wildone

Wow, what a week it has been for me First I was back to work. I did not take up the offers of my peers to get a shotgun in my face or get pushed over Niagara Falls Actually I had a pretty good week doing nothing I'm all for that So this week I did all the things that I put off all week last week: laundry, bills, cleaning, trying to pick out new flooring. Whew, you're lucky I'm not in bed catching up on my sleep since I'm so tired Or maybe you wish I was in bed First week of the month also means a busier week here at the GA News Blog. Shall we dive in right away to see what happened all week, and if you missed anything you can read it here? I do that sometimes with the Word of the Day, but the whole week is here at a click of a button. Speaking of which, why don't we look at the Words of the Day: evergreen, avatar, emancipation, conciliatory, calumny, admonish, syllepsis On Monday, there was a really good CSR Discussion Day. Even if you didn't get around to reading the story, this blog might trigger that feeling to read it now: Something about this month's Ask an Author caught my attention, and I've started reading it. You should give it a try Thursday was the return of our ever increasing blog, Grammar Guide: Friday, whew, like what we've had isn't enough, but our Prompt Team was back diligently to give us another couple of prompts. Is that love in the air? Saturday ended the full slate this week with another great article by Comicality: How did we make out on last month's goals? Blog Opportunities Guess the Author: Open to all GA authors. PM @Renee Stevensor @wildone to participate Story Review: Send it in to @wildone or @Timothy M. And here is the look at the past weeks postings on all our Authors and Poets! Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry by AC Benus Fanfic by Comicality The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Prose by AC Benus CDMX by Carlos Hazday GFD: Dead Language by Comicality Audre Lorde Knows What I Mean – 2021 in review by AC Benus Ancalagon by Cia The Best Year by Krista A Home For Christmas by Comicality GFD: High Jinx by Comicality Recently Updated 'Classic Author' Stories The Sons of Memory by Stefan The Brilliant Boy Billionaire by Altimexis Recently Updated 'Promising Author' Stories Puppy by Sasha Distan **Complete** Spudhunter! by northie **Complete** Never Too Late To Believe by northie Recently Updated 'Author' Stories Egaran Stars by Yeoldebard **Complete** Love Of Family (Revised) by Ajbt2001 Corporate Galactic by astone2292 **Complete** Timothy by CLJobe Come Back To Us by LittleCherryBlossom26 I Hate This Town by Demiurge In Our Darkness by C. Henderson Waif and Stray by AlreadyForgiven The Amitea Project: Black.Castle by LJCC Cornucopia by Jdonley75 Amber Waves by Yeoldebard Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys by Laura S. Fox Bodark Creek by RichEisbrouch You Complete Me by Salander Running for Home by Lux Apollo Heart of Black Ice by lomax61 To the Weyr by Mawgrim Spirit Wolves by kbois Alex & Lang by quokka **Complete** An Awkward Revolutionary by James K Incandescence by Demiurge Only a Matter of Hearts by Georgie DHainaut **Complete** In Chandler's Hands by MrM Do You Ship Us? - The Next Stage by Littlelovestories Brothers by Yeoldebard Never walk alone- Walk on by Andre Delport Tuct Side by Westley D. The World Out There by Drew Payne Hidden Secrets by Mawgrim A Slice of Life by Xfighter1984 This Strange World Needs A Kicking! by Laura S. Fox Fairyfly II by ObicanDecko WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews by W_L Recently Updated 'Poet' Stories Musings of a Wordsmith by JACC Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (and Recommend with a share to the forum topic!)

Welcome back, Kevin There is a few stragglers around that you might remember. Or maybe you hoped you forgot The chat you were used to is gone, the eFic is gone, and yes, there may have been an update or two over the past ten years. But if you go exploring I'm sure you will see all the changes that we have gone though under the foresight of Myr and all for the better! I do have a confession to make though, after you left it made me realize how much I learned from you here at GA. I might go so far as to say I wanted to grow up to be like you I think I might be just a year or two older than you Seriously though, you were one of the first people I met at GA 15 years ago and you were so welcoming and probably the best all encompassing word, nice If you decide to wade back into GA, I'm sure a lot of people would like to get to know you. If not, like you said, maybe 2031 Myr will be grey and bat crazy ( or is he already )and I'll be here as PITA to him. Good to hear from you!

OMG, welcome back Hope all is good and we will see you around a bit more I think I stopped breathing for a second when I saw your screen name

I can’t remember and too lazy to go back one chapter 😛 but was Hong Shen gay before he died? I know he stated right at the beginning of the story that he is gay…now im really liking you style of writing. You are giving us just enough to create our own stories of what might happen. Right now I’m thinking Cinderella with the 3 evil step brothers. 😳 Im probably so wrong but need to keep reading to find out

I’ll be honest, I was never good in grammar in school This has become more apparent as I try to learn French at my ripe old age😏 Things are slowly starting to click with these articles, so thank you for that. Just curious if there will be talk of what exactly a dangling participle is, and if there is a medication to cure that

My interest is piqued! For such a short first chapter a whole lot of questions have popped into my mind. So I’m off to chapter 2 to see if they get answered..or more arise You wouldn’t do that to me, would you?

I am intrigued. You mention that getting the history correct is a bit of a challenge with characters. You also mention a few real as well as a fictional dynasty. The one dynasty that I enjoyed learning about over a few hours (3 or more probably) was a travelling exhibition of Genghis Khan and the different dynasties before and after him. His being the Genghisid Dynasty of the Mongol Empire. This fascinated me and actually I said to myself I wanted to learn more about dynasties as they seem like interesting histories. Not like boring Otterman Empire I leaned about in Uni history that gave me a lot of good sleeping material Unfortunately I have not followed through on that want as of yet So did you know a lot of the Chinese Dynasties already, or did you have to do a lot of research and reading to get up to speed? I'm just interested in how you got interested in them enough to create your own? Any suggestions on where to start to learn about a dynasty ? Your story will be on my reading list Great job to @astone2292 and @Kong Wen Hui on the interview as well as the person who came up with the questions!!

In all honestly, I think this was a dig at me She wanted an idea for date night, and I said back in the late eighties, bowling and rollar rinks were still a thing. She had the gall to call me old 😮 and then put in the story as a lie!! I know that the lying was a big part of my teen years. My god-kids, now 23 and 21, their parents, me or anyone else never knew if there was an ounce of truth to what comes out of their mouths. I asked their Dad once what he would do if they came to him and admitted the truth about something bad they did and couldn't get out of. His reply was I guess I will never know. At one point of time I said all the same things Parker! I even suggested what if the preacher was to reach out to Cindy and tell her what she was doing was going make her lose Luke forever? Krista rightly pointed out, that she was sure even the preacher and the congregation are too scared of her.

I know Maddox said Jonathan would be his slave for a month, and Jonathan’s mind has gone the same direction a lot of you have, a sex slave 😜Personally I’m hoping that Maddox made the deal so Jonathan would be around more and see Maddox does want him, for more than sex. I won’t be disappointed if date night was just a dinner and working on the communication. At this point of time I feel Maddox wants a boyfriend for the long term, not just a fuck buddy. Now only if he can convince Jonathan the same. Them going off campus is confusing at this time. Is it Maddox wants to have a heart to heart and it can’t be done on campus where everyone knows him and the date will end up in the gossip rag? Or is it that Maddox isn’t ready to take a position out of the closet (not really sure if was in it) and therefore keeping Jonathan as his dirty little secret for now? ☹️ I’m sure that is some of what Jonathan is feeling. Lastly, LOL, I wish they can get to a trusting place where hopefully Jonathan can tell Maddox, and all of us, what happened at his last school. The fact that he is carrying around a guilt complex that has him feel he has let down Drew, and his parents. I really want to know what happened with his parents 😉 I’m hoping at least with them he is exaggerating or blowing up what happened between him and them. Would be a huge step to build his confidence up internally, as externally he portrays himself as being okay and all is fine. Internally he seems like a scared little boy. 😢 Lastly, lastly Ray is really growing on me. I think Jonathan has a very true BFF in him

Now just in case you started this and maybe forgot , tomorrow is the last day to get your entry in for the Newsletter Genre Challenge. If you did and just need to put your finishing touches on it, make sure to get it done today! Nothing coming to mind tonight for a preamble, so rather than bore you again this week why don't we just jump into the past week in review? Monday our Review Team did a nice recap of the previous year: Thursday was another day for this new feature of the week: Aditus cleaned up the first month of 2022 with some new prompts: Comicality finished off the week with a Article on connotations: Myr had some new Words of the Day for us: waterloo, cloister, effrontery, terrestrial, manifesto, prototype, provocateur Come on team! Let's get all of these into the completion range...with two days left in the month Contests - Newsletter Genre Challenge - Stories Due January 30, 2022 Check out this great challenge here. Ask an Author 3.0 - Submit a story you like and 3 questions you would like to ask the author about. Send them to @astone2292 or @Renee Stevens **Please submit so Aaron can have a bank of stories and questions** Blog Opportunities Guess the Author: Open to all GA authors. PM @Renee Stevensor @wildone to participate Story Review: Send it in to @Renee Stevens or @Timothy M. And here is the look at the past weeks postings on all our Authors and Poets! Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry by AC Benus CDMX by Carlos Hazday Audre Lorde Knows What I Mean – 2021 in review by AC Benus Ancalagon by Cia A Home For Christmas by Comicality On Fire by Cia The Best Year by Krista Recently Updated 'Classic Author' Stories The Brilliant Boy Billionaire by Altimexis Recently Updated 'Promising Author' Stories Never Too Late To Believe by northie Recently Updated 'Author' Stories Amber Waves by Yeoldebard Timothy by CLJobe Waif and Stray by AlreadyForgiven You Complete Me by Salander A Marching Band Story by Jacob Windigo I Hate This Town by Demiurge In Our Darkness by C. Henderson Come Back To Us by LittleCherryBlossom26 Misunderstandings - McGees Boys Book 1 by Bndmetl Eruption by quokka Egaran Stars by Yeoldebard Sacrum by C. Henderson An Awkward Revolutionary by James K Running for Home by Lux Apollo Bodark Creek by RichEisbrouch Empty, Open, Dusty, Dead by Mawgrim **Complete** Spirit Wolves by kbois Heart of Black Ice by lomax61 Love Of Family by Ajbt2001 Rocky Prompts, Tennessee by astone2292 Never walk alone- Walk on by Andre Delport Dutch by PhillMakracken The Humpening by Arch Hunter Incandescence by Demiurge The Naughty List by Ken Silver and Gold by imogene_arant Sammy's Kitchen by Arch Hunter Do You Ship Us? - The Next Stage by Littlelovestories Brothers by Yeoldebard Dejection and Hope by Demiurge **Complete** WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews by W_L A Slice of Life by Xfighter1984 Dani the Hero by James Carnarvon **Complete** Raising Evzen by Yeoldebard Never walk alone by Andre Delport **Complete** Hidden Secrets by Mawgrim This Strange World Needs A Kicking! by Laura S. Fox Fairyfly II by ObicanDecko Recently Updated 'Poet' Stories Musings of a Wordsmith by JACC Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (and Recommend with a share to the forum topic!)

Good for Jonathan to check his first impressions mantra before he met Connor. Too bad Connor confirmed his first impression though. Nice to see both guys are willing to get to know each other’s now. Thank you for the chapter, Laura Now onto 3.

Our Review Team has put together a list of all the Reviews that they did in 2021. You can click on any of them to see the actual blog. Maybe there was one that you said that you'd read, maybe one that piqued your interest, or maybe one that just looked like it would be a new foray into and different genre. No matter what the reason, here is your second chance to see the Review. Being a New Year, on behalf of the staff at GA and I'm sure all of our Poets, Authors, Readers and every one in between, we thank our Review Team for a great year!! Your Review Team @Timothy M. @Aditus @Parker Owens @chris191070 @Talo Segura @Puppilull @spike382 2021 January 11: Reviews Revisited - Timothy M. Reader comment: It's nice seeing all the reviews from last year. February 8: The Transporters by Israfil - Talo Segura Reader comment: I look forward to checking out this story. March 8: Desert Air by quokka - chris191070 March 22: Broken by Wayne Gray - Parker Owens Reader comment: This is a wonderful story, as is everything Wayne writes. You can't go wrong with one of his tales. April 12: Family by Dabeagle - spikey582 (spike382) Reader comment: Excellent review, spikey. You are very good at making us want to read the stories you recommend. May 10: The Cockney Canuck by Dodger - Timothy M. Reader comment: Dodger hits the spot with the challenges and fun of being from one country and living in another. May 24: Sentinels by C.T. Piatt - Aditus Reader comment: This is a thought-provoking, fascinating, well-written story. I found myself with many of the same questions. June 14: Famous Last by Lomax61 - Talo Segura Reader comment: This is a great story with multiple opportunities to rant at various characters. July 12: Trophy Bear by Grumpy Bear - chris191070 Reader comment: Great review, and a captivating story from Grumpy Bear! August 9: The Strange Life of Jonah Marks - Timothy M. / Puppillul Reader comment: Wayne's story about Jonas is my favorite of his and one I've recommended in the past. August 23: Share Your Faves - Renee Stevens Reader comment: I love this idea! I'm interested to see what stories end up here. September 13: Days Like This by Drew Payne - Timothy M. Reader comment: This is exactly what I'm looking for sometimes. I will definitely read this story. October 11: The Thousandth Regiment by AC Benus - Parker Owens Reader comment: It is an amazing work, a wonderful accomplishment. November 8: Camp Refuge by Wayne Gray - chris191070 Reader comment: I really must get around to reading those stories. November 22: The Reluctant Consort by lilansui - Aditus Reader comment: This is a great story—if you haven’t yet, read it! December 13: The Lad from Castlebay Down by James Matthews - spike382 Reader comment: I read this while it was being posted. Excellent story, full of drama

So when doing this up I told Krista what I was going to do Our convo: Steve: Here is what I'm posting Krista: You can't publish that!! Steve: Why not? Krista: Because it is funny And very true

A little late to the party, but this cast of characters have me intrigued. I too would like to know what happened in JJ’s past, especially to throw his parents for a loop. Also willing to let JJ tell his own story in his own time. I see JJ and Mad Dog being the MC’s, but I’m interested in Dex the most. Knowing he has a great relationship with his two dad’s, I hope he can facilitate between JJ and Maddox. I’m sure Ray will try his best as well, just being the selfless humble hornet teenager he is, lol. Now onto the next chapter.

What to do, what to do, what to do? The company that I work for has a fiscal year of May to April. So our holiday calendar year is also May to April. Turns out that I actually have 4 weeks to use up, due to carryovers. I'm thinking I'm going to carry over 2 again and try to use them in the summer. But now that I'm off this upcoming week, I have nothing really to do . I thought of visiting @Krista in Kentucky, but it is warmer up here right now . That and the promise, "If you show your face around here, you are going to get up close and personal with my shotgun." 😮 So what do you recommend for me to do? While you are pondering my week ahead, let's see what happened in the past week at the GA Blog. Monday was a new Classic Author Feature. Check it out and maybe download the banner if you want. That means that on Wednesday Cia was back again with the Classic Author Feature Excerpt: Thursday was an all new version of the Grammar Guide: Friday we had some wintry Prompts from our Prompt Team: On Saturday, Comicality was back talking about a naughty subject Here is the Words of the Day brought to us daily by Myr. regime, lodestar, braggadocio, founder, nudnik, cloying, oaf We have a week left in January, do you think we can take any of these goals over the line? Contests - Newsletter Genre Challenge - Stories Due January 30, 2022 Check out this great challenge here. Ask an Author 3.0 - Submit a story you like and 3 questions you would like to ask the author about. Send them to @astone2292 or @Renee Stevens **Please submit so Aaron can have a bank of stories and questions** Blog Opportunities Guess the Author: Open to all GA authors. PM @Renee Stevensor @wildone to participate Story Review: Send it in to @Renee Stevens or @Timothy M. And here is the look at the past weeks postings on all our Authors and Poets! Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Prose by AC Benus CDMX by Carlos Hazday Audre Lorde Knows What I Mean – 2021 in review by AC Benus Ancalagon by Cia Savage Moon 06 - The New Breed by Comicality On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Classic Author' Stories The Brilliant Boy Billionaire by Altimexis Comfy by Dabeagle **Complete** Recently Updated 'Author' Stories Amber Waves by Yeoldebard A Marching Band Story by Jacob Windigo You Complete Me by Salander Eruption by quokka Heart of Black Ice by lomax61 Timothy by CLJobe Crying Wolf by Tsukihana Spirit Wolves by kbois Egaran Stars by Yeoldebard In Our Darkness by C. Henderson Star Wars Episode 10: Return of Death by NnihhilusS Bodark Creek by RichEisbrouch At the Stars by Tsukihana Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys by Laura S. Fox An Awkward Revolutionary by James K Running for Home by Lux Apollo Live, Love, Lose by LittleCherryBlossom26 **Complete** Empty, Open, Dusty, Dead by Mawgrim A Slice of Life by Xfighter1984 Incandescence by Demiurge Raising Evzen by Yeoldebard The Curse of Being Beautiful by Georgie DHainaut **Complete** The Humpening by Arch Hunter **Complete** Brandon Smiling: From the Billy Chase Chronicles (2) by MrM Tuct Side by Westley D. Fairyfly II by ObicanDecko Our Little Darlings (Revised) by D.K. Daniels **Complete** The Witches Of Amethyst Cove by Ajbt2001 Brothers by Yeoldebard Waif and Stray by AlreadyForgiven This Strange World Needs A Kicking! by Laura S. Fox Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (and Recommend with a share to the forum topic!)

We've been sitting around the -10 to -20 C the past week. No real snow. We do have a chinook blowing in though this weekend and getting up to 16 C. I love living on the east side of the Rockies

$50 up here for them. They do look comfy and cozy

I'm conflicted On the one hand, I can understand the camp that says they are too young and too irresponsible. I know the world is full of people that blow that stereotype out of the water as being untrue. Now that the abortion is clearly off the table I can't help to feel that I too would want some involvement even a little bit with the kid. Didn't Robbie move to England pretty young, so he never met his dad or even before that. With Robbie and Stephanie so close together, that would make even it more excruciating. I don't think Stephanie is going to fall in love, get married and move to another area of the country in the next couple of years. Whereas Robbie has learned his Dad was never told about him and him working though his anger to his mom for that, that must be weighing on him if Stacey is willing to do the same thing to THEIR child. There, good for you Steve for picking one side of the fence . Just I think this picket up my ass is telling me I didn't . With Matt, I totally can see Robbie's POV. He tried, he gave him an out, gave him an alternative but Matt in his own defense is too scared and afraid of the consequences of reporting and leaving. Look what happened to him when he was either found out, or he mentioned he was gay! Symmonds and worse, his family put him there! What would happen if he turned them all in including the church Well at least Matt has Jo's card and if he is smart, he will hide it more than if he had a porn mag that even today he was trying to hide from everyone . I really don't see the boat working out in the end for Don. Heck, his first time on the boat and he can't stand on it. Robbie pointed out how much he hated to be laughed at and especially Robbie laughing at him. I think Sue, Amy, Daniel, Robbie and even if they had a dog, they will all be laughing at Don shortly. Like others said, hopefully it is because he fell overboard. Knowing how arrogant he is, he won't ever wear a lifejacket and probably can't swim. Lastly, I didn't like Nicola at the start of the chapter. She seemed to be doing nothing but low shots at Robbie. I guess he got her back by twice exposing her for listening in at Stephanie's house Great chapter Dodger and thanks for sharing

Can you believe we are half the way through January From my eyes and ears on the ground, I hear that some of the cold from Siberia to Canada has now hit down towards the south of the USA and Europe and beyond. So how is it in your neck of the woods? Any snow ball fights? Making snow angels? Is your dog refusing to go outside to do their business? Well I promise we won't send the cold freezing weather to our friends in Australia and New Zealand Well we had a slow week to start the GA Blog but picked up at the end with new things going on here at the GA Blog. Let's take a look. Why don't we start the week off with the Words of the Day supplied by Myr. polyonymous, salvo, clerisy, preposterous, astute, paradigm, amphibology On Thursday, Myr gave us more knowledge than I knew about adjectives Cole Matthews popped in Friday as one of out Prompt Team members. Did you check it out? Finally yesterday, Comsie gave us a thought provoking article. I couldn't really understand until I read it: Now for our weekly check in on our goals for the month of January: Contests - Newsletter Genre Challenge - Stories Due January 30, 2022 Check out this great challenge here. Ask an Author 3.0 - Submit a story you like and 3 questions you would like to ask the author about. Send them to @astone2292 or @Renee Stevens **Please submit so Aaron can have a bank of stories and questions** Blog Opportunities Guess the Author: Open to all GA authors. PM @Renee Stevensor @wildone to participate Story Review: Send it in to @Renee Stevens or @Timothy M. And here is the look at the past weeks postings on all our Authors and Poets! Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry by AC Benus tim's Bits and Pieces by Mikiesboy CDMX by Carlos Hazday Ancalagon by Cia Ridley by Krista **Complete** Audre Lorde Knows What I Mean – 2021 in review by AC Benus On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Classic Author' Stories The Brilliant Boy Billionaire by Altimexis Recently Updated 'Promising Author' Stories The Cockney Canuck by Dodger Never Too Late To Believe by northie A Thousand Years of Hope by lilansui Recently Updated 'Author' Stories Misunderstandings - McGees Boys Book 1 by Bndmetl You Complete Me by Salander Crying Wolf by Tsukihana The Naughty List by Ken Amber Waves by Yeoldebard Waif and Stray by AlreadyForgiven Timothy by CLJobe Egaran Stars by Yeoldebard Stolen Dreams by Yeoldebard Bodark Creek by RichEisbrouch A World Between by D.K. Daniels **Complete** Running for Home by Lux Apollo Heart of Black Ice by lomax61 Sacrum by C. Henderson Another Brother by quokka **Complete** Never walk alone- Walk on by Andre Delport The Making of a Slave by and9993 Empty, Open, Dusty, Dead by Mawgrim Spirit Wolves by kbois An Awkward Revolutionary by James K Brothers by Yeoldebard Sammy's Kitchen by Arch Hunter Dejection and Hope by Demiurge **Complete** Eruption by quokka Incandescence by Demiurge Raising Evzen by Yeoldebard A Thousand Years of Hope by lilansui Love's Always In Season by Ajbt2001 Do You Ship Us? - The Next Stage by Littlelovestories A Slice of Life by Xfighter1984 This Strange World Needs A Kicking! by Laura S. Fox The Witches Of Amethyst Cove by Ajbt2001 Rocky Prompts, Tennessee by astone2292 Recently Updated 'Poet' Stories Musings of a Wordsmith by JACC Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (and Recommend with a share to the forum topic!)

What a wonderful story wrapped up in 5 chapters! It is amazing how quickly your MC and supporting cast got into my mind. Not overburden with tons of characters but the bonus is more about the ones that matter the most. Be prepared, Krista gets you so involved within the first chapter, your heart will break when she tackles a big issue in another one.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night if you are heading to bed 🛌 I wonder how many of you did the age old tradition of making New Year's resolutions. We are 9 days into the New Year and I'm also curious if you are still maintaining your resolution, or has it fell by the wayside already 😮 I know of one person who is trying really, really hard to keep up their resolution, but wonder if is good for their mental health. I mean, they have been on the earth for nearly 4 decades and to change something that has been part of their personality all their life, I wouldn't be able to do it. So, if by chance this friend actually comes on here and reads the Weekly Wrap Up, I myself give them permission to throw the resolution out We did have a very busy week here at the GA Blog, so should we look back at the week to see what appeared. Monday, Cia brought us the January CSR feature. Go check it out and put a new story on your reading list. Then on Wednesday, there was ask for everyone on site to come forward with a story and 3 questions they would like the story's author to answer. @astone2292will track them down and get you, and everyone else, answers to your questions. Check out this blog, especially for the Author that gave us answers this round! On Thursday, Myr brought us a brand new blog that will be appearing on Thursdays. Check out the first episode of the Grammar Guide: Friday was time for our trusty friends to come out with another couple of prompts to get you writing On Saturday, Comsie closed out the week with another informative article: Goals, goals, goals! What is life without goals? Let's check out our goals for the past week: Contests - Newsletter Genre Challenge - Stories Due January 30, 2022 Check out this great challenge here. Ask an Author 3.0 - Submit a story you like and 3 questions you would like to ask the author about. Send them to @astone2292 or @Renee Stevens **Please submit so Aaron can have a bank of stories and questions** Blog Opportunities Guess the Author: Open to all GA authors. PM @Renee Stevensor @wildone to participate Story Review: Send it in to @Renee Stevens or @Timothy M. And here is the look at the past weeks postings on all our Authors and Poets! Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Prose by AC Benus The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry by AC Benus CDMX by Carlos Hazday Ridley by Krista Audre Lorde Knows What I Mean – 2021 in review by AC Benus Waiting Outside The Lines by Comicality Ancalagon by Cia GFD: Dark Web by Comicality A Home For Christmas by Comicality On Fire by Cia GFD: Sins Of The Father by Comicality Recently Updated 'Classic Author' Stories The Brilliant Boy Billionaire by Altimexis Recently Updated 'Promising Author' Stories Never Too Late To Believe by northie Recently Updated 'Author' Stories Incandescence by Demiurge At the Stars by Tsukihana Cyn's Poetry Collection by SoullessCynner The World Out There by Drew Payne Timothy by CLJobe WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews by W_L You Complete Me by Salander Silver and Gold by imogene_arant Dani the Hero by James Carnarvon **Complete** Running for Home by Lux Apollo Egaran Stars by Yeoldebard Eruption by quokka Bodark Creek by RichEisbrouch Spirit Wolves by kbois Sammy's Kitchen by Arch Hunter Good Guys Don't Date Bad Boys by Laura S. Fox Alex & Lang by quokka Empty, Open, Dusty, Dead by Mawgrim An Awkward Revolutionary by James K Crying Wolf by Tsukihana Dejection and Hope by Demiurge **Complete** Sacrum by C. Henderson Heart of Black Ice by lomax61 Raising Evzen by Yeoldebard Do vaporwave kitsune count technicolor sheep? by Tsukihana Lux's Indulgences by Lux Apollo Mentally by Solus Magus **Complete** Never walk alone- Walk on by Andre Delport Live, Love, Lose by LittleCherryBlossom26 Another Brother by quokka The Naughty List by Ken Tuct Side by Westley D. Never walk alone by Andre Delport **Complete** A Slice of Life by Xfighter1984 Recently Updated 'Poet' Stories Musings of a Wordsmith by JACC Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (and Recommend with a share to the forum topic!)

Like when me and my innocent friends have to jump off the ice shelf into the Southern Ocean near Antarctica as a gaggle of penguins are charging us

I do have to agree with Dodger, you don't tuck your shirt into your shorts 😮 It is right up there with wearing your jeans inside your cowboy boots

Like Gregory and a few others, I had to get a tissue or two to make it through the phone call 😢 Krista and I are usually IM'ing each others when I am looking over the chapters. I find it helps build our mutual respect and we feel closer together No, seriously, she asked me what was taking so long and I admitted I was crying and had to go over it 3 or 4 times to make sure I didn't miss anything while I kept getting worked up It is one of the most emotional passages that she has done, but she has a lot of others out there too. I always tell her that emotion can be a double edge sword. Just the right amount pulls you into the characters and story even more, too much and you might upset the readers that they can't continue to read. She seems to nail it every time

Wow, this blog is going to cover A LOT of stuff. After all we are going to cover last year as well as this year too ! But if you were like me, it seems harder to remember the good stuff from last year, which there was, from the bad stuff . But we are in a new year with new expectations . I would like to remember a good friend of GA and to many on a more personal level as well, the passing of Comicfan. His contributions and participation on the site will always be in our memory On the good news side of GA, we had some transitions to different people on various different blogs. I'm very proud of the efforts and the continuation of the Review Team, Ask An Author, and Prompt Team. Without these volunteers, the blog would be a less of a destination to visit for different people. Now what about looking forward? In all honesty, I am pretty excited about what is to come. Myr and Cia have been working in the background with different staff and a whole lot of new volunteers to make visible changes to not only processes, but presentation of different areas of the site. You will see some more changes and don't worry, not one of the proposed changes has seen me saying, 'well, the old way was better'. In fact, it is not a wholesale change like throwing the baby out with the bath water, but more like adding a sibling to make the family better One new thing you will notice even on this blog, is the story listings. We now have the ability to run the week's story updates for all classes of authors and we'll continue to feature the ones we have all followed, but also giving a bit of PR for the non promoted authors in their quest to be promoted! Here is all the participants of our volunteer blogs: @Timothy M.@chris191070@Talo Segura@Aditus@Parker Owens@spike382@Puppilull@astone2292@Valkyrie@Cole Matthews@Myr@Cia @Renee Stevens. I can't forget to thank all the others that are part of our Anthology Proof Team, Author Promotion Team, GA Engagement Team, Site Development Team, and the Story Archivist Team. If I forgot your team or name, let me know, I can always edit Last thing we will do, is look how we finished off the month of December on our goals! You know, we finished off the month with amazing numbers. Great job everybody. So with all that said 😌, let's review what the blog brought us all of the past 7 days! On Monday, Cia had the must read CSR Discussion Day: Friday Myr came back to kick off a blog celebrating the incoming New Year on New Year's Eve! Lots of well wishes in there and never too late to add another: Saturday was a special day, where Myr showed off a couple of new capabilities of the site in Year in Review Blogs. Myr actually featured a lot of words this week that might be in my day to day vocabulary If you think they are esplanade, pyrrhic and provender, you are so wrong esplanade, nabob, pyrrhic, verbatim, provender, rambunctious, culprit Contests - Newsletter Genre Challenge - Stories Due January 30, 2022 Check out this great challenge here. Ask an Author 3.0 - Submit a story you like and 3 questions you would like to ask the author about. Send them to @astone2292 or @Renee Stevens **Please submit so Aaron can have a bank of stories and questions** Blog Opportunities Guess the Author: Open to all GA authors. PM @Renee Stevensor @wildone to participate Story Review: Send it in to @Renee Stevens or @Timothy M. And here is the look at the past weeks postings on all our Authors and Poets! Recently Updated 'Premium' Stories On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Signature Author' Stories On The Outside by Comicality The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Poetry by AC Benus CDMX by Carlos Hazday Ridley by Krista The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Prose by AC Benus Ancalagon by Cia On Fire by Cia Recently Updated 'Classic Author' Stories The Brilliant Boy Billionaire by Altimexis The World of Psionic Corp by Myr The World of the King's Rangers by Myr Recently Updated 'Promising Author' Stories The Cockney Canuck by Dodger A Forgiving Heart by lilansui A Thousand Years of Hope by lilansui Recently Updated 'Author' Stories Another Brother by quokka A terrible, nonsensical poetry and others by SilverArdour You Complete Me by Salander Sammy's Kitchen by Arch Hunter Spirit Wolves by kbois Egaran Stars by Yeoldebard Live, Love, Lose by LittleCherryBlossom26 Alex & Lang by quokka Crying Wolf by Tsukihana Do You Ship Us? - The Next Stage by Littlelovestories The Witches Of Amethyst Cove by Ajbt2001 The Making of a Slave by and9993 Sacrum by C. Henderson Running for Home by Lux Apollo The Connecticut River Boys by Tallguyct **Complete** Empty, Open, Dusty, Dead by Mawgrim Timothy by CLJobe Eruption by quokka Neoki (or the Burlington Elf King) by Georgie DHainaut **Complete** Dragon's Roar by Xfighter1984 Mentally by Solus Magus Raising Evzen by Yeoldebard At the Stars by Tsukihana A Forgiving Heart by lilansui The Second Circlet: The Old Places by MrM Wild Flower by vanalas A Thousand Years of Hope by lilansui The Cousin's Cousin by Wombat Bill Unspoken by Late to the party Never walk alone- Walk on by Andre Delport A Slice of Life by Xfighter1984 A Ticklish Thriller by Ajbt2001 Never walk alone by Andre Delport **Complete** Young and Hungry - For Life by Wombat Bill **Complete** Recently Updated 'Poet' Stories Musings of a Wordsmith by JACC Read, Write, and REVIEW!!! (and Recommend with a share to the forum topic!)