northie

👍👍👍👍😄 (and not a comma in sight)

Anthos are a great time for experimenting. I enjoyed your podcast transcription. There are so many other stories hidden within that short tale. If you skim-read it (like I did the first time), it comes across as a sweet joint history. Take more time, and all the questions jump out. I'm no baker. Or even a great cake eater. Let's hope someone gives your recipe a whirl. 😉😄

Given being at ease with myself is a comparatively recent phenomenon, I wholeheartedly agree you, Val. Grow old (dis)gracefully as you choose. 🤨😄

@Carlos Hazday v @Mrsgnomie

Congratulations! We all have our reasons to be grateful to GA, Myr, and the admins, writers, and readers here. I sure as hell know mine.

Fun, though I found some of the questions too vague or you had to guess which 'community' they wanted you to think about. 9 (peacemaker) and 5 (investigator) with smaller peaks at 4 (individualist) and 8 (challenger)

This is the story of your unique pain. It is also a pain shared by so many individuals over the years whom circumstances have forced to travel down unwanted paths. Thank you, Gary, for both these poems. For the personal journeys now shared.

Anniversaries can be times for reflection, giving thanks, and perhaps, heaving a sigh of relief. They can also be an opportunity for baring your soul. Thank you, Gary, for having the courage to let us into this episode of your life. To escape an abusive relationship needs a special kind of courage, I think. I'm glad you're out the other side and living your life as you want it.

Plenty of mine aren't. They should take you to wherever they take you. Queer rights (particularly trans rights) are being challenged here in the UK. That's nothing though compared to the situation in the US. America is the playground of religious zealots. Religious zealots with money, influence, and power well beyond their acceptance in wider US society. Unchallenged gerrymandering, voter suppression, and alternative 'facts' look to be a great way of creating a pseudo-Christian, fascist plutocracy. Rights will suffer. Women's rights are already a lottery. Who's next? Thanks for this piece, Bill, even though I can't help. It's a warning that needs repeating. The overturning of Roe v Wade seems to have galvanised women voters. Let's hope this shock propels Congress to codify everything that's just been left to hang on the assumption the Supreme Court could never turn bad.

Yes, genuinely. As if an underpinning has suddenly been removed. Can't say I'm a monarchist but nobody should fault a long life given in service. She only received the outgoing and incoming UK prime ministers two days ago. It's going to be so weird thinking and saying 'King'.

I'm glad my very, very last minute CNF essay will bump up the numbers. Here's to 20 or more!

The CNF piece I discarded in favour of the story I submitted, is still hanging around. I've started to get it down, since it won't go away otherwise. 🙄 Will I make the deadline? Who knows. 🤷‍♂️ The whole thing might end up being discarded. Or not making the minimum word limit. Watch this space...

I agree with @Carlos Hazday. I always enjoy books where this is employed well. There can be so many interpretations, motivations, and of course, viewing what results. Not something I've tried. Yet. Another thing to add to the list...

It seems to be a half-way house. I've had it twice today. It's been part of trouble since the start. The site hasn't fallen over yet today. Myr's patches are working mostly.

Err... 👀😬 I don't think so.

Thank you both for your vigilance. I appreciate it. We all should.

Lone, your sonnet might be, dear friend. That doesn't in anyway lessen its qualities. Its message is one for these days we live through indeed. Twitter (my preferred social media) can sometimes come across as a nest of vipers. At other times, the sense of community spreads warmth, concern, and a desire to raise as many people together as is possible. I'm glad to occupy part of the same garden as so many other GA members, including, of course, you. 😘

In my experience, Gary, this has happened only spasmodically. It gets offered and then the amount of extra work it causes, means it doesn't get offered subsequently. @Valkyrie or @Cia are the final arbiters. Or try asking the question in the Antho question thread.

My longest antho entry is 16.5k. Shortest, a little over 2k. Having first been famous for loooong stories, I now seem to have veered the other way and am now producing work in the 2-4k region. Partly, this is due to time constraints. As for chapter lengths... I used to feel obligation to produce a certain amount of wordage per chapter. No longer. Nor am I now particularly convinced by a need or convention for consistency. How much of that is driven by the mentality that your readers only have 20 minutes at a time to spare for reading, therefore you must make your chapters fit? Doubtless, there are arenas in which this is a consideration. But I've also read plenty of (commercially produced) books where the author couldn't give a toss. My current book has chapters ranging from 8 mins to 48. (I listen.) In my current (non-antho) writing, I'm letting the chapters fall as fits the story without worrying about how I'm going to post on GA. 🤨 Maybe I'll regret this later. We'll see. 😄

@Valkyrie I'm writing, I'm writing.

Ever thought of being a horror writer? 🤨😄 You've got the background features off to a 'T'. Crows are clever, inventive, and could easily be the villain of any piece. I love how this darkness (and menace?) is offset by robins (US or UK) and the coming of dawn. Your observations of the natural world never cease to paint such vivid pictures, dear friend.

As Myr says, it's intermittent. I've had the full range across the day.

Thank you all for your kind wishes. I know I harp on about this but without GA, I (probably) wouldn't be a writer. I wouldn't now be at ease with myself. And I wouldn't have met a bunch of friends who get me for who I am. First and foremost amongst these has to be @Parker Owens. It's his fault really that I'm a writer. His punishment has been to accompany me along the way. He gently pushes me to improve, to stretch myself. Though I do a fair amount of that to myself as well. Anyway

I agree. Getting strange configurations with Chrome on mobile (Android) while the desktop version is fine. Not adding screen grabs as there seem to be plenty.

Hi - yes, submitting to an antho can be quite daunting if you're not used to it. Val's produced a 101 'how to' guide here: