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The place has been renovated and the door is open. Come on in and take a load off! |
| Good morning, all, and I hope it finds you well! It finds me... settled. I started the morning by asking Google for a word describing the condition when your subconscious mind makes a decision without conscious input and informs you of the result. I was expecting something like "epiphany," but what it gave me was intuition. Allow me to explain. My old friend Gail Carriger posted a meme the other day which said, "You don't have to write every day to be a writer, you just have to feel guilty every day that you don't." So, yesterday about 2:00 PM, as I was snuggled into the Big Comfy Couch guiding my avatar through some wild adventures in Borderlands, it occurred to me that I wasn't writing, I wasn't outlining something to write, and ~ here's the most important part ~ I didn't feel guilty! As it worked out yesterday, I had very little to do beyond the previous night's dinner dishes and seeing to Dearly Beloved's needs throughout the day. I could have spent the whole day writing, but I never gave it a thought. I think the dilemma you've watched me wrestling with the whole time I've been here is resolved. I'm not a writer, and I'm okay with that. I am still very much a reader, and my membership here will focus on that going forward. I will continue to read and review, and give my silly little "Jack's Diamonds"  Award, and I'm not going to say categorically that I will never write again; if something draws me back, it could happen. But my focus going forward will be on the fantastic stories by the literary explorers here who, unfettered by the demands of a publisher desperate to recapture the Last Big Thing, are out beyond the edges of the map charting the unexplored territory that those same publishers will be crowing about discovering ten years from now. And occasionally, when something gets in and captures my attention, I may even blog about it.I will leave all my decade-old stories up for you to enjoy, and to demonstrate that, yes, Virginia, I once was a writer, but they're old, some are published, and none are likely to be edited in the future. I hope that, if the site survives beyond me, they'll be here for my grandchildren to enjoy. And while I'd love to hear someone say they were enthralled by a story or enchanted by this or that character, it probably isn't worth your while to write detailed reviews. Down the road, when I'm comfortable with this new look, I'll probably set them on "E-mail Comments Only." And that's the new me, Tuesday, November 18th, 2025. Look for me to be active around the site, primarily in the Pacific Time Zone morning, and absent on Thursdays to avoid that meaningless Merit Badge for turning on the computer seven days in a row; that doesn't seem to me to be worth special recognition. I only review things I like, so if you find me in your mailbox, that's a good thing, and if I criticize something you wrote, my only goal is to make you better. I hope that's good enough... I wish you all happy, productive, and successful writing lives, whatever you consider that success to mean. And I hope you find your own "sweet spot;" it's a beautiful thing! Stay inspired, Jack  ![Merit Badge in WdC Community Hero
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