Valkyrie

LINED sticky notes??? How have I not known that such a thing exists? This is far more exciting than my weekend. I'm doing laundry this afternoon, picked up my groceries this morning, took a nap (i.e. fell asleep watching YouTube videos), and am catching up on anthology proofreads and scheduling.

When I see the first word of a story is "you", I normally immediately stop reading and look for something else, just because there's so much bad second person writing out there. It's funny that I happened to be reading a new book of short stories today and one of them featured an introduction written in second person. It was so well done that the POV seemed perfectly natural for the story. Maybe one of these days I'll take up the challenge of writing in second person.

Well with that description, it totally HAS to be included in the anthology, so I'll give you an extension if you need it

Who's frantically writing and working to get their story done in time for the deadline? While I don't have the official number of stories submitted yet, I can say we are very close to matching the number of Secret Author stories. This is going to be a great anthology, so stay tuned! The Proof Team is hard at work proofreading the stories that have been submitted so far. Please be patient as more stories are coming in every day, and we are volunteers with a life outside of GA (I know.. who'd a thunk it?) We will get through everyone's stories in plenty of time Who's excited to start reading about our featured creatures?

No Story Limit: Each story submitted must meet quality and editing guidelines. Each story posted as its own submission Minimum word count per story: 1,000 Maximum word count per story: 25,000 There's no word limit for single chapters, so you could put all 25k words into a single chapter.

Today's prompt blog is going to be a little bit different. Five years ago, @wildone featured some guest prompts after our prompt guru Comicfan sadly passed away. One of these prompts was recently resurrected, with several authors taking up the challenge. This is one of my favorite technical prompts, as it gets authors to consider their words carefully and approach first person POV in a different way. So please check out the prompt and responses and give it a go yourself. Be sure to post your links in the comments here and in the prompt thread. Now start writing! Technical Prompt Challenge: Write a story (at least 500 words) in first person without using the pronoun "I". 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/

Probably

I'm honestly terrified of what you may write for this...

You're next on my list

There are just two weeks left to get stories sent to me for the Proof Team to review. From the selection I've read so far, this is going to be a great anthology! The Proof Team has been hard at work, but we're always eager for more, so keep sending me your creatures to feature! Hmmm... maybe something a bit scarier? Nah... scarier. That'll do

I seriously want to interview a ghost, but it will have to be after the anthology.

It's starting to feel like Fall here, with a few hot days thrown in. It's mainly been cool, and the trees have even started to turn. I love it. Fall is my favorite time of year, with the beautiful Northeast foliage and cool temps. It's time to pumpkin spice all the things! It's also back to school season, which means more traffic and lots of cranky people. Let's write about the beginning of Fall. PT Prompt #303: You've decided to go back to college at age 40. What prompted this decision, and what are you studying? How do you relate to classmates half your age? PT Prompt #304: Take us on a walk through the woods. Be as descriptive as possible. Maybe there are creatures to encounter and feature in the anthology. @Inkognito took on one of my sensory prompts last week, and came up with a unique interpretation. Be sure to check it out! 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/

Thanks! I'll be making some assignments to the proof team either tomorrow or over the weekend. Today is my first day back to work after a week off, so it's a little rough.

What does the Anthology Proof Team do? Once your anthology story is finished and edited, then it's time to send it to me so I can assign a Proof Team member to give it a final once-over. Why do we do this? To ensure that stories meet site guidelines and basic editing standards. We look for anything the author and their team may have missed - misspelled words, misused words, unintentional grammar mistakes, punctuation. I have a great team of knowledgeable proofreaders ready to go with their red pens. There's one month to go before the deadline to send me stories, and I'm thrilled with the response to the anthology so far! I have to apologize for those of you waiting on proofreads. I don't really want to get into any personal issues, but I've been having a flare-up of a chronic health condition, so please bear with me, and thank you for your patience! Everything will get done and returned in time for the anthology release. And please continue sending me your featured creatures!

OMG Same Great take on the prompt! I loved it

Can you please post the link here?

Good writing engages the senses, so let's explore some ways to do that. PT Prompt #301: Choose a sense and then describe something related to that sense to someone lacking that sense. For example, describe colors to a blind person or music to a Deaf person. PT Prompt #302: Write from the POV of an individual experiencing sensory overload. It could be too much noise, light, touch, etc. Be sure to check out @BendtedWreath and @chris191070's collaboration in response to @Aditus's prompts. 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/

Classic Author Libby Drew wrote a great guest article a couple of years ago about her take on writing short stories. Since this year's anthology is fast approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to re-feature it.

Thanks, @ReaderPaul I hadn't seen this yet. Now that Ben and Chris have revealed the truth, don't be surprised if they disappear Although Steve prefers beer to blood

A frozen Pina colada sounds divine, but leave the Pepsi out

Uh... we don't drink Pepsi. That's strictly for zombie fighting.

I would love to have you participate in the anthology; however, it states the following in the submission guidelines:

It's been a busy year with writing events here at GA so far. We started with our second tribute to Carlos Hazday - Auld Lang Syne, and continued with our annual Poetry Anthology - Diversity, followed by a tribute to a GA icon, Comicality - Coming of Age. A favorite of both authors and reader is the annual Secret Author contest, which just concluded. Now it's time to focus on the annual Anthology - Creature Feature, which is due on October 1st. Guidelines can be found here: I've already had 8 stories submitted for the anthology, which is a record for early submissions! If you are waiting for a proof, thank you for your patience. I will be working on them this weekend. Keep 'em coming! After the anthology, @Aditus and I will be running another Prompt Team Event, so stay tuned for more details! What are you waiting for? Get working on those creatures!

You can find the stories for it here

@Cia stated that people may also vote in the comments on that thread or send her a PM if someone's votes did not encompass both sections of the voting poll. One member did that and voted for What it Takes and Thetis, which brings the number of votes to 8 and 7 respectively. The number of votes for the winners in the blog is correct.