When Worlds Collide (OPEN)

[Adanon Pyre]

Ok I'm interested, but I have a problem area. I have a great idea, and it is going awesomely in my head, but every time I try to put on paper (literal or electronic) I blank. So any help there would be great, also if I'm gonna make this work reminders are a must. Thanks. Oh also are those sites for longer stories free for using or do they cost? If I post anything on Gaia directly it would only be an excerpt but I didn't know about the other sites as I've never used them before. Again, any advice would be great.

[Limitless Stupidity]

phantomkitsune

My Canadian Thanksgivings usually don't, as it's just my mom and I. This year we're going to a friend's house, as she's having a bunch of people over and her ex-boyfriend who hasn't moved out yet is a chef.

But I'll be back in the US for Thanksgiving, too, and that should involve going to my grandparents' and lots of turkey and everything. That'll be exciting.

Two Thanksgivings in two months - I hope you have lots for which to be thankful. =)

This is going to be my first Thanksgiving away from family - it's just going to be my husband and I, which will either be awesome or it'll remind us about how much we miss our families, haha. But I'm looking forward to creating our own traditions, our own first major holiday where it's just us and we're actually together for it.

[phantomkitsune]

Adanon - I recommend doing it rough and then editing. So just put it down on paper however it comes out and come back to make it fantastic later.

Yes, fictionpress is free. I'll probably be using Google Docs or putting it up on Smashwords and then giving everyone in the thread a coupon to get it free if they want to read the whole thing.


And yes, I have lots to be thankful for. This year has been rather spectacular.

Creating your own traditions is going to be kind of fun, at least!

[Limitless Stupidity]

Adanon Pyre

Ok I'm interested, but I have a problem area. I have a great idea, and it is going awesomely in my head, but every time I try to put on paper (literal or electronic) I blank. So any help there would be great, also if I'm gonna make this work reminders are a must. Thanks. Oh also are those sites for longer stories free for using or do they cost? If I post anything on Gaia directly it would only be an excerpt but I didn't know about the other sites as I've never used them before. Again, any advice would be great.

Welcome to the contest! I'll put you on the reminder's list, so no worries there. I've had that same problem you're having - where I'll have a great idea and just can't figure out how to start writing it, and I keep deleting all the beginnings I try out. A couple of fellow writers here have offered up some great advice on completing a story; I recommend reading their thoughts on the subject. You'll find them quoted on the first page of this thread. =)

Before starting this contest, I hadn't even begun writing the story I'm currently working on. Now, two months later, I officially have 35k words written, and there's still loads of ideas in my head and I know generally where I want it to go. The thing that has really helped me is just writing - don't worry about how it sounds or how it flows, just start writing. Take it one sentence at a time and just roll with it - don't look back. Try to write everyday, even if it's just a paragraph or a sentence or two here and there. Personally, I've gotten into the habit of writing every day my husband goes to work, and it's resulted in way more progress than I ever would have expected.

Nobody can start your story but you - you have the idea, you know where you plan to take it - now you just have to sit down and start, no matter how it turns out.

But yeah, definitely take a look at the tips other writers have given on the front page of this thread. They helped me tons. =3

As for the other websites where you can post longer works, yes, most of them that I know of are free to use. Fictionpress.com is free - you just make an account and post the story chapter by chapter. Google Docs is also free, though I think they recently changed the name of it to Google Drive - you can post your entire story on there as a document and then share it with people or make it public. Those are the two that I would recommend using, but I'm sure other people might be able to recommend others if those aren't to your liking.

[Adanon Pyre]

Thanks, I'll have to check them out, this goes for the tips and the sites.

[Limitless Stupidity]

@PK

I'm glad your year has been spectacular. =)

What awesome things have happened for you, if you don't mind sharing? I love to hear about the good in people's lives - it stinks that it seems way more common for people to spread around the bad that's happened and leave out the good bits.

For me, my first nephew was born this year, and he's healthy, happy, and just the cutest kid on the planet (not being biased here, he's really cute!). I graduated college, another major bonus. I moved in with my husband and we got our first townhouse together... hm, and I got to visit the Grand Canyon, which has been a dream of mine since I was in elementary school, and it exceeded all expectations.

@Adanon Pyre

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions as you get started. =)

[phantomkitsune]

I won the GGW, when I was runner-up the two years prior, and I got my EMR license, and I helped the business I work for become a lot more successful, and my family (a bunch of editors and former journalists and PR people) noted on a couple fronts that I'm the go-to epublishing person, which was really validating. I've managed to hit 150 blog posts on my blog, which is kind of a big milestone for me given I only started blogging three times a week instead of one a couple months ago. I taught myself how to knit, too, and that's been really satisfying.

And I'm moving back to Wisconsin! I'm really happy about that. I'll miss the weather here, but a lot of my friends are there and I'm a lot closer in terms of traveling to see a lot of other people I like.

Congrats on finishing college - what did you major in?

Cool about the nephew, and congrats on the townhouse! I am a ways from buying my first property, not least because my American credit is terrible.

But I'm hoping that by the end of the year I'll have a novel out and be enrolled in the next stage of school. I want my EMT-Intermediate license. Actually mostly I want my Critical Care Paramedic license, but that's still a long ways off and I might find things I really like doing just with EMT-Intermediate.

[Limitless Stupidity]

CONTEST UPDATE:

I've been thinking a lot about the prizes recently, and really, I don't feel satisfied by them. I don't feel like they adequately encourage people along in the process to get to the finish line the way that I want them to. It just doesn't seem fair that people have to wait around a whole year to get something out of this - besides the practice with writing, of course, which I'm sure we all find valuable in and of itself.

Therefore, I've decided that in addition to those prizes, I will be giving out 2 gold for every word you guys write for this contest, effective immediately. Write 200 words today, earn 400. Write 1000 words today, earn 2000. Have you already written 6k for this contest since its opening? Let me know and you'll get 12,000 gold for it. Eventually, once you hit that 15,000 mark, you will have earned at least 30,000 gold just for participating.

It doesn't sound like much, I'm sure, but I feel like it's at least serving the purpose of encouraging progress, even if you never do finish the story and even if at the end of this year, you don't have enough words to enter for the bigger prizes.

Rules to Qualify:

-- The writing must be written for this contest.

-- You must show me your progress before the gold is sent to you.

-- You can get the gold in chunks as you write (for example: "I wrote 200 words today!" and then I'll send you a trade for 400 gold), or you can get the gold in one lump sum whenever you feel as if you've made enough progress to make the trade worth the effort (for example: "I wrote 10k these past three months!" and then I'll send you a trade for 20,000 gold).

Steps to Receive your Gold:

1.) Post in the thread how many words you want to redeem.

2.) PM me those words. If it is too long for that, you can use email or Google Drive (previously known as Google Docs) and then share the document with me if you don't wish for anyone else to view it. Simply ask for my email address in a PM and I'll give it to you.

3.) Accept the trade!

[phantomkitsune]

Oh, wow, that's really cool of you.

[Limitless Stupidity]

@PK

This is slightly embarrassing, but I looked up what GGW stood for and Google revealed either Girls Gone Wild (which I doubted was the correct one) or the Great Global Warming Swindle (which I also doubted). What is that? Congratulations on your EMR license! Don't worry, I know what that one stands for. >.>

150 blog posts! That's incredible! I started a blog last month and have... five posts. Total. =P

That's awesome that you taught yourself knitting, and that you're moving back to where you'll be happiest. And it's so cool to hear about your career success - that's a pretty big deal, especially what with so many people out of work (at least here in the U.S. - is unemployment as big a problem in Canada?).

I graduated with a Bachelor's in Special Education (grades K-12, modified and comprehensive) and then a minor in Information Studies and Technology.

Oh, I'm with you there when it comes to American credit. Before June of this year, I had ZERO credit to my name. According to banks and car dealerships everywhere, I didn't even exist, which was all sorts of annoying. I guess that's something I should add to my list of awesomeness for this year - I actually got credit, finally. We're just renting the townhouse for now, since we move around a lot (my husband's in the military).

That's a great goal for the end of this year - I'd sure love to have a novel out myself! Well, maybe I should focus first on getting the novel finished and edited, haha.

[phantomkitsune]

Oh! Yes - Gaia's Greatest Writer, which is the name for the summer extravaganza the Anything Goes Writing League puts on.

EMR is Emergency Medical Responder, the British Columbia designation for a basic EMT (here is an infographic).

The economy's not bad in Canada, especially in BC: largely because of the oil fields.

Oh, neat about the degree - Special Education is a growing field.

Which branch of military is he, if you don't mind my asking?

[Limitless Stupidity]

See, somehow I just knew that you weren't talking about Girls Gone Wild. >.>

But wow, that's awesome that you won that! Congratulations! It's a pretty magnificent title - Gaia's Greatest Writer. I think I'd probably be intimidated right now if I were competing against you in a contest, haha. -is glad to be a host instead of contestant-

He's in the Navy. =)

[phantomkitsune]

XD

I'm excited for the trophy, too. I dunno when I'll get it, as we're apparently passing like ships in the night for the next while, but we'll both live in the Midwest, so that'll be fine.

Oh, neat. My future roommate's boyfriend is in the Navy.

[Limitless Stupidity]

Wow, you get an actual, physical trophy for that? That's awesome!

The Navy has its good side, but it's definitely not a lifestyle I'd recommend for most (including myself, haha). It's hard being away from him for months at a time, and especially hard when I never know when it's going to happen. I do know that next April, he'll be gone for six months with limited to no contact with me - whenever I think of it, I kind of tear up. Which is weird and annoying. I choose not to think of it much.

Didn't get any writing at all done today - we spent the day watching movies and cooking gnocchi soup for the first time - delicious!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING PK! =D

[phantomkitsune]

Yep! This'll be my second trophy for it. It's pretty awesome to have tangible rewards.

It's gotta be hard to be away. That sucks.

Gnocchi soup is amazing.

I have been having so many issues with my wifi. It is really frustrating.