Ok. I read all five pages of that thread (well sort of skimmed some of it.)

How do I put a story together… Well, I don’t really know. I suffer a lot from blank page syndrome. I have a hard time coming up with stuff to write about but once I know. It’s a piece of cake. I found using a character sheet for my second assignment in level One helped a lot. For the third assignment I was stumped for a while. I thought and thought about it. (Big secret – The real reason I love this forum is the assignments give me something to do during my commute. Nothing makes a commute go by faster than thinking up a really steamy story
I haven’t written a lot of fiction since I was in school and that was too long ago to reveal . Now as a mature adult I find that I like dirty stories A LOT better. I like to read them but the ones in the bookstores are not so interesting. And you begin to feel like a perv surfing the net for them (Not that that has stopped me! – I guess that makes me a perv too! Lol.
Ruby asked - Do you have any tools that you recommend to others?
I have no tools. I write because I read. I like all kinds of genre depending on my mood (except maybe westerns – But if it was sexy enough even a western may work)

I am allergic to outlines. Outlines make me feel penned up. I suppose I do outline in a way… I sort of sketch out what I want to write about (ion those long drives) and capture the gist beforw I truly start the real writing. I am an old RPG’er so the character sheet was a great find. But I think it would be tedious for many short stories. It's probably something I need to do but methodical things make me stop.

I’m not sure I’m ready (translate that to patient enough) to write anything much longer. Eventually I'd like to but I think I need to build my confidence. That's why hanging out here has been so great.