... that I'm not very good at taking compliments (blush). Yes, Lady seebeee - I can see you there at the back :-P :-). But yesterday I got what is possibly the greatest compliment I think I've ever had as a writer.
And it's all your fault. You, out there in GWA-land. Every lovely, wonderful one of you :-))).
There's a guy I've known for years. With apologies to the Men in Black, I'll call him K. I've not just known him for years, I've worked with him, and he's an alpha and a beta reader on my 'other hat' stuff. So I know he's perfectly happy to tear me a new one when he thinks he should where writing is concerned.
Hang on - I had a point here somewhere - where did I put it (blush)?
Ah. Yes. Right.
I try not to mix TatterJack's world with my 'other hat'. Not because I have any issue with the world here, but they're different places. Still, I was interested in K's opinion of a recent piece - OKAY. I wanted it partly because K knows my other stuff, and partly because - well, because K is gay. And he's not just gay, he's an older gay, who grew up in a time and a place where what he was wasn't in any way as accepted as it is today. So I asked him if he'd take a look at OKAY and give me his views.
He did.
When I saw him yesterday, he had a strange look on his face. He told me he'd read it, and while he was reading it, he got this urge to ask me when/ if I'd had a relationship with another man. Because it felt and seemed like I had to have been there to have written it.
Wow.
Okay - there's no way on earth I would ever claim to know what it's like to be something I've never been. And yes, I've written about, say, killing someone without having to be an international paid assassin. But to hear that?
Wow.
I would never have written OKAY, or anything else I've posted here, without y'all, and without the amazing Talents, Voices and Spirits here. So from the bottom of my heart - thank you. Thank you for putting up with me. And I hope you'll carry on letting me drivel my drivel :-))).