Valkyrie

You can't go wrong with featuring dragons! I'm looking forward to reading this and to the interview. Yes, I know... wrong series

Me too

I’m writing this blog on July 26th, which is the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. July is Disability Pride Month, which honors the passage of the ADA. The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability and guarantees equal accommodation to people with disabilities in areas including access, transportation, and telecommunications. I had a wonderful discussion today with one of my patients (I work with adults with developmental disabilities) about the ADA and what it meant to him, along with what he felt still needed to be done for people with disabilities and positive things that came from the ADA. He was quite passionate about his feelings when he encounters places he is not able to access in his wheelchair or places with inadequate restroom facilities. While a lot of positives came from the ADA, discussions like this show there is still room to grow. This week’s prompts are in honor of the ADA and celebrate Disability Pride. I could go on and on about this topic, but I’d love to hear from any GA members who have been impacted by the ADA or its equivalent in other countries. PT Prompt #69 You have an interview for your dream job, but when you arrive at the building, you discover it’s not wheelchair accessible. What happens when you confront the interviewer about the lack of accessibility? PT Prompt #70 A gorgeous guy has been staring at you all evening, so you take it as an invitation to walk over and introduce yourself, hoping for a hot date. Instead, he tells you he’s blind and not looking anywhere, but you have a nice voice. What happens next?

@Slytherin LBO is a surly bear

I wrote my first anthology story for GA for the summer 2014 anthology, The Backup Plan. It was the start of my Max and Elliot series and hooked me on writing short stories. I’ve participated in every anthology since then, sometimes with multiple submissions, for a total of 27 stories. I’m planning on keeping the streak going with the upcoming Anniversary anthology with at least one story. I thought I’d give some insight as to why I continue writing for all the anthologies and the process I go through when deciding what to write. I’d love to hear from other anthology participants, past and present, about their process as well. First, I love writing to a theme and seeing what interpretation I come up with and also reading other authors' take on the same theme. The diversity, imagination, and creativity displayed in the anthos never ceases to amaze me. Another reason I participate is to give back to a site that’s given so much to me. Writing anthology stories is a great way for an author to introduce themselves to readers. As a reader, I may not want to start reading a multi-chapter story written by an author I’m not familiar with, but reading a short story introduces me to their style, and may hook me as a long-term reader if I like what I see. As an author, I like to use anthologies to hone skills I can use when working on longer stories. When I first started writing, I was most comfortable using first person. I decided I wanted to become more comfortable writing in third person, so I wrote some anthology stories in third person. I’ve also used antho stories to work on descriptive writing (such as Escape and Jus Sanguinis). Sometimes I ask myself a question and then use an anthology story to explore that question. For example, I wondered what it would be like to be reincarnated and how it would affect other people, so I wrote Born Again. Other questions I’ve had have been more hard-hitting, such as how someone’s life is affected by false accusations, and what happens to someone convicted of a heinous crime, who then has to navigate the world after paying their debt to society. I’ve also written from the point of view of a stalker and explored what happens when a gay man falls for his straight, female best friend. I find my more controversial stories tend to get the most views and most comments from readers. Not every story has to be a controversial gut-punch, though. A well-written, feel-good story linked to the theme is a winner every time. So let’s hear what draws you, as either an author or a reader, to participate in the anthologies.

Should I be worried that this makes me think of @wildone? (not the hot part; that would be like calling my brother hot )

I burn pretty easily, so use SPF 50 if I'm going to be out in the sun for any length of time. I don't tend to tan; I burn, then turn back into a vampire When I do burn, I've found that goat's milk based lotion helps me out the most.

No shame I've been here for nine years, so I suspect my streak is much longer than 365 days In 182.5 days, you'll wear that badge with pride!

Whoever came up with tracking the number of days people log onto sites and apps was a marketing genius. I also just earned the 365 day GA badge. 🌟 I'm also still twitching about losing my Wordle streak while on vacation Although I'll be damned if I lose my 708 day and going strong Duolingo streak. That sucker will break on my deathbed.

I love my phone. I think the coolest part for me is the ability to take pictures and send them to people using the phone, either through messenger or email. It's nice to be able to look at my emails on the phone too. I'd also be interested to know the age ranges and who uses which devices. But the stats for ages are 'what are claimed by members'. I think the actual ages of members would show a much different skew in the range

Same, although I shouldn't be. I don't even own a tablet. I bought my first smartphone a year and a half ago. My phone prior to that was 'fancy' because I could text from it lol 🐲

Very true! I just returned from a nice vacation and was able to solidify the idea I have for my anthology story. I like both of these prompts, too.

While the anthology is now a combination of poetry and stories, in the past, site poets participated in poetry-exclusive anthologies. I thought I'd feature a couple of those and hopefully get some of our poets inspired to contribute to the anthology. I know of at least a couple of poetry submissions for this year, so let's have a solid showing to honor GA's anniversary! https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/37-2011-poetry-anthology-into-the-unknown/ https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/76-2015-poetry-anthology-remember/

I just spent the last few days in Kentucky and it was hot, although I've been there when it's hotter. Thankfully yesterday was cooler, although it did rain in the afternoon and for my entire drive home. It's beautiful now at home, although cloudy with on and off rain. We desperately need the rain though, since we haven't had anything of significance since May. I wish I could send some of the nice weather to Europe! It's supposed to get sweltering here this week, though.

Thank you so much for reading them! I'm really glad you enjoyed them. I love seeing all the reactions to the comments. It's nice to know that readers still appreciate my older prompt responses.

There are currently 781 anthology stories in the GA story archive, so there’s sure to be something in there for everyone. It’s hard to pick a favorite out of that many stories, but in the nine years I’ve been on the site, there are a few that stand out to me. The Bachelor Farmer by Cole Matthews is the first story that comes to mind when I think about favorite anthology stories. It’s a unique blend of history and characterization and has stuck with me since I read it back in 2014. https://gayauthors.org/story/cole-matthews/thebachelorfarmer/ Viv’s Underneath this Big Ol’ Sky series was posted in 2011, prior to my joining GA, but they definitely rank up there with some of my site favorites, anthology or not. While each story can be read on its own, Viv has created a compelling series that begs for more. I really wish she was still writing, so I could read more of these gems. https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/series/underneath-this-big-ol%E2%80%99-sky/ Another memorable series comes to us courtesy of @cia. A Maze for Three is a great combination of modern sci-fi and shifter stories. https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/series/a-maze-for-three/ I could go on and on, but I’ll feature one more. @myr still has readers begging for more of the world he created for this story, even eight years later. *hint hint* https://gayauthors.org/story/myr/arangersduty/ What are some stand-out anthology stories that you’ve read? Post the links in the comments and share why they’re your favorite.

Good luck. Thor is insanely loyal to me

Well, I am a Valkyrie. Thor is my hubby and I don't share

My first thought was stegosaurus calligraphy

I love Nephylim's writing, but I'm not sure I've read this one. The story description and review have me totally hooked

You're from Calgary... our winters are nothing compared to yours Buffalo is definitely a sports town. You can see good 🏈 🥍 ⚾ or bad , depending on what team you want to watch I think we're cursed to never win a national championship though. *coughcoughsuperbowlcoughcough* The Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team just lost the national championship in the last game But sports aside, there is always something to do here. We're known for our festivals. Pretty much every weekend in the summer, there's some kind of festival going on. Italian, Polish, Juneteenth, Allentown Art Festival, Eden Corn Festival, Wingfest. This weekend is the Taste of Buffalo. The first week of June is Pride Week. There's festivals going on all year, but they really ramp up in the summer. We're really close to Niagara Falls, and it's definitely worth seeing them in the winter. The ice formations are really beautiful. And I promise to leave the barrels at home Oh and I almost forgot the Erie County Fair! It's the biggest county fair in the country--bigger than most state fairs. It's well worth visiting!

I completely agree!

Maybe that's where the Foo Fighters got their name

Worst five minutes of my life!