Valkyrie

Thanks!

Here's my take on #121 https://gayauthors.org/story/valkyrie/a-plethora-of-prompts/3

Please disregard. Apparently it's published now.

Spring Lake Antiques – 5 Miles Ahead We have something for everyone! The large, wooden sign looked like an antique itself. The once brightly colored paint had faded, but not to the point of being unreadable. The arrow pointed more toward the ground versus down the road, but the point was made. I was surprised I had even noticed it on the winding rural road I was on. If I hadn’t slowed down for the driver making a right turn in front of me, I probably would have driven right on by i

I'm trying to publish a chapter in my prompt collection "A Plethora of Prompts". Chapter 3 is currently unpublished and nothing happens when I click on the "publish" button. If I untoggle the slider to get a publishing date, I'm getting a notification saying the date has to be at least tomorrow. I have not published a chapter within the past 24 hours for this story. Any thoughts about how to fix this? Thanks! Oh, I'm using an HP laptop with Windows 10 and Chrome.

I've just returned from spending a little over a week in the sunny southwestern US visiting my good friend and fellow prompt team member @Cole Matthews and his husband. We had a great time going for walks in the desert, shopping at antique malls (the inspiration for Prompt #121), going to a concert, and of course, writing prompt responses! Every time we get together, we always spend part of that time choosing prompts and then writing about them. I've selected my favorite two out of the six we completed, and stay tuned next week for Cole's favorite two. We'll be posting our respective stories/vignettes throughout the week, so keep an eye out for those as well. One of the fun parts of writing these is seeing the different ways we interpret the same prompt. Let's see your interpretations as well! PT Prompt #121 You enter an antique shop and immediately see something on a shelf that makes your heart pound and hands shake with excitement. When you pick it up and express interest in it, the shop owner gives it to you for free. What is it and why did they give it to you? PT Prompt #122 An anthropologist is assigned to study a unique culture: a middle school cafeteria. Write their field notes. Include observations on eating habits, hierarchies, rituals, speech, and rules.

The deadline to submit entries for the poetry anthology is approaching fast, but there's still plenty of time to either start writing or put the finishing touches on your poetry submissions. Keep in mind that the link to the theme can be tangential - simply exploring poetry itself or its various forms meets the criteria! Links must be posted in the Writer's Club thread by midnight EST on April 1st. Please PM me with any questions.

Thank you!

Thank you for pointing that out. The two sliders were part of the previous story system, and I don't believe we have them anymore with the new one. I thought we had caught all those. Your previous story most likely didn't publish spontaneously; the main story page with the description will publish, but not the chapters. @Myr or @Cia can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it is something that cannot be changed with the current way of uploading stories. I will work on updating the wording when I get home from vacation on Wednesday.

I really like the Weekly Wrap-Up and look forward to reading it every Sunday. You make it interesting and fun to read. I like having the blogs refeatured because I don't always remember to read them immediately, and it's a nice reminder that "oh yeah, I forgot to read the CSR interview!". I also like seeing how we're doing with the monthly goals. I think the idea of adding additional questions to engage the blog readers is a good idea. Whether it's astone's suggestions or more mundane personal stuff, it's a good way to engage the blog readers.

I am extremely glad I am in the sunny southwest at the moment, and not experiencing the graupel and other fun stuff they're getting pelted with at home. After getting delayed at the airport when leaving for my trip by a lovely snow squall that decided to wait all day to arrive (exactly when my flight was scheduled, thank you very much ), I am totally over winter. I'm quite happy I'm not flying home today, into this @#$!.

I chose April to feature the Poetry Anthology – Exploration, because April is National Poetry Writing Month. The idea behind NaPoWriMo is simply to encourage people to write poetry. It coincides with National Poetry Month, which celebrates poetry in all its forms. NaPoWriMo is also a poetry writing challenge, where poets are asked to write thirty poems – or one per day – during the month of April. Quite a few GA members have taken up this challenge over the years and completed it successfully. The challenge itself acknowledges that not all poems written for the challenge will be masterpieces; the important thing to is write – and explore! I chose the theme “Exploration” for the Poetry Anthology because it’s a broad theme open to interpretation, and also to hopefully encourage site authors and poets to explore the world of poetry. Whether you are new to poetry and want to try writing it for the first time, or a seasoned poet wanting to explore new forms, all are welcome to participate! We already have some exciting collections of poetry in the works, so whether you have one poem to contribute or twenty, bring it on!

Cole knows how to weave a good mystery and keep the reader guessing until the end. He's a master of planting red herrings and misdirection, leaving the ending an ultimate surprise. You won't be disappointed if you read this story!

Thanks for the ice storm we're supposed to get Wednesday night through Thursday. Of course, it's a day I have two appointments; one before and one after work. I will quite happily remind you about the weekly wrap-up on Saturdays I have a feeling I'll have to fight @Krista for the privilege. Although I'm sure we could work out an alternating schedule. I dispute the 50 days of being nice to me. I don't think you should count the days you were on vacation.

Thank you! Patrick has his own story in Accused. I'm currently working on a follow-up to Accused for this fall's anthology.

Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. I appreciate your thoughts. There are a couple of other stories set in this universe, and I see from my notifications you've already read one of them. I have a prequel to this story on my list to write, but I'm a notoriously slow writer so I have no idea when I will have the time or energy to get to it.

In honor of the latest Readers’ Choice Awards category, I thought it would be nice to feature some prompts based on one of the most difficult genres to write. Who’s brave enough to tackle some sci-fi? PT Prompt #116 An archeologist on an expedition to study ancient ruins in the deep rainforest takes a wrong turn and discovers irrefutable proof of alien presence on Earth. What did they find and what are the implications of the findings? PT Prompt #117 A major part of good sci-fi writing is world-building. Descriptive writing is an essential part of that process. Write a paragraph or a few about an alien planet, species (plant or animal), or piece of equipment (such as a spaceship or vehicle or research implement).

This week I thought I'd feature the poetry submissions from the last two anthologies. Hopefully these will provide inspiration to work on your own poetry for this year's Exploration anthology. Just a reminder that submissions are due April 1st, which leaves about a month and a half, so get writing!

There are two more stories set in this universe if you wanted to check them out. Chapter ten of Our Christmas Songbook features Galen and Josh after this story, and Accused is about Patrick, Josh's old trainer.

That's what gifs are for

Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment! I like to imagine that Roger/Michael got served some prison justice and well-deserved karma.

I can't take any credit for the revival of the Reader's Choice Awards. That was all @Myr I only asked if he wanted me to promote it via the Thursday blog. As far as Valentine's Day goes, it's just another day to me. Although it was the day my grandparents got married, and I always thought that was really romantic. I'm kind of happy about V-Day this year, though, because I got a couple of really sweet valentines from individuals on my caseload. ❤️

Instead of an anthology blog this week, we're bringing you the revival of an old GA feature... the Reader's Choice Awards! Myr opened up nominations for our first category - First Love stories - a few days ago, and there is already an impressive list of stories that have been nominated. It's not too late to nominate your favorite, but you'd better hurry since the thread closes tomorrow, February 10th at 8:00 AM EST. Voting will open later that day and close on February 13th, with the results being revealed on Valentine's Day. So check out the thread, the amazing stories already nominated, add your own, then vote! And stay tuned for the next installment of the 2023 Reader's Choice Awards! There is definitely more to come, so start thinking of your favorite stories and nominate them when the appropriate genre is announced.