Thank you for the kind words!

I guess the real problem is I just don't have anything remotely resembling a social circle where I live. It is really difficult to get to know anyone here -- my impression is that the locals can't actually detect your presence unless your family has lived here for 17 generations or used to own some unspecified number of farm animals.

Thanks, I only have to do about 494 more to catch Isaac Asimov....!

Amazon. All of my stuff starts out on Amazon. Give it awhile and it will show up on about a hundred other booksites all over the world. Even places like Iran, for some reason. Not that I think there are people reading my stuff over there, but it's available on their sites!



I don't want to use the site as a promotional vehicle for my books. I just think that would be wrong. This site has been good to me, and I've made friends here and I like a lot of people here. And the site has rules about advertising, and I don't want to be seen as taking advantage or bending the rules or whatever. If people have questions about the books, they can send me a message (lots of them do) and we can discuss it privately. Believe me, there are plenty of other sites where this information is readily available!



Thanks, I appreciate it!

Thanks, I do feel like I've accomplished a little something, anyway!

I totally understand about the desire to be able to talk to a real person, in real life, in real time. It's been so long since I've been able to do that, that I'm not entirely sure I'd know how to do it anymore....

The thing is, though, you have moved on -- at least insofar as allowing yourself to enter into new relationships.

Not to say that any given one will "work out" in the long run -- I'm not even addressing that issue, just the issue of being able to make the attempt.

You've made progress. I'm not in a position to go there yet.

Ah, there is no consistent lean!

It goes back and forth....!

Vacillating is so very unproductive in the end....!

After my car accident in 2009, I moved to Indiana to recuperate, primarily because I didn't have any other viable options at that time. In retrospect, I wouldn't have done it, regardless.

I do feel like I've been working through some things over the past few years, but it also seems like I've managed to get myself into some sort of trap from which I can't figure out how to extricate myself....!

Be that as it may, I'm starting to feel a need to do something else....I'm just not sure what "else" actually means....

Yeah, I have never been any good at asking people for help with things, but I always enjoyed being able to share good things with the people I cared about. When it comes to the point that there simply isn't anybody to share anything with (good or bad), and it goes on and on that way for several years, I think it's only normal to wonder where you went wrong.



Sure, life has a way of jumping on you and stomping all over your back with football cleats when you're not expecting it. I can live with that. It's just that I'm starting to realize there's a real emptiness in my existence now, and it's a little frightening to see the extent of it.

So, yesterday my new book was published. My eighth one. Kind of a big deal for me, because it's the last book in a sci-fi series I've been doing since 2008.

And I was sitting here yesterday, just thumbing through the proof copy, basking a little in the feeling of "I did this" whenever one of my books comes out, and I realized something a little disconcerting.

There was no one to share it with.

When my first one came out, in 2008, I was in a relationship with someone I truly loved -- someone I still truly love, and probably always will. The only girlfriend I ever had who actually "got it." She was (and is) so much more intelligent than I'll ever be, so much more creative -- she did the covers and all of the page formatting on the first two books -- and it meant a lot to me that, not only did she help me achieve a dream, but she was also the model for the main female character in the book.

To this day, I still haven't got a clue about why that relationship ended.

But that's not really the point.

The point is that, yesterday, I realized there was no one I could go to, no one I could call, no one I could mention my book to. Sure, I posted some stuff on Facebook, but that's not the same as talking to a real person, that's not the same as sharing a moment with someone in real life.

And I thought about that for awhile, and I realized that I had made a lot of bad choices in the past, bad choices about who to get mixed up with and who not to get mixed up with, and I saw some of my old mistakes (both ways) a lot more clearly.

And now I have to figure out if this is something I want to address or not. Part of me says "Yes, you want someone in your life," and the other part says, "You know what happens when you start getting close to somebody."

Dilemmas are never simple. That's why they call them dilemmas.

People don't read profiles. My profile starts out with "Nudges from strangers will be ignored." Guess what? I get nudges from strangers, one after another.

People e-mail me and say "I read your profile and I loved it! Where are you and what do you do?" Where I am and what I do is in my profile. If they actually read it, they wouldn't be asking.

I've been here continuously since the end of 2006, and haven't found anyone compatible yet.

But there are a lot of variables, like distance and preferences and what kind of relationship you're hoping to develop. And I'm pretty sure there's an element of luck, too. You never know who might sign up here tomorrow.

I have a loophole, though, because I will probably die of a heart attack if I ever meet someone who doesn't try to change me.

When you're right, you're right.

Nah, I don't have the attention span to dig up all that stuff!

(Plus, nobody to use it on if I did....!)

Of course it is -- because you disagree with me.

Fortunately, the forums are set up to allow disagreements between people who are willing to discuss matters without taking offense to the fact that someone has a differing opinion.

And then there are those of us who denigrate any dissenting opinion as "crap."

Thanks for clarifying your position.

I realize that anyone who takes a position that "drugs are bad" is, inevitably and unquestionably, "full of crap." We're not supposed to ever say that. Someone might not like it.

Whatever. I'm not going to sit here and tell you you're "full of crap" just because i think you're harming yourselves. It's none of my business. AND I'm not going to get all defensive just because someone disagrees with me.

Your mileage may vary....

It's total crap, even though I've seen this, firsthand, for myself, in dozens of cases. OK.

Thanks for telling me about the value and worth of my own personal experiences.

I'm not saying it hasn't benefited people. My understanding is that it has. I don't know any of those people personally. I know people who have been harmed by it, though, by their own admissions. As I don't use the stuff myself, I can only go by what I see and what people tell me.

Over and above the medicinal value, there is also -- from what I've seen anyway -- a definite negative, destructive aspect.

I am aware that people who engage in self-destructive behaviors are often extremely defensive when someone says anything at all negative about those behaviors. I studied psychology for seven years, I'm very familiar with this reaction. But it doesn't add anything to the discussion.

I'm sorry if my own personal experiences -- and there are many on this subject -- don't agree with your preconceived notions.

Do what you want, it makes no difference to me. I'm not here to try to influence anyone either way -- I simply answered a question which was asked in the forum. You're not required to agree, disagree, or even read it.

If that makes me judgmental, so be it. I do see pot as negative. I've seen people's lives damaged by it. I suppose I should just ignore that reality for the sake of not coming across as judgmental.

Whatever. I'm as entitled to my opinion as you are to yours. The difference is I don't read motives into other people's opinions that aren't there.

In the strictly negative sense, i.e., I will never need something like that to help me be creative. I've seen enough users who ended up as immobilized slugs on a couch to know it's something I'm better off avoiding.



I'm using that in the sense of "external," i.e., not internally generated. I've seen nothing to indicate that THC, etc., is naturally produced within the human body.

Single since 2009 and still in no danger of that changing....

I smoked the stuff maybe 15-20 times in my musical days. Never did anything but give me a headache.

A lot of the people who used to be in those bands are now essentially brain-dead. I can't say it's because of pot, but I can't say it isn't. It's definitely an area of common ground between them all.

If the day comes when I need artificial enhancements to be creative, I'll know it's time to stop being creative.