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  • Valkyrie

    A Hard Habit to Break

    By Valkyrie

    We are creatures of habit, and sometimes those habits can be a bit strange, especially to other people.  My best friend in high school preferred to walk on the right side of people.  If I forgot and walked on her right side, she would make me switch over to her left side.  It became a bit of a  joke between us, and it became a habit for me to walk on the left side of people, even if she wasn't around.  Over thirty years later, I still walk on the left side of people and feel uncomfortable if I w
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Author Interviews

Ask an Author 2.0 #7

And we’re back! My inventory of questions is rapidly diminishing and unless I get some new ones, I may start making some up for myself. You wouldn’t want that would you? Pick an author we haven’t featured, ask a question, and let’s see what they have to say. Aren’t you curious about what type of sneakers someone wears? Or maybe how they go about naming chapters or characters? Anything except for XXX matters is fair game.   @Hunter Thomson has agreed to a return engagement. Our politici

April CSR Discussion Day: X-Dream Makeover by Cris Kane

Did you have a chance to read these short stories featured in Cris Kane's fantastical tale, X-Dream Makeover this month? While there is a common thread in all 4 chapters, they do standalone quite well, so I hope a lot of people got a chance to read at least one of the four. Did you have a favorite character? Makeover? Make sure you share your thoughts below in the comments, but first, as always, I grilled the author to find out a little more about him and his writing!    If you had 30
Cia

Cia

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Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up (Apr 22 - Apr 28)

Happy Sunday, y'all!  I hope everyone has had a great week and a wonderful weekend so far. At a quick glance, it looks like our promoted authors were very very busy this past week!  So if you missed one of their updates, you can find it below!  Don't forget, the deadline for the Spring Anthology is in just a couple more weeks, so make sure to get your stories to Valkyrie so that they can be looked over by the proof team. Please make sure they are edited prior to sending them in!    
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Weekly Wrap Up

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Anthology Flashback: Spring 2011 - People Are Strange

It is time for another Anthology Flashback.  This week we are featuring Spring 2011 's People are Strange anthology.   Anthologies 2018 Spring Anthology: Now or Never - Due May 15th 2018 Spring Anthology: Encounters - Due May 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Fight Back - Due Nov 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Good Intentions - Due Nov 15th     Would you mind taking the time to leave a review for our writers?
Myr

Myr

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Critique

Improve & Encourage #11: TJ

I hope you all enjoyed the last Improve & Encourage feature, because it's time for another one. These features are meant to both provide feedback to authors and, similar to story reviews, point out stories that readers might not otherwise have found. It's similar to a review, in that the person doing the critique tells you what they liked about the story, but it differs in that they also provide constructive criticism. Each author signed up to participate, and sign up's are still open!  Thes
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Critique

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Technology Archive

Tech Tuesday - Story Archive System Updates

We are actively developing a change to the story system that will go with our forum software upgrade.  There are a lot of things going on under the hood, but there is a fairly sizable visual change coming as well. Clicking on Newest Stories currently shows you this:   Our still-in-development software update shows you this: A couple of notes here on the image: This is a work in progress and subject to change This is in the default color scheme and ha
Myr

Myr in Technology Archive

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Featured Story: Boy Story - The Road Taken

Before we get started this beautiful Monday morning (at least here), I wanted to give a quick Thank You to @wildone for handling the wrap up for me. It was greatly appreciated!  Now, let's take a look at what the review team has for us this week. Today we're featuring Boy Story: The Road Taken by Rip Skor. Thank you to Puppilull for this review!     Boy Story: The Road Taken Rip Skor   Reviewer: Puppilull Status: Complete Word Count: 172,006   As
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens

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Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Update (April 8 - April 21)

Renee is taking a much deserved day off from the blog, so that means you are stuck with me Hope it all goes well!   Monday, Cia started us off the week with introducing our April Classic Author:     Tuesday it was Myr's time to step up to the plate and help us out with Tech Tuesday:   Wednesday Cia followed up her Monday blog with an excerpt from for our April Classic Author:   Thursday was Myr's chance to showcase a Anthology Flashback:  
wildone

wildone in Weekly Wrap Up

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #664 & #665

Hope everyone has had a great week so far. It's time for this weeks writing prompts. If you're stuck, or you're considering writing for the first time, these might be perfect for you. Don't forget that stories under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection.         Prompt 664 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following in a story – red basket, old coat, a boat, a diary, and a pear.   Prompt 665 – Creative Tag – Chance Meeting
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Anthology Flashback: Winter 2010 - Haunted

This week's flashback brings us back to Winter 2010.  Haunted.  Check them out:       Anthologies 2018 Spring Anthology: Now or Never - Due May 15th 2018 Spring Anthology: Encounters - Due May 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Fight Back - Due Nov 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Good Intentions - Due Nov 15th
Myr

Myr

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April Classic Author Excerpt: No Strings by Sara Alva

Did you catch Monday's blog featuring Sara Alva's coming of age short story, No Strings? If you're a fan of her story, don't forget to download the signature graphic to share it through the month. If you haven't read the story yet, maybe this excerpt will help change your mind!    I chose this except because it tells you a lot about the story. Yes, it gives away a bit of the "BIG EVENT" but the true insights you get are into the characters. Sara has a knack for bringing them to life i
Cia

Cia

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Technology Archive

Tech Tuesday - Help Us Help You

This week is all about help.  We have a pretty extensive help system here on-site where we've taken the time to write up the answers to the most frequently asked questions.  We've also made videos for some of the features on site to make it that much easier.  So first things first, help your fellow members with a quick link to the appropriate help section.  Help is on the red menu on every single page of the site.  Don't be afraid to click the menu. Help -FAQ - Brings you to the list
Myr

Myr in Technology Archive

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April Classic Author Feature: No Strings by Sara Alva

Oh, those tumultuous days of teenage angst, as the high school years are winding down and graduation looms--real life is coming. How do they bridge the gap between child and adult? Well... Yeah, so it's not necessarily a complicated question. But then again, for some, it's not that easy either. Check out this great short story by Sara Alva, that just so happens to be our featured Classic Author story this month.  No Strings by Sara Alva   Length: 11,010   Desc
Cia

Cia

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Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up (Apr 8 - Apr 14)

Sorry for the delay this morning! Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to get your entry in for the 2018 Summer Novella contest! Now let's take a look at this week's happenings.     Contests 2018 Summer Novella Anthology: Summer - Due Today   Anthologies 2018 Spring Anthology: Now or Never - Due May 15th 2018 Spring Anthology: Encounters - Due May 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Fight Back - Due Nov 15th 2018 Fall An
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Weekly Wrap Up

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #662 & #663

Thanks to @comicfan, the prompts are back this week! Yay!!!! Just a reminder, and for those who haven't worked with the prompts before: prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection.         Prompt 662 – Creative Tag – First Line “Why do you always do this?”   Prompt 663 – Creative Tag – The Crew It seems like forever ago this began. You remember your mother kissing you goodnight and falling asleep in your bed. Y
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Renee's Writing Challenge #1

I was sitting here the other day, trying to come up with some new blog ideas when the idea for this blog popped into my head. There may be future challenges, but we'll start with this one.   Renee's Writing Challenge #1: Different Choices Have you ever wondered what would happen if your character made a different choice? Wondered how it would affect the overall story and whether or not your story would end the same?  Now is your chance to find out. The challenge is to write two sh
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens

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Technology Archive

Tech Tuesday - Updates

I've started my new job and I'm getting settled in.  I'm hoping my schedule settles down soon as I've been going a bit bonkers. lol.   Anyway, we stealth upgraded the site a few days ago and since no one complained, things appear to be working well.  We also updated the rules on the site on Sunday which triggered a request that you agree to the rules again.  This rule updates and your agreement with them is now recorded so that we comply with the upcoming EU debacle, the GDPR. (General
Myr

Myr in Technology Archive

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Featured Story: Travelling Home

Monday, Monday, Monday. What could we possibly have for you on a Monday? Oh yeah! We have a new featured story for you. This week, courtesy of Timothy M., we are taking a look at Travelling Home by podga. Hopefully you'll like what you read and it will prompt you to go and read the story itself!   Travelling Home podga Reviewer: Timothy M. Status: Complete Word Count: 24,715   With this review I pay homage to the author who brought me to GA five years ago, and to a
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens

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Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up (Apr 1 - Apr 7)

Hope everyone had a good week. Don't forget that the deadline for the novella contest is the 15th. So far we only have one entry, so I'm hoping to see at least a couple more before the deadline is here. Now, let's take a look at the past week.     Contests 2018 Summer Novella Anthology: Summer - Due April 15th, 2018   Anthologies 2018 Spring Anthology: Now or Never - Due May 15th 2018 Spring Anthology: Encounters - Due May 15th 2018
Prompts

Writing Prompts.... Oopsie

Well... as the title of this blog says, OOPSIE!  I didn't realize that I was out of prompts, so didn't send to @comicfan to get new ones!  Since I forgot, I decided to go through and pick a few recent ones that showed zero responses in the forum.   Creative     First Line     Word List     So there you go!  Hopefully I'll have some new prompts for you next week!
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Anthology Flashback: Summer 2010 - Out of This World

Authors, take note, there is a deadline fast approaching for the Novella Contest!  We are also 6 weeks out from 2 anthologies!  Contests 2018 Summer Novella Anthology - Due April 15th, 2018   Anthologies 2018 Spring Anthology: Now or Never - Due May 15th 2018 Spring Anthology: Encounters - Due May 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Fight Back - Due Nov 15th 2018 Fall Anthology: Good Intentions - Due Nov 15th   This week's Ant
Myr

Myr

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