Cia

Look at all those stories! What a great week. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday!

Thank you, LBO! Sorry about that, V a l k y r i e

“An army of feral human werekin?” Alpha Trein snorted. “Ridiculous. This is why you called us all here?” “You were informed of the basics when I called for the counsel. You have copies of the information we’ve discovered.” I leaned forward and glared at Trein, the sanctimonious ass, and growled. “You’ve heard everything we said, and you still doubt the threat? You’re a fool.” I’d had it up to here with the older alphas who sneered down on anyone younger than them. I held far more power than ma

Valkyrie's story, Alex's Legacy, was Monday's Signature Feature. Did you grab your copy of the signature banner so you can share your love for Valkyrie's story? If not, you can do that here! Today we're featuring her chosen excerpt. Valkyrie says: This story started as my response to Prompt 305, although the characters existed before I wrote the prompt. Even though they were created as peripheral characters in another story, they captured my heart, and I wanted to learn their whole story. There's a tie-in to The Hollow Hills, and anyone who can find it earns a gold star. lol I picked this excerpt because it shows the connection between Sam and Alex. It also shows Alex's playful side and the romanticism that's a main feature of the story. Want to read more? Check out the rest of the story here!

This month we're featuring Valkyrie's story, Alex's Legacy With it's poignant theme and cozy bookstore setting, this is a great novella length story is a perfect December read. Make sure you don't miss out on it! Length: 22,494 Description: Sam and Alex meet and fall in love. Their relationship manages to survive some very dark and trying times, until tragedy strikes. Valkyrie's Favorite Reviews: Geron Kees says: I hope you have just researched this very well and that no one in your life has suffered through something like this horror. [He] is exhibiting all th correct signs for his personality type after an incident of extreme abuse. Your storytelling is spot on. I'd like to think that someone reading this story will gain some hope and insight from it in dealing with a problem in their own life. That, in my opinion, places what you've written well beyond the realm of entertainment writing. Renee Stevens says... Great job on this chapter Valkyrie. These two are so cute together and there was so much about this chapter to enjoy: the teasing, the descriptions of the scenery, etc. I was actually glad to see Alex slow them down, it just shows what a great guy he is. Slytherin says... Beautiful story, sad but it felt very authentic. It's good that they talked about Alex so Aaron understands Sam more They need to adopt a cat lol.Poor Chinese delivery man Great story, Valkyrie ! Cole Matthews says: My favorite part of this chapter is the teasing until the kisses final came. Very nice touch! Awesome chapter! Remember to check back on Wednesday to see what excerpt Valkyrie chose to share with readers! Want to show your support and enjoyment of Valkyries's story? Download the banner below for your site signature!

You're welcome! Your editor was right. As with many questions we have nowadays about grammar rules, it's often a mistake that can be chalked up to written rules versus common usage. It's drilled into our heads that a person should list themselves last and use 'I', and the distinction of subject versus object is rarely considered. That leads to a lot of people, including you and me, having to look up these rules to make sure, if we don't know the tricks to figure it out without the technicalities. Though, I actually knew this one off the top of my head, but that's because I'm a giant grammar geek, lol.

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. It is I, bringing you the prompts again this week. It's always fun to put myself in Renee's boots (she has a LOT more snow at her place) for a time. Fortunately, she makes it easy peasy to do this post--certainly nothing like a nightmare such as prompt #545... yikes!! (Does it make you feel better about your holiday plans though? LOL) Prompt 544 – Creative Tag – First line It’s time to bury the hatchet. Prompt 545 – Creative Tag – Party Nightmare Every year, your family has a different member host the holiday party. This is the first time you are to host it. Unfortunately, your cesspool is backing up, a wicked storm is due to hit, and you in laws arrived four hours early. What happens next? So what shall I feature today...? How about a long-awaited return to his prompt story with Timothy's Terrible Prompt Stories. You can read more here!

I'm conflicted with this. I've attended an author conference before, and while I appreciated the marketing information and was eagerly anticipating a three hour lecture on world-building, I was advanced enough that it was all information I already knew. The amount of information in other lectures might have been overwhelming for a complete newb, however, because it did rely on knowing some of the basics already. I think, especially for the amount you're talking about for registration, that you'd be better off getting recommendations on the best creative and technical writing books and then consider online courses in specific information you still need more help with. It's also important to join some writing groups to get honest feedback on your writing because it is hard to know what you're doing wrong... if you don't know that you're doing it wrong. Specifically addressing networking, while you might meet other authors and make connections, those events can be busy and contact fleeting person to person due to large numbers. Sure, you could take cards to hand out, and there's a chance to expand your meeting online later on, but if you don't have a writing repertoire, it's harder to leave others with an idea of who you are and why you would be a good networking relationship to garner. Authors like to connect with other authors who have some connection they can make, and they're far more likely to cultivate a connection with you if you have a similar writing style, published work in the same genre, have a social media presences and some sort of marketing plan, etc.... So, overall, my opinion would be no. It's important to have an established voice and be seen as someone with at least some experience that is a good contact and not just someone who wants advice. I shy away from deep relationships with new authors because it's a ton of work to help guide them learn all they need to know, and I'm already swamped. I would imagine that's true of many published authors as well.

“What do we know?” I asked. Uncle Radford spoke up first. “The doctor was working on a drug to incite Kraig’s two souls, creating a feral stronger than any alpha. When you killed him, all he’d managed to do was bring one soul to the foreground.” “So what? He was going to incite my animal souls and set me loose?” Kraig shook his head. “Even if I was stronger than Deke, I couldn’t beat the whole streak, and no one would accept me as their alpha.” “No, but an army of werekin just like you could

Happy Birthday!!

Today I get to be Renee! Woohoo! This time of year, it seems everyone is busy, busy, busy. But surely you have a bit of time to write some flash fiction, don't you? Last week we had two repeat Why don't you check out the prompts below. Hopefully they'll spark some inspiration. Prompt 542 – Creative Tag – List of words Use the following words in a story – red leaf, turkey, squeaky wheel, pumpkin, and a blue shoe. Prompt 543 – Creative Tag – First Line I think it is time for you and I to have a little talk. Last week's prompts were put up as a second chance to inspire authors, so I'm featuring a piece that's also from an earlier prompt. Check out Hunter Thompson's story inspired by prompt #539. Read the rest here!

No, I won't need it sooner. I have December already in, and authors/stories for Jan/Feb. It's good to have it this early so I can do all the graphics at once, and I have oral surgery on Friday and the hype of the holidays after all that.

Dom hasn't been picked, and you're more than welcome to do both. Just confirm for me, and I'll put you in my line up. You can PM me with the info, but please PM me separately for each one with the author name as part of the subject line so I can keep it all straight in my PM folders. Thank you!!

Awesome, Val! I had a reader choose Andrew Q. Gordon already and it looks like Drew is going to do Tiff. So... you want to pick one of those of Tiff's and share an excerpt? It would be very helpful so I can plan out several months and do them at once.

Are you a fan of some of our Classic Authors? Want to help me out in a way that takes only minutes of your time but could revive some of the oldie but goodie stories on the site? Then I need your help! I'm sure many of you have seen the monthly Signature Author features where we promote one of their stories with a few copied reviews in the site blog in one post and then an excerpt in another, and I also create an ad that runs on the site for a month plus a graphic that members/authors can put in their personal signatures. What do I need from you? I want to feature the Classic authors on the site in the same fashion, but many of them are Classic authors because they're no longer active on the site. They still have their fans, though. Do you like Tiff's work? Dom Luka's? Andrew Q. Gordon? The Zot? If you do, send me a PM with your favorite story of theirs you'd like me to feature. Pick an excerpt (anything from a couple of paragraphs to 1k) from the story of a scene that you really liked, tell me why you picked it so I can share that with readers, and I'll do the rest. You could help bring some of the earlier stories in GA's history to light for newer members and share your favorite classics!

We slept hard, and my head was throbbing when I woke up. The emotional toll and the physical release on top of it left us unable to do more than stumble into bed. It was after noon when the buzzing of my phone woke me up. I had four messages, none of them were good, and the coffee was taking forever to brew. “What are you doing?” Kraig asked. I turned. “I thought you were still asleep.” “The smell woke me up. Is there enough for me?” Kraig yawned. “Of course.” I interrupted the brewing long

December is the end of the year, and I thought we could feature another end... Kuragari129's story, My Life Started at the End of the World. This is a story of how things can change, and all too often do, when teenagers are learning their way through life. Of course throwing in something like a rumor of the apocalypse really ups the drama! You'll have to read the story to find out what happens with Aidyn, Noah Skylar, and Greyson. My Life Started at the End of the World by Kuragari129 Length: 58,366 Description: Back in 2012 where people feared the doom of the world, Aidyn Scott must face his fears. Aidyn has strong feelings for a class mate, Noah Wesley. Skylar, Aidyn's little brother is just starting highschool and has began getting feelings for others. Specifically a new kid in town named Gresyon Payne, a blind boy whom he guides around the school. How will these four boys find their way through the "end of the world"? A Reader Said: This is very good, each character is developing and adding to the whole, with several distinct threads of storyline to keep moving forward. ~kagenokami This month's Discussion Day will take place on Monday, December 26th.

Thanks, Jeff! I figure, tigers really like the water so they can too.

I know, right? Lots of drama to come--not that there hasn't already been a lot.

Calm...? Mebbe. lol

Yeah, holidays... sorry! This week's was on time, though.

;)

“You know, I don’t remember you having a thing about being clean like this when we were younger,” Kraig said. He leaned against the counter while I started the shower. “Who said anything about getting clean?” I looked over my shoulder at him and grinned. “Besides, I like this shower. Two heads, great water pressure, and best of all, I get to be in here with my naked mate.” Kraig crossed his arms over his chest. “There is that. But maybe I need some incentive. Otherwise, I might just decide to

If you mean the interview, the blog will remain featured tomorrow, yes. But you can always visit the blog area or search 'CSR' in the Google menu, change it to 'blogs' (you can search various areas of the sites specifically rather than the whole site) and then it will pop up for all the blogs tagged with CSR (which is all of them).