Valkyrie

Do not post a clown gif... do not post a clown gif... do not post a clown gif....

Last year I got covid for Christmas, not that it mattered since we had a raging blizzard for three days with hurricane force winds, below zero temps (F), and about 5 feet of snow. We were never able to reschedule either, so having an actual Christmas celebration with family this year will be nice!

We're on a weather roller coaster here. Snow, rain, freezing temps, record highs... sometimes all in the same day!

I agree with you about descriptions being used to enhance a story vs bogging it down. I would say that the brand of clothing someone wears does give information about the character. I think that's a classic example of a few words adding texture to the character. For example, if someone wears Prada or Ralph Lauren, that gives a different impression than someone wearing a pair of worn Levis. Same with brand of shoes. Clothing color can also convey a sense of the character. Do they wear drab clothing that fits a drab personality? Or colorful, flamboyant clothing? Does the clothing match the setting? Are they on a date in a fancy restaurant, but one guy shows up in jeans? Adding these details in a thoughtful, constructive manner adds flavor. Adding them without purpose can bog down the story, so I think this would be a fun thing to play with.

I really like both of these challenges. There can definitely be too much description in writing, shifting focus off the characters. Conversely, there needs to be something there to give a sense of place/setting. Finding that balance isn't always easy. This is a great way to practice that skill!

Look who you're asking. Do you even have to ask? *coughcoughsantakillercoughcough *

Yup. Cia will be running the secret author contest again. Any information beyond that is top secret

As the new year approaches, it's time to start thinking about what's on the agenda for 2024. We've already announced one event for 2024, and the first story for Carlos' tribute has been posted. I'm super excited to announce what else we have planned for next year. It should be a great year with lots of opportunities to participate in site events! So without further ado, here is what's coming up in 2024. 2024 Writing Events Long May You Run - A Tribute to Carlos Hazday - Due December 27th. Information can be found here: Poetry Anthology (theme TBA) - Due April 1st Secret Author Contest (theme TBA) - Due in summer Annual Anthology (theme TBA) - Due October 1st Prompt Team Event/Contest Stay tuned for details, and just a reminder that submissions for Carlos' tribute are due soon!

There's nothing more horrendous than killing Santa.

Took me a few tries, but I got it right! I should have known when you didn't respond to my last guess

Whew... what a week of blogs! I think I set some kind of record I think I actually have a bit of a break this week. What will I do with all that time?

@wildone can confirm, but I believe that was something we already planned on doing.

Prompts have always been an integral part of GA and something to look forward to every Friday. Starting with our dear Comicfan and now continuing with the Prompt Team, seeing how authors come up with different takes on the weekly prompts is always exciting. Prompts have sparked some popular longer works and also some great short stories and character sketches. I always look forward to seeing what my fellow Prompt Team members come up with every Friday. So, the Admin Team is continuing our week of thanks by extending our sincere appreciation for the hard work put in by the members of GA's Prompt Team. Please join us in thanking our OG Prompt Guru, Comicfan, and the members of our current Prompt Team: @Aditus @Cole Matthews @Valkyrie As a token of our appreciation, they will receive the following badge on their profiles:

It's Thanksgiving Day in the US today, and the Admin Team here at GA would like to continue our week of thanks by thanking YOU for making GA the amazing, welcoming, supportive place it is. GA Staff work behind the scenes to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible, and we do it for the love of GA's community at large. So, to all the readers, authors, poets, Premium subscribers, members, lurkers, commenters, and editors/beta readers, the Admin Team would like to say a heartfelt: You all are the backbone of the site, as it wouldn't exist without you. Now it's time to fill up plate #1 with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, and a boatload of gravy

Thank you, Mods, for all your hard work on behalf of the site!

On the second day of Thanksgiving, my true love gave to meeeee.... Oh wait. Wrong holiday! I think @wildone 's Weekly Wrap Up is influencing me Anyway, our week of Thanksgiving continues with extending our appreciation to our fearless, resident Coyote Cub, Aaron! Aaron stepped up to the plate to bring us two of GA's most popular featured blogs: Ask an Author and Author Guess Who. His blog posts are always humorous, interesting, and informative, and never fail to draw lots of comments! We appreciate his hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication to GA. Aaron never fails to volunteer when help is needed, and we offer our sincerest thanks. So please join me in thanking Aaron for his contributions to the site! @astone2292 As a small token of our appreciation, Aaron will receive the following badge on his profile:

It's Thanksgiving week in the USA, so we thought a perfect way to kick off the week would be to thank our Anthology Team for their hard work throughout the year! There is a lot of work that goes into producing the GA anthologies, from the behind-the-scenes technical support from @Myr, banner creation and general support from @Cia and @wildone, and the unsung heroes of the anthology - the Proof Team! The Proof Team works diligently to ensure anthology stories meet site standards and basic editing requirements. Proofreading stories takes time and skill, which the team members volunteer to share, sometimes without thanks. So, I am officially thanking them for their efforts and letting them know how much they are appreciated! @rec @Parker Owens As a small token of our gratitude, all Anthology Team members will receive the following badge on their profile:

I'm with Bill. Enquiring minds want to know I am thankful for my family, and that I've gotten to see so much of my brother and nieces and nephew this year. I'm thankful for GA and the friends I have made here. I'm also thankful to have a job I love and a great (ooops, I mean grrrrrreeeeaaattt!) supervisor and co-workers. I've had some awesome opportunities this year with traveling to see friends and being recognized at work. I'm really looking forward to having four days off this week!

I love finding forgotten treasures and the memories they conjure up. Great prompts!

Long May You Run - A Tribute to Carlos Hazday Our beloved Carlos had a tradition of posting something new for his readers to enjoy on January first. It was a great way to ring in the new year. In this vein, we thought it would be fitting to feature a tribute to him on January 1, 2024. Anyone is welcome to contribute a story, letter, poem, or whatnot on a topic that resonates with them with respect to Carlos, be it bikes, tattoos, Florida, politics, writing, or something else. The rules are simple: No minimum length One submission per author, containing one chapter, or one prologue plus one chapter. The usual GA content guidelines do apply. Please use appropriate genres, tags, and story/chapter notes as applicable for your submission along with any message you wish to add to your tribute. Post the link to the completed submission in the following thread: DO NOT SET THE PUBLISH DATE/TIME! I will do this when I create the blog entry. Due date to post link to thread is December 27, 2023 by 12:00 AM EST. Edited to add link to event: Please RSVP to the event if you plan on contributing.

Thank you for all your hard work bringing good stories to our attention! I know I've read some stories based on reviews I've read here.

Oh, we don't need to go digging for those brochures...

That was LBO, not me I am not sure about this one. I will have to re-read the interview and give it some thought.

I may or may not have remembered that the prompt blog is resuming this week... So let's embrace the oops in our lives and see what writing treasures come from them. A special thanks to my BFF's daughter for supplying #179, although thankfully this did not happen on our trip last weekend. And another thank you to our own LBO for inspiring #180. PT Prompt #179 You're on a trip with two of your friends and arrive at the hotel late at night. You're exhausted and the only thing you want to do is fall right into bed. When you open the door to your room, you are dismayed to discover that not only is there one bed instead of the two there's supposed to be, but that bed is occupied and the occupant refuses to leave. What happens next? PT Prompt #180 All your life you've wanted to get a tattoo and finally worked up the courage to get one. You hand the tattoo artist the picture you want - a blue bear chugging a can of Pepsi. When the tattoo artist finishes, they proudly show you their creation - a green zombie dripping goo and body parts. What is your reaction? Please include the prompt number either in your story/chapter description or title to help readers who would like to search for specific prompts. Also, please remember that stories less than one thousand words must be posted as part of a collection If you check the subgenre 'prompt' in your story tags, then people/readers can find everything here: https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/subgenre/prompt/