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Wow! It's been over a year since my first and only blog post! Yikes! Well, fear not. I have returned. Some of you may have forgotten about lil' ole me since I haven't been active for several months (not to say that I don't lurk in the shadows of GA stalking you all... like Batman. But without a cool costume. Unless you count fun pajamas as a cool costume? Because right now I'm wearing bright yellow pajama pants with Homer Simpson's face all over them, and a yellow shirt with his face on it too. I match! And I'm so yellow that I look like a giant freaking banana or something... hmm...giant banana. I wonder whether that is appropriate imagery for GA. Maybe it's the perfect imagery for GA? Anyway, I digress...). If you have forgotten about me or are just hearing from me for the first time, my name is Dylan! *waits for applause* *crickets* Well nice to meet you, a**holes. Jk! * * * * * Now then, let's get down to business (to defeat...the Huns). 2014 is over, and we're moving into a bright new year! Sure, there are still war, famine, and disease in the world, but I'm confident that we'll be able to find enough goodness this year in ourselves and in others that will balance it all out. And if any of you should fall upon hard times this year, I sincerely wish you all the grace and strength in the world to overcome those rough patches. I'm glad 2014 is over. For me, it started out grand and beautiful, but then crashed and burned near the end. My girlfriend, Ariel, and I became closer than ever in the beginning of the year when we realized that we may want to spend the rest of our lives together. Even though we're in our older teens and many people would say that we didn't really mean that or were stupid, I honestly believed I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I still do... Anyway, we got 'engaged to be engaged' in January 2014. I asked her to be my wife one day and gave her a beautiful promise ring. She said yes, of course, and it was the happiest day of my life so far. But it was not to last... In May, she started to have slight feelings for her best friend, Johnny. Ugh. That guy is an a**. TOTAL douche in my eyes, but of course a ton of people love him. He's the star kicker for our varsity football team. He's not really popular, per se, but out of the people who know him, many love him. I met him in Freshman year, and he used to tease me EVERY day when I saw him by calling me "faggot". Yeah, THAT kind of a**hole. Then, when I started dating Ariel in sophomore year, I think he got jealous that I could win over such a beautiful girl. So, one day when I was sick at home, he sleazed his way over to talk to my girlfriend. And before I knew it, they were best friends. But of course, I didn't want to be that douche who tells his girlfriend who she can and can't be friends with! So I let them be friends...even though he wuld tease me all of the time in front of her. Ugh I loathe him. Well anyway, in May she cheated on me by kissing him. And she didn't tell me until the summer. Well, I forgave her because I loved her far too deeply to let her go. But lo and behold, the feelings for Johnny grew stronger and she broke up with me the week before my birthday (yes, REALLY!) and started dating him the same day. It was really, really hurtful...we had been together for 2 years. Then she told me I wasn't allowed to talk to her family anymore, which sucked... and 3 weeks after they started dating, I found out that she was wearing a promise ring from him and they had already 'done the do'. It took US a year to do either of those things...so like wtf, man? haha Anyway, besides that unfortunate series of events (yes, I'll stop prattling on about my stupid love drama now ), my dad has been sober for over a year now! I'm so proud of him! And...I got a new cat! Her name is "Halle" Halloween. Like "Halle" Barry, but furrier. She's a black short-hair. Which makes sense actually with the Halle Barry thing, because she was freaking Catwoman! I just realized that!!! Haha. Halle is a very goofy cat. She likes to play tag, and absolutely loves tablecloths. I put them on the table, she pulls them off! It's like she's... a frustrated interior decorator or something, I swear! My dog watches her like a form of television... she's the dog's entertainment! Hmm...I started my senior year this year, and I started applying to colleges. Scary process! But I've heard back from one already, and I've been accepted at San Diego State University! *Parties like it's 1999...then realizes I was only 3 then (#awkward)* Anyway, I'll wrap this up! My year has been filled with many good and bad things, as I'm sure all of yours were! And I wish you all the best going into this next year, as I already said. Thank you for letting me vent and practice my jokes Love you all! And Happy New Year! Cheers, Dylan

Please Note: This thread is to announce the anthology as well as for questions and to provide the links to your stories after submission. I have started a second thread for authors to discuss the anthology and visit. This is to ensure that I don't miss any submissions or questions that anyone may have. Feel free to visit and talk, but please use the discussion thread. Any posts discussing the anthology may be moved to the anthology discussion thread without notice. The theme of the 2014 Winter Anthology is Chain Reaction Feel free to interpret this theme in any way you want. The anthologies are not exclusive, but inclusive, so don't worry if you think your entry has only a tangential link to the theme. If you are inspired, then write a short story, poem or play, and submit it. Please read these submission guidelines carefully. You may address this theme in any style or genre you choose. Be as creative as you want to be with the theme. However, please note that this anthology is an anthology of short stories. By definition, a short story must stand alone and not require reading a prior story. It therefore cannot be a chapter in a serial. Who may participate Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. However, submission to GA Stories requires that you be a member here at GA so you can be assigned as the author. If you have author status (which is free and you can get after five posts in the GA forums), you can submit stories. Submission Guidelines Submission Date: December 3rd, 2014 Please Note: Submission date is for submission to the Anthology Proof Team. Proofreads should take no more than 72 hours once you have been paired with a proofreader, if you have not received your story back within 72 hours, please contact Renee Stevens via PM. Once your story has been sent back to you, you will be given a date to have your story uploaded into GA Stories. It must be uploaded by that date in order to be included in the Anthology. Non-Poetry No Story Limit: Each story submitted must meet quality and editing guidelines Each story posted as its own submission Minimum Word Count Per Story: 250 Maximum Word Count Per Story: 20,000 Poetry Up to three poems of a minimum of 5 words each Posted as a single submission (a collection) Each poem posted as its own chapter Submission Procedure *Please read carefully* Once your story is complete and has gone through your beta and editing team, please complete the following steps: Contact Renee Stevens via PM. Include in the PM the following information: Title, original editor, genre, synopsis, word count, and excerpt in the body of the PM. Attach your story file. You will be paired with an editor from the Anthology Proof Team who will perform a final proof for the anthology and return the file to you. *Please Note: The Anthology Proof Team is not meant to take the place of an author’s normal editing team so all entries MUST be edited prior to contacting Renee Stevens.* Once you receive your proofed file, complete your edits and submit your story into GA Stories, for help, please visit the FAQ. Make sure the story is unpublished by unchecking BOTH the publish boxes, one for the chapter and one for the story itself Select “Fiction” as the category. It will be moved to the correct category by the anthology team. Mark your story as COMPLETE. Only completed stories are allowed in the anthologies Please note that once you submit a story it will NOT show up in your list of stories until the anthology has gone live. Copy the URL for your story and provide Renee Stevens with the URL via the announcement thread so that your submission may be checked to ensure it has been submitted correctly and meets submission guidelines. This also ensures that it will get moved to the anthology category. Please do a visual check of your story once it has been uploaded to ensure that it uploaded correctly Story Titles Please do not use the anthology theme or your GA Username as a title. Be as original as you can. In case of duplicate titles within the anthology, we will request that titles be changed. Unacceptable entries & Content Warnings Entries that are obviously unedited (containing many errors), are overly graphic, or which are deemed to have unacceptable content will be either declined outright, or changes may be requested as a condition of entry. For information on what is considered to be unacceptable, please see the Story Content Rules FAQ. If you still have questions, ask. Please include a Content Warning in the story notes if your story contains sensitive content. Examples of sensitive content: abuse, especially graphic/extreme abuse or child abuse, in-scene graphic violence, suicide attempts/themes, allowable incest, etc... if you're unsure that your story falls within this type of content please alert Renee Stevens when you send the PM requesting the final edit. Editing All entries must be edited prior to being sent to the Anthology Proof Team. If you need an editor, please visit the Writing Support Requests forum to request one. There are editors who prefer to edit only one shots, such as anthologies. Please make sure to state that your story is for the upcoming anthology. Also, please make sure to follow the guidelines when requesting an editor. Copyright As with all content in GA Stories, the rights remain with the individual authors. Your story will post with a simple 2014 copyright notice, using your GA user display name. If you have another preference (for example, a different name, or a Creative Commons license, or specific copyright wording you'd like to use), please include that with your submission. However, with this anthology, by submitting your story, you are giving GayAuthors.org first worldwide rights with 14 days exclusivity. What that means is you are giving GayAuthors.org permission to archive your story on its website, distribute it via RSS, kindle, iphone, ipad, eyeball…. And you agree not to publish it anywhere else for 2 weeks. If you later decide to post your story at another site, please mention at the beginning or end of the story that it was first published as part of the 2014 Gay Authors Winter Anthology: Chain Reaction, and include a link back to GA if possible. Contact Information We are now using the 'my media' system. Therefore when you post your story it generates a story in your media area. For you to interlink the forum thread and the story you have to create both. Some people do not want a forum thread. If you want one, create one. If you want the two linked, PM either Renee Stevens or A.J. and they can help you link the two. If you have any questions, please contact Renee Stevens via PM or via the Anthology Blog or Forum.