Trebs

This week's "Featured Story" is actually a "Featured Poem". Dark gives us a wonderful review of Promising Author Jian_Sierra's Come With Me. We thank Dark for this review - and if you can help us with a review, please let us know. We're especially in need of reviews of Hosted Author and Promising Author stories. Thanks! Come With Me By Jian_Sierra Review by Dark Status: Complete Word Count: 326 I chose this poem because although I have no knack for it myself, Jian’s poetry always finds a way to speak to me. I feel that poetry deserves to be read aloud and this poem is one that I would love to hear one day. These words Jian have assembled would make a wonderful forward to any story. This is a light-hearted, wheedling entreaty for one and all to share in a writer’s world, to connect with the characters despite cliffhangers, plot twists, and unlikeable characters. The summary doesn’t really do this one justice; instead, I would place words from the poem itself: Let’s embark on a journey / To a world in my thoughts … So will you allow me / A few minutes of your time?

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Edit to Add: The Winter Anthology Desperate Ends is NOW LIVE! Check it out through this link! The Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World" deadline is one week from now, on Friday, Dec 14th. Also, Cia will be taking over these Anthologies for now, so please contact her if you have any issues - thanks! We have launched our second new Premium Story this week with Empty Corners by Comicality. This story will alternate weekly with Challenging Fate by Renee Stevens, which launched two weeks ago. Our feature story this week was Author Mark92's Let's Make Love and was reviewed by joann414. Mark is really becoming one of our sites more interesting writers and I encourage you to check out this piece. On Wacky Wednesday, Libby Drew gave us a very well received piece on getting from a first to second draft, or as she called it, The Writer's Yellow Brick Road. We ended our week with two new Prompts from Comicfan - "The Note" and "The Holiday". I encourage you to check them out and maybe try your hand at them. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th - DUE TODAY (SATURDAY) Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Empty Corners by Comicality By our Hosted Authors this week: Paternity by Mark Arbour, Book 12 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Secret Life of Billy Chase 7 by Comicality, Book 7 of The Secret Life of Billy Chase City Under the Waves by Nephylim In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Orphic Revelations by Cia Adverse Effects by Cia, Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia Hercules III by CarlHoliday Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales By our Promising Authors this week: The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen Angels Ascending by JMH, Book 3 of The Centurion Cycle Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT - LAST MINUTE REMINDER!!! Entries for the "Desperate Ends" Winter anthology are due tomorrow - NO EXCEPTIONS! Remember that Cia has temporarily taken over anthologies so please let her know if you have any trouble posting your submissions. Thanks to our Prompt-guru Comicfan, we bring you two great new prompts: Prompt 190 – Creative Tag – The Note You came home to find a note that listed everything about you, including your last lover, and where you hide your toys. There isn’t a thing listed in that note that is wrong. The bottom line tells you to meet the sender tonight at a very private and expensive club. You are even told what clothing of yours to wear. Do you go? Prompt 191 – Creative Tag – The Holiday Describe your perfect holiday. Hmmm - two totally different but interesting prompts. I can't wait to see where people go with them. Try your hand at one (or both) - but when you do, share it with the community in our Writing Prompts Forum! So - Prompt 189 gave a premise: And while Mark92 has a great take on this, I think joann414's revenge - um, I mean alternate take made me smile quite a bit more. I hope you enjoy it as well - it is is in it's entitirety: " I can't believe we agreed to buy this house from Marky. Being in the country is great, but I still think it is pretty spooky." Jo Ann spoke to Cassie as they unloaded boxes out of her truck. Cassie dropped her boxes to unlock and door and said," Look on the bright side. We got it for half of what it was worth and they had done all of the repairs that were needed. Stuby even hired someone to clean it before we moved in. The only drawback is having those two idiots as neighbors." " Having them as neighbors is bad enough, but that haunted crap still bothers me. After all, Mark admitted a few wierd things happened in the six months that they were here. Let's put the last of the boxes upstairs and light a fire and eat our pizza in front of it. There's a couple of bottles of wine in the fridge that KC sent over by Mark as a housewarming gift." " Sounds good to me girl because I am tired from lugging these damn boxes all day. The unpacking can wait." Cassie replied. A couple of hours later the two girls had finished the pizza and the first bottle of wine. Pushing herself up from the floor, Cassie took the empty pizza box to the kitchen and retrieved the other bottle of wine. Pouring both glasses full, she clinked hers to Jo Ann's and said, " Here's to perfect roommates and new beginnings." She jumped when she heard a loud thump from upstairs. " Those guys better not be in this house trying to scare us. If they are, they are going to have hell to pay. Jo Ann got up to retrieve her pistol from her purse, hoping that it was the guys so that she would not have to use it. Tip-toeing up the stairs, the two half drunk girls stopped when they heard noise coming from one of the bedrooms. Opening the door of the room a frigid wind greeted them because the window and shutters were open. Hurrying across the room to shut them Cassie shrugged and said, " I guess we left it open when we were airing everything out yesterday." Staggering a little as they went back down stairs, the dug out their sleeping bags, grabbed a pillow off the couch, and settled in front of the fire to watch tv and finish the wine. After an hour or so, the sound of glass shattering tore the girl's attention from their Christmas movie. Putting the wine glasses on the hearth, both headed to the kitchen, tiptoeing as carefully as two drunks could tiptoe. Jerking the door open, Cassie and Jo Ann gasped when they saw the tall whispy man standing in their kitchen. " Who are you and what do you want?" Jo Ann demanded. Turning toward them, the man replied. " What happened to the two guys that lived here? I got to live out my wildest fantasies watching them every night and now they are gone. Please, I am in limbo and until I can find happiness and contentment, I will not be able to crossover to the other side. I was the victim of a homophobic hate crime and my soul was finally finding peace when the boys moved in and I got to watch them live happily the kind of life that I had wanted for myself." Jo Ann and Cassie looked at each other, both fighting tears at the spirit's admission having no doubt of the validity of his story. Both reached for his hand, eyes widening when their fingers only passed through his, not feeling anything. Motioning for the spirit to follow them, they led him to the big picture window in the side wall of their kitchen. Drawing the drapes, Cassie and Joann pointed to the newly built cabin a couple of hundred yards away that was brightly lit with multi-colored Christmas lights around the edge of the roof and had a large decorated pine on the front lawn. Following the apparition out onto the front porch of their house, they could hear the loud Christmas music coming from Mark and Stuby's house and even see the two of them through the window as they danced happily to a catchy rendition of " Rockin Around the Christmas Tree." The ghost danced happily toward the house and the two girls dropped their wine glasses onto the porch as he danced right through the logs into the boy's cabin. The next morning Cassie turned in her sleeping bag to see Jo Ann putting wood on the fire. " Was it a dream, or did it really happen?" " It really happened. We gave our ghost to Mark and Stuby. " Merry Christmas to the three of them." " Mimosas?" Cassie asked.

We're always grateful to our contributors, and especially to Libby Drew for this great article on traveling with Dorothy from a first to a second draft. Enjoy! The Writer’s Yellow Brick Road: Journey from First to Second Draft by Libby Drew First drafts are often wordy. We make them that way because at the divine moment we’re crafting a scene, adding words is the only way to get the details across. Soliloquies abound. Descriptions clutter. Characters chatter. We pour thousands of words onto the page, reveling when the moving, Technicolor scene in our head has been perfectly translated to the reader, undiminished. It’s beautiful freedom. Second drafts hurt. These edits are by far the most painful because now we must hack into our beloved masterpiece to find the balance between overblown poeticism and straight-forward clarity. When editing, keep in mind the reader’s motivation for choosing a story. They want to make it theirs. That’s the great philosophical unfairness of being a writer. What connects a person to the written word isn’t what we tell them, it’s what they envision. Let them choose their own details. Don’t always encumber them with yours. How do we find that balance? Well…with extensive editing, time, and experience. Isn’t that encouraging? It should be. (Don’t roll your eyes.) Every writer can do this. Every writer can excel at this. No special credentials required. Here are a couple of tips and examples to get started: 1. Avoid, when you can, adverbs and qualifiers. Allow your writing to carry the scene. We may think we’re illuminating the reader when we add adverbs and qualifiers, but often we’re spoon-feeding. There’s no need to qualify. Trust me. Here’s a bare-bones example: Suzy’s father has been murdered. At his funeral, Suzy doesn’t need to “weep with profound loss”. Her brother doesn’t need to “scowl with disapproval” at her dramatics. Her mother shouldn’t be “twisting the pearls at her neck nervously.” Friends shouldn’t be “whispering softly” or “studying each of them with suspicion”. Give your reader some credit. “Suzy wept on her knees by the closed casket. Her brother stood over her, scowling, the toes of his shoes brushing her wrinkled dress. In the shadows amongst the flower arrangements, their mother kept vigil over them both, twisting her heirloom pearls around her fingers while friends of the deceased gossiped about which one of the three had killed him.” Why is the casket closed? Why is Suzy’s brother standing so close to her? Is the mother’s watchfulness concern for her children’s behavior or something else entirely? My point is: questions are good. They invest the reader and give the story depth. No two people, having read the above scene, will come away from it with identical impressions. They won’t agree on what type of dress Suzy is wearing or whether the pearls are salt or fresh-water. They’ll argue over the décor, the color of the casket, and the types of flowers. But I promise they will all understand Suzy has experienced a profound loss (or so she wants everyone to believe), her brother disapproves, her mother is nervous, and the friends are discussing their suspicions quietly. Dialog and narrative alone should be enough to ascertain what the characters are feeling. If they aren’t, rewrite. Not all qualifiers and adverbs are bad. But most are superfluous. Scrutinize each and err on the side of “not needed”. 2. Eliminate unnecessary words. Advice we’ve all heard: cut unnecessary words; they add nothing. Actually, it’s worse: they bog down narrative. They muddy the scene. They make our writing less effective. And even though they were imperative for the first draft—when the story is spilling sublimely and flawlessly onto the page (smirk)—cut them. These edits can be even more difficult than the ones suggested above. We’re often too attached to our work to identify dispensable words. Our best friend is time—taking a few days (or longer, if we can stand it) and coming back to the story with a fresh set of eyes will help. Read aloud. Once on the lookout for certain offenders, they’re easier to spot. Here’s a short list of words and phrases that expand word count needlessly and weaken narrative: As a matter of fact It could happen that, As it happened It is interesting to note, Interestingly It is possible that, Possibly In all likelihood Of course Without changing the meaning of a sentence, you can almost always cut: Just Really Quite Perhaps That Actually Every one of us has been seduced by lush descriptions and adjective-heavy scene-building. We’ve also been swept away by tightly-woven, concise storytelling—the sort that leaves a firm idea of character, plot, and setting without having it spelled out. Which is better? As with most things, balance is key, but solid editing tips the scales. The first step to a breathtaking story is a well-crafted one. From there, all is possible. ~Libby

As the gloomy last month of the year is upon us, let's fill our eyes and minds with a sense of the erotic. We're thankful to joann414 for her review of Author Mark92's Let's Make Love. Enjoy! Let's Make Love by Mark92 Reviewer: joann414 Status: Complete Word Count: 3,396 The beginning of this erotic tale lets the reader know that one of the two characters is without two of his senses because of his hands being tied, and a blindfold over his eyes. Well, sounds like kinky sexy huh? Nope, it is one of the most beautiful pieces of erotica that I have ever read, and at my age, I have read many. The author and his boyfriend are the characters in the story and needless to say the author is telling the story because the boyfriend is not able because he is too busy trying to stay sane and keep his other senses intact. Seriously, the imagery in the character's detail of what he is intending and is doing always keeps the reader on the edge of his seat wanting to crawl into the screen of his computer to see this wonderful piece of writing unfold and watch the actual portrayal of what reads like a lover's dance or a vivid, captivating act of seduction as told by the author. Every touch, sound and breath can almost be felt by the reader because it is written with such charisma. If you are looking for a romantic tale, or your typical gay coming out, falling in love with your best friend, or the high school homophobe, look elsewhere. But if you are looking for an enchanting, adult bedtime story that will set the mood for a wonderful night with that special someone then go get their favorite scented candles, find some soft music to play in the background and settle in to read them this bewitching story of lovemaking that not only lures him to you, but tests your own self control trying to finish the story before ravishing your mate. The flow of the words with such descriptive writing was some of the easiest reading that I have enjoyed here. It will literally leave you breathless in more ways than one. Go for it and make your holidays more fun. Read and review!

ANNOUNCEMENT: The deadline for the Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends" is only ONE week away - Due Saturday, Dec 8th. The Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World" deadline is not long after that on Friday, Dec 14th. Also, Cia will be taking over these Anthologies for now, so please send your completed entries to her - thanks! ALSO - Now that Chosen of Honorus, Chapter 1 of Andrew_Q_Gordon's Champions of the Gods has concluded with the completed last chapter being posted last week, we have a new Premium Story that has premiered this week - Challenging Fate by Renee Stevens. This story will alternate with another new Premium story, with each being posted every two weeks. Our feature story this week was Comfort of a Blanket by Jack Frost - Comicfan reviewed this short story and found it "an interesting take on a young man just figuring out who he is." Our Wacky Wednesday feature was a continuation of the monthly interviews by Yettie One - this time, he turned the attention on Colinian and it is a great read of Colinian's thoughts. Finally, we closed out the week with Prompt Me - giving us two new prompts on "The Job From Hell" and "Ghost". We also looked at K.C.'s take on what happens when you send the wrong file to a publisher. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th - ONE WEEK FROM NOW Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Challenging Fate by Renee Stevens By our Hosted Authors this week: Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales Empty Corners by Comicality Hercules III by CarlHoliday Paternity by Mark Arbour, Book 12 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Orphic Revelations by Cia In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Shorties by Renee Stevens Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont By our Promising Authors this week: Refuge by David McLeod Spirit of Vengeance by Hamen Cheese, Book 2 of Adamagika Series Someone called Soul Mate by SidLove Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

So Friday means another prompt day. And - um, if you were here last week, prompt day can get to be a little ... wild. I do have to thank joann414, Mark92 and K.C. for giving me a serious set of belly laughs. In addition to the above named trio, we have to always give thanks to our Prompt-guru Comicfan for two new fantastic prompts. I hope you try one (or both) but please share it with the community in our Writing Prompts Forum (though, you can also put it in the comments - but so that future readers, the Writing Prompts forum is a better place). Prompt 188 – Creative Tag – The Job from Hell You joked when you everything seemed to go wrong that you would take a job from the devil himself if it meant you could turn your life around and get out from under. A week later you got a job offer from Infernal Industries to work for one Lou F. Angel as a manager. Once you see what the pay and benefits are you quickly accept the offer. What happens when you realize you are working for the Devil? (Your new boss’s full name is Lucifer Fallen Angel) Prompt 189 – Creative Tag – Ghost You moved into your new place a few weeks ago. Once you thought you had the whole place the way you wanted it you noticed something was off. Things kept being moved around, furniture rearranged, and even pictures moved to different rooms. At first you were willing to think maybe you were just that forgetful but as you describe your new place to someone who has lived in this town their whole life you get a different story. Your new home is the site of a famous murder and it is suspected to be haunted. Who is your ghost? One recent prompt, #181 gave an intriguing scenario: After years of trying you get a letter from one of the many publishers that they love your book. It goes on to say they want the options to publish it and possibly even make it into a movie. As you read through the contract and the description of the book you realize that the book they have is not one of the ones you expected it to be. Instead of one your manuscripts, they have somehow been sent your journal. Will you allow it to be published and expose your every secret or turn the whole thing down? K.C. (of the now infamous trio), chose to answer the prompt and I totally enjoyed it: If you liked this start, here is the rest of his response. Enjoy!

ANNOUNCEMENT: It may seem like a long time away, but the deadline for the Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends" is only two weeks away - Due Saturday, Dec 8th. The Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World" deadline is not long after that on Friday, Dec 14th. We started this week with a great review from Johnathan Colourfield of Wintery Wanderland by Promising Author Formosa. How did Johnathan feel about the story? One hint from his review: "This story was a masterpiece in terms of its suspense. Our Wacky Wednesday featured an article from Libby Drew on Participial Phrases and based on the comments, was well received and a great article. Prompt Me this week was fantastic with two new prompts from Comicfan, as well as a look back at a response that Cia wrote about a year ago. The real treat though is in the comments as we already have three... um, flash "fiction" responses. I least, I think they're fiction ;-) So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Chosen of Honorus by Quonus10, Book 1 of Champions of The Gods <- Chapter 1 is now complete By our Hosted Authors this week: Adverse Effects by Cia, Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia City Under the Waves by Nephylim Paternity by Mark Arbour, Book 12 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Orphic Revelations by Cia In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales By our Promising Authors this week: GA Writing Prompts by Dolores Esteban Circle the Noun by JMH, Book 2 of The Watch Someone called Soul Mate by SidLove Spirit of Vengeance by Hamen Cheese, Book 2 of Adamagika Series The English Year by Jwolf Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Good morning and happy trypophan-coma day! One way to fight your way out of the sleepyness is to engage your brain with a good, quick writing exercise, say ... OH - maybe write a response to one of our great weekly writing prompts, provided by our Prompt-guru Comicfan. But it is only fair, once you've helped yourself out of your funk, to share your response with the community in the Writing Prompt forum so others can engage their brains and marvel at what you pulled together! Prompt 186 – Creative Tag – Youth at a Cost Everyone is going on about how great it would be to be younger. They want to look younger, act younger, and be mistaken for younger. Scientists and doctors have finally found a way to grant everyone’s wish, making them all back up so they look like they were sixteen, only with a body in perfect physical shape. No one is overweight, has acne, or the slightest blemish any more. However there is one catch to looking and acting so young, and it is a major catch. You can have the youth you want but you have to give up everything from your life now. As part of the surgery it wipes your mind blank and they replant memories so you fit into the present world as the perfect sixteen year old. So you start over as someone new, going to school and all. Is this something you are willing to do, give up your life and everyone in it now in order to be young and start all over? Prompt 187 – Creative Tag – First Line “Please, tell me that time is wrong or I am in so much trouble!” Looking back at past prompt responses, about a year ago we had Prompt 83: If a dream is a wish your heart makes, what is it if you are forced to live out a child's dream? Cia took the plunge and here is what she came up with:

Participial Phrases 101, Or The First Thing Your Editor Is Going To Yell At You About By Libby Drew That’s not true, by the way. All editors are angels. So… a participial phrase. What is it? According to grammaruntied.com, it’s a word group consisting of a present participle (also known as an -ing form) or past participle (also known as an -en form), plus any modifiers, objects, and complements. If you find the English class gibberish definition confusing, you’re not alone. Just as a picture is worth a 1000 words, an example the best way to explain a participial phrase. Example (participial phrase underlined): Running down the street, Alice tripped and fell. Just like every other writing “rule”, there is disagreement on if, how, when, and how often participial phrases should be used. However, there is one way they should never be used. That’s what this post is about: Using the participial phrase correctly. When is it okay to begin a sentence with a participial phrase? When the sentence makes logical sense. The participial phrase construction implies that two events are taking place simultaneously. Incorrect: “His car flew up the dirt road. He came to a stop in front of the first paddock, then opened the door and got out. Running around the side of the barn, he thrust the key into the padlock on the back door.” The construction in the final sentence implies that the two actions—running and putting the key in the padlock—are happening at the same time. Physically impossible. Nor is it what the author intended to convey. It might be better to say: “After running around the side of the barn, he thrust the key into the padlock.” Or: “He ran around the side of the barn and thrust the key into the padlock.” Still, the participial phrase has its good points. It avoids the repeated use of the personal pronoun. Most of the time, that’s why we use it at the beginning of a sentence—as a tool to break up monotonous narrative. Just pay attention that, when you do, your two actions are indeed occurring simultaneously. A few grammar rule gurus tell us to avoid participial phrases altogether, which seems unduly rigid to me. As with most things, moderation is key. Treat participial phrases as you would adjectives. While editing, regard each with the utmost attention. Is this particular construction the best way to get the action across to the reader? Sometimes, a better solution is not to describe a character’s every action. It’s okay to leave out certain details. The reader can and will fill in the blanks. So the original paragraph: “His car flew up the dirt road. He came to a stop in front of the first paddock, then opened the door and got out. Running around the side of the barn, he thrust the key into the padlock on the back door.” could be rewritten like this: “His car flew up the dirt road and stopped in front of the first paddock. He jumped out and ran to unlock the padlock on the barn’s back door.” The reader knows the character needs to open the door before getting out of the car. You don’t need to tell him. Less is more. Why is all of this a big deal? Because starting a sentence with a present participial phrase has a huge potential for misuse. Writers often use this construction as an alternative to “She did this, then she did that.” Example: “Stalking into the bar, she flung her coat onto the stool and grabbed her husband’s elbow.” She probably didn’t do those things while she was walking into the bar. But that’s what the sentence construction implies. Here’s a simple way to test your writing. If you can’t put a 'while' or an 'as' into the sentence without changing the meaning, then a participial phrase is probably not a good choice. To recap (yes, I’m finally done), a present participle usually implies an action that is occurring at the same time as the next action in the sentence. If the actions can't occur simultaneously, it’s best to find another way to express the sequence of events. This concludes today’s boring as all get out grammar post. If you stuck around until the end, treat yourself to a cookie. ~Libby

ANNOUNCEMENT: We are very happy to be able to announce GayAuthors.org's newest Promising Author - SidLove. Please join us in congratulating SidLove! So, we come to the end of our first week of trying out our new format here at the News Blog. The team appreciates all of the feedback and input and REALLY appreciates all of the offers of help. We will be contacting many of you to follow up on these offers soon. Monday, lilansui gave us a great review of From the Heart, by Author Branflakes. Definitely an intriguing review and shows that Branflakes is an author to keep an eye on. For our midweek Wacky Wednesday, K.C. details their experience in Theft of a Story. A lot of lessons that were painfully learned, and we are so grateful that KC shared this so others may be able to avoid, or at least mitigate, a similar experience. The one feature of our format that didn't change at all is our Prompt Me every Friday - and I am so glad as we always have great prompts from Comicfan. It was a treat this week in showing a past prompt response to highlight a poem Mark92 wrote in response to Prompt 182 "The Mentor." I hope you check it out. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Chosen of Honorus by Quonus10, Book 1 of Champions of The Gods By our Hosted Authors this week: Paternity by Mark Arbour, Book 12 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Orphic Revelations by Cia In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont City Under the Waves by Nephylim By our Promising Authors this week: The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen Angels Ascending by JMH, Book 3 of The Centurion Cycle Refuge by David McLeod Protector of Children by David McLeod Spirit of Vengeance by Hamen Cheese, Book 2 of Adamagika Series Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Welcome to the end of the week and a chance to unwind and relax. Or - wait, before you do - maybe try your hand at a writing prompt? Thanks to the genius of our Prompt-guru Comicfan, we bring you two great new prompts. And one of them is a poetry writing prompt - and come on, you know that sometimes the best things happen when you get pushed outside your comfort zone, Whether it is the poetry prompt or the "Tag" prompt - please share what you come up with in our Writing Prompt forum! Prompt 184 – Creative Tag – Poetry Describe an event in your life in poetry. You may use any form you want but the poem should not be less than twenty lines. Prompt 185 – Creative Tag – The Meal or the Mate You entered yourself into a contest. The end result being you could win a million dollars, a mate, or both. Tonight the entire thing boils down to the food you cook for the last two possible mates. They will be blind judging the food you and your competitor make. After they have scored the food, you will have an hour to spend with both of the remaining contestants. They will be judging your conversation skills and what you discuss is up to you. The only subject you can’t discuss is what food you cooked for them. What food do you make and do you end up winning the money, one of the mates, both or nothing at all? A prompt doesn't have to be a poetry prompt to produce a good poem, as Mark92 shows us in his response to last week's Prompt 183 - The Mentor. Here is his response:

I had pinned it but not sure why the system isn't showing it - but am looking into it.

So, we're going to try our new format for this week and see how it goes. So as today is Monday, we have a featured story review - this time a review by lilansui of Author Branflakes' From the Heart. Enjoy! From the Heart By Branflakes Reviewer: lilansui Status: Complete Word Count:2,205 From the heart is a different kind of love story. I’m so used to reading about romance, that the message at the end of this story caught me by surprise. Randy, the main character in this short, is a man disillusioned by love. He doesn’t believe in true love, and juggles a number of relationships at one go. He wakes up in different beds, and as the story starts, Randy has just woken up in an unknown bed, and is questioning why he does this to himself. On his way home, he catches a glimpse of a couple who’ve just gotten married. His cab driver calls the sight beautiful, and declares the couple to be in love. For Randy, who has a different lover every night, the thought of settling down to one is an idea he considers boring. When he gets home, he finds a letter from a secret admirer asking for a dinner date the next day. He decides to meet this ‘secret admirer’. He figures he will just add this ‘secret admirer’ to his long list of current lovers. He even goes to bed early to make sure that he looks his best for this new lover. When he shows up at the designated destination, however, he gets more than he bargained that night. This is a story that reminds me of getting that eureka moment. When you’ve been bashing your head against one idea, one way of living, an unexpected incident, phrase or situation shows you there is a different way. Randy learns about love in this story; he finds out that love finds you. He discovers that you can spend a lifetime chasing after love while it remains elusive, unreachable. He learns that when you least expect it love finds you. Branflakes writes with command, his character is clear as he writes the scenes in Randy’s life. I wanted to reach out and tell Randy, ‘Hey, man, you’re hurting so many people living like this.’ The premise of this story actually reminds me of the movie, ‘Ghost of girlfriends past’. The general idea in the movie and how the Main Character lives his life juggling different women, not really knowing their names or who they are. I couldn’t help thinking of Randy that way at the start. The end was surprising, because the romance in this story is about understanding yourself as an individual. In the world we live in today, epiphany’s like Randy’s are harder to share, harder to come by without dire consequences, and the realization that it’s too late. Branflakes weaves such a powerful lesson in to the story. Randy’s path is halted and reversed in a single night making for a very interesting end to this story. I hope I have sparked your interest in ‘From the Heart’. Don’t you want to know what would make such a character make a change? Be sure to read ‘From the Heart’ and leave a review or a thought for Branflakes.

So, I started a bit of a firestorm in yesterday's blog. Short story - we're looking to change the format of this GayAuthors.org News Blog from daily to four times a week. As I said yesterday, nothing is set in stone so if you haven't yet, let us know your thoughts. Otherwise for this week, we started the week by looking at the GA story with the most number of reviews - Paternity by Hosted Author Mark Arbour. In reading the reviews for this story, it is obvious why Mark is such a popular author. Toss-Up Tuesday brought us a feature on Feedback - and we thank C James for his contribution to the blog. Very interesting reading and as usual when a topic such as this comes up, great comments from the community. We missed getting out to you an Author Showcase this Wednesday, but Cia was gracious enough to post and let everyone know what happened. We got back on track with a Tip Thursday on PM Attachments - and how to clean up your GA private messenger. Friday's Prompt Me delivered two great new prompts from our Prompt-guru Comicfan. We also looked at a prompt response from joann414. Then yesterday... umm... what was yesterday again.... Oh ya - firestorm. See above ;-) So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Chosen of Honorus by Quonus10, Book 1 of Champions of The Gods By our Hosted Authors this week: Adverse Effects by Cia, Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia Orphic Revelations by Cia In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont The Secret Life of Billy Chase 7 by Comicality, Book 7 of The Secret Life of Billy Chase By our Promising Authors this week: Refuge by David McLeod The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen Protector of Children by David McLeod Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

A rough week for some, good and bad news... but the best way to enter the weekend is to stir your creative muscles and just see where you can get your mind to go. Our Weekly writing prompts, courtesy of our Prompt-Guru Comicfan, are two very interesting creative challenges. We hope you take a try at them and share them with the community in the Writing Prompt Forum. Prompt 182 – Creative Tag – The Secret Your best friend has called you up in the middle of night and begged you to come right over. Without hesitation you get dressed and drive over. They meet you at the door in tears. They have a secret to tell you and beg you not to tell anyone else. What is the secret you have suddenly become involved with? Prompt 183 – Creative Tag – The Mentor When you first met it was as you tested each other. Eventually you came to respect one another and you turned to them for advice you trust. Who became your mentor and why? Again, out of personal priviledge, I'm going to share a past prompt response from a community member who is just starting out - Joann414. Her response to prompt 180, which was to "Use the following words in a story – ripped pants, Pilgrim outfit, sultry singer, dog toy, and an apple" And what she came up with so far is: Already CassieQ and comicfan have commented on this cute story and I hope that joann takes this, or some of her other short writings and goes for a longer length tale. Based on what I've read so far, she has the talent to do so.

Paternity by Mark Arbour Status: In process Word Count: 434,181 In addition to being one of GayAuthors.org's most prodigious authors, Mark Arbour is the author of Paternity, which with 542 reviews is currently the most reviewed story on GA. Paternity is book 12 of Mark's Chronicles Of An Academic Predator series and so far, there have been 68 chapters released. Rather than the usual review of Paternity, I thought it would be more illuminating to show a few of the reviews that Mark's various readers have given to Paternity. From LEN on Chapter 1: Now that the third generation has begun with paternal relationships defined which brings into play the dynamics of multiple sources of wealth, influence and power. The Dynasty(s) . What a base for the continuing saga. Well done Mark! From Matthew k on Chapter 18: Great chapter Mark. Even though I haven't commented in a while, I have been reading, just spending less time on GA for the "full experience", I just read the stories I like now and move it, but I decided that you and the other authors I like do desrve "atta boys" for all your hard work. From Rolfe45 on Chapter 32: Wow Mark, I'm not sure if I'm more shocked by the content of the past few chapters or the pace of your postings. Bravo on both accounts. From Exterminator96 on Chapter 68: Mark, what can I say? Everyone has covered the chapter very well. But, damn you, another cliff hanger!!!! Just reinforces what a great story you are able to weave and tell. This entire series has kept me riveted to the story line. Thanks for another chapter in a series of great chapters. Can you see the pattern? It's obvious why Mark has such a loyal following as each chapter he releases is so well written and just leaves you wanting more. I hope you check out his story (and the rest of his writings) as Mark is definitely a GA treasure.

Did everyone (who needed to) remember to "Fall Back" this morning? For our household, it's back to PST again (GMT -8.0). And the extra hour of sleep was great! For our GayAuthors.org News Blog, we started the week looking at one of our first Hosted Authors, Comicality, and his short story Of The Flesh. Radiant Renee Stevens gives us a great review of this short story and based on her review, it's now one for my reading list (which grows longer and longer...) We then had the first of our monthly "Interviews by Yettie" feature - with his fantastic Interview with NaperVic. Not only was the interview great, it sparked quite a few comments from our members. All I have to say is ARITE > SRITE... ;-) Guest reviewers are essential for us and Johnathan Colourfield gave us a great review of Promising Author Dolores Esteban's Absolute Zero (22 Hours from Now). This Author Showcase also included a review of Author Mann Ramblings' A Sense of Family. Thursday we greeted November with a highlight Tip Thursday: Happy NaNoWriMo! For those unaware, that stands for National Novel Writing Month - where authors, throughout the world actually, pledge and try to write a 50K+ word novel during the 30 days of November. For all here who are making the attempt, our best wishes and support! All Souls' Day (thanks Andy021278 for the reference) gave us our weekly Prompt Me! And this week's prompts - are... FANTASTIC. Prompt-guru Comicfan has outdone himself with these prompts. Prompt 180 is to use a certain list of words - and, well, I'd love to see where our resident dirty minds decide to take this particular list of words. We also have Prompt 181 "The Book" - which is so different but so compelling. Again, I'd love to see where our most introspective writers may decide to take this as it poses a very interesting dilemma. We finished the week looking back, this time our Blast to the Past brought back an article from May 2004 by Jevic on Waiting for the next chapter - lol, something we've ALL done. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Chosen of Honorus by Quonus10, Book 1 of Champions of The Gods By our Hosted Authors this week: Paternity by Mark Arbour, Book 12 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Never More Lonely by Cia In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Adverse Effects by Cia, Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia Circumnavigation by C James Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont By our Promising Authors this week: The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen Refuge by David McLeod Spirit of Vengeance by Hamen Cheese, Book 2 of Adamagika Series Angels Ascending by JMH, Book 3 of The Centurion Cycle Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

So Andy - do you actually speak Welsh?

On the day of the dead, where the year too dies, must the youngest open the oldest stones... So - did everyone have a great Día de los Muertos yesterday? Here at GA News Blog world, we received two great new prompts from our prompt-guru Comicfan that I hope you'll enjoy. Take a look and try them out - and please share what you come up with, with the community in our Writing Prompts forum! Prompt 180 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – ripped pants, Pilgrim outfit, sultry singer, dog toy, and an apple. Prompt 181 – Creative Tag – The Book After years of trying you get a letter from one of the many publishers that they love your book. It goes on to say they want the options to publish it and possibly even make it into a movie. As you read through the contract and the description of the book you realize that the book they have is not one of the ones you expected it to be. Instead of one your manuscripts, they have somehow been sent your journal. Will you allow it to be published and expose your every secret or turn the whole thing down? We all love a good story, and here we love it even better when it came as a prompt response. In response to prompt 172 "Use the following words in a story – pillow, evergreen tree, rabbit, storm cloud, and fishing rod.", Andy021278 came up with a Halloween story. Interested? I was - so here is the link to the rest of Andy's story. Enjoy!

It's November - so you know what that means! Yes, it's National Beard Month! Well, ok, but it IS National Beard month too - as many of my co-workers annually remind me (I have never nor will never take that plunge but many of them do). But it is also National Novel Writing Month, or as it is so more familiarly known, NaNoWriMo. Started just over thirteen years ago, if you've never heard about it, check out their website or the wiki page on them. - I'm still amazed at the rapid growth of the organization and participants. The "rules" are simple - write either a complete novel of 50K words, or the first 50K words of a novel to be completed later. You can do some preparation, just a brief sketch of the main characters, or a one sentence describing the initial conflict, or a list of the main characters and their backgrounds. But actual "writing" can't start until November. Creating an account and periodically uploading what you've written helps - especially in seeing what you've completed so far, and how your friends are doing. Or instead you could just hole up somewhere and just start writing, hit 50K way before November 30 and know that you are done. But in doing do - you lose out on the best aspects of NaNoWriMo - the community. Just like here - they encourage, they cajole, they share their experience (and current word count), etc. And sharing here is always a good thing, We'll likewise help out any one taking the plunge with encouragement being abut to bounce story ideas off of, etc. The one thing that I've suggested in the past - do NOT think about editing, or an editor. Or looking back for more than to remember a quick detail. Just - sit and see where your fingers take you for that day. And - a week in, don't start despair of "On, I'm 500 words per day behind my schedule - I must push myself more." This is especially true of those what are just thinking about starting Now - this starts TODAY. Oh noes?!? I can't do it... I haven't prepared... I'm already behind... <COUGH> Um, Bull pucky! You CAN do it if you want to. To prepare, take 20 minutes, think of three quick plots and run with one (who knows, the other two may weave themselves in on their own). As to being behind - You'll have times where you are 5K ahead or behind. It all depends. I know writers who all of a sudden get into the groove and four hours later come out of it, not realize how much they just created; SO my GayAuthors.org community - will you take the NaNoWriMo challenge? Let us know in the comments, especially if you have done it before and what your experience was. Trebs

We had a great start to our week with a look at Hosted Author Altimexis's story Double Trouble. Or as sat8997 said in the comments "Yep, what they said. Can't go wrong with an Altimexis story." For our Toss-Up Tuesday, Cia wrote an informative article on the GA Store, "So many options! What Should Members Buy!" Good stuff to know about the GA Store. Our midweek Author Showcase gave us a great look at Promising Author KingdombytheSea;s Dare as well as a review by LouisHarris of Author SidLove's The Life of Him. CassieQ helped us a great deal by contributing our Tip Thursday, Constructive Criticism article. As usual, we had some great additional feedback in the comments. I always love reading what members think about our various News Blog articles. Prompt Me! on Friday gave us two great new creative prompts from Prompt-guru Comicfan. We also had the pleasure of looking at a prompt response from joann414. She hasn't published anything on GA.Stories - yet - but based on this prompt response, it is only a matter of time. Seeing a fresh new voice trying out one of these prompt responses is always a thrill - take a look yourself and see what I mean. Finally yesterday, for our Blast From the Past, we looked at an interview with Emoe57 from our April 2008 newlestter. Hard to believe it's been over four years since this interview - still fascinating reading. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Winter Anthology "Desperate Ends"- Due Dec 8th Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World"- Due Dec 14th NEW READING In Premium this week: Chosen of Honorus by Quonus10, Book 1 of Champions of The Gods By our Hosted Authors this week: City Under the Waves by Nephylim Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales Paternity by Mark Arbour, Book 12 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) The Secret Life of Billy Chase 7 by Comicality, Book 7 of The Secret Life of Billy Chase In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs Never More Lonely by Cia Circumnavigation by C James Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont By our Promising Authors this week: Refuge by David McLeod Spirit of Vengeance by Hamen Cheese, Book 2 of Adamagika Series A Halloween Tale by comicfan Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

What's better than our typical looking back that being able to additionally highlight someone that I admire, who I've been fortunate to meet, who helps keep my husband's writings clearer... I'm talking about Emoe57, editor and person extraordinaire Here from the April 2008 GayAuthors.org old newsletter, the Gay Authors GAzette, is a member interview that was done with Emoe57. Enjoy! MEMBER INTERVIEW The GAzette will try to feature an interview on each edition, so this month we have interviewed an Editor, Emoe57. GA: EMoe57, our sincere thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. EMoe57: I'm honored to be asked! GA: So, let's get started then. What is the secret behind the screen name, EMoe57? EMoe57: I didn't know it was a secret... EMoe is derived from my name (first initial and beginning of my last name) and the year I was born. When I first tiptoed out of the closet back in 1977, I was in the Marine Corp. I dropped the 'E' on my first name and went by Rick. I thought it would make it harder for people to trace me. Silly, I know. When I came out on the Internet back in the '90s, I needed to create a handle and decided to give 'E' the prominent position to make up for hiding it back then. This was what I came up with and it has served me well. GA: That is quite an interesting tale. I'm curious though, how did you find GA? EMoe57: When I started browsing the Internet, I discovered Nifty.org with it's vast collection of stories of all stripes, but many of them left much to be desired as 'stories'. From Nifty, I found Comicality’s Shack Out Back. When Comicality moved over to GA, I came along for the ride and discovered I was HOME! GA: Yes, GA is like a home for quite a few of us. Has GA affected you or your life in any way? EMoe57: It got me to come out - as an editor of gay stories on the Internet to my family. I was already out to them as gay, but that is a whole other story Also, I already have my ticket and hotel reservations for the big meet-up in Dallas in June. Definitely wouldn’t be doing that without GA. GA: That's great. I'm sure you'll have a nice time there. Now, everybody here knows that you're an editor. How did you get into editing? EMoe57: For some reason, when I read, the goofs jump out at me - online or the printed page, doesn't matter. In conversation with other people, I’ve found their brain tends to auto-correct for them. I guess that means I’m defective DK was kind enough to accept me with no real experience editing and we worked out a routine that seems to function well for the other authors I work with. My regulars are DK, JHaze, BW & CJames. I've done some one-off work for others as well. GA: Wow! That is quite a list. Some very famous authors you have there. What is it like working with the King of Evil Cliffhangers? EMoe57: As I pointed out earlier, I usually don't know where the stories are going or how they are getting there, so it is as much a surprise to me when I read a chapter as it is when they get posted. I may be a chapter or three ahead of what is online, but I don't know the conclusion any more than you do. Will Joe Clump finally profess his undying love for - oh wait, you don't know about that yet. Well, never mind... GA: And you really did not have any background in editing? EMoe57: I was good in English and Writing courses in school but I never took Editing 101Perhaps because I enjoy reading so much. GA: Well, then I am glad you discovered this side to yourself. How do you go about your editing? Do you use features like Track Changes or you have some unique method? EMoe57: Track Changes ROCKS! Most changes are obvious goofs (Homonyms & wrong names), but sometimes, an author gets stuck with a word that appears over & over in a chapter and I try to change those and tell them why I made the change. Early on, I would inject my comments into the story to substantiate why – but those kept ending up posted with the story, so I don’t do that any more. After I’ve read it, I set it aside for a few days when time allows, then I go back and read it again. You’d be surprised how much more I pick up with that second pass. Another trick I use to help with consistency: when I receive a new chapter, I read the previous chapter first to help root the storyline in my head. And if a story has more than a dozen names (people, places, etc), a separate running description list is invaluable. I’m the first to tell you that I don’t catch everything, and my changes have been wrong on occasion. Most stories I’m involved in are series and I’ll only get the first couple of chapters. I have no idea where the story is going, so I can’t be much help with the flow. I do work hard to ensure that any changes I make still sound like the author wrote them. And all my authors know that any changes I send back are only my suggestion – what they use is their decision. I read a post where an editor whined about his author not using all the changes. Hello! It is their story to do with as they please. I’m just grateful to ALL the authors out there who are willing to share themselves via the written word. GA: Do you have any pet peeves (errors) when reading stories that you have not edited? Some common errors that authors make that makes you smack your forehead? EMoe57: For God sake people - SPELL CHECK! It isn't always the right word suggested, but it will at least get even the wrong word spelled correctly. If it gets too bad, I stop reading and find something else. I did that a lot on Nifty, but not so much on GA. I hear authors hate Word’s ‘check as you go’ feature because it interrupts their train of thought. No biggie – it can be turned off. Just hit F7 at the end – after you save, of course. Then, if you like what you’ve got – send it on to your editor. And every author needs an editor. Lord knows I can’t edit anything I’ve written – just ask the people I work with… GA: True, very true. There are some errors that an author cannot catch on his own. Your hobbies besides editing? EMoe57: Reading and old-style video games like Pac Man plus every Saturday night, I get together with a big group of friends and have a pot luck dinner and play our version of Uno Attack/Spin. GA: That sounds like fun. Your 5 favorite movies, stories (from GA or elsewhere), song, books....etc? EMoe57: I’m a big SciFi fan so the Star trek movies and original Star Wars trilogy, Lord of the Rings trilogy. I seldom watch a movie more than once – even when I loved it – and I’ve seen all of these more than once. As for stories, when I find an author I like, I tend to read all their stuff so I’m just going to list authors. Since I enjoy reading the authors I edit, I’m going to exclude them from the list: Driver9’s writing is superb and Grasshopper is right up there with him. Graeme; DeweyWriter; Jack Scribe; Draginacht; Brew Maxwell; Christopher Lydon (I bought his Falcon Banner books); Mike Arran; Tim Mead; Journeyman had me crying every chapter; I miss Jet. Oops, I ran over As for printed books, I just finished reading James Swain’s Tony Valentine series. I don’t listen to music unless I’m in the car going somewhere. Then, it’s the local smooth jazz station. GA: Wow! That is quite a list. EMoe57: I was concerned about space since I was getting a little long-winded here. GA: EMoe57, it has been a pleasure talking to you. Thanks a ton for taking the time to share something about you with us. EMoe57: Thank YOU for helping GA grow!

It worked!!! Thank you Myr. For everyone else, my old blog entries kinda disappeared. I could still see them one by one, but they wouldn't show as a list. In other words, no index. Myr fixed it 'cause he ROCKS!!!

While it is great to read what some established writers do with these writing prompts, it is just so wonderful to see new authors, who haven't published any stories on GA.Stories yet, answer these writing prompts. These writing prompts are a great way to try your hand, see how you can do and get some great feedback. We're thankful to Comicfan for these prompts, and we hope you take a try and share what you write with the community in the Writing Prompt forum. Prompt 178 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – blanket, red thong, snow, necklace, and salad. Prompt 179 – Creative Tag – First Line “Well that sure didn’t go as I had hoped.” A couple of weeks ago, Prompt 171 was "Tired of seeing the community in trouble you begin a program called Helping Hand. What is this program does?" As I said in the intro, it is always wonderful to see newer authors trying their hand at the prompts, and this week's feature is a perfect illustration of that. Here is joann414's prompt response: Thank you for writing this joann414 and more importantly, sharing it with all of us - I loved it!