I'm in a much better mood today, thanks largely to a few very kind people, and no thanks to a few people who just can't seem to act their age. ^^ Thankfully I'm immune to stupidity, so I can laugh at how much people seem to want to get under my skin.

There are a few new polls at Flipside, both concerning prospective members to an extent. It's important that all members vote, and that non-members at least look around to see what's up. ^^ Thanks everyone!

A little warning for everyone's benefit. Moorn is in a nasty mood, so choose your words carefully if you're going to message him with something unfriendly. If you decide to say something impolite to him, he's liable to tell you off, and not cease telling you off in any kind of brief timeframe. Point is, don't come to Moorn acting impolite or unfriendly. If you have a legitimate problem with him, fine. If you're just being snippish, then you don't matter and he will treat you as such, so it's best to keep it to yourself. Now. If you're nice, that's great and Moorn will like you better for it. 

Attention all members: Voting has begun at the If I were a . . . contest over at Flipside. Even if you aren't a Flipside member, you are encouraged to drop by, have a read of the entries, and cast your vote. ^^

As for other stuff... people, deeds make your reputation in a place where anonymity is everyone's equal starting place. ^^ It's probably the most common thing I see on these 'net communities; people expecting to be treated in a certain way without having done anything to warrant it. 

(Note for the sake of the little birdies that always seem to be riding on my shoulder, this opinion is not specifically targetted towards any individual. If you wish to assume as much, be my guest, but please don't come bothering me about it.)

The best way to get people to respect you is to do useful things that will earn that respect. Go out of your way to help out, create something new, and above all, don't demand respect that you haven't earned. Demanding unearned respect just makes you come across as a poser, and it is the quickest way to make people flatulate in your general direction in an environment where everyone is a number. ^^ This is true IRL too, although appearance, age, and body language account for far more in that environment. ^^

There are some contests in the Flipside Contest Section that could use more entrants. Those of you who haven't come by, you're missing out on what is in my personal experience (which means that this is my opinion, not supported by hard fact) the most helpful and interesting place on the whole of this particular community for developing writers.

We're always looking for new members, regardless of skill, so please check us out at Flipside. I pride myself on how casual and supportive the place has become. ^^ It's still such a nice feeling to take part in something where no one lords over anyone else.

Valentine's day! Or as I like to call it 'Christmas Fallout' . Back when I was single, I hated Vday like a pauper hates a miser. Not that I'm not, I... still don't especially care for it. It should be called 'Anti-wallet Day' and have its own battle cry of 'Run for the hills'. 

Lots of people get down at this time of the year, and I can't say that I blame them. Surrounded by all this faux romance, one can't help but think about how much it sucks not to be in someone's arms. The truth of the matter is that Vday these days has the exact same meaning as Christmas (at least in America, dunno about other places where I don't live), and that is that Capitalism has its claws in everything. How do you show your love? By buying a $400 diamond necklace dingy for someone who probably already owns bunches of cheaper, and cuter, jewelry. I don't get the diamonds craze, they are just shiny rocks. Then again, so were hair bands in the 80's and nobody minded them.

The fact that I don't have a great deal to say is a pretty good indication that everything's going more or less the way it's supposed to be going. ^_^ So, in lieu of having something to say, I'll put a little lesson in here in my ongoing attempts to help out. Warning: The following contains general advice. Readers who dislike advice should cease reading... now.

Well, I got my entry for [Kaimee]'s I want you to write forgiveness contest finished, and my first critique done. I just need to do an entry for Comical Random and maybe this month's A Writing Competition, and the get something longer written for this month's flipside Event. It's nice to have a workable amount of things to do. ^^

Oh! I also made more bread today, but with cinnamon and milk this time. O.o Twas excellent.

Hm.. I had a blog, but I thought it might potentially offend someone, and I'm the only person not allowed to offend someone by proxy. *grins*

I made bread today. It turned out shockingly well, given my baking lack of expertise.

I finally figured out how to un-join forums here. Talk about a godsend. ^^

In other news, nothing of any particular interest is out of the ordinary. Still lots of contests going on at flipside, and despite a 22 member roster, we're always open to new talent. ^^ So... yeah!

Flipside
Flipside Contest Section

And now, my rendition of the monster Malufel, as a Mexican luchador (wrestler).



I have an excercise for you, based on this. Challenge yourself to write a story about a monster that, while mighty, looks mighty dumb.

Gourd. There are so many great contests at Flipside that I can't even spare the time to enter them all. Yay for slacking! *grins* We have 22 members now, and things are rolling quite well. *bounce*

You want to see a retelling of a classic tale that doesn't suck out loud? Watch Disney's The Emperor's New Groove at some point... it may well be the funniest animated thingy I've ever seen, and it's clean humor too. ^^ Even has a skinny guy named [Kuzco] in it!

Kiss Scene contest closed! Whee! Congratulations go to the winner, [Askoga], and to the co-runners-up, [chuchutrain] and [Kuzco]. The scores for this contest were obscenely high! Even the lowest score was eighty points (out of a hundred), which is just unprecedented. ^^ Headbanging goes to all the entrants for doing so damn well! I'm a little late with this report, but... nanny nanny boo boo. ^_^

I think I love everyone. Even people who disrespect me and then wildly question why I would react badly to it... and lord knows there are enough of them, all over the place. I think everything here and all over has stressed me to the point that I'm not as fun as I used to be, so I decided that ish time to just let bygones be bygones. I've put out all the olive branches I need to, I think, so for those of you who want to hold onto your grudges, more power to you! ^_^ But I forgive you, all of you.

I never would have accepted the invitation to come back here, were it not for my friends at Flipside. These people are the reason I'm here now, to help them and to learn from them. When I can read a story by a fifteen-year-old girl that makes me stop and say "... she's as good as I am, and I'm eight years older!!" that's when I start to realize just how special what we've accomplished is. So, as I'm prone to doing on occasion, I'm going to give a shout out to them, and thank them for the fantastic job they've done in building a useful contest wiki... hasn't the change around here been swimming since? Other contest sections have popped up, more stuff is happening... so yay for those who had the stones to try! 

And for those who haven't tried yet... there ain't no anchor tied to your ass. ^_^ Go for it.

I think that... oh, wait, better stop there.

Everyone's doing very well, getting involved in stuff. ^_^ Keep it up, eh?

Whee! On that note, I'm finally going to bed. Peace and love, everyone.

I finished my article on weapons, though I had to limit it to swords due to time constraints.

For Technical Details hosted by [Kiddalee]

TD - Swords

After this, I won't have much time for a while to do anything that isn't Flipside or me-personally related. Though I'll probably do it anyway. But yay contributing!

I'd like to issue an apology to any one who might have taken offense to my previous blog. Apparently, I need to find a new place to say what I think and try to give good advice.

I'll do it here.

Decency Petition

At the end of the day, your writing proves more about who you are than any amount of posturing ever could. You can stand there, and talk about how great your work is, how much praise it has received, how deep or provocative you think it is. Since we all seem to be able to handle adult content here, let me throw you a good one. 

Verbal Masturbation: A term indicating words that, while striking and forceful, end up producing nothing due to the fact that the speaker/writer is doing nothing but blowing hir own horn.

I believe that having the stones to show your writing is admirable. Some might say it's the hardest part, but that's not true. The hardest part is writing something that doesn't suck. Now, let me fill you in on the point of this little blog entry. If you stand there and tell me how great your work is, or preface it with something saying how everyone just loves it, then you're making a mistake. First off, I'm not going to read it; either I believe you, and decide it doesn't need my look-over, or I'll shake my head and say 'I won't even bother with an ego this large.' Secondly, even if a person bothers to ignore your arrogant stance and reads your story... what if they don't like it? Then all your posturing makes you look like a blowhard. Or worse, what if they did like it, but it didn't live up to your glowing testimonial?

[Mister Saint]'s literary tip of the day: No matter how good a writer you think you are, there will always be someone better than you... probably a lot of people. So don't waste your breath proclaiming your greatness, just strive to make your greatness look paltry.

In a craft where so many try and don't quite make it, you're only going to shoot yourself in the foot by talking big. Don't let your mouth sing the praises of your work, let your work take care of that. I'm talking about your writing, here, for anyone who might be getting some idea to bother me with a defensive statement about this. I've read quite a bit of writing from members around here, but I'll tell you right now, that I've never read a narcissist's story that I liked.

I'm a little tired. Other than my contest winners, I won't be accepting any requests to read writing until further notice. Don't even ask, please.

The best way to get people to look at your work is to give them a reason to look at your work. I would love to go through here and read everyone's treasures and give my thoughts on them, but I just don't have the time or the inclination. If you want reviews, join Flipside or Critique Swap. I know I said I wouldn't be active in writersco, and I'm not really. I'm just offering some advice for all of you who want to be read but don't want to take steps to make that happen. You've got an upload writings option... use it! Then go out, and make sure that people have a reason to read your work. I read the work of a friend today, because she asked me to. I noticed that several other people, including some who'd contacted me and some who'd just put it up in a blog or in their house, didn't ask me to read their work. They just said 'I've posted my work, tell me what you think' in some form or fashion. 

People, you have to be proactive. The publishing world will eat your face if you think you can write something, then sit and wait for that nest egg to roll in. That's the lesson that Flipside should be teaching everyone... there, we read each other's work because those works are involved in contests. There we read others work because they earn the right to be read by competing, winning, or just trying. That's a community, people, and I'm so proud of them that I could just scream.