Cia

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

Re-reading is always first. I tend to make inline comments about changes/new ideas/etc... and if it grabs my attention, I start writing again. If it doesn't, I save it and move on to something else so I can come back to the story idea later.

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).

The year is almost over, and the time has flown by! Did you find the time to read Comicality's contemporary story featuring one young man's journey as he experiences his first year at college. If you did, make sure you share your thoughts on Comsie's story, but first, everyone can enjoy his answers to the questions I posed in his interview! If you were an animal, what would you be? - You know, I'm not sure why, but I have always had a thing for panthers. Ever since I was little, the idea of a huge jungle cat, with all black fur and bright cat eyes...both beautiful and dangerous...I LOVE it! Hehehe! What do you like best in a story if you’re reading it? - Character interaction. Definitely. That's my number one allure to a story. Not just in relation to advancing the plot, but just a few golden (sometimes random) moments where the main characters get to truly bond with one another on a human level. A little fun, a little romance, a little humor, some emotional support, some backstory...I think that truly adds something special to what you're reading. I think that's what makes readers truly care about what's going on. They get to be a part of the adventure first hand, you know? I always try to leave my characters some space to just have some fun outside of the main plot in everything that I write. It can be endearing. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? - There's hardly any time during the day when I'm not writing. Hehehe! I've learned to appreciate a heavy dose of isolation each and every day, and I realize that I overdo it on occasion and have to make an effort to reconnect with my friends and family to make up for it. But outside of that, I'm a huge hog for movies and TV shows these days. The stories have gotten so complex that I can really get involved in what's going on and start bingeing myself silly. Video games too. So I can get really absorbed in a good story, no matter what the medium. I've also been learning more about cooking, which is new for me. Well, for the last year or two, anyway. And I've been enjoying that as well. Cooking is an art in itself. I hope to keep getting better at it. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? - Foreshadowing. Hands down. I like for my stories to be built up to a climax and a logical solution as I'm writing them, so foreshadowing is a must. You don't want to get to the end and have something just 'happen' for no reason, you know? You have to leave little breadcrumbs along the way. Unfortunately, I think people have seen sooooooo many movies and TV shows and read so many stories online, that they've become too savvy for foreshadowing to really be effective. They're 'hip to the game' at this point. So every time I write something, most people are already trying to jump TEN steps ahead of me to figure out the rest of the entire story before it's even written. It's extremely hard to beat people to the punch anymore, because nobody just sits back and enjoys the ride. There's a huge race to be the first one to say, "I CALLED IT!!!" With hours of analysis and hints and clues and speculations and fan theories...foreshadowing is a really difficult magic trick to pull off these days. Either your plot twists and endings came out of nowhere and don't make sense, or the story is seen as cliché and predictable. It's nearly impossible to find a Goldilocks type of middle ground between the two extremes. But it's just a challenge. Challenge is what it's all about, after all. So it makes things a LOT harder, but it's worth it when you can surprise a few people every now and then. Do you plot out your stories or just write as it comes to you? - I have to plot everything out in advance before I start writing. First for the story as a whole, then chapter by chapter, so I know where I'm going and have an idea of how to get there. So the stories are already finished in my mind, with a major arc covering it all. But there are story arcs to each chapter as well. There are certain events that I want to tackle every chapter, even if it's just a set up or solution to the chapter coming up or the one that just passed. So I have a blueprint, but there is a LOT of room for spontaneous ideas if I feel like adding them at a moment's notice. So I keep a structure in mind, but it's not carved in stone if I think of something better along the way. Is writing more of a flurry of inspiration or a daily wordcount you adhere to? - You know, I really try to stick to the word count discipline, but it doesn't always work. I definitely write every single night. I doubt I'd be able to sleep at all if I didn't. But I always write according to what I'm feeling at that particular moment, on that particular day. The reason I write SO many stories at once, is because they all have different themes, different moods, and different issues and emotions involved. I don't want to force myself to write something happy and cute when I'm having a really bad day. But I don't want to write something that's supposed to have some emotional weight and somber depth to it when I'm feeling silly and fun. Nor do I want to write something 'sexy' when I'm angry at the world and need to vent my frustrations. No matter what I'm feeling...I have a story that I can use to channel that emotion and it feels authentic and has a greater impact. I don't want to 'fake' it. Emotional involvement is what my stories are all about. It's the most important part of writing for me. So when people read something from me...I want it to feel real. Because it IS real. It's my therapy and my release, more often than not. Which is why I can't rush one story over the other, but I work on them all every single day. It's not just words for me, I want readers to feel it like I feel it. I hope that gets accomplished every now and then. Hehehe, when I'm being moody. Did the characters or the plot of Between the Lines come to you first? - The plot was the first thing that came to me with this story. The theme of it was something that I wanted to write about before, but never had an idea that I thought would really focus on the ideas I had in mind the way "Between The Lines" did. I wanted to create a story about someone who was finally getting the freedom of the college experience, embracing a new life for the first time, and has convinced himself that he's truly happy simply because he's experiencing something new and different. But he has nothing to compare this experience to. He hasn't really been exposed to what's out there, and just how amazing romance can be with someone who's more than just 'gay like me'. I wanted it to be a journey that displays the way time and experience expands our views on relationships altogether over time. I'm happy to say that I was proud of the way this one turned out. You use a character who is a writer. Did you model Eli’s writing style/inspiration after your own? - Definitely! I LOVE being able to write about writing! Hehehe! So the story was one of my early chances to really describe what it's like to have ideas in your head and developing the ability to translate those thoughts into words and what it feels like to be able to put them all down on paper. (Or on screen, in this case) I can remember my first semester of college when I took a creative writing class. Now, this was a film school, also full of actors, writers, etc...and I was SO nervous! I kept thinking, "These kids are going to be soooo much BETTER than me! They've been doing this all of their lives! This is what they want to do for a living! How can I possibly match up?" But I went in and did my own thing, and they embraced it. I made some really good friends in those classes. Even with teachers, who splattered my stories with red ink...but gave me good grades anyway because they liked what I wrote. So this story borrows heavily from my own college experience with creative writing in front of an audience. If it wasn't for those favorable reactions, there might not be a 'Comicality' today. Do you have a favorite scene in Between the Lines? - There's a moment in the computer lab where both Eli and Devon go to write and print out their work for the next class together that I thought was endearing. That scene was originally going to be much shorter, only be a random bumping into one another...but as I was writing it, these fictional characters just started having this really cool conversation all on their own. I refused to stand in the way of them getting to know each other better. Hehehe! So that scene ended up being one of my favorites in the whole series. There's something 'organic' and natural about it. I'm glad that it turned out as well as it did. It still makes me smile when I read over it again. Can you share a little of your future projects with us? - Well, writing wise, I think the biggest project that I've got in the works right now is a horror anthology called "Darkness Waits". It has four separate stories in it, and I was trying hard to get it done in time for Halloween, but I had two long months of weird life circumstances that took me away from the site, and I wasn't able to catch up to the momentum that I had going before. But, while gay themed, it's actual 'horror'. And it's a bit of a new challenge for me. So wish me luck, and I'll keep everybody informed as to when it's ready. Outside of that, I've been spending a LOT of time on ebooks, there's a "Billy Chase" animated series of shorts in the works, an audio book for "Gone From Daylight" that already has the first three chapters recorded, Imagine Magazine...the fans of the site have really been coming out to lend their incredible talents to the site as a whole in 2017, and I want to lend as much support as I can so I can be a part of it. I think readers will be surprised with what's coming in 2017! I'm excited about it! I hope everyone else will be too!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday!!!

“Why would a human werekin do this to me?” Kraig said. “I bet I know.” Park’s nostrils were flaring. “We’ve heard the jokes and the biased bullshit about human werekin, but I don’t think any of us in this streak know how bad it is. Ritch told me stories… he was given away, sold, to another man. “Before that, he was the lowest member of his streak. In the new group, he was even lower than that. He was a slave, a plaything. They could beat him, starve him, do anything they wanted. That’s the lif

I know, right? Those eyes... those shiny lifeless eyes! lol