Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Reading Excuses => Topic started by: Necroben on December 04, 2008, 11:40:07 PM
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I just went ahead and copied/pasted this from Reathe's post. I saw that some people wanted a vote, so here we go.
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Thanks Ben.
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Not to be technical or whatever (particularly since I didn't even vote for mine, because I know there's a better one on there....), but that's not exactly what my idea entailed. This is the example I gave:
Let's say we've got 4 monthly submitters (Jim, Andy, Dwight, and Michael), 4 bi-weekly submitters (Angela, Pam, Phyllis, and Kelly), and 4 bi-weekly skipping submitters (Ryan, Stanley, Creed, and Toby). The submissions would go something like so:
1--Jim, Pam, Angela, Ryan, Stanley
8--Andy, Phyllis, Kelly, Creed, Toby
15--Dwight, Angela, Pam, Ryan, Stanley
23--Michael, Phyllis, Kelly, Creed, Toby
So it's basically figuring out how often each of us want to submit, and then splitting up everyone so each week the submissions will be about equal...or something like that.
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I was just trying to get the essence of each idea, since I figure we've all been fairly actively participating in the discussion and know more or less what's going on. Sorry if I misrepresented you :P
Personally, I think Wilson only objected to have a chance to show off her colours again. ::)
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Oh, it's okay...I just didn't want anyone getting the impression I was saying let's split up into three groups who each have their own submission date to everyone....or something to that effect.
And you could be right about that.... ;)
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I would think that is probable.
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Ah, I see. That's fair.
And I could be. Stranger things have happened!
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Meh, technically Avalon's idea is great, but the first option is just too neat and orderly for me not to vote for it. And it means I don't have to apply for anything, which is good, because applying could possibly be considered as some kind of an effort and hence work. ;D
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Do we want to set a time limit on the voting?
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Nah, let's just see if we can wait and get in everybody's (or at least close to everybody's) two cents. Unless it drags out for an unreasonably long time, anyway.
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No problem. I was thinking around the 15th anyway, so we'll just wait and see. ;D
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Well, discussion on this idea seems to have more or less died, so I guess I ought to take some initiative here...
Reaves suggested, and I can't remember where it was, that we keep the same submission dates and let whoever's ready submit every time. I still think this could easily end up slamming us with too much material every couple of weeks, and that people might not get read because of it. I'm pretty sure Reaves disagrees with me though.
So my proposal for the upcoming submission date: Everyone whose deadline it is will submit as normal. And as Reaves suggested, everyone who submitted last time, but feels ready, will also submit (no obligation). That way, we don't mess with our original deadlines, for those of us who need until the 15th to get ready, and we can try out Reaves's suggestion without having to wait overlong to see if it works. We'll know pretty quick if we feel overloaded by the extra submissions (or if we WOULD feel overloaded if most of us weren't on or nearing winter break).
And, whatever the results, I propose that the week after that (or whenever) we give Avalon's idea a shot. We'll be able to get a feel for whether that'll let the people who are ready submit faster, without giving us quite so much material to look at, and we can see whether the application process is too clunky.
From there, we can pick the one we like best, or go back to our original idea, or try something else. What does everyone think?
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....I could submit for the 15th....I think I'll wait for the next week when we try out Avalon's idea, though...I like his idea... It's pretty basic, and just an all-around good idea (much better than mine...mine's too complicated right at the beginning....but afterward it gets better....but still...). Anyway. It's good for regulating the amount of submissions, and yet making sure that everyone gets a chance to submit, if they want to....I like it.
Not sure about the 15th submission though. That could get crazy. I still haven't got through all the submissions from the 1st...but I guess we can see how it goes. No harm in that...
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Exactly. I kind of feel like now is the best time to do it - if we would find it really overwhelming some other time, well, at least this time people shouldn't suffer too much in terms of missing out on crits, because most of us will probably have at least some extra time on our hands.
Hmm... One other thing we could maybe do, instead of futzing with submission dates, is raise the word limit on submissions, so that people could submit two chapters at a time instead of one. Or whatever. But that could also affect what they get in terms of crits...
Just something about. Probably not that feasible. And I think we should try this other stuff first.
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Yeah. Word limit could be raised....People are already submitting over the 4k limit (which is fine)....so maybe 6k?...or something...
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Yeah. Word limit could be raised....People are already submitting over the 4k limit (which is fine)....so maybe 6k?...so something...
Word limit is just a guideline. I'm okay with "not an entire novel", honestly.
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I agree, personally, though I think a couple people with lengthier submissions last time got comments on it...
Edit: Chaos, you gonna weigh in on the this week-next week proposal thingy? Whatever it was I said? ::)
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I think we should go with it. I mean whats it going to hurt to give it a try.
I myself still plan on submitting on the 15th. I've recently been adding a lot of material to my submission so it might not be ready but I still have some hope that it will
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Oh! I hope it is too....This is the submission I'm looking forward to. So much! I've never been a character in a story before... :D
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Well Ive never written a full short stoy before, let alone attempted to incorporate other real people in one. So expect the unexpected. . .
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Oh, that's precisely what I'm expecting....
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So, having read this whole thread, It's still not clear to me what we're doing. Have we come to a decision on whether or not we're changing the way we work this? If so, what are we doing?
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I'm waiting for people to respond to my proposal on the bottom of the first page.
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I must say that I'm rather biased. What I have written is from my NaNo writing, and is already done--for the most part--except for revisions. I've cut about 20k from it, but added about the same on paper. My goal right now is to get comments on what I do have as quickly as possible to meet my June deadline for the Proof Copy. Whatever plan we go for is fine. I'm just partial to being able to submit as much as I can though.
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I think thats the general vibe most people are giving, but a lot of people want to wait and see how the 15th goes first. I did rather like the idea that anyone who wants to can submit on the 15th, strangely enough. Depending on how that goes we'll graduate to Avalon's idea.
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I concur with letting the 15th's submission go ahead, anyone wanting to submit.
Let me first say that I like Avalon's idea. However, I believe the way it would be implemented is rather poor. I don't know about the rest of you, but the weekends are more like my prime writing time, because there is plenty of free time there compared with my normal week. It seems silly that in Avalon's method, we would submit on a Saturday, cutting off this prime time to write. In my mind, it would make far more sense to shift the actual day of submission to Monday. That way, it motivates people to write on the weekend.
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I too, support the idea of letting anyone submit on the 15th.
However, I've gotta hurry up and read the rest of the submissions from the 1st! Lousy laziness.
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For now I agree with letting anyone submit. I don't have a clear view of how many stories I can read and give feedback to yet. I assume we'll have to agree on a maximum amount per batch in which priority would go to the people scheduled. It would be rather frustrating I think to submit a story and then finding out it was one of the stories no-one had time to read.
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The problem with everyone submitting on the 15th is the same as the one for the original idea of having one deadline (too many stories to read and review well). Maybe I'm biased being on the list of 15th submitters, so take this with an extra grain of salt, but we might want to just implement the new method after the 15th and continue it normally so we aren't flooded with 10,000 stories during the last couple of days of finals and work before the holidays.
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Hmm... I wonder how many are planning to keep to schedule and submit on the 15th? Of those who actually said they would. That could give us a better idea of how much will be coming our way. And how many of those submitting are/will keep to the 1:1 arrangement?
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I'd say that those people planning on an additional submission on the fifteenth should do at least one additional crit. Seems fair to me.
I'd be surprised if that were an issue, though.
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So....what are we doing? I'm pretty sure we said we'd try Avalon's idea...So when are we doing this? Next week? Are we doing it the way he said and submitting on Saturday? Or on Monday, like another person (can't remember who) suggested?
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For what it's worth (which is probably about two cents at the most), I'd be ready for another round any day now.
We're kind of snowed in over here and I have way too much time on my hands....
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I think we should go ahead and try Avalon's idea; simple, yet elegant.
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I agree. Lets do it. ;D
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So start signing up today? For a Saturday submission? Or for next Monday? I'm fine with either one...To be honest, I'm ready to submit today, so yeah....
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Soooo...how do we sign up again? ???
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I don't think we ever came to a consensus on that....Maybe we can start up a thread for submission sign-ups. Not any specific date, though, because if we choose to stick with Avalon's idea permanently then we can probably just sticky the thread....Or something...
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Do we need one of our great leaders to take charge for us? Silk, Chaos?... Input Please?
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I figure that, assuming great hordes of people don't suddenly decide that Avalon's idea isn't so great after all, we should just go ahead and let him create the "Submission Thread", where we can post that we want to submit that round. He knows his plan best after all, and he can tell us exactly what that plan is as far as time and expiration dates* go.
I would prefer to submit on Saturday rather than Monday though; I must admit I'm ready for the next round too!
*the time by which you must post in the Submission Thread to announce that you wish to submit another section of manuscript to the general populace of RE.
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I just wanted to make sure we weren't stepping on anybodies toes, but I don't really care who does it, as long as it happens sometime.
And yes, I am also in the Let's-do-it-as-soon-as-possible-but-I-can-wait-until-Saturday-or-even-Monday-if-I-have-to camp... Or LDITASAPBCWUSOEMIIHT for short (Let's see a few of you try to pronounce that). :)
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I just wanted to make sure we weren't stepping on anybodies toes, but I don't really care who does it, as long as it happens sometime.
And yes, I am also in the Let's-do-it-as-soon-as-possible-but-I-can-wait-until-Saturday-or-even-Monday-if-I-have-to camp... Or LDITASAPBCWUSOEMIIHT for short (Let's see a few of you try to pronounce that). :)
I did at first but... I gave up at LDITAS.
Should we wait a few days for Avalon to make a new thread, or should we go-ahead and do it?
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I would rather it be on Monday, and here's why: that way, you can put some polish on your manuscript over the weekend! That seems to be a lot more practical than actual Saturday submissions.
Beyond that, Avalon should post up his submission topic. Once we determine the exact date of submission, then he can proclaim which day of the week would be the deadline for applications for submission would be. (Mmm, that sentence is a bit wordy, but instead of revising it, I think I will just let you try and make sense of it)
One note about the "applications": I don't imagine Raethe and I would actually refuse someone if they wanted to submit. As of now, with this smaller group, I think it would be acceptable to have everyone submit whichever week they wanted. New members have seemed to subside for the time being. Plus, I think everyone has gotten good critiquing from multiple people on their submissions thus far, so all things considered, RE is going very well.
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Alright, so what is the general consensus of who wants to do it when?
I really hate to take another vote, we do so many of those around here, but if thats what it takes :'(
As for me, I am officially on break from school! So personally having Saturday and Sunday to polish up my next chapter wouldn't help much :P but obviously that isn't the case for everyone.
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I would rather it be on Monday, and here's why: that way, you can put some polish on your manuscript over the weekend! That seems to be a lot more practical than actual Saturday submissions.
...so all things considered, RE is going very well.
Well as far as polishing goes: I personally would wait until after the submission. For me that's my main motivation for a writing group. I know that there are things wrong with it, I just don't really know where. But that's just me. ;D
I agree, thing's are going great so far. ;)
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Yeah, Monday may make more since once we set the routine, but I kind of feel like we already missed a week since nothing was submitted today. And most everyone else seemed to be saying Sat....
Oh, well whatever works and keeps people smiling would be good with me. And yes, I too have been pleased with RE so far. Much better than another writing group I was in, but that is another long boring story no one needs to hear.
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I believe what he meant by polish was to give your work a rudimentary editing pass for spelling and grammar. I'm here to critique the story telling, not someone's basic English skills.
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Oh, I agree. That's the one thing I hope to get out of the group. After a basic spell check though, I'm working on the last third of the book. I'll go back later and get most of the big grammar mistakes on my 2nd draft. I'll continue until I have it looking the way I want it.
I wasn't trying to imply that it would be a waste of time, only that I (personally) don't want to get bogged down on only one section. I have to keep going or lose momentum.
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I believe what he meant by polish was to give your work a rudimentary editing pass for spelling and grammar. I'm here to critique the story telling, not someone's basic English skills.
Or, you know, revising that section of work that I wrote half sleep-deprived on a plane. Things like that probably deserve a second, if only cursory, look-over.
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I wasn't trying to imply that it would be a waste of time, only that I (personally) don't want to get bogged down on only one section. I have to keep going or lose momentum.
Agreed. Since I suffer from chronic entropy, I understand. A story that is in motion tends to stay in motion. And a storyteller at rest tends to get woken up by the cat anyway.
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Damned cats...
Authors don't make spelling mistakes, cats boot up our computers in the midst of the night (or day, for us nocturnal folk) and sprinkle them in for the sheer sake of chaos! It is time for us as writers to rise up and commit felinocide!
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Does Chaos really need cats help for his sake?
Besides, I really like cats... I just can never eat a whole one and have to take most of it home in a doggy bag.
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I feel I must correct something here.
I wasn't trying to imply that it would be a waste of time, only that I (personally) don't want to get bogged down on only one section. I have to keep going or lose momentum.
Agreed. Since I suffer from chronic entropy, I understand. A story that is in motion tends to stay in motion. And a storyteller at rest tends to get woken up by the cat anyway.
I want to meet this cat. :P
Damned cats...
Authors don't make spelling mistakes, cats boot up our computers in the midst of the night (or day, for us nocturnal folk) and sprinkle them in for the sheer sake of chaos! It is time for us as writers to rise up and commit felinocide!
...but not if it is this cat. You see, Avalon talks of the demon known only as "Shiro Tagachi". He's the dude that is responsible for your internet dying at random points for no apparent reason, and he is responsible for making you create typos or otherwise make your writing unintelligible. Also, he is the guy who makes your cell phone lose calls.
He is trying to control the weather right now, as all of this snow in various parts of the country makes internet connections and other communication more spotty. It is his evil plan. He is growing stronger.
And apparently, he has a cat form now. We must all be very afraid. Not even Karl and his cat-eating habits can defeat Shiro!
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Is he related to the terrifying kittens in the Alcatraz books?
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I don't think so. This cat form seems to be a new development upon Shiro's part.
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Not even Karl and his cat-eating habits can defeat Shiro!
I'm just trying to grock Shiro's essence.
And it's not a habit. I can quit any time I want!
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I don't think any of us can fight Shiro. He commands all the dialup modems in the world and makes them so horrible. We can't stand up to that kind of demonic energy.
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Ah! My hatred for cats is now explained! So they don't just invade my yard, but they also infect my beautiful manuscript.....Curse them.
Actually, I'll do better than curse them. I will take my neighbor's evil, evil cat (or rather, one of them, since she has many) that I swear is one of Shiro's incarnations, douse it in gasoline, and throw it off the bridge. At night. And I will watch as it falls 500 feet, and I will hope that the cops will NOT find me, and also that I will be able to see the cat light up in flames.....Yes. This sounds like a plan.
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And here I was thinking y'all were talking about Schrödinger's cat. :-\
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I don't know about Schroedinger's cat, but I definitely want Schroedinger's Urinal - where you're both peeing, and not peeing at the same time. On the subject of modems and loss of connections, Schroedinger's Modem? BOM BOM BOM!
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"Shiro" like all hell spawn loses his power in the wake of the mighty Linux. Switch to Open Source software for the last bastion of safety from this horrible being.
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Heh, nothing like having one of thos Fundimental Linuxians knock at your door and ask you, "Have you accepted Linux as your personal operating system?" I hate such blind faith!
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*sigh* :-[ You will be converted eventually. You will ALL be converted in the end! 8)
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If I could, you know, actually bring this thread back on topic? Just for a second. ::)
It sounds like we're all willing to try Avalon's idea for the next week. So, what I propose:
We'll make the next submission date Monday. Anyone who wants to submit will apply - I'd suggest just posting in the Email List (http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=6229.0) thread since it's already dedicated to submission dates - by Saturday. In theory, Chaos and I will choose who gets to submit based on who hasn't had a crit recently. Like Chaos said, I rather doubt we'll be putting a cap on how many people submit at this stage of the game (though if we continue with this idea, that might change in the future, once the holidays are over etc). Having said that, I know it's easier just to say "everyone who wants to submit go ahead" but part of the point of experimenting is to see if it's too clunky. Right?
So, anyone who feels they'll be ready to submit on Monday, post in the Email/Submission Date thread by Saturday and we'll see what happens. Any objections?
(Btw Ben - I think just a verbal voicing of [dis]agreement will do fine. Otherwise this board will be all polls and no crits. ;) )
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Thanks Silk I was getting confused... but that happens often enough.
Looks like a good plan to me. :)
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Finally, a decision. I needed a deadline. Now I have one. Now I MUST be done with my Chapter 1 and 2 re-write by Monday....That should be do-able. Even with my crazy work schedule....I'll just have to write a bunch tomorrow, which I guess is fine even if it's Christmas....speaking of which, it really doesn't feel like Christmas. I don't know why.
Oh, and speaking of Christmas:
Merry Christmas RE people! You all rock! ;D
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Wilson: Just think of the Word War.
Merry Christmas everyone.
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(Btw Ben - I think just a verbal voicing of [dis]agreement will do fine. Otherwise this board will be all polls and no crits. ;) )
WoW! Post two polls and all the sudden the place is overrun with 'em. ::)
Merry Christmas to all!