Oh! To me it happens tousands of times, I start with something and it ends exactly another thing. If I mentioned you piece it was really because I like it. (And I could never join the army, I'm too much an independent spirit... Not that have something against who joins it, I simply have some problems in seeing me obeying orders.)

Okay, it seems that I'm the first to vote publically... Yes, I'm still alive... I had a pretty busy may, so I missed the entry... Yes, I wrote a piece for the challenge, but I postponed the posting, and now I came back and found the thread locked :( Never mind, I enjoyed the others'... There are several pieces I like, for different reasons... It is a very hard choice... I think my vote'll go to miden1138 (maybe due to the fact I live in a city and I feel this piece) But I like a lot also dialyin's one (especially the close) and I like burningrock's (even if I have some difficulties in placing it in the 'description of a place' asked in the theme, but, again, maybe it's my problem with the language that makes me uncapable to understand something)

The answer is already in the quote "... when the time is ripe." I don't know how is it for you, but I always know when a subject is ready to come out... I simply cannot keep it close no more... Is has happened to me sometimes: I started a project, went on quicky, then, all of a sudden I had to drop it... If I were going to force it, it won't work... So, I usually drop it... It had happened sometimes that it had come on my mind again, so vivid, calling aloud to be carried on, that I simply had to go back to it... After how much time? I cannot tell, really... Sometimes it has been sleeping for months, sometimes for years... There are even some pieces that are still in that sort of limbo, and I really cannot tell when they'll be ripe, if they ever will be ripe... For all that I know regarding them just now, I can immagine that they are lost forever... But, as I said, I cannot tell if tomorrow, or in a dozen years, I'll find my long ago forgotten characters and projects walking by my side and screaming in my ears untill I put again my hands on them... One thing I've learned: I've stopped to put timing on my dreams, I simply let them to be just dreams untill they ask themseves to come real... Five novels in five years? I really cannot work thus, if I've got five ideas, good! Let them quarrel to come out... Let them withdraw when they are tired or not more satisfying... Will they be all out in five years? I think not, maybe there will be just one, maybe even completely different from the idea of the beginning, maybe the other four can not come out because they already put pieces out of them in the only one to which I gave birth... Maybe my problem, or my good luck, is simply that my dreams are true shapeshifters... (And that I never run out of new dreams...) Okay, you asked, so...

Thank you for the link dialyn! I'd have missed some worthy pieces if it weren't for you!

OKay, here's mine: after a lot of thinking, very hard to choose just one, I'll go with CavalierLady too.

The deadline is past, but the thread still open, so... If this can be counted I'm for Crescent too... So cliched! But I like also the two from Shanna...

Hello! I've been away for Easter! I'm back! I've had an experience with an illustrator... She is a friend of mine, she studied as illustrator and she is pretty clever... (At least I like how she draw)... _________________________________ Once I met her in the street, we are neighbours, and she was sad... 'What's the matter?' I asked. She told me that she was sending her sketches to one publisher after another because she wanted to illustrate children's books, bur every publisher refused to take in consideration her work since it wasn't presented together with a story, where could she find a story to illustrate? I wasn't sure I could help her, but I told I had written a few fairy tales and if she needed one... She liked the idea, liked my story, and produced some good illustrations for it. A short time after she rang me: all the publishers were refusing to consider her work because they didn't need the story, they wanted the illustrator to illustrate some stories they already had. She offered to do so. They answered that they must see a sample of her drawing fiest. She referred to the illustrated story we had sent. They answered they didn't need the story. She sent some loose drawings. They told they refused to take in consideration her work since it wasn't presented together with a story. She was quite desperate. I began to think that they weren't interested in her drawing after all, and instead of telling her so they are producing those silly contraddicting excuses. (I was also slightly surprised that all the publishers were using more or less the same excuses, and even now I really cannot give an explanation for such a poor variety of excuses) The time passed, my friend tried other jobs, as secretary and so on, but continued to follow the children world, working as a volunteer... Once she asked me if she could use my story for a show, of course I gave her permission... They put it on scenes, making the actors reading my story while others were moving big panels on the background where they had put posters of her illustrations about it. I couldn't go to see the result, but she told me it was amazing... So amazing that the publisher who was sponsoring the manifestation became interested in her work and wanted to see the illustrated story... My friend explained that she had already sent him the story, but that it was refused (Well, she said this only when the job relationship was already granted, but I put it here because it sounds better). The answer: "Oh, we got tousands of works, we cannot read everything, so we have some standard refusing letters..." (This explains the sillyness of the excuses, but still doesn't explain why no publisher seems capable of thinking about a more intelligent one, or simply a different one.) Then began a period of hard work, because the publisher liked the whole, but wanted the written part shorter and more illustrations... So we started to work together, I changing and cutting the story, she making new pictures... Both happy, because it's exciting to think your work can really been published! The excitement didn't last for me. At the end the publisher chose to keep some illustrations and recicling them for another story he already had... Of couse I'm happy I helped her somehow, but... This is the end of the story: my friend is now working as illustrator, I'm not working as a writer and still looking for someone to publish my works. _______________________________________ Okay, forgive me this piece, I was in the mood of writing, and this thread brought back remembrances...

Yes, Renderosity has my permission to use my artwork from my art gallery for promotional use only.

I'm sorry I'm late... The photos are not so good, I had to digitalize them (if such a word exists, because they are slides... And my scanner is not very professional... I've choosen 19 of them... Can I post them here? It'll become a quite heavy thread... If you prefer it, I can send them to you...

oops, I should never write directly here... A lot of typos :(

Thank you so much! You cannot immagine how I appreciate this! I noticed a few things. For example the 'sentence fragments', it Italy they are used quite often as literary device, and in no way they sound so strange... in some particular contests just a little studied... I put it in the 'part written by the author' because there I wanted a literture style, but I didn't realize that for an English speacker it was noticeable, an Italian wouldn't even notice it... And then there is the mistery of the 'closet', the Italian word is 'comodino', I think it can stand for a bedside table even if it's not a table, it can have drawers and doors, only it's the size of a small table. Why my dictionary translates it as 'closet' is beyond my comprehension; from the problem you both have with the word 'closet', I realize it can be everything but a 'comodino'! Maybe the dictionaries are not so reliable, after all... Thanks again... You have been so kind...

Okay, I'm not qualified to give advice about English, I can just say I like it. In the last stanza I like where words seem fading away... I just wonder why you wish he should never smile... but maybe it's just me that don't understand it correctly.

Hmmm... I've been in Paris twice, I cannot be of much help, but maybe I can find some photos. If you are interested let me know. My pics were taken in Paris only, but they are a lot, if you need a specific item...

I'd be glad to receive critics too... I know that my words or my phrasing are weird, but I'd really like to know how to better my English... While voting ChuckEvans said: "I always make allowances for your words 'cause I know you are working in a different language. So, I didn't let that detract from your story." I'm aware that there is something that could detract from the story, after all... And I'd really like to know what it is, without your help I cannot figure out... I'm sorry that this help can be only one sided, 'cause I surely cannot give advices, and my critics cannot go deeper than "I like (or I don't like) it"... But if you need something about Italy... well just ask!

It's one of the various explanations, but I've been told about so many possible reasons that truly I cannot figure out what it's the true one...