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Click hereDuleigh is originally from Buffalo, and "Buffalo" is synonymous with "Blizzard" so next up on the list was a romantic story called "Stormwatch - a Blizzard in Buffalo" (triple redundancy) the story is a nice little romance of co-workers trapped in the office by a snowstorm. Duleigh and his readers loved the characters so much that it became a series. The catch point was that the male main character, Josh, was a battle scarred veteran with PTSD. Duleigh based his character on several vets that he knows and for many of the readers, Josh's problems were all too real. Duleigh began hearing back from his fellow veterans who were fighting the hell of PTSD and many of their stories moved him to tears. Literotica is so wonderful to give veterans a platform to reach out to each other and support each other.
For Duleigh, Literotica isn't just something to do between visits to the Mayo clinic. It's the ability to let the stories out that have been trapped inside for so long and to let his friends out of his head and let them scamper about on the page. It's the ability to reach out to other authors and encourage them, to share ideas and help each other.
Somehow in this entire maelstrom Duleigh began to be recognized, Blindsiding the Blindguy, (the followup to Blindsided by the Blind Guy) took second place in the 2023 April Fools contest. We're a Wonderful Wife Chapter 5 took third place in the August 2022 story of the month.
But the Big One, A Krissmas Karole, the story that spawned 376,000 words, has been nominated for the Erotic Horror story of the year for 2022, and the 376,000 word epic We're a Wonderful Wife has been nominated Novel/Novella of the year for 2022.
Writing is transformative for Duleigh, it takes him out of his busted-up body, it takes him away from the fights with the VA and the never-ending bad news from his doctors, it takes him to where HE wants to be. His favorite author, Terry Pratchett, wrote 43 novels full of uproarious humor that scaled the heights of popularity as he wrote about life on a flat, disc shaped world carried by four huge elephants standing on a turtle. He wrote his last three novels with an advanced case of early onset Alzheimer's Disease. I know how he did it - writing is a form of magic that takes you out of yourself, you leave your broken body behind and wrap yourself in your story filled with friends and loved ones and you get to tell the world about that story.
Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) isn't the end of the world and... uh... well... actually it is, but we stay on our meds and try not to think about it, and Literotica has been there to help keep Duleigh mentally and emotionally engaged. It takes him out of his body and lets him build a world around him and fill it with so many wonderful people and it lets everyone else read such imagination charged stories. It's impossible to sit and feel sorry for yourself when you have the whole world and beyond to write about!
Thank you Laurel for everything you've done for this ol' dog and thank you Literotica for being here for 25 years, let's do another 25 together.
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- COMMENTS
katzkinabout 8 hours agoThis old jar head just stumbled through your post and with a tearful smiles says " Thank you"
Katzkin
Campus773 months agoSo glad I reached this story in my quest to read everything you have written. I really illuminates why your tales hit the minds of your readers so effectively.
MyBareTorso6 months agoUtterly and wonderfully fascinating! Thank you so much for bravely and generously sharing this with us all. We are all lucky that you found Literotica. I salute you, very good sir...with 5 Stars! š
Duleigh6 months agoAuthor@BenHoping
Yes, CTEPH and all other forms of Pulmonary Hypertension are insidious killers and the men and women who work to treat us are incredible heroes. I include Big Pharma because Bayer Aspirin makes a drug called Adempas, it only works on Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and CTEPH, two of the rarest conditions on the planet. They lose money with each pill but they make sure we get it. November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month!
BenHoping6 months ago5 stars, but "love it" doesn't mean the CTEPH. Fuck, man, PH sucks, and I know way too much about it. 5 stars for enduring. Plus--I really like your other stories!
