Taming the Muse

Yeah, I will definitely be handing that out the minute people get there. I'm in shock at how many people have stuck with it.

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One thing I had thought of way back when (when it seemed like 30 weeks of prompts was insurmountable) that it would be kind of nice to be able to earn the other awards without having to take the week off. (that probably doesn't make any sense) Meaning, that after finishing 30 weeks, I could immediately start a count towards 27 weeks (and whichever award that is) without the week's break in between. So after 57 prompts, I'd have 2 different awards (and yes, I realize that made absolutely no sense given I thought I couldn't even get to 30, but that's the way my brain works sometimes). Maybe with a modification to the graphics that added 'goddess' to the muse for that award or something? I don't know, mostly just rambling at this point. (aren't you all glad my fics aren't quite this bad?)

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smwright.livejournal.com

I think I know what you mean. Sort of like weeks 1-29 are "goddess-light" and weeks 30+ are "goddess-heavy" - is that it? Once you have the goddess award, you have it forever, so long as you don't take a week off. Once you take a week off, you're back to the beginning w/goddess-light. Is that it?

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So, basically, let people "cash in" their weeks for an award. That way you wouldn't have to take a week off? I could do that.

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Yeah, that's it (and much more concisely than I put it, too). I just know that I'm the type who needs to keep the momentum. If I take a week off, it'll grow to two weeks, and then three and next thing you know, I haven't written for ages.

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Yeah, I get that. It's why I started the community. So, a few rules changes might be in order. So, should everyone be able to "cash in" weeks or just goddess level writers?

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So, should everyone be able to "cash in" weeks or just goddess level writers?
My original thought (which, as I said above, was when we were just starting out) was for goddess level writers, but I think either way would work. Whatever is easiest for you &/or wanted by the comm.

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smwright.livejournal.com

(Tried this a minute ago and lost the post. Perhaps that's a sign I shouldn't post it... *bites nails*)

1. I love the new image and like changing things up every now and again. Just my two cents...

2. (I hope I don't get flamed for this.) I personally like having the option of the grammar vote. I don't use it very often, and I know most people don't use it at all. BUT it's nice to have it there for what I think are relatively obvious reasons. If someone posts a story that has great characterization and a great plot but has awful grammar, I want to reflect that the grammar detracted from my enjoyment of the story. At the same time, I can't in good conscience give a poor vote to characterization or plot, because those elements were great. So, I like having the option.

3. I like meredevachon's (http://meredevachon.livejournal.com) suggestion about awards (above (http://community.livejournal.com/tamingthemuse/133475.html?thread=557923#t557923)). I still don't know if I accurately interpreted it, and I guess we'll have to wait for her to weigh in on that to see. Still, it sounds reasonable. *grins*

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Hon, you aren't going to get flamed around here for having an opinion... we have a very mature lot around this place. Two other people asked for the grammar back, and now you're the third, so it will definitely stay. And I like meredevachon's idea too. I think a lot of people don't want to take a week off.

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Others seem to think the same thing... so if you have done three weeks, you can just TELL me you want a Calliope award and then write for week four without stopping... I can do that.

Do we want another ubber award? Something big? Something if you write for 52 weeks maybe?

And yes, this might be more work, but maybe piksa and I can split up the work a little more... I just hate dropping work on other people, so I'll see what she thinks.

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I can well do more if that's necessary. Due to RL changes I don't really have a life nowadays so I'm sitting by the computer almost constantly *g* Just let me know if there's something I can do.

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God, I would love you if maybe we could switch off on the voting polls. Maybe every other week. And if you don't want to, just say the word because I know that's a pain in the arse... I really do, and I don't want to dump stuff on you that you don't want to do.

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It suits me well that I do the voting every other week. It's no problem. Especially if I know beforehand that it's my turn to do the poll. I can plan it ahead. So you take the even weeks and I do the odd weeks? That okay with you?

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That works great for me. The polls are the most headache-inspiring part of the community, and if you help with that, I will worship at your feet.

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dedra.livejournal.com

I don't know what the answer is...collecting all the shinys is nice, but what about, like, a round 2? or Goddess Calliope, or whatever?

Yes, I would like an uber-big award if I reach 52 weeks...and that's a big if...but that doesn't have to be the answer either...

I'm just willing to let things be the way they are...however the popular vote goes...*wonders if we need a poll*

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I probably will do a poll after I get some thoughts from the group. So, a 1 year award separate from the earning of goddess awards?

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persephone-20.livejournal.com

Ooh, I like that idea. Putting a Goddess in front of every usual award after people hit the Goddess award. That way, the Calliope award for three weeks and the Goddess Calliope award for 33 weeks would be two different awards.

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As to my thoughts about this community. I've had a blast and I can't believe I've gotten this far. 25 weeks is way more than I ever thought I could write in a row. A few weeks it has been a bit tight but always made it *g* I've been thinking about what to do after I make it to Goddess award and I'm thinking that it would be nice if I could continue without a break to get the next award. Also I think the idea of "cashing" in the rewards that has been suggested would be a good idea.

Also I would like to ask if we want to arrange the entries in memories too so that you could find certain authors all entries under one heading or all the entries written for a certain prompt? Of course the entries to a certain prompt can be found also by tags.

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I think everyone seems to be in favor of "cashing in" weeks instead of being forced to take a week off, so I'm thinking that we need to change that rule.

The memories are a great idea... we have the prompts in tags already, but we don't have a way to search by author or by fandom, so those would be awesome. Do you want to play with that, or we could put out a call for another moderator and split the work up... have one person go back through archives and put in memories by fandom and someone else go through by author and someone else by prompt... whatever works for you.

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I can do the memories. It might take me some time since we have already gone for 25 weeks but I will get there. *g* So by fandom, author and prompt? As I already said before, I don't have a life so I have plenty of time to do stuff like this. *g*. Okay this week is going to be busy but my future looks pretty empty. If it gets too much I will let you know.

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Wow... you really are a worker. It's going to be a huge project, but there's really no hurry, so workat your own pace, and if you need help, we can get another co-mod to help, I just know. We really have a great comm with great writers here.

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You and

piksa do a great job keeping up with everything, and I know I don't thank you often enough. So... thank you.

Also, if you decide you need some more help, I'd be happy to pitch in.

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thismaz.livejournal.com

Firstly, I want to say thank you to you, Lit_gal for setting up this community. It has been the best thing for me and my (limited) writing, since I joined it. I had got stuck and now the discipline of 'having' to write a story, however short, each week has got me moving again - even though I don't manage anything else, I manage this.
Also, thank you to Piksa, for taking some of the strain, because it is a lot of work and I'm sure I speak for everyone in recognising how much you both do for us all.

I read all the comments posted before this one and love the ideas presented. If I may summarise my opinion, it would be -

At 30 weeks, you get a Goddess Award. That is given without having to take a week off.

After that, the awards become Goddess-[muse name], but you shouldn't be able to cash them in until you get to the last muse, ie Goddess-Urania at 57 weeks. Once you get to 58 weeks, you've got Goddess and Goddess-Urania and you start back working for Goddess-Thalia at 82 weeks. Then you have three awards, without having to take a week off.
So if you continue every week until the year 2525, or whenever, you will have all the awards.

But if you take a week off, you still have to start from week 1 again and work back to Goddess, before you can get the double barrel awards.

But to modify all that. I also like the idea of an extra, special award at 52 weeks.

Does all that make any sense at all? It actually makes the Goddess-Calliope award the most difficult to get, which I thought was kind of nice since she is the easiest to get, first time around.

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I really did it for me for the exact same reason... I started losing my discipline with writing, and I just couldn't make myself stick with it. And prompt communities like Sentinel Thursday are great, but I would do a few weeks and then drop off. So, I'm glad that you're finding it as useful as I do in taming those flighty muses.

And Piksa has taken a lot of the burden, tagging entries so it's easier for me to grab stuff for the voting and taking over voting when I start to drown. I know there was a kerfuffle over at another writing community because it was daily, and the mod just didn't keep up, but I'm really lucky to have someone who jumps in there every time I start going under. She's been a godsend!

Wow... so under your plan, I will get awards at weeks 30, 57, 81, 102, 120, 135, 147, 156, 162, and 165 without stopping? Is that right? You really do collect them fast at the end but that's after 13 YEARS of doing prompts every week. *boggles*

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artemis-rain.livejournal.com

I have to say, I like this idea, but I think I like even more the idea of cashing in weeks. So, to incorporate that with this idea, if I write 30 weeks in a row and get the goddess award, then after three weeks I could cash in the weeks I've done AFTER 30 (so, 3) and get the Goddess-Calliope award (or whatever the 3-week award is), OR I could just keep writing and after six weeks, nine weeks, whatever, cash in my weeks (after 30) and get an award, then start back at Goddess-0 without having to take a week off, so all the weeks I accumulate without a break will be Goddess-Whatever awards.

This way, rather than having to work specifically for a preset award, I could decide which award I wanted, and collect the awards in whatever order I want.

If I miss a week, I'm back to the very beginning (non-Goddess awards).

I don't know if this differs much from other ideas stated above, but it seems like a less-restricted alternative to the, um, 13 year plan.

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The 13 year plan did seem a little... um... much. So, 30 makes you goddess, and once you have goddess status, any additional weeks can be cashed in for whichever award you want. So at week 39, someone could say, I want to cash in six week for a Clio award, and they would still have three weeks left to build their new "bank account"?

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artemis-rain.livejournal.com

Hmmm... the issue of giving "change" and building a "bank account" will have to be decided by the community, but it makes sense to me.

Example: You and I both write 39 weeks, and we want to cash in our 9 weeks for awards. I want a Goddess-9week award, and you want a Goddess-6week award AND a Goddess-3week award. You might be getting two awards, but we've still done the same number of weeks. Alternately, if you wanted to cash in 6 weeks and keep your other three, that's fine, because if you had just cashed in your 6 weeks as soon as you got them, you'd still be at 3, so there's no difference.

The main challenge would be keeping track of everyone's weeks. For that reason, it would be easier to say that we can only cash in the entirety of the weeks that we have. So, if we both write 39 weeks, we would have the option of either cashing it in for a Goddess-9week award, or continuing to accumulate weeks, no backtracking, no "bank account."

Either option is fine with me; it's just that the first one is significantly more work for whoever gets put in charge of keeping track of everyone's weeks.

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The keeping track of the bank accounts would be me, and I have an excel sheet going for everyone now, so I think I could do it pretty easily.

So, it seems like it's about time for a poll.

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thismaz.livejournal.com

I like that idea.
My only worry is that people won't cash in, and then what do you do at 60 weeks?
Maybe a combination? If you don't cash in you get the award at 57 weeks anyway and have to start from straight Goddess again?

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thismaz.livejournal.com

*grin* So my estimate of 2525 was a bit out. I couldn't do the math.

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but that's after 13 YEARS of doing prompts every week. *boggles*

Actually, it's only about 3 years, 2 months or so. 165/52

See? Much more feasible :P

(sorry, the math tutor in me couldn't not chime in)

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