One of the common refrains that we hear from new authors on Gay Authors is that we are a bit cliquey here and that it is harder to get established. That's true to some extent. We have authors that have been here from the beginning and are still going strong, such as @Comicality and @Bill W. Reading is a leisure activity and for many people you have to overcome the familiarity bias. I would rather reread a story I know I enjoy than roll the dice on a new author in my natural state. It is only in those times that I purposely choose to expand my horizon by trying out new things, that I overcome that internal inertia.
When those times swing around, checking out a well written short story is a great low cost (in time) commitment to trying something new. And at Gay Authors, the Anthologies are a great opportunity to put yourself out there as an author. We post and promote the anthologies heavily and readers take the gamble and check out new authors then.
We started to have a theme anthology (at least one) in 2004. So we have 18 years worth of short-story anthologies in the archive for a total of 781 stories!
https://gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/109-fiction-gay-authors-anthologies/
We are having another anthology this year that is due September 1, 2022. The theme this year is "Anniversary" to celebrate Gay Author's 20th birthday.
the full details are in the Anthology Forum of the Writer's Circle:
So, jump in! Write an anthology entry this year with your take on Anniversary. Try a genre you don't usually try. Stretch your skills. We'll be promoting all the entries, so, it's you chance to be seen. Will we be seeing your entry? Click that link above for full details!
Welcome to a new week for Grammar Guides! This week is all about the humble apostrophes their main usages and the one of the most messed up set of words in the English language.
Apostrophes are punctuation marks that are used in three primary ways:
Contractions - uses an apostrophe to replace missing letters in combined words such as "They are" being replaced by "They're"
To Show Possession - Uses an apostrophe to show ownership. ex: The cat's ball. The cats' balls.
To make a plural in special circumstances. The most common is when we are making plurals of letters or numbers as: 2's, 3's, i's, and t's
The Dreaded Its vs It's
"It" and the apostrophe drive people bonkers. Because English. Unlike all other situations where 's shows possession, 's with it is a contraction. Its is the possessive form of it.
Contraction: It's the butler! (quick check: it's is a stand in for "it is")
Possession: A cat is its own master. (quick check: it is makes no sense here, so "its" it.)
References:
Kern, Jara. (2020). The Infographic Guide to Grammar. Adams Media
Venolia, Jan. (2001). Write Right! (4th ed.). Ten Speed Press
