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I've had quite a few messages asking about the return of Ask An Author, so here it is: Ask An Author 2.0. It won't be exactly like Dark always did it, but hopefully you enjoy getting the answers you've asked just as much as in the past. One major difference is, at least to start, we're only going to look at two authors at a time. Without further ado, here's the first Ask An Author 2.0. Today we're going to hear from Hudson Bartholomew and Timothy M. The first author for today is Hudson Bartholomew. Hudson was raised by conservative immigrant parents and grew up straddling two cultures with often times conflicting perspectives on life. Instead of conforming to either, she tries to find a third way that brings together the positive elements of both. Having spent much of her life on the outside looking in, Hudson likes to write stories about outsiders who fight to carve out their place in society, and overcome everyday challenges to find love and happily ever afters. You're pretty new to GA, but I personally think you're one to watch. I'm impressed with all I've read from you so far. Did you always know you wanted to write and do you have any rituals when you get to it? 1. Did you always know you wanted to write? I have a distant memory of a grade school project where we wrote short stories with pictures and our teacher helped us bind them into books with fabric covers. I think that's when I fell in love with writing. Since then, I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with writing. School, work, life, people I love who dismiss writing as "a waste of time," these have all drawn me away from writing at some point. My old computer is filled with half written stories that will never see the light of day. Despite all these things, however, I always end up coming back to it because that's where I feel most like the real me. A couple of years ago, I finally admitted how much writing meant to me and I committed to making it a regular part of my life. What I discovered is that the more I write, the more I fall in love with writing. So, Writing--you're stuck with me now. 2. Do you have any rituals when you get into it? I don't have any rituals, per se. But I find that I need a certain level of distraction in order to concentrate, if that makes any sense. If all I have is the story in front of me, my brain will quickly wander off. But if I'm writing and also chatting with a friend online, my brain is preoccupied just enough that I can keep writing for hours on end. I'm strange, I know. The second author for today is Timothy M. Tim is from Denmark and is known for sprinkling his posts and stories with Danish words and references to the webcomic Scandinavia and the World. He's also a prolific writer of story reviews and comments, as well as editor for several authors. As a regular contributor to the site as well as being a popular author, how do you strike a balance between writing your own material and reading and reviewing other authors' work. Do you for example set aside a certain amount of time each day, where you are offline, to concentrate on your writing. No, I write when inspiration strikes me and I have time. I usually give priority to editing for others, and also to writing reviews, reading and commenting. This is probably one of the reasons my stories progress veeery sloooowly, to the frustrations of my readers. Sorry But they are patient and nice, giving me the occasional prod by PM or story topic post, and only resorting to threats of pitch forks and tying me to the computer, when I've lapsed on updating for too long. In fact, I sometimes feel a little guilty about the pleasure I get from having Hungry Birds cheeping at me for more. Well, that's it for this month!!! If you have a question you'd like to ask an author, send it to me and I'll pass the question on and see about getting it answered!

I hope you all enjoyed the last Improve & Encourage feature, because it's time for another one. These features are meant to both provide feedback to authors and, similar to story reviews, point out stories that readers might not otherwise have found. It's similar to a review, in that the person doing the critique tells you what they liked about the story, but it differs in that they also provide constructive criticism. Each author signed up to participate, and sign up's are still open! These will post once a month until we no longer have content. Once that happens, I will critique the last author that posted. If you'd like to provide a critique for the blog, sign up in the thread. I'm hoping to have a lot more authors sign up, and just remember, by signing up, you are also volunteering to have your story critiqued and featured. Between the Push and the Pull Hudson Bartholomew Critique By: Wicked WItch Please give us a short summary of the story you chose. Ryan carefully separates the real him from his façade as Roman Cox, porn actor. But when he is recruited for a new type of porn, with story and romance flaring between the characters, he finds it harder and harder to separate what is happening in front of the cameras from his real attraction for fellow actor Erik. What do you see as the strengths of the story/poem? The summary I’ve written makes this story sound way too much like a corny erotic romance. As the character Ryan mentions what they do on screen is much like a Harlequin romance, but Hudson Bartholomew manages to provide real emotional depth in this story that quickly breaks any illusion of this being such a book. The description and imagery here are wonderful and make things flare to life in the readers mind, and Hudson has crafted a very interesting plot. Though the sequence of events that make up the beginning middle and end are not complex, the emotional journey the characters embark upon is winding and twisted. The plot of the porno being filmed, the story of Ryan and Erik’s private lives, and the story of their meeting all explore the way the psyche deals with many issues. Trying to write this, I honestly feel like I am back in Literature analysing stuffy old Victorian novels. There is so much interesting exploration of the psyche in this work that almost deserves an essay. But Hudson livens it all up with a modern story and a dash of the erotic that makes it a really enjoyable read. Those stuffy Victorians would be scandalised. What do you see as the weaknesses of the story/poem? This is the most difficult part as I don’t see too many weaknesses. The romance felt a little one sided as we just don’t see enough of Erik for my liking. The character of Erik could’ve been explored a bit more deeply, but he is still a well rounded and solid, believable person. I’d have liked to sneak a peak more into his mind however. In addition there were some minor typos in the work that could do with being rectified. How do you think the story/poem could be improved? Another run over by an editor might improve this by cutting out some of the typos. Another edit would help almost any story however, that said, so it is a general thing. While pacing is good, I think that making this work a bit longer and working in more of Erik’s perspective would really build things up more. We get a glimpse or two of his life but we see into Ryan’s world far more deeply than Erik’s. As much as I don’t love the ending of this work, because I’m a sappy fool and it was heartbreaking, I think that it works with the piece. Now, a sequel would be perfection. What was your favorite part? (scene/sentence/etc) I’m of two minds about my favourite part. I don’t want to spoil things, so I won’t quote anything. But the ending is my favourite, and yet my least favourite. Because it left me a temporary emotional wreck, I hate the ending. Yet it is so beautifully written and it makes so much sense to the story, and so I love it. The descriptions, the power of the words. It was perfect in one way and so heart wrenching in another. I feel so deeply unsatisfied that it couldn’t end another way, and yet it was such a good ending. It inspired deep emotion. I could – I still can - see the scene so vividly in my mind. I feel like these characters may yet haunt me; they feel so real, even though they are fiction.