ok, I was laid off a couple weeks ago. I've been through several gallons of Häagen-Dazs and cried sufficiently that I'm more or less over it. And I've put in several hundred resumes (ok, several dozen, but still) and that's getting pretty tedious. I'm pretty much moved beyond the other things that were keeping me busy in all my spare time (read: "I have escaped the succulent embrace of MMOs") and I need something productive to do that will throw me into some relief of my boredom. There are a few things this will consist of:
1) regular novel writing (you won't get to see this!)
2) revivification of
The Fantastic Plastic Menand... I wonder if anyone is interested in 3
3 is the renewal of TWG as more than a host site for author's forums. I am not in anyway suggesting that we will do anything at all to harm Sanderson's (or anyone else's) author sections. What I am suggesting is that we restart the regular features on the front page -- what this site used to be all about.
There are problems with that, however. First and foremost being that I no longer get any free stuff. Well, Loony Labs does. And I actually owe them two reviews. Soonish, so I can get a copy of Chrononauts without feeling guilty. I would need to branch into other areas. more on that below.
Secondly, this site NEVER worked when only one person was writing all the content. I will need volunteers who will be able to promise regular contributions. If I don't get enough, I won't try putting the effort back in as Editor (a title I still hold administratively and claim on my resumes).
So, what could you volunteer to do? I'm glad you asked!
- One of our most popular features, after the EUOLogies, was the Guide to being a Geek Girl. I'm not suggesting trying to take this over. After all, if MsFish wants it, I'm ecstatic to let her have it back. It'd be awesome. But you can become a columnist! something about sf, fantasy, horror, supers, games (video, card, rpg, or whatever). I believe we'd post these as "blogs" now, but same diff.
- Reviews. Traditionally, video games and RPGs were our strongest draws. We had a really solid tradition of web comics for a while, and more recently, an excellent stream of movies. Book reviews got big too. We never had a lot of music, but I don't see why. Honestly, if it's related to entertainment, particularly entertainment of a geeky nature, we want it. Want to review a web site? That's what the Tower of Cheapness was for!
- Commentary. Something of a nerdly persuasion that you need to point out? Well, we have a tradition of that too. I wrote a number of articles that were about idiosyncrasies of roleplaying that weren't part of a regular column. We do those too. And they can be on music, movies, games, whatever.
- Amateur writer without aspirations to go pro? Have an idea for a web comic? If you're good, we'll run your short story or serial as a feature. Just remember that this site grew out of a literary magazine. In terms of fiction, we can be snobby. But I'm willing to consider it.
So, let me know. Who would be interested in a relaunch of this site? We won't destroy anything, we'll just start adding non-forum content again. But only if ya'll are gonna read it and help us produce it.
Let me know!
