amazon making a change which resulted in the comment’s author losing purchased reading material on kindle. However, my comment was regarding another comment made in response to that comment.

Despite Explicit Underage Sex stories being excluded from the contest, it seems to have thrived.

The New Year's Resolution Writing Contest has resulted in the following to date:

New stories – 110. . . 100 Contest Qualified
Hits – 121,214
Kudos - 9,851
Comments – 1,447
New authors - 6

Fifteen More Story Comments:

When we started this contest, Jill, Joanne and I guessed how many stories we would get. I’m normally the cautious one, guessing low and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. But this time I threw sense to the scirocco and guessed that we would more than double the number of entries in the last contest, hitting . . . 55. Joanne, with the sunny optimism of the Aussi girl she is, aimed higher still, thinking we might get seventy. Jill, though, is savvy in the world of sales. She said we’d get a hundred. Amazingly enough, we’re almost there, and we still have a week to go.

Amanda keeps attracting bad boys. Maybe it's the Dr. Pepper?

We had a small leak from yesterday's rain, and a bucket was under it, but about half an hour ago, the ceiling in the bathroom collapsed into the tub.

Ah, me. Forecast is for three more days of steady rain.

Hugs,
Joyce

A while back I was contacted by someone named Alicia Radford to say that her girlfriend had read my two novels, which make up The Kelly Anderson Chronicles as a teenager, and that it had helped her to come to terms with her own transgender identity.

That in itself was incredibly rewarding to hear.

So fair warning, this may be hard to read. You've been warned.

So, Hey everyone. Last time I posted a blog I told you that Aimee and I and our lil ninja were homeless and working with an agency.

for the record, that agency is DYFS/DCP&P/CPS or whatever they are called these days.

They are still paying for our hotel and helping us try to find more permanent lodging, but that has been hindered by a few facts that I alluded to but didn't directly mention.

More great stories are coming in!

Here is my latest review of fifteen randomly selected Contest Stories:

Resolution Revelations

Maddy passed on Sunday dinner cooked by someone else!

Has "Sixteen the hard way" come to an end or is it on hiates?

You’ve written your story and now are faced with deciding whether or not to create a cover.

I’ve posted about one hundred and fifty stories on BC and have never created a cover. Mel and Erin have made covers for all of my Doppler Press books. I’ve often wondered what difference an attractive cover makes to BC readers.

I have had two reports of bereavement in the last few days with the funeral process tomorrow taking up most of the day. As they say, one sign of old age is going to more funerals than weddings. One is my elderly neighbour, who at 97 years old could be seen as inevitable, the other a good friend and widow of an even better friend, who died some years ago. This good lady died from a stroke, which given my own experience of a similar affliction, makes it even more poignant.

Well, sort of.
For the next month I will be living in a catholic dorm for girls. Or more precisely young women aged from late teens to early 20s.
I don't want to log in on BCTS from that place so you will largely be spared my comments.

This blog's views, thoughts, and opinions belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the management of Big Closet, the Writing Contest committee, or any other group or individual.

I have long contended that there is very little correlation between the number of kudos, hits, and comments received and the quality of the story.

My province has decided to hate on trans kids.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/alberta-unveils-change...

of 2024!