The winner of the Apple Drabble Writing Competition is mswriter for her Drabble Transitioning. Congratulations!
Transitioning offered a fresh take on the fruity treat with a humorous story peeled from the headlines.
This competition brought forth so many great stories. While only one story could win, there were so many good apples in the bunch!
Remember to enter the Superhero Origins contest if you haven't already!
But sometimes you read a work/chapter and let it rumble in the back of your mind, then come back to it. I often do that.
If you don't want the review button, how about a link that takes us down to the place where the review buttons are?
Is it really that difficullt to scroll down?
There is an in-line button at the top. A review button at the top doesn't make much sense since the content needs to be read all the way through.
The world is a busy place and for most of us, carving out the time and energy to write is one of the biggest challenges in finishing a project.
For the book I am currently working on, I forced myself to write 1,000 words a day, six-days a week, no matter the quality or how tired or busy I might have been. The result was an acceptable draft that actually got finished. Editing it is another story 
. I know others choose NaNoWriMo.
So, how do you keep yourself motivated? What are your tips and tricks that might help others on the site keep their writing mojo?
Thanks Tirzabelle! I don't mind working for points to post new work. although 6 or 10 to one is a bit steep. Didnt used to be about 4 reviews to 1 published?
The ratio is pretty much 4 to 1. If you review work from new writers, it pays a bonus and the ratio is even less. In no case is it even close to 10 to 1.
Note: If your membership expired, you will go down to one group. You may have your work ejected from the premium group and have to buy your way back in
This has been changed. Once work is published you will never need to pay again, even if you join other points groups, leave a point group and rejoin, etc.
Although I reviewed and reviewed and acquired points and paid those points to publish pieces of writing… I find that here on the new site I have to pay again to make my pre-published content live or active as it now called.
Content on the new site transferred in the exact state that it existed on the old site. If content was published but inactive on the old site, it transferred that way here. Then, all that needed to be done is reactivate it without paying points.
If content was uploaded but not published on the old site, it exists in the same state on the new site.
If you come across an example where this is not the case, let me know and I will investigate. No one should have to pay double points.
The default is all, so if you clear the search parameters this is what you will see. You can clear the search by clicking the Reset button.
Ideally, JP's style of list should be available at the click of one button (at most) located near the top of the home page, rather than the bottom. Scrolling for it is annoying. The button at the bottom that Cobber is referring to takes me to a listing of all books in my groups, not all writing. I'm not sure if that's specific to me. And the pictures on those pages are so large, it takes forever to scroll through them. The old site managed to get it down to one line per published work, which was great for scanning at a glance, like a spreadsheet. If the pictures are a must-have, use the small ones, like on the home page.
You may have a search term selected which is just causing books to appear but that page shows all content. It is exactly the same logic as the Read page on the old site, which the page you are referring to. This is the same page that everyone told me no one reads since people just look at the homepage. You don't know the number of times this came up in a thread: increase the visibility on the homepage because no one reads the Read page!
I have people that love the images and people who don't like them and want a spreadsheet list. People who like bigger images and people who like smaller images. It's really interesting to see how different people respond so differently to design.
I tried it, Cobber, but it doesn't do what I meant--it will give me all the poems ever written, or all the essays, etc. one genre at a a time, and it's not timely. Here's where I have to mention the old site.
Every day, all the newest postings were listed, with the most recent at the top of the list. book, poem, essay, short story, whatever--one by one they appeared at the top of the list. When a new work was posted, the one at the bottom dropped to page 2, and so on. Everybody's work got the same amount of exposure, with author, genre, and pertinent details all on one line. The title was a link to the actual work, so one could read and review.
If you check some categories, you'll see there are works posted in January still prominently displayed on your home page. That's an unfair amount of exposure, considering there are other categories whose postings roll off in a matter of hours.
Just my opinion. JP
This is exactly how the site works now. The homepage on the new site is exactly like the homepage on the old site except we have added a few more categories: essay, article, etc. The Read: Groups Content from the Read tab brings you to a page that has the identical logic to the old Read page. Work is listed in order added to your groups regardless of genre or type.
Yes, I've noticed this also. It's something we will do.
If you'd spent as many 60-second timeouts waiting for the site as I have, you'd be talking to a shrink rather than a regular doctor. :-)
We're going to make some changes in the next month or two that will hopefully end these time-out problems for good.
Ok. Will look into these problems.
How does one go about deleting a draft inline review that is no longer needed? I started one, couldn't find 5 things to report, and just backed off the page. I thought that would suffice, but now I am nagged by the notation "Draft inline review" and can't get rid of it.
This is definitely a nuisance.
Hi all,
This was legitamite email. The sponsor bought this mailing. Sponsor emails like this help to pay for the upkeep and development of the site. I can't vouch for the service directly as I haven't used it but the email was not spam.
Sol
Good catch. No matter how much I proof them something like this happens. It's consistent now. Thanks!
Hi everyone,
Today is the last day of the Apple Drabble Competition. Get your submissions in!
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/contest … etition-10
We've also launched a new contest to keep everyone writing in August. It's the Superhero Origins Story Contest.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/contest … Contest-12
Good luck to all!
Sol
Sol, what about Lucy's suggestion of searching across forum topics (or even content)? A simple results page of links, organized by groups, would probably do.
This already exists. In any forum, click on the link that says See Your Posts. From there, click the User Defined Search, enter your term, and go.
Hi Mike,
I think a minimum of 750 words. Thanks,
Sol
I've been attempting to communicate with Sol in email about this topic. I'm not sure what, if anything, will come of it, but he doesn't appear to be keen (at all) on going back to a static header styled forum despite the need/desire. I did suggest that perhaps he could consider giving us a choice in group creation for having that type of forum. Then at least group communication wouldn't have to suffer the needle in a haystack scenario.
I'd love to give every group the ability to have that type of forum but it's technically not doable within the constraints of this site or most other sites. Perhaps if I had the resources of Facebook this would be possible but even their site does not do this.
Hi all,
I wanted to let you know that Lesson 5 - Punctuating Dialogue has been posted.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/posting … ting-21111
In the lesson we cover the major rules for how to correctly punctuate dialogue in your stories.
Sol
Ah. Thanks, Sol. If I knew that, I'd forgotten it.
One question: if I send an email with the link to the first chapter, does that give them access to the drop-down and the rest of the chapters?
It should give them access to the whole book. If not, let me know.
Sol
Heather, only people who are registered can read the content. I believe there is still a free period of time. I had a couple of friends who joined free last year so they could read my novel, but they never upgraded as far as I know. There used to be a 'read only' membership. You could message Sol and find out.
When people sign up, they get 7 days of Premium Membeship. After that period, they can choose to remain a Premium member and pay the fee, or downgrade to a free Basic membership. As a basic member, they can read and even post to non-points groups. You can see the difference here:
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/member/ … comparison
What a great idea, MzP. I would love to have my friends be able to read my stories, but they keep getting asked to create an account. The free account only last a short while. I think that a totally free 'read only' account would be wonderful. My friends would probably email me or tell me what they think of the story rather than try a full-blown review anyway.
See above comment. There is also something else you can do. You can send an email to anyone you want to read your content and even if it is set for registered only readers, the email recipient will be able to access it. You can do this from your portfolio page using the Action button.
The other thing you can do is change the setting on the Publish Settings page so the content is available on the Internet also. If you do this, your friends and anyone else will be able to read it without having to even login.
I think I'm going to include these tips in the weekly email update that goes out today.
Sol
Here are some article ideas for those interested:
1. Are writing contests worth entering? How do you find them? Should you pay a fee?
2. Marketing Tips for Self-published or Traditionally published authors
3. Should every writer have an account on Facebook and can it help you promote your wrriting?
4. How to get the most out of an online writing workshop
5. How to launch a successful author Blog.
6. The basics of writing a poem.
7. Are writing retreats and in-person writing workshops helpful?
8. Getting and dealing with a literary agent.
9. Should you self-publish or traditional publish?
10. Can you make money as a writer?
These are just some suggestions but feel free to take any one of these and run with it or to propose your own ideas.
Sol
Hi all,
Lesson 4 focusing on Showing versus Telling has now been posted. Please read through it and past any questions in the forum or at the bottom of the article.
Please pay attention to the homework assignment at the bottom also.
http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/posting … tell-21042
Sol
