Cia

I'm thinking maybe he means GA's changes toward making the site more tablet and touch screen friendly?

I know I shouldn't have found Davis and Luis' struggles to be amusing, but the way you wrote it, I wanted to facepalm for them half the time. LOL. The scene where Shelley took Luis' phone and messaged Davis was freaking hilarious, I could just see it. Good first chapter; I'd love to see these guys develop a relationship and get a HEA here, so I hope it doesn't take you too awful long to post more.

Pretty sure you mean 'From Behind Those Eyes' by Viv. It is posted here. You can find it through this link.

I've frozen milk before too. I just put it in muffin tins, freeze it, and pop them into a freezer container or bag. Each muffin tin is about a 1/2 cup. Frozen butter and cheese does work as well. The issue comes with getting those from where you are to where you will be. If you can't, then vegan recipes are definitely a good way to go. Powdered milk is gross to drink, I agree with Breeze, but if you are using it to bake or cook using herbs and spices can mask that. If you're looking to do protein rich foods, look to things like beans, nuts, hummus, couscous, peanut butter (huge protein boost, but lots of fats and oils, but has great shelf-life), oatmeal, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, brown rice... Men are supposed to have about 56 grams of protein a day. Check out this website to see the actual grams of things and then get creative googling dinner recipes/lunch recipes/baking recipes with... each ingredient.

Happy Monday! Please enjoy this week's story feature! The Rider's Pride by dkstories Reviewer: Wicked Witch Status: Complete Word Count: 107,446 The Rider's Pride is a story by dkstories; It is a superb piece of fanfiction set in the world of Pern, created with its own twists on the mythos of Anne McCaffrey's world. dkstories has some great works on GA but this is my favourite of them all. I fell in love with this story as soon as I began reading it; it carries you along on an adventure in an alien world, filled with love, tragedy, hope and emotion to a final crescendo that is in my opinion one of the most perfect and most emotional endings to a story I've yet read. The alienness of the society in which the dragon rider's find themselves needing to live in order to protect their world is strange to read of, but described in a way that you can really get a feel of it and it becomes very natural to read of. At least for me it left me wondering was it all worth it?; was the sacrifices they made worth so many lives in an endlessly repeating pattern, and were the ancients morally right to condemn so many people to this life style. It is an interesting question that I think made this story something more than just a tale and gave it a real depth. I sobbed my heart out at the ending to this story, it is quite an emotional read. In my opinion a story has hit the mark when it can make you feel an emotion, be it fear or intrigue, laughter or sadness or perhaps happiness, and The Rider's Pride did this in spades for me. Remember ... Read and Review!

Great feedback, involve more backstory.

As always, a pleasure!

It varies. I've seen authors stick to those 3 different ranges quite strictly and then play with them. Experimentation is vital so that authors try out all different formats. In the stories I'm actively writing I've included third person limited, but alternating between 2 characters, and a first person shifting to third person limited from my 2nd main character in some scenes, a third person limited single pov, and a first person alternating POV. The only thing I don't like to use is third person omniscient. I don't like it when authors use it for stories either. It can be confusing for the reader. It only works if the author ensures their characters are distinct from each other. I've noticed a distinct shift away from this format in recent years. Great post Fishie.

From Cia this week! So much going on on the site, so this will be a long one. Please bear with me and read on! There are a lot of announcements; we've been busy! Check out the special announcement below our look back at this week's blog posts! Monday's feature, To Move Forward by Randomness, a special look at how to people whose paths diverged in their past have met again ... and how they move forward. You can still check out the story here. Wednesday we hosted yet another wonderful tip from Libby Drew; this time it was all about Writing Groups. One of the focuses on GA's writing community goals is to bring authors together with people who can give them feedback on their writing. Libby's post shows the pros and cons that come from using any type of writing groups. Check it out! This week our lovely prompt guru, Comicfan, got a bit of a break this week when Renee's announcement for our yearly Poetry Anthology went live. Use the banner link below to read some great poems! Special Announcement: Premium Content Anthology Submission Call GA would like to announce our first ever Premium section short story anthology call for our site authors. We want you to write a short story for our Premium section that will be published in the summer of 2013. You can even submit more than one story if you’re really inspired. Check out the information below and get your creative juices flowing. Premium Short Story Series Guidelines: Submission Deadline: 06/15/2013 (The earlier the better) Length Range: 5k-25k Themes: ‘My day at the …’ Backstage Passes Wishing Well With your submission please include: Title, Prompt Chosen, Word Count, and Genre with your initial submission. Further information, such as the tags and a story description, will be requested if your story is chosen. Each story must be edited prior to submission. Please submit your stories in .docx, .doc, .rtf, formats via email to cia@gayauthors.org. A decision made within (2) weeks regarding acceptance into the anthology. Stories will be purchased for use by CDEJR, Web Services Inc for a flat fee based on length and quality. Purchase gives CDEJR Web Services Inc. the rights to publish the story in the Gay Author's Premium section with possible publication as an e-book anthology. Any distribution of the story by the author must be discussed and agreed upon with CDEJR Web Services Inc. Copyright remains with author. Site Announcements: April is Team Recognition Month - Authors, please be sure to recognize your Team members! There is a topic in the Lounge for everyone to post in if you care to do so publicly. April's Can't Stop Reading Book Club is featuring Josh's Blog by Hosted Author CarlHoliday. We hope you join many in the community and read this great story so you can join in our discussion which will be held on Monday, April 29th! Anthology Announcements: Now live! Check out some of the great poems submitted by authors on the theme: Whispers in the Dark. Summer Anthology "Roll the Dice" - Due June 8th *See Anthology forum for more info* NOW READING In Premium This Week: Binding by Lugh By Our Hosted Authors This Week: Palouse by Rec Harry Potter and the Destiny of Prophecies by dkstories The Second Shot: Senior Year by Andrew Q. Gordon 9.11 by Mark Arbour One Night by Cia In The Arms of an Angel by Nephylim Adverse Effects by Cia Odyssey by Mark Arbour Legacy by Altimexis By Our Promising Authors This Week: The Talents of the Fallen by JMH Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17304538-never-a-hero" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Never a Hero (Tucker Springs, #5)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359485180m/17304538.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17304538-never-a-hero">Never a Hero</a> Never a Hero is yet another installment set in the small town of Tucker Springs. This eBook, written by Marie Sexton, was full of a lot of angst regarding personal appearance and conditions, much like Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan. <br /><br />Owen has a physical disability that created a lot of emotional blocks. He’s drawn to his new neighbor, though, despite misgivings on both their parts. A big part of Owen’s draw to Nick is his complete comfort with his disability … which makes sense since Nick’s sister has the same one! That was a tiny bit too convenient a plot device, but hey, it could happen. <br /><br />There are a lot of twists and turns in latest novel set in Tucker Springs. We got to see a lot of cameos by earlier couples, or parts of couples, like Seth. We also got a sneak peek at who I hope is coming up next. *fingers crossed* <br /><br />I think what impresses me the most about this series is that the authors have blended their styles so well that I would never guess that they were written by different people. They all seem to have a good balance of plot and action versus sex and emotional bonding. The couples all face obstacles, but nothing so dramatic that I can’t believe that these are ordinary people I could meet if I could just find this Tucker Springs on a map.<br /><br />All in all, a definite 4 star read. I didn’t give this 5 stars because of the somewhat contrived plot device and the clichéd ‘villian’ as it were. I’d have liked more depth to the wicked witch, as I’ll call her, to flesh out her character more, since she was such an integral part of the plot motivation. <br /> <br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5881541-alicia-nordwell">View all my reviews</a> This eBook will be available to purchase on May 13th!

That's awesome!

One of my fav 'paranormal' military stories is Strength of the Pack by Kendall Mackenna. It was freaking awesome. I read it twice, straight through, back to back when I got it. I have it on kindle... I believe I can 'loan' it once. If you're really nice to me... PM me if you're interested. I haven't personally read this, but reddirtwriter has a short story called Digitals and Denim. JamesSavik has what looks like an 80k novel about teenagers and military fighting, even if it isn't formal (maybe a Red Dawn type of piece?) called In the Shadow of the Dragon. I found those via the tag search with 'military'. I know there aren't as many of that type as other stories, but it's a start. Hopefully you can find something you enjoy, or you'll get more suggestions.

GA is, at its core, a free fiction website. We allow authors to post their stories here for free; some post completed stories, some do serials in progress. Currently we have over 2,800 stories. We also host various site writing activities, like weekly writing prompts, quarterly anthologies, etc ... as well. In addition, we have a Premium section of the site where we post stories for our site supporters as a thank you. GA's main purpose is to provide an open community for authors to improve and have a chance to interact closely with editors, beta readers, and regular readers. The most recent development on the site, still in progress, is our site eBook store. We are allowing authors to post their eBooks here. Free are pretty easy to post, as long as they follow the site's ToS and content guidelines. eBooks for sale are a bit more complicated as we require tax information from the author(s). At this time we haven't had a publisher request to post their stories here so that's a situation we haven't faced. We also have a chat room, personal blog area, and very active forums. There are things to do here for people looking for something to read, someone to read their stories/eBooks, or just have a sense of community with open and/or like-minded individuals.

Welcome Tehtizzles! We have a comprehensive faq on how to post a story, and you can pm me if you have any issues with posting. You can post partial elements of your work in our Sneak Peek forum if you want to try and get some feedback on the beginning of a story. Good luck on posting and welcome to the site as a member.

Covet Thy Neighbor by L.A. Witt My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this eBook and delved right into it. I adored Tucker Springs #3 and couldn't wait for books #4 and #5 in this series. Each book focuses on a different couple, so they can be read alone, but couples show up from each in the community in this series. In Covet Thy Neighbor, Seth's conflict was quite well done and clear. He was obviously the main character and had a lot to deal with. I agree with another reviewer in that he didn't come across necessarily as a non-believing atheist, but a person whose faith had been nearly obliterated by bad experiences in a judgmental and hostile religious environment. His inability to believe he can be accepted by Darren, when they have this major difference, creates a rift inside him that he doesn't know how to bridge. The fact that Darren doesn't just believe, but is a pastor, freaks Seth out. He cannot seem to see past how he believes Darren must act, as a Christian, to how Darren is acting. Darren's character wasn't nearly as fleshed out in my opinion. He had less emotional conflict about the situation between him and Darren. I liked his interpretation of faith more than most religious characters. A fundie Christian would probably scoff, but then I don't think most fundies read MM romance, lol. I enjoyed the story, and while I wouldn't say the plot wasn't complete, I felt like it was understated. The complex emotions just didn't resonate with me, and I felt like that was less to do with me as the reader, as to the immediacy of the writing of those emotions. Even with that, L.A. Witt's ability to craft a well written story has to be applauded. I would recommend this, but not as readily as other eBooks in the series that I enjoyed just that much more. View all my reviews

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17305027-covet-thy-neighbor" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Covet Thy Neighbor (Tucker Springs, #4)" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359499031m/17305027.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17305027-covet-thy-neighbor">Covet Thy Neighbor</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3185029.L_A_Witt">L.A. Witt</a><br/> My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/576844927">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this eBook and delved right into it. I adored Tucker Springs #3 and couldn't wait for books #4 and #5 in this series. Each book focuses on a different couple, so they can be read alone, but couples show up from each in the community in this series. <br /><br />In Covet Thy Neighbor, Seth's conflict was quite well done and clear. He was obviously the main character and had a lot to deal with. I agree with another reviewer in that he didn't come across necessarily as a non-believing atheist, but a person whose faith had been nearly obliterated by bad experiences in a judgmental and hostile religious environment. <br /><br />His inability to believe he can be accepted by Darren, when they have this major difference, creates a rift inside him that he doesn't know how to bridge. The fact that Darren doesn't just believe, but is a pastor, freaks Seth out. He cannot seem to see past how he believes Darren must act, as a Christian, to how Darren is acting. <br /><br />Darren's character wasn't nearly as fleshed out in my opinion. He had less emotional conflict about the situation between him and Darren. I liked his interpretation of faith more than most religious characters. A fundie Christian would probably scoff, but then I don't think most fundies read MM romance, lol. <br /><br />I enjoyed the story, and while I wouldn't say the plot wasn't complete, I felt like it was understated. The complex emotions just didn't resonate with me, and I felt like that was less to do with me as the reader, as to the immediacy of the writing of those emotions. Even with that, L.A. Witt's ability to craft a well written story has to be applauded. I would recommend this, but not as readily as other eBooks in the series that I enjoyed just that much more.

Nephylim has removed that story for publication and replaced it with her tentacles story. Sorry!

*snickers* Renee's gonna beat on you!

Challenging Fate is one of my favorite stories of Renee's that I've beta'ed. It was an excellent fantasy with colorful dragons with a romance that helps redeem and enrich the lives of both main characters!

LOL. I think it's easier to tell with 'men' because of the stereotypes people use to judge other people. That being said, I have always found it sort of easy to tell when people are into the opposite/same sex based on body language and subtle interactions. It can be a bit harder to tell with women about how they are interested in, because so many women are touchy feely with each other without physical attraction.

Take a look at the words you use and how you use them at all times is the best route to avoid misunderstandings. I am often terse, but rarely due to anger issues. Typically I respond in a concise way to simplify and get something done-which is often necessary when I have 3-4 authors I'm conversing with about why they need to change/fix/delete something in their GA Stories submission. Check out this example of how we relate certain words with the same essential meaning with different 'tones'. These are synonyms for 'respond' with the meaning of reading a comment and commenting in return. Neutral/positive: Reply, return, answer, explain Negative: Retort, defend, dispute, parry Word choice dictates shades of meaning and tone when it comes to non-verbal communication. Not everyone will always mean things to come across how they sound, and perception varies from person to person based on the words we use, as many others pointed out. Being an adult means taking the time to discuss issues with another person about any perceived conflict openly and honestly, though we all fail at that from time to time.

I like the blend of questions! It is always great to learn more about the various authors that have joined GA, especially when they are spread across so many years. I have to say I really agree with John; Silver is an awesome character!

Two words... mind map. I like bubble.us When I rough draft out a plot idea using something so structured as a spreadsheet or a paragraph format becomes messy and disjointed. I'll have ideas for plot events 3 at the top and bottom of the page, and I hate cutting and pasting and moving crap around. Using a mind map lets me move around my idea in a 3d fashion. This way I can go with a base idea, spread out in small ideas, add contrasting plot events to pick from with branched ideas, no matter when they come to me.

All great answers to an interesting question. I think that some authors can be repetitive in their formula of sharing the setting or character descriptions. That can take a fascinating visual and render it flat or completely unhelpful because the reader skips it. I try to slot in descriptions as the character perceives them, through that character's senses. I almost never describe a room or a location on its own.