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Nope, the best part is Sol and his team of magical elves! :-)

Hah! I said it first.

Dirk

I use Premium for certain posts (e.g., "I need a futurist/biologist/chemist/geneticist for the year 4017") that logically belong in the sci-fi group, but the experts I need aren't necessarily members of that group. I'm not sure there's an ideal solution for that one.

I think I finally have a clue as to what makes posts visible or not on the home page. I'm betting it works by date/timestamp. A new thread or a follow-up post are probably considered new for a certain amount of time, not based on whether I've read it or not. Can anyone confirm/correct that assumption?

I can practically see Sol's eyes rolling back in his head as he tries to figure out how to make this all work. Get well soon, Sol! :-)

I love your wish list, njc. Hopefully, those ideas can be incorporated into whatever forum solution Sol is considering.

I tried to behave myself for once, limiting the request to something that "seems" like a relatively small change compared to the resurrected forums. This idea is not meant to replace those, just to make it easier to see and navigate quickly to new/updated threads from the home page. It ought to result in a lot more sharing/posting within groups, though probably not across groups.

Vern, you didn't mention styles. The styles feature of MS Word is awesome for writing a book. I have a Normal style that is setup the way you suggest (Times New Roman 12 pt. double-spaced), and then I have a small number of extra styles that I use for special purposes. One is called Heading 1, which I use for all chapter titles. That style is very useful because it appears in the Word "document map", which allows me to jump directly to any chapter in the book directly, without having to scroll to look for it. I use quotes (epigraphs) in my book just below each chapter heading, so I have a style for that too. There are a few more, but I'll probably make Greg's head spin if I go into even more detail.

Greg, try the Google search that Vern mentioned, but if you don't find anything useful, rerun the search but include the word Microsoft. They have short tutorials on every feature in Word. I strongly suggest you spend a little time learning how to use styles. I can change the formatting of my entire document just by using styles consistently.

What version of Word are you using? I'm still on 2007, but I've tried 2010 and know that all the features I use in 2007 were carried forward into 2010. I don't know about 2013. Haven't tried it.

Dirk

Sol, when you have a moment, can you please delete that review reply that's stuck in my account. It's from Don Chamber's book Frozen Tide. I left him a review, he responded but then took the chapter down from the site, so I can't access the deleted reply. It's been stuck there since March.

Thanks.
Dirk

Kenny showed me a very useful feature the other day that completely slipped my notice all this time. If there are unread replies to one of the posts in the forum, a link appears under the post's subject line that says New Posts that takes you directly to the new replies.

That link should be made *very* obvious. Maybe a bold, bright green. It's incredibly useful to have that. A quick glance at a forum page looking for bright green New Posts links would tell me if there's something I haven't read. (Technically, it should say New Replies not New Posts.)

Thanks.
Dirk

Adrian, below are the details to one of the Kindle books I found to be a great primer on Mayan civilization. If I remember correctly, it was only a few bucks. Charles River Editors make a nice series like this of other ancient societies. I considered Egypt, among others, for my book.

Chichen Itza: The History and Mystery of the Maya’s Most Famous City By Charles River Editors
Harasta, Jesse; Charles River Editors (2013-10-10).

Assuming I can figure out a way to accidentally sterilize a few billion people with a hurriedly engineered vaccine against an ebola-like pandemic, I can also use that as my humanitarian disaster that brings society to its knees in 2071 A.D. No more need for a separate disaster from a runaway computer virus unleashed by the NSA.

I could make the vaccinated humans the ones who are sterilized, although I think that would be noticed before the vaccination got far. Ideally, it's the children or grandchildren who should be sterile, so there's no way to stop the disaster once it becomes known. I don't use an ebola-like disease to wipe out billions because I also need a reason why humans would impose a permanent ban against genetic engineering, preferably this century.

Worst case, I could have a genetically-engineered virus with a lengthy incubation period escape from a medical lab, not unlike the morons who just shipped live anthrax around the world.

dagnee, I haven't forgotten about David DiSalvo. I just wanted to wait until I understand the genetic process better.

Thanks to all who can help.
Dirk

Throw some ideas up in the group forum asking for feedback. I suggest using a new thread with a better title to draw more interest. Something like "Need help defining a fantasy story revolving around the ancient Maya". Include a few ideas for stories and see what kind of feedback you get.

Dirk

Max, I think I read your first chapter. I don't recall any major male characters in the story. How about a computer nerd, robot repairman, and would-be-author who falls in love with your MC. He could even be the author of the book you're writing. Don't forget to give him Harry Potter glasses held together above the nose with masking tape.

I harped on Janet TP until she gave me a male character in her latest story to identify with. Makes for a much better read, I thought.