NESS

I suffered through, uh, I mean, I went through my first full-blown critique of my first short story in my Creative Writing class on Monday. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. People made valid comments. The most important thing I learned: I need to stop telling when I should be showing. That one keeps getting me. And since the prof said the only way I'm going to stop is through practice, I thought I would read some books outside of my usual repertoire to see how the pros write. I know it won't help me completely (I think the best way would be a Pavlov's dog approach; someone needs to hit me every time I do a telling statement instead of a showing one :wink:), but it'll be good for me to check out some other writing styles and see if I get inspired during the Christmas break. So, suggest a book for me. And it can't be sci-fi, fantasy, or horror. I read that kind of stuff all the time. Unless you think this book is the most awesomest thing ever then maybe I'll check it out. :biggrin: And possibly no bestsellers. I have no ambition to read [i]The Da vinci Code[/i], though mainly because the thing looks really long and I won't have [b]that[/b] much time.

CONSTANCE

I`have lost my keys, not only to my home but to where I work. Not everybody at work is happy with me because I overslept (I have done that twice in two years) and I would hate to have to tell them that the key is gone. So if there is any psychic brown coats out there.. No.. ah well. Was at a comic quiz yesterday. It was my first quiz and my team lost but it was fun anyway. Found out that I know a lot less than I thought about Donald Duck. Its amazing what kind and the amount of knowledge some people have. Ill take them next time... and if there ever will be a buff or a tv quiz. I would be queen.

JANE0904

I just wanted to say to anyone who accesses these pages that I am so glad you read my fics. I have been writing for a while, and although these are the first scribblings that I have dared to upload, I am astounded by the friendliness of the FFN members. I shouldn't be, I know, as we're all Browncoats to the core, but it has often made a grey day suddenly bright to see someone has taken the time to comment on one of my stories, and even find that I have regular readers! So take this from me, to you, as a big [b]thankyou[/b], and a request to keep them coming! I even try to incorporate some of the suggestions, but if I don't please don't stop.

REGINAROADIE

Hey All I just got some big news. Well, not really big news, I've known about it for some time, but this just confirms it. My brother is in the military. He's in the reserves as a member of the com squad unit. And he told me like last week that he might be going over to Afghanistan for a tour. Now, as horrible it may sound, it actually isn't that bad. It's mostly an administrative position, so he'll be around the base for the most part. Basically, nowhere near the front line. He'd be gone for about 8 months, which is from beginning of Nov to probably around my 22nd birthday, which'll be next Sept 2nd. And apparantly, the pay is incredible. I've been told somewhere north of 40k. I had known about it a while, and I was thinking about what it would mean if he actually were to go and how that would impact the both of us. So I had already resigned myself to the idea that he was going. But a few minutes ago, after I got in from running around the city doing stuff for a project, I noticed a message on the machine. I played it and it was from a Sgt. of his. I get his lazy ass out of bed and play the message for him, he calls and he starts training for going to Afghanistan on Monday. It's weird. It's almost anticlimactic that he gets this call, since we both knew he was going. This just confirms it. But it still feels werid on my end. My brother and I had lived in the same vicinity our entire lives. We shared a room as kids, a dorm room as teenagers and a house as college students. He's always been there, y'know. Normally, if he's ever gone for long periods of time because of the military, it's over the summer for about four months. But this time, he'll actually be gone for 2/3rd of the year. And when he gets back, he'll actually have enough money to get his own apartment. Which is good, because when Matt goes, we're going to move his stuff into storage at the farm and rent the room out to a new tenant. So we'll have two new roomies in the house by the beginning of next year. We had talked about it earlier, and he's OK with it. I guess I can understand Simon's plight now with River a little further. Even without the Academy cutting into her brain to turn her into a psychic assassin, that separation from your sibling after living an entire lifetime together is going to be really tough. En shallah (God willing) and Peace

MCMORRI1

It's Thanksgiving and I'm not going over to my uncles house for the feast until 4:30 and this is more fun anyway. A lot has happened since my last blog. I relized that WORD does not recinize the words blog, website or chatroom. My friend also got mad at me over something stupid. Here is how it happened. Me and one of my other friend had a walk that we made up as an inside joke about the movie TITANIC. My best friend who is mad wanted us to show her how to do the walk and tell her what the joke was. I said that I couldn't tell her because inside jokes are ment to be kept secret. When I said that she said so much for friendship. M and my other friend explained that she could make up an inside joke of her own that we couldn't know the meaning of, but she didn't want to hear it. The next day I waited for her so we could walked to school, but she was late and in the end I walked without her. She got to school late and when i saw her she grimaced at me. Then she just plain avoided me. We fight a lot so I decided to wait. We would always make up. That was DAYS ago. Just yesterday I sent her an E-mail. In it i said that becuase she likes to ignore people that she is mad at and I am always the one to make us friends again that this time it was her call whether or not we stay friends anymore. Because she didn't want to talk to me and I expected her to just E-mail me back i was careful to tell her to let me know in person. Even though i don't i told her that i trsted her to make a good decision. In a way i think if she wants to keep fighting then i don't want to stay her friend. But she does try to pretend to like Firefly which is nice sometimes but it would also nice if she could just cut the act because i would rather talk to someone who is as passonite about Firefly and Serenity as I am. Anyone with any ideas on what i should do about this little delema please post a comment.

MCMORRI1

It's Thanksgiving and I'm not going over to my uncles house for the feast until 4:30 and this is more fun anyway. A lot has happened since my last blog. I relized that WORD does not recinize the words blog, website or chatroom. My friend also got mad at me over something stupid. Here is how it happened. Me and one of my other friend had a walk that we made up as an inside joke about the movie TITANIC. My best friend who is mad wanted us to show her how to do the walk and tell her what the joke was. I said that I couldn't tell her because inside jokes are ment to be kept secret. When I said that she said so much for friendship. M and my other friend explained that she could make up an inside joke of her own that we couldn't know the meaning of, but she didn't want to hear it. The next day I waited for her so we could walked to school, but she was late and in the end I walked without her. She got to school late and when i saw her she grimaced at me. Then she just plain avoided me. We fight a lot so I decided to wait. We would always make up. That was DAYS ago. Just yesterday I sent her an E-mail. In it i said that becuase she likes to ignore people that she is mad at and I am always the one to make us friends again that this time it was her call whether or not we stay friends anymore. Because she didn't want to talk to me and I expected her to just E-mail me back i was careful to tell her to let me know in person. Even though i don't i told her that i trsted her to make a good decision. In a way i think if she wants to keep fighting then i don't want to stay her friend. But she does try to pretend to like Firefly which is nice sometimes but it would also nice if she could just cut the act because i would rather talk to someone who is as passonite about Firefly and Serenity as I am. Anyone with any ideas on what i should do about this little delema please post a comment.

ALMEDA

Happpy thanksgiving guys I thankls for my family My friend too I love you guys happythanksgiving