Renee Stevens

What a jerk!

Doesn't work for me either.

I know I've given you a lot of these over the last week, but I can't help but give you another one. Hearing you talk about your dad this last week, there's no doubt in my mind that he knew how much you loved him. He sounded like a wonderful man. You know where I am if you need me.

It's that time again, time to take a look back at what happened this week in the GA News Blog. Before I get to that though, i want to remind everyone that Tuesday is the last day to send your story to the Anthology Proof Team. At the moment we've only received 5 entries. Now, lets see what happened this past week in the blog. The CSR discussion for Pierced by JVaughn took place on Monday. Tech Tuesdays came back on Tuesday to tell us about how the new software upgrade is going to deal with friends. Wednesday we had our first Grammar Rodeo provided by Cia that looked at similar words and how to tell which one to use. Friday we had two new prompts and featured a 2-4-1 prompt response by Carlos Hazday. Saturday featured the Signature Background for March. This month's featured story is Two of a Kind by Cia. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines (except Poetry) are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team*** 2015 Spring Anthology: Full Circle - Due March 3rd 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember - Due April 15th (Poetry Anthology is exempt from the Anthology Proof Team) 2015 Summer Anthology: Road Trip - Due June 3rd ***NEW READING*** In Premium: The Harvest: Taken by M.A. Church By our Classic Authors: Long Day by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: Prompt Ramblings by Mann Ramblings A Class By HImself by Comicality Global Explorer II by David McLeod Saturday Shorts by Renee Stevens Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards Sword of Kings: Forged Out of Necessity by Bill W Fortitude by Cia Cosmic Inception by Cia By our Promising Authors: 2015 Prompt Responses by Valkyrie The Hollow Hills by Valkyrie Barbed Wire Heart by Cole Matthews London and Love by carringtonrj Sanctuary by Sasha Distan Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

I stood frozen, staring at the image in front of me. The table was set for two and, if I wasn’t mistaken, that was lasagna on my plate. I stepped closer to the table and looked around the room. Two tapered candles sat in the middle of the table with a few more scattered around the room, their flickering light creating a romantic ambiance. A vase full of wildflowers sat next to the sink, their bright colors muted without the overhead lights. I appreciated the effort and thought that had obviousl

FRIDAY, FRIDAY, FRIDAY!!! *Dances* Oh, oops. Forgot what I was doing there for a moment. Hope everyone has had a great week and I bet everyone is looking forward to the weekend. Before the weekend can get here though, we have to do the weekly prompts from the Prompt Guru. Hopefully one of these will spark an idea!!! Prompt 398 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – umbrella, toy bunny, banana, a parrot, and a young girl. Prompt 399 – Creative Tag – The Snore You are on vacation and having a wonderful time except for one little thing. The person on the other side of the wall has to have the world’s loudest snoring problem. The first night you swore a train was coming through your wall. After three nights you refuse to have your vacation ruined. You go next door early the in the morning to confront your neighbor about the god awful noise. Who is your neighbor and what do you do about the sound of the snoring? This week I decided to feature a response for both Prompt #396 and Prompt #397. Don't worry though, you still only have one response to read! Here's Carlos Hazday's twofer: Read the rest here.

Today's blog is courtesy of Cia! Ever wondered which is the correct word to use when faced with lay/lie? You're not alone and Cia has put together a very informative blog entry to help, it even includes tips and tricks for when you're really not sure. Thanks Cia for taking the time to give us Grammar Rodeo #1! Grammar Rodeo #1 Tips and Tricks for wrangling those Pesky Word Choices! Who and Whom Okay, I hate this one, even though it’s relatively simple! Let’s make it easy: Who is used as a subject of the verb. It describes the person doing whatever the action word says is happening. Whom is the object of the verb. That means whatever the action is, it is happening to that person. Examples: Rick just knew who spilled the beans. (Who spilled the beans—so they did the action spilled the beans) Rick has a crush on whom? (The subject he ‘has’ a crush is on the whom in this sentence) Easy Tip: Substitute he and him. If he sounds better, you usually use the word who. If him sounds better, you usually use the word whom. Examples: Rick just knew he spilled the beans. or Rick just knew him spilled the beans. Rick has a crush on he? or Rick has a crush on him? Lay vs. Lie This is another one I constantly flub, much to my dismay. Both are very similar, but, when used correctly, lay and lie indicate very different things. Lay means to put an object down. That means the subject is putting the object—book, pillow, plate—down on something. Lie means to be, rest, assume a horizontal position. So that means the subject’s bod is actually in that position, and not moving an object. The water gets a LOT murkier when you start hitting past tense because lay becomes laid and lie becomes lay. Yep, gotta love the English language. And there’s more below, after the present and past examples, so keep reading! Tip: What the subject (character) is doing is key in knowing which to use, no matter what tense you’re writing in. If the subject is moving themselves, you use lie (present) or lay (past). If the subject (character) is moving an object you use lay (present) or laid (past). Examples: Present tense: I lay down the pencil beside my completed paper. (the pencil is being lay down by I) I lie down after an exhausting homework session. (the person “I” is moving to lie down) Past tense: I laid down the pencil beside my completed paper. (The person, I, put the pencil down) I lay down after an exhausting homework session. (The person, I, hit the sheets after the homework session) There are present and past participles too, depending on ‘helping’ verbs, just to make it even more fun, but the rule still stands on what is moving into that horizontal position. Examples: Present Participle: I am laying the pencil down beside my completed paper. (helping verb: am) I was lying down after an exhausting homework session. (helping verb: was) Past Participle: I had laid down the pencil beside my completed paper. (helping verb: had) I had lain down after an exhausting homework session. (helping verb: had) Tip Chart: Lay (moving an object) Present: Lay Past: laid Present Participle: laying Past Participle: laid Lie (subject actually moving) Present: lie Past: lay Present Participle: lying Past Participle: lain

Before I get to the weekly update, a reminder that tomorrow is the CSR Discussion for Pierced by JVaughn. Also, the deadline is fast approaching for the 2015 Spring Anthology. Now, lets see what happened in the blog this past week. On Monday Cia provided a review for Dangerous Impulses by Greg_A. If you haven't read the story, check out the review and maybe it will prompt you to check out the story itself. If you have read it, feel free to offer up your own opinion. Wednesday continued the introduction of some fun activities in blog with the Prolific Author Word Search. Save your own copy and see if you can find all thirty of the most prolific authors on GA (by story count). Congratulations were in order on Thursday as AJ joined us here at the blog to announce the newest GA Promising Author, Valkyrie. Stop on by and offer your own congrats! Friday brought two new prompts and this week I featured Jamessavik's response to Prompt #395. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines (except Poetry) are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team*** 2015 Spring Anthology: Full Circle - Due March 3rd 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember - Due April 15th (Poetry Anthology is exempt from the Anthology Proof Team) 2015 Summer Anthology: Road Trip - Due June 3rd ***NEW READING*** In Premium: The Harvest: Taken by M.A. Church By our Classic Authors: Dreamcatcher by Dabeagle Sanitaria Springs by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: All Eyes Watching - Extended by Comicality Global Explorer II by David McLeod Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality; Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Sword of Kings: Forged Out of Necessity by Bill W Belovéd by Don H Fortitude by Cia The Strange Life of Jonas Marks by comicfan Cosmic Inception by Cia Savage Moon 06 - The New Breed by Comicality; Book 6 of Savage Moon Kiss Of An Angel by Comicality By our Promising Authors: 2015 Prompt Responses by Valkyrie Runner-Up by FrenchCanadian Lonely At The Top by Sasha Distan; Book 10 of American Songbook The Hollow Hills by Valkyrie Barbed Wire Heart by Cole Matthews London and Love by carringtonrj Sanctuary by Sasha Distan Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

There are many reasons that people might look forward to Friday, but here at the GA News Blog, we look forward to Friday because it means one thing.... New Prompts!!! Sometimes we get stuck and need a little push to help us get writing again, that's what the prompts are all about, to help get the juices flowing. As always, Comicfan has provided two new prompts for you to take a stab at. Hopefully one of these will inspire you to write a little something! Prompt 396 – Creative Tag – First Line “When will I see you again?” Prompt 397 – Creative Tag – The Accident You woke up to find most of your body in a cast. Your face hurts and you can’t use your hands. What happened that you ended up in such bad shape? For the featured prompt response this week, I hope you enjoy Jamessavik's response to Prompt #395: Read the rest here.

Being the start of a new week, Monday's are also a good time to take a look at some of the different stories that can be found on Gay Authors. With so many great works, it can be easy to overlook one and Monday's provide an opportunity for us to help make one of them stand out and maybe catch your interest. Today, we're bringing you a review by Cia of Greg_A's story "Dangerous Impulses." Enjoy! Dangerous Impulses by Greg_A Author Reviewer: Cia Status: Complete Word Count: 19,664 This story doesn’t follow my usual reading pattern. I like a lot going on in a story to pull me into the plot, but sometimes characters are written so well that all I want to do is see their experiences in life as people. Dangerous Impulses is definitely that kind of story, and Geoff and Aaron are those types of characters. We first meet Geoff, an introvert who spends a lot of time online writing and posting gay stories that go beyond stroke material—something many authors on GA can really relate to. He has fans, including some he’s become friends with beyond the story sites and his yahoo group, and has even stretched himself out of his comfort zone to instant messaging. And then he does something that might not be so smart; he’s agreed to meet one of them while on a trip to do a talk at a conference for work. Adam seems like a great guy when Geoff—and we—get to meet him. Attractive in a normal way and not some Fabio-style fantasy man, Adam is warm and friendly. There’s a connection there, and who wouldn’t want more? They already know they connect intellectually. Of course, there’s a chick to throw into the mix to keep things interesting, and the whole distance thing between Adam and Geoff to overcome. Will they make it past friendship during their time together or will they give into the attraction between them? I won’t tell you more about the story, because I want you to read it for yourself. There are a few editing issues that could be cleaned up, but overall Greg’s story about these guys really creates sympathetic characters most people at GA could find at the drop of a hat—we all enjoy good stories that go beyond sex to show real people in real life and love. I think that realism really made the story for me, even though I’m not a single gay man. LOL So check out Greg_A’s story, Dangerous Impulses, and don’t forget to leave him a review. Maybe we could even get him to write a sequel!! Category: Fiction Genres: Romance Tags: Adult, Gay, Love Rating: Mature

Sorry all, running a bit late today. The week has gone by so quickly that I sorta forgot today was Sunday! Before I get going, for those who didn't noticed Saturday's post, I wanted to once again announce the winner for the International Flirt Week Contest. For the line: **walk up to a stranger, lick a finger and wipe it on the guy's shirt** "Come on, baby. Let's get you out of these wet clothes." This past week was a week to feature Carl Holiday! On Monday we had a review of his story Hold32 and then on Wednesday we had an interview with Carl as well! Hope you enjoyed both! Friday brought two new prompts to the table as well as a feature of KC's response to one of last weeks prompt! A reminder, the CSR Discussion for Pierced will take place on the 23rd! That's just over a week away, but there's still time to read it if you haven't already! Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines (except Poetry) are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team*** 2015 Spring Anthology: Full Circle - Due March 3rd 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember - Due April 15th (Poetry Anthology is exempt from the Anthology Proof Team) 2015 Summer Anthology: Road Trip - Due June 3rd ***NEW READING*** In Premium: The Harvest: Taken by M.A. Church By our Classic Authors: Sanitaria Springs by Dabeagle Interference by Dabeagle Everything's Jake by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: GFD 12: Blood Ties by Comicality; Book 12 of Gone From Daylight Global Explorer II by David McLeod To Catch A Leopard by Graeme Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards A prompt a week by comicfan New Kid In School by Comicality Sword of Kings: Forged Out of Necessity by Bill W The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality; Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Fortitude by Cia Cosmic Inception by Cia By our Promising Authors: Worth the Drive by Sasha Distan; Book 13 of American Songbook Lonely At The Top by Sasha Distan; Book 10 of American Songbook Our Song by Sasha Distan; Book 12 of American Songbook Barbed Wire Heart by Cole Matthews Country Girl by Sasha Distan; Book 11 of American Songbook London and Love by carringtonrj Sanctuary by Sasha Distan Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

Who's ready for a new set of prompts to get the wheels turning? Sometimes an author hits a road block that they just can't seem to make their way through. The weekly prompts are a great starting point to jump start some new ideas. Whether you're looking to just do a quick flash piece or maybe you want to do a bit longer story, why not give them a try! A couple of things to remember: Prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Do to the high number of collections containing only a few "chapters" we have set a limit of five collections per author, any more than this requires prior Admin approval. Prompt 394 – Creative Tag – List of words Use the following words in a story – roses, dinner reservations, a broken toilet, a wet towel, and an owl. Prompt 395 – Creative Tag – Romantic Dinner? You have come home to a surprise. Your home is clean, your favorite meal is sitting on the table, candles are lit, soft music is playing, and your favorite flowers are sitting in a vase by the kitchen sink. This would be very romantic, but you aren’t dating and you aren’t sure how someone got in your home. Is this a romantic surprise or are you being stalked? This week I decided to feature the prompt response of an author we haven't featured for a while. Enjoy this prompt response to Prompt #392 by K.C.: Read the rest here.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Just a reminder that there's less than a month left to get your Spring Anthology entries in to the Anthology Proof team (23 days to be exact)! Now lets take a quick look at what happened this week in the GA News Blog! Have you read Pierced by JVaughn? If not, now's your chance as on Monday, Cia announced that Pierced was this month's CSR Book Club choice. The discussion day will take place on Feb 23rd, but since it's just under 20,000 words, you should have plenty of time to get it read before the discussion takes place! Wednesday is always a great day for the blog, but especially when it's the first one of the month, because that means it's time for a new Ask An Author feature from Dark! This past Wednesday was no exception and as always, we had some great questions for the authors. Curious as to which authors and what they were asked? To find that out, you'll just have to go check out the blog post! Not only did Friday bring us the regular two new prompts from comicfan, but it also highlighted the newest poetry prompt courtesy of AC Benus! Not only that, but we featured a past prompt response from comicfan and a past poetry prompt response from Irritable1. Friday was a very busy day and a great way to start the weekend. Unlike most weeks, the blog didn't end on Friday. Cia had been teasing members via status updates about an upcoming contest. Have you heard of "International Flirt Week"? Many people probably haven't, but it exists and we're having an International Flirt Week Contest! For more details, check out Saturday's blog entry!! Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines (except Poetry) are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team*** 2015 Spring Anthology: Full Circle - Due March 3rd 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember - Due April 15th (Poetry Anthology is exempt from the Anthology Proof Team) 2015 Summer Anthology: Road Trip - Due June 3rd ***NEW READING*** In Premium: The Harvest: Taken by M.A. Church By our Classic Authors: Everything's Jake by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: GA Writing Prompts by Dolores Esteban Streak by Mark Arbour; Book 15 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Global Explorer II by David McLeod Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards The Strange Life of Jonas Marks by comicfan Sword of Kings: Forged Out of Necessity by Bill W Fortitude by Cia A prompt a week by comicfan Cosmic Inception by Cia By our Promising Authors: Runner-Up by FrenchCanadian Lonely At The Top by Sasha Distan; Book 10 of American Songbook Barbed Wire Heart by Cole Matthews London and Love by carringtonrj Sanctuary by Sasha Distan Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

Hope everyone has had a great week so far and is looking forward to the weekend. What better way to start it off than with brand new prompts! If you've been feeling stuck, or maybe just want to do something a little different, maybe one of these prompts will jumpstart a new idea. A couple of things to remember: Prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Do to the high number of collections containing only a few "chapters" we have set a limit of five collections per author, any more than this requires prior Admin approval. Prompt 392 – Creative Tag – First Line “What the hell are you watching?” Prompt 393 – Creative Tag – The gifts The first package arrived a week ago. Since then you have gotten a gift a day for nine days now. What did you get and who is sending you the gifts? We also have the next Poetry prompt! Poetry Prompt #6 Write your own set of four-lined Elegy stanzas. The theme is 'Remember,' and I encourage all of you to submit your work to Irri for the spring anthology. Keep the rhyme pattern a-b-b-a, use as many stanzas as you like, but maintain a consistent 8-syllable line. Play with it; your poem does not have to be about death or loss, just remembrance. For more information on this type of poetry, visit the thread! Now for the featured prompt responses, this week we'll feature a past poetry response, plus a response from last week's prompts! This week I decided to feature a prompt response from the prompt guru himself. Here's comicfan's response to prompt #391: To read the rest, click here. For the poetry prompt response, I decided to feature Irritable1's response to Poetry Prompt #5: To review, go here!

It's hard to believe it's already February, but not only is it a new month, but it's also the first Wednesday of the month. That means it's time for the "Ask An Author" feature provided to us by Dark! Don't forget, PM Dark if you have a question you'd like to ask your favorite author! Ask an Author #24 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #23, we had questions for authors Mark Arbour, Thomas Nealy, and Thorn Wilde. In AtA #24, we hear from authors Andrew Q. Gordon, Andy78, and Sasha Distan. For their protection, the members who asked these questions shall remain nameless (unless they choose to reveal themselves). Please note that all author replies are copied as is, spelling errors and grammar eccentricities original to the individual. This will be the fourth question in AtA posed for Signature Author Andrew Q. Gordon. Though he may not be as active on GA as he once was, AQG remains popular, and is gaining new followers every day, through GA or the internet publishers he’s graced with his time and efforts. His most recent release A Closed Door is likewise through new Wayward Ink Publishing, which, if I’m not mistaken, Q helped get started. And don’t forget that Q continues to add to the story begun in Second Shot, one of the first stories Q posted to GA and still one of the most-liked. At Q’s website, you can find out more about how busy his life has gotten chasing the toddler Lil’ Q has become. To Andrew Q. Gordon: Has fatherhood and formal marriage encouraged you to re-think the balance in your life between work/career and your personal life as a father/husband? And if so in what ways? Marriage hasn't really changed my life that much - and where it has, it's all been for the better. As far as we were concerned, we'd been acting like we were married for at least 16 years when we 'formally' tied the knot. All those balancing issues were there and dealth with before - at least where marriage is concerned. Fatherhood, on the other hand, created/creates a huge shift in focus. I do a much better job of being out on time - not that I didn't want to see Mike, but if I got home at 630 vs 730 didn't matter so much because we'd have the rest of the evening. Now, getting home at 730 means instead of two hours to see 'lil q I get one. In the past I would take people's weekends to get extra time off later - (court is open saturdays and holiday in DC so we cover those days on a rotating schedule) Now I give away my days where I can to have that time. Weekends require more planning, becuase we want to do things with her. We also need to plan more in general. So it absolutely required a rethinking of my priorities and activities. Andy78 first graced GA by the name Andy 021278 in 2011. In 2013, he became a Promising Author, and then in 2014 became a Signature Author. He has also been a long-time helper behind the scenes, like working on the blog and a being part of the forum moderation team. One of our many Brits, Andy loves to cook and helped me discover the reality show Masterchef in its overseas guises (I can’t help but love Gordon Ramsey). Andy is also a long-time devotee of our Friday Weekly Prompts. You’ll find some real gems in his collection and its sequel. As if that weren’t enough, Andy often submits to the anthologies, of which my favorite is From Beyond the Stars, because it’s told in a unique way via emails from the different characters. To Andy78: Do you take on multiple stories at once or do you like to take it one story at a time? When posting, I now try to limit myself to one story at a time, though I have about seven or eight others I'm working on. I used to quite happily flit between posting two or three stories at once, but because of constant changes in my work life I'm now in the mess of having two in process stories that haven't been updated in ages. I'm still writing chapters for them, so they will be finished at some point. Though from now on I'll only be posting a story once it's complete. Today’s final author Sasha Distan was featured most recently in AtA #22 and is a fellow Brit. Self-described as a cowboy, writer, jeweler, chef, and “not-so-secret Redneck-type,” Sasha is married with 2 fat babies (he calls them “fancy goldfish”). You can find his published works on Lulu.com, if you’ve already devoured the 40 stories he’s posted to GA. To Sasha Distan: You have an ever increasing body of work on GA. How do you balance your work with so many open stories in progress at once? I cheat. Kidding. Sometimes I genuinely do work on three or four stories at once, and it's hard, but i just write whichever character is holding my brain to ransom on any particular day. Summer last year, for example, I was writing Unexpected Liaisons and Cowboy Summer and i simply had to not write any cowboy Summer for two weeks because Zupan wouldn't let me go. I have just finished writing and posting Wicked Boy, but Born Wolf was completed before I started posting it, which is why it looks like I'm doing two at once. Of course, this means I also work on other stuff while uploading which you guys don't see just yet. Whatever's going on, I'm always writing. Oh Dark, I think the "coded" message in this question is "Are you going to write any more direct confusion chapters soon?", and the answer to that is "YES". That’s it for now! For more info on these authors, go check out their stories, post in their forums, and/or catch them in chat! See you next time, with authors Aditus, Nephylim, and Stephanie Danielson. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Before we get to this week's wrap up, I'd like to look back at the poll from last week's. The winner for the next crossword topic is "Signature Authors". If you would like to send clues and answers, please feel free to PM them to Renee! Answers can consist of author names, story names, and character names. In the case of multiple clues with the same answer, I may choose to combine the clues and/or simply use one clue. Members have until March 1st to send me their clues and answers. Now, onto this week's wrap up! Monday was the CSR discussion for Joe the Welder by Robert Rex. He hung around the blog for a while to answer questions, so if you were wanting to know a little more, check it out, maybe the question you were thinking of was answered! Myr took over the blog on Tuesday with a poll to get everyone's opinion on some different features for reading stories on GA. If you haven't already done so, take this chance to have your voice heard and go vote! Wednesday I decided to write a short feature detailing what types of blog posts the members of GA can help out with. If you've been wondering how you can help, check out this blog post. Friday brought a couple of new prompts as well as a featured prompt response from craftingmom. Saturday, Cia joined us at the blog to bring us the Signature Author Background for February featuring Hold32 by CarlHoliday. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines (except Poetry) are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team*** 2015 Spring Anthology: Full Circle - Due March 3rd 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember - Due April 15th (Poetry Anthology is exempt from the Anthology Proof Team) 2015 Summer Anthology: Road Trip - Due June 3rd ***NEW READING*** In Premium: The Harvest: Taken by M.A. Church Do Over by dkstories *reposting* By our Classic Authors: The Right One by Dabeagle Life in a Northern Town by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: A prompt a week by comicfan Global Explorer II by David McLeod Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards Streak by Mark Arbour; Book 15 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) The Secret Life Of Billy Chase 8 by Comicality; Book 8 of Billy Chase Chronicles Sword of Kings: Forged Out of Necessity by Bill W Fortitude by Cia Cosmic Inception by Cia By our Promising Authors: Lonely At The Top by Sasha Distan; Book 10 of American Songbook London and Love by carringtonrj Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!!

Happy Friday! I hope everybody is ready for a couple of new prompts!!! For those that don't already know, Comicfan supplies us with a couple of prompts every week to hopefully inspire ideas and simply get people writing. If one of the prompts catches your attention, write it and post it in GA Stories. To have your prompt response considered for the featured prompt response, don't forget to post a link in the thread for the prompt. A couple of things to remember: Prompt responses under 1,000 words must be posted as part of a collection. Do to the high number of collections containing only a few "chapters" we have set a limit of five collections per author, any more than this requires prior Admin approval. Prompt 390 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – beach towel, sock monkey, ceramic bowl, Swiss chocolate, and a turtle. Prompt 391 – Creative Tag – Toy Store You hadn’t noticed when the little toy store opened up but when your coworker showed up with a Marie Antoinette figure with a pop off head you had to find out where they got it. When you finally get the time to go you find a store unlike any have visited before. What is the toy store like? Last week we featured a very short prompt response, this week I thought we'd go for a little bit longer one with craftingmom's response to Prompt #388. Enjoy! To read the rest, go here!

That's why I provide a downloadable Excel file. I make them all myself and an interactive version is far beyond my capabilities.

I hope everybody had a great weekend. I can't believe it's Sunday already, which means it's time to look over the week and recap what was posted in the GA News Blog as well as what our promoted authors were up to. Before I get to that, I'd appreciate it if everyone would take just a minute to answer the poll questions. Also, don't forget tomorrow is the discussion day for the CSR book club! For our Featured Story, Timothy M. provided us with a review of JWolf's story "The English Year". Myr joined us on Tuesday to explain the need, and ask for, volunteers who read. Not just here, but everywhere. If you're interested, check out Tuesday's blog! Wednesday, we introduced a new occasional feature to the blog in the form of a crossword puzzle (hence the poll). Think you know your Mods & Admins? Now it's time to see. (Answers for the crossword are at the bottom of the Weekly Wrap Up!) Friday we had two new prompts to hopefully get the wheels turning, and for the featured prompt response, we featured Carlos Hazday's response to Prompt #386. Anthology Announcements: ***NOTE: All Deadlines (except Poetry) are for submission to the Anthology Proof Team*** 2015 Spring Anthology: Full Circle - Due March 3rd 2015 Poetry Anthology: Remember - Due April 15th (Poetry Anthology is exempt from the Anthology Proof Team) 2015 Summer Anthology: Road Trip - Due June 3rd ***NEW READING*** In Premium: The Harvest: Taken by M.A. Church By our Classic Authors: Life in a Northern Town by Dabeagle By our Signature Authors: Streak by Mark Arbour; Book 15 of Chronicles Of An Academic Predator (CAP) Saturday Shorts by Renee Stevens Krista's Prompts by Krista Leopard Spots by Graeme; Book 2 of The Lilydale Leopards HMS Valiant by Mark Arbour; Book 7 of Bridgemont Sword of Kings: Forged Out of Necessity by Bill W Fortitude by Cia Thwarted by Renee Stevens GFD 12: Blood Ties by Comicality; Book 12 of Gone From Daylight By our Promising Authors: Lonely At The Top by Sasha Distan; Book 10 of American Songbook Barbed Wire Heart by Cole Matthews Ladies' Man by Sasha Distan; Book 9 of American Songbook London and Love by carringtonrj Dinner is Prompt-ly at Eight by Cole Matthews Don't forget.... Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! Crossword Answers: Across: (2) Comicfan (4) Slytherin (6) AJ (7) TalonRider (8) MJ85 Down: (1) ReneeStevens (2) Cia (3) Wildone (5) Graeme (6) Andy78 (8) Myr

“Sure, now you want me to make the decisions.” I shook my head. No way was I going to bail Mick’s ass out again. I was all for being a team player, but the last time I’d helped him out, he’d taken credit for everything, and I’d had to listen for months about what a genius he was when it came to knowing what the clients wanted. Not this time. Mick had used his last successful ad campaign, using my ideas, to become the project lead for the biggest client we’d had the opportunity to land in ye

Another Friday is here and with it comes your weekly dose of writing prompts! Don't forget, if you decide to tackle one of today's prompts, to post a link to it in the Prompt Forum! I check the threads for the previous weeks prompts when I'm looking for a prompt to feature. Also, please remember that flash fiction under 1K cannot be posted as it's own story and needs to be posted as part of a collection. Happy writing! Prompt 388 – Creative Tag – First Line “Snow? Again? How much more are they expecting?” Prompt 389 – Creative Tag – Do you want to build a snowman? You’ve just watched it snow for the past three days and feel like you have cabin fever. After shoveling your way out you realize there is no way your street will be cleared for at least a day or two. Stuck surrounded by feet of snow what do you do to help pass the time? Today I decided to feature a prompt response which shows that prompt responses don't have to be more than a handful of words to meet the criteria set in the designated prompt. Here is Carlos Hazday's response to Prompt #386:

Thank you Lisa. It was quite the journey to get this story finished and it took much longer than I ever anticipated. At one point I almost decided to leave it unfinished because I just couldn't bring myself to finish it knowing that it was the one story Trebs was looking forward to reading, but I knew he'd still want me to finish it. It seemed fitting to dedicate it to him as he really was the driving force behind this story and me finally getting it finished.

Thank you Valkyrie! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story and that you felt it was a good ending point for this point in their story. I'm not sure yet exactly what the sequel will be, but it will come eventually. As far as my dedication to Trebs, I'll freely admit that all I could do is cry while I wrote it.

Thank you LadyDe! There will definitely be a sequel at some point in the future, I just don't know when. Thank you for reading as well as your kind words, not just on this chapter but throughout the story. I like to think Trebs would have been happy with the way it turned out, though I think he'd be pestering me for a sequel as well, lol.

Thank you Suvitar! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, hopefully I'll get some other stuff wrapped up and can work on their next story soon!