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Post by Alatariel on Jan 1, 2024 20:41:39 GMT -6
Whoa... really? That's ... ugh. Saddening. So sorry about that, Scintilla. A lack of turn out is definitely not your fault. Not anyone's fault. Please don't take it personally. Sounds like a lot of folks really tried and tried again to get the words down. Kudos to all of you for giving it your best. DEFINITELY not because of the prompt or anything relating to the contest itself. It's just...December. Woof. It's my most stressful and hectic month as a mother of three who hosts Christmas for my relatives. I have house cleaning, grocery shopping, meal planning, activity planning and execution, gift buying and wrapping...and once it's all done and the family have left for good (didn't happen until the 29th this year) then I am totally and completely burned out. That's me. None of that is conducive to writing or thinking creatively. I'm so stretched beyond the breaking point, it's unfathomable. |
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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Jan 2, 2024 11:56:15 GMT -6
I don't know. Last year we had seven entries for the December contest.
I didn't finish my entry either. It was going to be about the last day of a teen's landscaping job at a retirement community, when he tries to take a pebble as a keepsake but a ghost of a former resident stops him. It just ended up pretentious and spent too much of the word count on old people giving him their takes on life. I had my NaNo story still on my mind, and I thought writing an entry with a similar feel would give me practice to rewrite the novel, which is my next project. But it was just boring and didn't even fulfill that function.
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Post by Alatariel on Jan 2, 2024 12:39:23 GMT -6
I don't know. Last year we had seven entries for the December contest. I didn't finish my entry either. It was going to be about the last day of a teen's landscaping job at a retirement community, when he tries to take a pebble as a keepsake but a ghost of a former resident stops him. It just ended up pretentious and spent too much of the word count on old people giving him their takes on life. I had my NaNo story still on my mind, and I thought writing an entry with a similar feel would give me practice to rewrite the novel, which is my next project. But it was just boring and didn't even fulfill that function. Oh yea, the burnout from NaNo is real. I didn't even try that last year with a new baby. I wanted to write something though so I did the contest. Trade offs, I guess. I promise the result of this contest was nothing you did or didn't do, just bad timing. |
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Post by FoxxGlove on Jan 2, 2024 13:33:49 GMT -6
Nobody should feel badly about the lack of responses this time around. I don't think it was the fault of the prompt at all. Indeed, I thought it was an intriguing prospect. Maybe the holiday just got everybody tied up or...as in my case...inspiration simply took a (hopefully brief) vacation.
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Post by Mazulla on Jan 2, 2024 18:08:41 GMT -6
I agree, it's no one's fault and you shouldn't feel badly at all, Scintilla. I think it is a good prompt, just sounds like bad luck and/or fickle muses got in the way. I know last year's was successful, but with this year's turnout and the holidays, what if it was extended to 6 weeks (ending mid-January) with 1-2 weeks (by February) for voting? Just a thought, I'm not sure if that would work. Things might slow down enough in January for those who can't make it in December.
Though I didn't start writing the new idea until Saturday, this at least got my arse in gear and I wrote about 2,500 words by Sunday. I need to remove and rewrite 500-800 words, but I think it's worth hanging onto overall.
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Post by ScintillaMyntan on Jan 2, 2024 19:37:37 GMT -6
Nah, I'm not saying this to self-deprecate. It was a hard prompt that people seemed to have trouble coming up with ideas for, and I want to think about what it is that makes a prompt easy and inspiring for next time.
That sounds like a good idea, Mazulla. What do people think about having 6 weeks for the Casual Contest writing?
I'm glad if this has gotten you to start upon a good story.
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Post by Alatariel on Jan 3, 2024 9:54:46 GMT -6
Nah, I'm not saying this to self-deprecate. It was a hard prompt that people seemed to have trouble coming up with ideas for, and I want to think about what it is that makes a prompt easy and inspiring for next time. That sounds like a good idea, Mazulla. What do people think about having 6 weeks for the Casual Contest writing? I'm glad if this has gotten you to start upon a good story. My brain is in a much better place now, less bees. 6 weeks this time or 6 weeks always? 6 weeks this time? Yes! 6 weeks always? Maybe we should just do it in January from now on and keep to one month? |
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jan 3, 2024 15:24:55 GMT -6
There IS a random contest on the schedule for February, so future plans would need to keep that in mind, so events don't overlap or butt too closely to each other without giving us some breathing room. No idea what Caulder Melhaire may have in mind for us this year. Probably need to get discussing or shifting things around if he's not interested in hosting. Then Poetry in April. |
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Post by Caulder Melhaire on Jan 4, 2024 17:16:13 GMT -6
There IS a random contest on the schedule for February, so future plans would need to keep that in mind, so events don't overlap or butt too closely to each other without giving us some breathing room. No idea what Caulder Melhaire may have in mind for us this year. Probably need to get discussing or shifting things around if he's not interested in hosting. Then Poetry in April. Yes! I will be launching some sort of random fun for February, no doubt. |
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Post by RAVENEYE on Jan 5, 2024 11:55:19 GMT -6
There IS a random contest on the schedule for February, so future plans would need to keep that in mind, so events don't overlap or butt too closely to each other without giving us some breathing room. No idea what Caulder Melhaire may have in mind for us this year. Probably need to get discussing or shifting things around if he's not interested in hosting. Then Poetry in April. Yes! I will be launching some sort of random fun for February, no doubt. Sweeeet. |
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