Here's to 16 more. Thanks to Myr and all who make GA home to so many of us.

Congratulations and thanks to Myr and all the people that make GA the great site that it’s become.

For a long time i scribbled little poems in a thrift store notebook. I never thought anyone would want to read them.

One day a few years later, I found GA. Liked a story enough to become a member so I could say so to the author. He and i became friends and i shared the poems with him. He said, they are important and need to be shared. So i became an author here. I remember the terror of pressing the Save button for the first time.

I remember the first person to say something to me that was @Drew Espinosa.  Gary @Headstall was the first to talk to me about what i posted and from there many people came to read. It was humbling and exciting. It was then i met @AC Benus who continues to be both a good friend, teacher and editor.

I have learned a lot, grown a lot, my writing has improved immensely.

It would take a day to list all of the people i know and love here. GA is a vibrant and supportive place and i am grateful for it each and every day.

Thanks to all of you who run it and to all the active members and authors and poets who keep it alive.

Thanks, Myr and all the crew.

Happy Birthday, GA!

Edit:

What GA means to me is this... It's a community, that like a big family. Yeah, we fuss and fight, but in the end, we look out for each other. I've met some great people here. Became friends with several, and some they are more like family to me. I come from a big extended family in real-life, and I see GA as another part of it.

Posting before coffee is not recommended.

As the very new guy here (author 1154, I noted), I've quickly come to appreciate this site.  I like the way the site is run, the sense of community,  and the encouragement I have received from several of you, particularly @WolfM and @BHopper2.  In terms of writing, I have a long way to go, but the learning process is being enhanced by reading some great work here.  Thanks for making this opportunity available to all of us.

Happy Birthday!!!

Thank you Myr and thanks to all who help keep the lights on here. 

It's hard to quantify and qualify how this place has changed my life.  I've written lots of stuff in the past but never really found my voice.  Then, I found this place.  It inspired me to try again, and this time I wrote a whole novel.  It only primed the pump because the encouragement, the support, the wonderful critiques and suggestions, have all helped me to grow as a writer.  I continue to write and read and critique because of this community of artists.  Writers and readers come and go, and come back, and so this is a sustainable colony of people working on their creations and enjoying other people's stories. 

The longevity isn't a fluke.  It's because people are committed to keeping the ship afloat and doing so with style, care, and love.  

Sincerely,

Cole

I came to GA looking for some quality M/M fiction to read... and I found it. For someone of my generation, who didn't come out until I'd entered my forties, it was almost a revelation. The internet was 'newfangled' for me, and I'd never experienced an online community before. I'd visited some other sites, and some of the writing was okay, but the overall wasn't what I was looking for. I wasn't looking for porn. No, I was looking for true to life stories involving gay men. 

I immediately felt at home, and truth be told, I was smarting from a relationship that involved stalking. It was my fourth serious relationship since coming out, and I was floundering in disappointment. Here was a refuge I could enjoy while I licked my wounds and regrouped. It took me a while, but I finally joined in, and the rest is history.

I love reading, and I enjoyed interacting with the authors, reviewing their chapters and visiting their story threads. @Mark Arbour's CAP forum allowed me to begin to express myself., and I found myself writing 'monologues' while discussing Matt or Wade or Brad or Stefan... I could go on but we 'd be here a while.   This simple expression awoke something in  me, something I had long buried. The fact was, I used to love to write, and while I hadn't been all that productive, my writing had always gotten positive remarks, whether in high school, or for the monthly newsletter I used to write as President of a horse club. I'd also written a number of songs, but no one had ever seen those, other than one ex.

There was one writer/editor on site who is no longer here, and she kept telling me I should write and post poetry. She saw something in me, and I found myself thinking about it, and considering it. One night I feverishly wrote for about seven hours non-stop, and the words poured out. I didn't even know what a word processor was, but I used Wordpad, and had no clue what I was doing. I posted before I lost my nerve. I would never have done that elsewhere. GA, and it's wonderful community got me to that point, and I will be forever grateful. So, in essence, GA gave me back my creativity... no small gift to this author.  Thank you and congratulations to @Myr,and the dedicated people who make this place what it is.  

I came on here earlier in the year and found a huge number of good authors who have produced some fantastic reading. What I also found is a huge number of people who have become friends that made me feel welcome and part of something special where everybody matters, that is a remarkable achievement. As  a result I've added a few stories and hope to add more thanks to the GA family. Thank you Mir and all who supported you to make GA what it is. Happy Birthday to GA and I wish you many more.

This is by far a more superior site to one that I used to go to for reading matter, needless to say I no longer use that site, I'm more than happy here. 😁

I'll never get tired of saying GA made me a writer. Now a very dear friend, @Parker Owens was the first to suggest I might have something in me which needed writing out. How prescient he was!  From my very first piece of creative writing to where I am now, Parker has been by my side. 💓 I find a day is not complete without some form of writing / editing / re-editing. Although I've now branched out into an external blog, GA is my home, and always will be. Indeed, one object of the blog is to promote GA.

GA is somewhere you don't have to write and post in isolation. @Headstall, @Valkyrie and now @Carlos Hazday have been kind enough to give me support and feedback in my writing. This collegiate helpfulness is part of what makes GA such a fantastic community.

Thanks to Myr and to everyone else who frequents this wonderful, fulfilling site.  

Thank you Myr, and everyone else who made GA and keep it running.

Like many others, I chanced on GA following a link from another site. I rarely visit that place anymore. What I found here wasn't merely satisfying writing, but a community of people who took me where I was and reached out with hands of friendship. And these friends are not the hollow kind one makes on other sites, but many kind and wonderful people who care. @Valkyrie greeted me within hours of my joining.  @craftingmom was extraordinarily kind to edit A to Z;  @Carlos Hazday wrote the first comment on anything I posted; I would never have written a word of poetry if not for @Mikiesboy. @AC Benus taught me more than any professor ever did, and in @northie, @asamvav111, @Timothy M. and @Headstall, I've made friends around the world.

Thank you, everyone, for making life richer and happier. Happy 16, GA!

Happy 16.  Thank you to everyone to manages the site, writes, edits and reads.  It's a group effort and one I'm proud to be a part of.

Happy 16th GA-versary, GA  

I am so glad I found this wonderful site with awesome members    

I'm a little late, what else is new? 16 years this glorious engine has chugged along, "I think I can." It has the writers, new and old, spilling out blood, sweat, and tears for readers. 

It has seen people talk of hard times, make friends, lovers, and seen people we've come to care for pass. We have the gifts of wonderful stories, the pain of unfinished ones, and the sadness that some will never be completed. 

Like anything, people come and go. For however long they are a part, the have made an impact by sharing stories, or comments, or jokes in the forums. GA lives and breathes, dies and is reborn.

The lucky thing is everyone is invited and it makes us a community who shares various ideas. For that, I'm humbled to be a part.

Happy Anniversary. Here is to many more.