Renee Stevens

Exactly, FaeBriona! If you're always waiting for the perfect time, what you want may never happen. Thanks for reviewing!

Thanks for the review, Dughlas. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks, Silverwolf. I always like to leave the option of continuing a story like this, we'll have to see where the future takes us and whether or not I get more inspiration for this one.

Thanks, Mariew. I may come back to this story one of these days, there would just be some logistics to work through.

Thank you, Llina, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I may come back to it one of these days.

Glad you enjoyed it, Val, and thanks for the review. I wanted to make an attempt at comedy, and it seems like maybe I didn't do too bad, lol.

Glad to see you back, Robert! I'm really glad that you're still enjoying the story, and you're right everything is a mess right now. There are so many aspects of this story, and sometimes it gets difficult to write. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue to do it justice. And yes, more is coming.

Honestly, at this point I don't think Mark knows what to think. You do make a good point on how they can even be related. Jackie is simply showing her true colors now, and unfortunately people marry for money every day. Though I don't think many of them go to quite the extremes that Jackie does. Thanks for the review, Lisa.

LOL! I like Gary's idea too, but we'll just have to wait and see. They both are definitely horrible and I definitely feel for Brent and Matthew as well. Thanks for the review Suvitar!

Thanks for the review, Suvitar. They are a sweet couple, and while I'd like to be able to tell you what happens next, I simply cannot, as that would give too much away.

Thanks for the review, DDK! It is definitely gut wrenching, and I really hope to capture the true feelings that friends and family feel when their loved ones are deployed in a war zone.

Thanks for the review! And it might have been just a little bit evil but it would be even more so if I made you wait for the new chapter. *Evil laugh*

Thanks for the review! And while I don't do cliffhangers, I'll admit it was just a little bit mean, but I promise the next chapter will be out soon.

Mark paced, unsure what to do. He wanted to call Gary and Diane, but didn’t want to worry them if it was nothing. On the other hand, if Trey was hurt, the military would call his parents. If Trey was able, surely he’d call. Mark raked his fingers through his hair as his agitation built. He looked around at the boxes scattered throughout the apartment. If he called Brent to help, he could be loaded up and on the road within a couple of hours. Maybe he was worrying for nothing, but if Gary and Di

And sorry to those who weren't able to vote because of the very short time frame.

Okay, normally I'd let the poll go much longer, however, we do seem to have a clear favorite (Secret Admirer has 50% of all votes and over double of all the other options) and also, I need to start getting everything ready so that authors have time to participate. Thank you to those who voted!

Just as an FYI: This poll won't be open for long to give me time to get everything together.

Please pick 1 name you'd like to see as the author name for a Valentine's contest.

Thanks, Mikiesboy. Unfortunately, I can't take the credit, it was sent to me by someone else and I simply included it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Since I'm running late today, let's get right into it! Monday we shared a review of lomax's Kissing The Dragon. Wednesday we revisited a past blog post from Cia called Cia's Torturing Me. It's all about what might keep your story in the moderation queue and what you can do to make sure your story is approved quickly. Thursday we had our guessing game for the Secret Santa contest. I received a compilation, from someone who wishes to remain nameless, of who guessed, so here it is: Seven Swans got 11 guesses on 5 names, none guessed correctly Chrisis Eve got 8 guesses on 4 names, one person guessed correctly (AC Benus) All I Want For Christmas got 7 guesses on 5 names, one person guessed correctly (craftingmom) Twenty-Three Days of Adven got 7 guesses on 5 names, three people guessed correctly Myrthcottle’s Memories got 7 guesses on 4 names, three people guessed correctly The Modern Magi got 7 guesses on 3 names, three people guessed correctly AC Benus made 6 corrects guesses craftingmom made 5 corrects guesses Puppilull, Valkyrie, Mikiesboy made 3 corrects guesses everyone else had one or two correct guesses Twelve stories had someone guess the correct author: La Gracier Et La Paix (The Pardon and the Peace) - most people (5) guessed this one Elves (3) Myrthcottle’s Memories (3) The Modern Magi, or Miracle at the Angel Tree (3) Twenty-Three Days of Advent (3) Cruising For Love At Christmas (2) Mistletoe Balls (2) All I Want For Christmas (1) Chrisis Eve (1) Habibi (1 - I'm not counting Puppilul guessing her own story, lol) Meeting Santa (1) Operation Wonder (1) Nine stories had no one guess their author From Santa Julebukking My Very Own Secret Santa Santa's Little Helper Seven Swans The Baker's Helper The Letter: A Christmas Tale The Old Ways The Secret Santa Game There were no new prompts on Friday of this week. Instead, we announced the winners of the Secret Santa Short Story Contest as well as had the author reveal. Were you surprised by who wrote what? How many did you guess correctly? Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team** 2016 Spring Anthology: Crossing the Line - Due February 26th, 2016 2016 Summer Anthology: Wicked Games - Due May 26th, 2016 2016 Fall Anthology: Blindsided - Due August 26th, 2016 2016 Winter Anthology: The Forgotten - Due November 26th, 2016 All Pre-2016 Anthology Themes - Due December 14, 2016 By our Promoted Authors: *Note* Though they'll be a week late, the stories in the Secret Santa Contest will be added to the weekly wrap up next week after the reveal. The Degan Paradox by Rob Colton; Book 3 of Galactic Conspiracies *Premium* All I want for Christmas by Graeme *Secret Santa Contest* Chrisis Eve by Headstall *Secret Santa Contest* Julebukking by Cole Matthews *Secret Santa Contest* Mistletoe Balls by Aditus *Secret Santa Contest* Santa's Little Helper by craftingmom *Secret Santa Contest* The Modern Magi, or Miracle at the Angel Tree by AC Benus *Secret Santa Contest* The Old Ways by Valkyrie *Secret Santa Contest* Twenty-Three Days of Advent by Thorn Wilde *Secret Santa Contest* Sauna Christmas by Thorn Wilde; Book 2 of Tales From the Sauna Black Widow by Mark Arbour; Book 16 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont Aditus' prompts and circumstances by aditus Thwarted by Renee Stevens It Had to be Good! - Christmas at Famous-Barr 1929 by AC Benus No Flash by Cia The Holly and the Ivy by aditus My Brother Daniel by Nephylim 2015 Prompt Responses by Valkyrie Sword of Kings: Tempered by Fate by Bill W; Book 3 of Sword of Kings Holding Back by Thorn Wilde The G. M. Os. by CarlHoliday Innocence & Carnality by Mann Ramblings Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

My favorite Album is: I don't really have a song or album I really dislike....

Reminder: Voting for the Secret Santa Story Contest ends TODAY! Don't forget to PM your votes, for your favorite Secret Santa Story, to A.J. before 2:00 PM EST. Now, what do we have for you today. Lately, I've been revisiting some of the old blog posts. The site is growing every day, bringing in more readers and more authors. With the influx in newer authors, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit Cia's blog post on some of the highest occurring mistakes that authors make when posting their stories for the first time. For the newer authors, I hope you find this post informative. For those who have been here a while, it never hurts to have a reminder. Cia’s Torturing Me! by Cia If you’re an author, I’m sure you’ve thought that at least once, right? I swear, it’s nothing personal! GA’s posting system is complicated, and there is always a learning curve for new authors to figure out the ins and outs of posting here. I'm also the primary staff member that reviews the Stories submissions, so I am not picking on any one person if you receive more than one PM; I'm simply the staff member that reviews everything in the queue unless I am away from GA for some reason. That being said… there are a few things that will get you on my hit… uh, kindly message list. Posting Issues Most Likely To Trigger a Moderation PM: Posting More Than One Chapter : New stories should always be posted with a single chapter only. These should be properly edited, ready to go live, chapters. A prologue is okay, as it auto-posts with the first chapter, but more than a single chapter in a new submission floods the announcement listing. Additional chapters CAN be posted, but only if you post-date them. You can read about the post-dating system in the faq here. Paragraph Spacing : This might be the most common mistake I see. Check your story content after you post, please. Some writing programs, browsers, and or machines (tablets/phones) are not compatible with the text editor. It can either strip out or add extra spaces between the paragraphs. Reviewing your chapters allows you to fix that before I find it in the queue. A fix in Word can be found in the faq here. If you use other writing programs, like Google docs, tablets, etc… try posting with a new browser or placing your text in another program before you copy to GA until you have the correct spacing. We can't always tell you what the exact problem is in these cases to fix the spacing issue. Flash Fiction and Poetry : Short stories under 1k in length, such as prompt responses, or poetry must be placed in a ‘collection’. This is as simple as creating a title that implies a collection, such as ‘My Shorts or My Haiku’ and then posting a single submission as the first chapter. Then subsequent posts would be made as chapters to that ‘collection’. The chapter titles can be edited and notes can be placed in each chapter as a description, if you choose. You may have more than one collection, within reason, to separate types of poetry or stories if you have a large number of varied content available. Posting a Series Title : If you are posting a story that isn’t a follow up story to one already existing on GA, you do not have a series. Please don't use this field. Once you post the 2 nd story in your series you can go back and edit the first story to include the series information for the search engine. Also you can never have story 0 of a series. Content : Yes, we have a basic quality expectation. If you don’t know the word ‘I’ should be capitalized, or how to use a basic spellcheck, you will be placed under review and your story may be rejected until you can edit it up to a minimum level of readability. Yes, we allow stories with erotic content. We also allow stories that show drug use, suicide attempts and actual suicides, abuse, rape, etc… but there are criteria for each that must be followed, such as not glorifying the acts and adding content warnings to the story/chapter notes for extreme content. Erotic content must be integral to the plot and cannot be more than half the story plot. There is a narrow band of acceptable incest and bestiality themes, but necrophilia is NEVER ok. Various Fields Filled Out Incorrectly : We have a 3 step rating system for stories for authors to use. They include Everyone, Teen, and Mature. Teen and Mature ratings apply for stories containing content like sex, violence, abuse, or suicide stories. Mature would mean any ‘on-screen/graphic’ content. Teen includes it, but it might occur in the backstory or off-screen such as a ‘fade to black’ sex scene not actually written in. Everyone means no graphic content. We have a story status system that has 3 levels. In Process means you’re still posting the story (even if you have it complete, until you post the last chapter it is not complete on GA) and On Hold means you’re not posting the story for whatever reason. Make sure you post to the right category for your story. There is a long drop menu with many options, so please check them all to ensure the best search engine results. And more… This is why we ask that authors read the entire “New Author Help: How to Post a Story” faq before they post. Any story deemed suspect for any reason will be placed under review and discussed by the forum moderation team to ensure a fair team decision on acceptability. I am not a dictator with the only say in what does and does not get approved. Questions I Get The Most From Authors: Why are you checking my stuff in a moderation queue? We check to ensure proper posting procedure is followed, that the content falls within our guidelines, and that you’re not a plagiarist. The fact is, we’ve been burned before with people stealing stories and posting on GA. We don’t always catch it, but we try our utmost to protect authors’ rights on this site. How long does the queue take? Typically 24 hours, at the most. I say this because I check the mod queue once a day. Usually I attempt this between 5-10 AM, Pacific Standard Time, but I do have a life and things sometimes crop up. If you post at 9:00 AM and I already checked the queue, and something comes up the next day and I don’t get to it until the afternoon… you may wait longer than 24 hours. Sometimes I can review and approve submissions several times a day. Anything with questionable content triggering a team review can take up to 72 hours. Also, because we ask that authors only post a maximum of 2 chapters spaced out (morning/night, for example) if you have 2 stories or chapters waiting in the queue, I will only approve one. I might approve the second several hours later, or it might end up waiting until the next day. Please don’t overwhelm the queue, as that only makes my job harder to ensure that your stories and chapters are posted with a fair timing without overwhelming the announcement listing. Please remember I’m one person who dedicates time every day to this process, but I am not perfect. In the past we’ve found bugs with the posting system when author’s work didn’t post to the queue properly as well. IF your submission remains in the queue for an unreasonable amount of time without any contact from me, you can PM me. How long am I in the queue? There is no set time limit in the queue, but there is a cut-off point. You must have 75 likes on your forum content, stories, and chapters before you no longer face the queue. Once you have achieved that level, your updates will post when you publish them. So, it behooves an author to be active, posting consistently, and interacting with readers and other members on our forums as well. Is your decision the sole factor in submission approval? No, it’s not. As I said before, any story deemed suspect for any reason is reviewed by the forum moderation team for a fair discussion and consensus. Why can’t I edit my story/chapter or why did I get an error message when I tried to edit my story/chapter? The system has a fail-safe set in place to prevent large amounts of text in a chapter or story from being removed. We expect that you post your best work that has already been edited. If there is a serious problem, or you do not take advantage of the offer, I will remove the story/chapter content for you to repost if you PM me. Why can’t I delete my story/chapter(s)? Again, there’s a fail-safe built into the system to prevent that from occurring. Authors can place their work unpublished so no one but the author or staff can see it, but they cannot delete. No, we will not refuse to remove your work, but you must PM me to ensure complete deletion from the system. I will usually want to know why, because if there’s a problem with the story, posting, or a moderation issue with another GA member, a cooling off period and discussion can sometimes resolve the issue without the story actually being deleted. I’m so confused! How do I find help? We have a faq you can find under the ? tab in the red menu bar. The topic titled, “New Author Help: How to Post a Story” not only has our posting and content guidelines, it also has a chapter that explains what each field is for in our story submission form as well as various things unique to our system. If you’ve read the faq, and still don’t know the answer to your questions, please feel free to PM me. It can often be easier to ask ahead of time than to sort out posting issues after you attempt to post.

“I can’t believe it’s only been three months.” Trey raked his fingers through his short hair. “How the hell are we going to survive another nine months of this?” “We’ll do it because we have to.” Mark wanted to be encouraging, but the three months Trey had been gone had been tough. For both of them. He still hadn’t heard directly from Jackie, but after everything Brent had told him, it was probably just as well. “Just keep reminding yourself that once you’re done over there, you’re on your way

It's Monday again, and only a few more days until Christmas and the reveal of the Secret Santa authors! If you haven't already done so, make sure to go read the stories and send a PM to A.J. with the name of your favorite. Voting will end at 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, so don't delay! To start our week off, we have a review of lomax's story Kissing the Dragon provided to us by Timothy M. Enjoy!!! Kissing the Dragon by lomax Author Reviewer: Timothy M Status: Complete Word Count: 145,912 Lomax is a fairly new author at GA, and I got acquainted with him while reading his first story Uninvited Guest, which is no longer here due to it being snapped up for publishing. However, Lomax has started a series called The Croxburg Chronicles, the first of which is Kissing the Dragon, a thriller / romance. There are several reasons to read this story, and one of them is of course the murder mystery itself. As the story unfolded, readers speculated about whodunit, both in reviews and in the story discussion forum. There were several wild theories, but none of them got close. Lomax sprinkled various hints, and some of the bad guys were obvious, but he still surprised us in the end. An even better reason is the way lomax portrays his characters. They are never one-dimensional, but very quickly seem real, with all their annoying habits, endearing quirks, and understandable doubts or wants. We go from feeling sorry, to disliking, to laughing, before we end up admiring or even loving some of the protagonists. It’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster at times, and I think I wasn’t the only reader who wanted to shake or slap the main character, Colin, as well as one or two of the others. To quote from one of my reviews: Why do all your characters annoy me so much? But luckily Kissing the Dragon also has plenty of funny, scary, hot, sad, and painfully honest moments. Perhaps best of all: Colin manages to think about and revise his decisions and perceptions of his ex-partner, his past, his life, his job and his friends. He is confronted with his own faults and misconceptions and realizes he needs to change something. But whether he is capable of this and how the story ends, you’ll have to find out for yourself. Oh and this also applies to the significance of the title, which isn’t revealed until we’re more than half way through the story. Give Kissing the Dragon a chance – and remember: You’re lucky because you don’t have to wait anxiously for the next chapter to post. Category: Fiction Genres: Mystery, Romance, Thriller/Suspense Tags: Mature Adult, Crime, Police, Adult, Gay, Europe Status: Complete Rating: Mature

Greedy? You? Never!!! Seriously though, I love having readers so invested in the story that they can't wait for the next chapter. It's amazing what people will do, and I know there are people out there that marry for money, perhaps Jackie is a little further than that, but it is possible. A bus hmmmm... *ponders ideas*