Valkyrie

Let's see how many stories we get featuring penguins

Thanks for the reminder.

While we're all eagerly awaiting the reveal of the Secret Author stories, I thought it would be a good time to check in and see how those anthology stories are coming along! We can't reveal the participants of the SA contest yet (or I should say Cia can't. I have zero insider knowledge about it. Yes, it's that secret!), but we can openly talk about who's writing what for the annual anthology. I've already had five stories submitted to the proof team - which is a record this far from the due date! The SA contest has at least 20 stories, so let's see if we can try to match or even beat that number! I have several ideas floating around for the antho, and I really hope I get the ambition to write at least one of them in time. It may or may not involve drunk otters, superhero penguins, and alien capybaras Those of you who have working ideas or who have written their story already, feel free to pop a teaser in the comment section and let us know what to look forward to.

There are two different observances in July that I'd like to honor with prompts. July 14th is International Non-Binary People's Day - halfway between International Women's Day and International Men's Day - and is aimed to bring awareness to issues faced by non-binary people. July is also Disability Pride Month. It commemorates the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and celebrates the accomplishments, experiences, and challenges faced by individuals with disabilities. Be sure to scroll to the end of the blog for a couple of recent prompt responses. PT Prompt #295 Write a diary entry from the POV of a non-binary person. Feature everyday interactions and experiences that subtly challenge assumptions about gender. PT Prompt #296 Many disabilities are "invisible", but still have a profound impact on an individual's life, such as autoimmune or cardiovascular diseases. People with these type of disabilities are often gaslighted by medical professionals, colleagues, and even their own friends and family. Write a story featuring a character with an invisible disability and their encounter with someone who doesn't believe they are actually disabled. 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/ Yesterday was capybara appreciation day, and while I don't think @wildone truly appreciates these cute creatures, he did take on my word list celebration prompt featuring capybaras. Read at your own risk! @BendtedWreath took @Aditus out on a date. Wait... uh... he was late to the date... uh... he wrote about Addy's date prompt Be sure to check that one out as well!

@Slytherin nicknamed me Penguin, after the cat in my first multi-chapter story. So it's a dig at me Steve and I have a friendly(?) rivalry over penguins and otters. For those not familiar with the Pepsi reference, I wrote a prompt story ages ago about a zombie apocalypse that was cured by spraying the zombies with Pepsi. It's become a running site joke

Today is National Capybara Appreciation Day

There are lots of secrets surrounding our Tell the Truth - Secret Author contest, but one thing that's not a secret is the due date for story submissions! My beta reader is twitching in the corner because I used "secret" three times in the same sentence There's less than a week to go, so get those finishing touches put on your stories and get them sent off to @Cia. Just don't tell anyone about it It won't be long now until we can start the guessing game as to who wrote what, which is always super fun to participate in or even just to read the guesses. Submission guidelines can be found here:

Now I'm afraid of my bubblewrap They need to introduce giant mutant otters to eradicate the capys, although if they pattern them after Steve, they would definitely be in trouble. Great take on the prompt, although this is even more proof that it's better to not piss you off

That reminds me... Joey Chestnut actually ate 70.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes, not 40.5 And yeah... gross.

I used to work at a big equestrian center downstate and a big storm was predicted in the evening. We had a lot of horses turned out, so we kept a close eye on the weather because metal horseshoes in wet pastures during lightning storms is not a good thing. When the storm approached, it was a literal black wall of clouds creeping toward us. Very Lord of the Rings/Armageddon type stuff. We managed to get all the horses from the top pastures into the barn, while a couple of people ran down to the lower pastures to get the lesson horses in, even though the storm had hit at that point and we yelled at them not to. We stood just inside the barn, trying futilely to see through the wall of torrential rain, when a lightning bolt flashed and thunder boomed immediately afterwards. I felt the hair on my arms stand up, and we all screamed and ran away from the door. It turned out the bolt actually hit the lower barn. The people had thankfully made it inside with a group of lesson horses and they told us the lightning actually arced across the blanket racks. Terrifying!

Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north and Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans! In the spirit of celebrating, let's explore various ways to do so. PT Prompt #293: You're a competitor in a major competition in your sport and will clearly win. Knowing this, you celebrate too early, which costs you the win. What happened and what is the fallout? PT Prompt #294: Use the following words in a story: balloon, cake, capybara, fireworks, flame-thrower, bubble wrap 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/

It's definitely the theme for some people 🙄

For some reason, I thought of you when I typed in "alien capybara" I'm honestly a bit afraid of what you are going to come up with for this theme

GA features several writing events throughout the year, usually with a theme. When themes are announced, there are generally two reactions - yay, I love it! or WTF were you thinking? Participating in site events is fun and a great way to get your work out there and gain new readers. So, what happens when you want to participate in a site event but don't like the theme? I'm going to outline some tips and tricks to still participating, even if the theme doesn't "speak" to you. We've repeatedly said that the link to the anthology theme can be tangential - it doesn't have to hit us over the head. Let's take this year's anthology theme as an example. The classic definition of a Creature Feature is an old-school horror movie where the monster is the main feature of the film. If vampires, werewolves, or swamp creatures aren't your thing, you'd have to give this a hard pass, right? Wrong! Anthology themes are selected with the intent that they are open to multiple interpretations. What else can a creature be? Any kind of animal fits the bill. Add a wolf, blue bear, penguin, otter, or capybara to your story and voila! You've tangentially fit the theme! It doesn't have to be the main feature, either, since humans are creatures as well. So are aliens from another planet, but now I'm going off on a tangent. Alien capybaras? Enough of that. Another tip is to think about the theme and why you don't like it. Then think about how you could spin the theme into something you do like. Embrace the challenge of incorporating a creature into your story, even if it isn't the main feature. The idea of the anthology is to be inclusive, not exclusive, so if you have an idea you really want to write but you're not sure if it fits the theme, remember that tangential link and add a fluffy kitten or a flame-throwing unicorn and start writing! If you have any tips or tricks of your own, feel free to add them in the comments.

That was my first thought too LOL

Double vision can also be caused by drinking too much beer Seriously, though, I hope you get it figured out My question to Steve is, how do you know what kind of underwear @Krista wears?

Life is full of drama, whether we want it or not. It's been a drama-filled week for me, which why I may or may not have forgotten to write a prompt blog for today Let's start some drama! PT Prompt #289 Work/life balance is incredibly important, but not always easy to achieve. Your supervisor is relentlessly pushing you to work beyond a comfortable balance, despite you telling them no. Stand up for yourself and your co-workers. PT Prompt #290 Start an online argument that you actually win. 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/

I'm not sure this is forgivable. 😁

Prompts are meant to inspire, so I would say this did its job. Sometimes they take us in different directions than we might otherwise think. Thank you for sharing. I'm intrigued to read the longer work.

I really want someone to write #288 😁