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Lounge II (The Lounge Strikes Back)


kais

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14 hours ago, Silk said:

Well that doesn't sound like much fun

I can't imagine a hysterectomy is ever fun, but I do get good pain meds for a bit! Until July, all! Someone will have to update the fridging counter!

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8 hours ago, kais said:

I can't imagine a hysterectomy is ever fun, but I do get good pain meds for a bit! Until July, all! Someone will have to update the fridging counter!

Hope things go well! We'll keep the counter running...

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Hey guys, I think I have my head on again enough to come back. I will probably throw my hat in for next week. I think I am ready for you guys to shred my soul, I mean uh, do a great job critiquing my work and helping me improve as a writer.


Edited by Jorville
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  • 2 weeks later...

I sort of dropped off the planet :(. My MIL and I were like oil and water but I still didn't take her passing well. Maybe cause the opportunity to get along better is gone : /.

ANYWAY! On a much happier note, I'm back around. I will probably lurk around for a bit before I feel back up to giving some good ol' critiquing. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Trivial stat #346

So, since I've been on Reading Excuses (5 years), there have been 74 different submitters...

I think it's interesting that so relatively few have stuck with us here to be honest, but there you go. Stats. Gotta love 'em :D 

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On 7/23/2018 at 3:37 PM, Robinski said:

Trivial stat #346

So, since I've been on Reading Excuses (5 years), there have been 74 different submitters...

I think it's interesting that so relatively few have stuck with us here to be honest, but there you go. Stats. Gotta love 'em :D 

I haven't been around long enough to reply about this group, but I've been in other digital critique croups that didn't make the year mark. In one case, I think I joined when it was fizzling, and after a couple months, when I was the only one ever posted, it got awkward whether people responded or not. Another I was in from the start, run by email and not a forum, was good for three or four months then gradually everyone but me stopped sending stuff so the group decided to disband. I left a third because we couldn't send more than 1,000 words at a time, and even though I was reading other people's work, they either weren't reading mine or they were just telling me it was good and pointing out my typos (not that I have any shortage of typos in anything  write...). The point for me was just that pieces weren't good. Why would I need a critique group if they were? 

I guess what I am trying to say is that from my experience with other groups, I'm not surprised a lot of people dropped out -- not because you are a bad group but because you are an awesome one. Over the past five years (time I've been serious about writing, revision, and publishing all together), I've really struggled to find writers who are consistent writers and critiquers. 

Even my face to face groups are falling apart. 

 One that used to be awesome turned in to I submitted stuff. We talked about my writing. Everyone else complained about how they never write anything. I tried to encourage them to write more. We tried doing prompts at our meetings. And now I'm pretty sure the group is over. 

The other is fading because there are only three of us and one woman is having a baby. 

So the fact that after five years, you have people here still submitting regularly and giving the kind of feedback you give is amazing. It's a huge accomplishment. 

Edited by shatteredsmooth
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1 hour ago, shatteredsmooth said:

So the fact that after five years, you have people here still submitting regularly and giving the kind of feedback you give is amazing. It's a huge accomplishment. 

It's great to have your perspective, @shatteredsmooth. This is the only real critique group I've been in (though it's been for 6 years) and I do get discouraged that we lose members, and good writers, so often. However, the more I hear from other writers about critique groups that fall apart, even face to face ones, makes me very appreciative of the group we have here!

I definitely credit this group with helping my writing grow as much as it has.

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3 hours ago, shatteredsmooth said:

So the fact that after five years, you have people here still submitting regularly and giving the kind of feedback you give is amazing. It's a huge accomplishment.

Really interesting to have your perspective. It's actually been 10 years of Reading Excuses next year, Silk tells us. 

I think I can say without fear of contradiction that we're glad you found us, and hope you stay for a long, long time :) 

1 hour ago, Mandamon said:

I definitely credit this group with helping my writing grow as much as it has.

Me too. Mandamon and I were in a G**gle Docs group that fizzed out too. This place is a treasure, which is why we fight to protect it, and I hope its members.

Idea

I had an idea a while back, but was unconvinced how popular or well-received it might be given how busy we all are. However, I've just had a development of said idea. I thought a short story competition would be fun, but that might be quite a bit work, however, we could run a flash fiction competition in 2019 to celebrate 10 years, and we could canvas entrants from all over 17th Shard. The thing is, there is a Writing Excuses thread in parallel with us here on Related Works, and there seems to be very little crossover between us. Then there is Creators' Corner a bit further up the forum list, and people there are submitting stuff all the time, and discussing it, but again there is very little crossover with us at RE, as far as I can see. We could 'advertise' the competition far and wide even just on this site.

What do you think @Silk? Is this bonkers, or recommended against by some forum rule I'm not aware of?

I'm thinking of a pretty simple arrangement. Everyone who submits and entry gets a vote (to the coordinator via PM), and you can't vote for your own piece.

Crazy? Unpopular? Just a notion to celebrate and to attract attention for the group.

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That could be fun! Not sure what we’d offer as a prize, though it feels like we should do something. Maybe having the top 3 stories linked to on the forum? That’d mess with people’s publication rights, but then I’m assuming these stories would already have to be linked to in some relatively open fashion as it’s be way too cumbersome for everyone if the stories were being shared on an individual basis. We’d have to be really transparent about that. But if it was a clearly “just for fun” deal that’d probably be fine.

 Personally, I’m wondering if we can get some sort of “unofficial official” event going at Worldcon. A meet-and-greet? A side panel in a custodial closet?

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2 hours ago, Silk said:

Personally, I’m wondering if we can get some sort of “unofficial official” event going at Worldcon. A meet-and-greet? A side panel in a custodial closet?

I've been thinking about that, but not done any research yet. But I will :) 

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How long the stories are going to be would matter. If It was a 300 word piece, I wouldn't mind if my first publication rights were lost to the contest because I'd probably post the piece on my blog after.

I used to do a just for fun contest every week called cracked flash -- there was a prompt, stories were posted in the comments, and the winner was announced the next week with a cool GIF. The runner ups got a little feedback. It was a good excercise. The week after the contest, I'd post the stories on my blog. My followers seemed to like them.

Eventually the content went on indefinite hiatus and I stopped posting micro fiction on my blog. 

Point being, if it is a really short piece, it will be easy to vote and losing rights won't be as big a deal as if it were a 700 or 800 word story. 

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2 hours ago, shatteredsmooth said:

 Point being, if it is a really short piece, it will be easy to vote and losing rights won't be as big a deal as if it were a 700 or 800 word story. 

Excellent point.

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Sounds good to me. I would support this. And, so long as we're on the subjects, I'd like to sow the seeds for a classic whodunit competition within the same vein. Just the seeds, mind you.

For now, let's roll with Robinski and shatteredsmooth's ideas.

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4 hours ago, industrialistDragon said:
10 hours ago, Silk said:

Not sure what we’d offer as a prize

I'd be happy to offer one of my handbound blank sketchbook/journals as an anniversary prize. The largest size I do is roughly the size of a regular paperback, though. 

I'd be happy to put something up too.

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On 7/25/2018 at 6:54 PM, industrialistDragon said:

I'd be happy to offer one of my handbound blank sketchbook/journals as an anniversary prize. The largest size I do is roughly the size of a regular paperback, though. 

IMG_5207small.jpg

I love this idea! These look great!

On 7/25/2018 at 11:05 PM, Robinski said:

I'd be happy to put something up too.

Awesome!

I'm not crafty at all, so I'll be pretty useless in this department unfortunately...

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21 hours ago, Silk said:

I love this idea! These look great!

Awesome!

I'm not crafty at all, so I'll be pretty useless in this department unfortunately...

I have crafty things I could give as prizes, but I doubt anyone wants beach glass jewelry. I don't make/sell it anymore, but somehow, when I was in grad school, I actually made about the same as would with a partime retail job. Basically stuff like this. I have a few boxes of inventory collecting dust...

il_570xN.1239232668_le0n-1.jpg

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