What's going on? Back when every post required editing by me before posting, I sometimes had 20 or 30 stories in the queue, eight or ten new ones every week. Now that posted stories appear immediately, posting has slowed down to two or three a week.
I've made several changes in the site to accomodate requests over the years but this slow down I don't understand. Two months ago, I had 1800 visitors a day, now it's down to 1400, probably because of fewer stories appearing. I still see stories appearing on the other sites, so what's up?
- Erin
Comments
re: No Story Posts in almost a Week
I must write quicker....I must write quicker.
One thing I've noticed is that some of the old authors from the old BigCloset don't appear to be writing anymore. There were some very good stories on there, which might be nice to see re-published on TopShelf.
Hugs
Karen
Yeah...
I haven't been doing much reposting, or story writing myself lately. Moving and dealing with crackers has taken a lot of time. I've got two things that should be up within a week or so, tho; a new chapter of Private Mountain and a new "Fit-4-U" story. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Just luck I think Erin. You'
Just luck I think Erin. You'll get your visator numbers up again I'm sure.
Take care pal,
Cathy.
I'm working on it.
Don't expect anything before christmas though ;-)
I'm a slow writer.
im working on it to
got a couple in the pipeline but not exactly sure when theyll be finished, hopefully before christmas :)
hugs all
samantha
Thanks for getting me motivated!
I've been working on the next chapter of "No Obligation" off and on for a few weeks, and this post pushed me into finishing Part 5. Sorry it took so long, but I hope folks like where I'm headed.
Please please please please comment!
*hugs*
Randalynn
"I'm a peripheral visionary. I can see the future, but only out of the corner of my eye." - Steven Wright
Content participation
I dusted off a story from the old big closet but despite being read, no one seems to think it is good enough for a comment so I didn't make any further effort
D. D. Weldons
What's going On
I doing my bestest...
Can only write so many novels at a time. Course you know how much I hate posting anything unfinished so it does tend to take a little longer. I figured that it might take some folks a week to read dah whole things.
Only got six comments on em though.
You got em on your site before I posted them on my own even...
Big boobie hugs
Holly
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
What's going on
I think this is one of those lulls in the creative output that has hit everyone at about the same time. Personally, I've been rewriting a particular loooong section of Warrior from Batuk to expand on the character's transition and get into her head. I hated to do it as it may mean reediting the whole darn thing, but I really like this one and want to give it my absolute best. And naturally, once you return to a story after a hiatus, especially after learning a little more of writing mechanics, you see "flaws" where none were before. And so it goes...
The Unity thing is still in the works, but as a comic book. Between rewrites of "Batuk" I've been spending a LOT of time learning and relearning some 3D software I bought a while ago and have been making quite a few scenes and sets. The Ancient Egypt set portion is nearly finished and basically only requires that I create some Egyptian clothes in Shade (I'm not pleased with the Egyptian stuff for sale on the net - it's all about the Pharaoh, his Queen and all that royal nonsense) to use in Poser, to transfer to Vue. Time consuming, and a learning experience for sure, but if you don't actually stretch your muscles every now and then, how do you know how far you can go?
I feel bad about not leaving comments lately. Comments are the life-blood for an aouthor. Part of it is the time factor, and I quail at starting a very long story over 40,000 words, and part of it is that I've become more discriminating. I only read certain types of stories nowadays. I don't read never-ending serials and avoid series now until they finish. This chapter 7, chapter 8, followed a couple of months later with chapter 9 and 10 leaves me in limbo too long. (This means YOU, Itinerant :)) There have been too any trips into series that never finish and it's more fun to read an interesting story from cover to cover, so to speak, than to try to pick up the thread again at some distant time. I also tend to skip reposts that I've read before.
For what it's worth, as a poor substitue in lieu of a review, D.D., in terms of pure talent, I think you're one of the top three or four authors who have EVER posted here. And Wholeman, you have improved incredibly over the years. I tried Rhiannon, the beginning mostly, then some in the middle, and then the ending. I admire your style, verve, and (now) technical skills, but I like to put myself in the main character's role and your fantasy endings for her just ain't the way I want to end up AT ALL. It kinda leaves me with a salty taste in my mouth, or sometimes a sort of... well, never mind. :)
At the periphery,
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
never-ending serials
Ouch that hurt. Well not really as I am only too well aware of the problem. It is just that for a new and time-beleagured author nothing ever goes according to plan. Life intrudes.
Without the confidence of an established and enviable (flattery will, I hope, get me everywhere :) ) reputation such as yours Aardvark, when one first writes one does so with a certain trepidation and hesitation. If a few kind readers support one, and no-one else actually sends you life threatening emails, one continues, stumbling towards a conclusion.
But it is admittedly far, far, better to have completed first, before having the temerity to post. That is one lesson I have learnt. So if I ever should be so foolhardy as to try it again that is what I shall do. The only point of disagreement I have is that DofC is written as a serial and is, I think, best read with perhaps a week between chapters.
But I solemnly promise to all and sundry that it will be finished. If only for my own satisfaction. After all I think I have a story to tell. Perhaps you then might read it and tell me what you think :)?
Otherwise the dearth of postings is possibly due to people being on holiday, or having children on holiday, or just enjoying summer.
Fleurie
Why are we ending cereals?
Americans buy 2.7 billion packages of breakfast cereal each year. If laid end to end, the empty cereal boxes from one year's consumption would stretch to the moon and back.
I suppose they pay for then with "Chexs."
The cereal industry uses 816 million pounds of sugar per year, enough to coat each and every American with more than three pounds of sugar. The cereal with the highest amount of sugar per serving is Smacks, which is 53% sugar.
Eat enough "Samcks" and you could grow a pair of "Lucky Charms."
Americans consume about ten pounds, or 160 bowls of cereal, per person each year. But America ranks only fourth in per capita cereal consumption. Ireland ranks first, England ranks second, and Australia ranks third. 49% of Americans start each morning with a bowl of cereal, 30% eat toast, 28% eat eggs, 28% have coffee, 17% have hot cereal and fewer than 10% have pancakes, sausage, bagels or french toast.
Do Englishmen eat "Quaker's Oats?"
In terms of dollar value breakfast cereals are the third most popular product sold at supermarkets, after carbonated beverages and milk. Cigarettes are the fourth most popular item followed by fresh bread and rolls.
That's enough "Corn" for you "Flakes."
"Cheerios!"
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Och Aye
It is the Scots who are renowned for making porridge. Alledgedly they save their breathe to cool it, but I am unsure of the mechanics behind this so perhaps it is only a rumour.
They are also have it on good authority that they sprinkle it with salt although their motivation for doing so remains obscure.
It is not known if they eat it. It seems unlikely as it would detract from the taste of a good single malt. An alternative, and possibly more credible, reason given for its manufacture is that when sleeping rough under the stars amongst the purple heather they roll it out into a large pancake shape and wrap it round them to keep out the cold and damp
Quaker, headquartered in Chicago, is a unit of PepsiCo Beverages & Foods.
Porridge, and by extension *Quaker Oats, is one of the few things for which the Scots cannot blame the English
In the circumstances I therefore demand an immediate retraction by Angela Rasch of the implied slur on the good name of my country!
Yours in high dudgeon,
Fleurie
*Whether Quaker Oats is indeed porridge is admittedly debatable. The International Court of Justice has been debating the issue for several decades, but the case has reached an impasse as the Court is not recognised by the United States. God only knows where, if ever, it will end.
Slur??
Perhaps you meant to say slurry? After all, isn't porridge nothing but a breakfast slurry?
As I stated in "It Brings On Many Changes" --
"I had a bowl of oatmeal and a banana for breakfast. I vowed to set Quaker Oats straight. If they were going to market their cereal as a health food, the fat guy with the ruddy cheeks had to go."
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
DofC and other unfinished masterpieces
Flattery does not annoy the Earth Pig. :)
Sorry, Fleurie, I didn't mean any of what I said as a critique of series or serials in general. I differentiate between the two. A serial to me is a never-ending or extremely long tale - sort of a TG blog. You've seen them. "Chapter #110: Slow day at work; Lilly goes shopping" and so forth. They generally end with the collapse of the sidereal universe. They personally frustrate me, possibly because I do not have the patience of Buddha. I also recognize that some of them have an incredible following.
Series, by my definition, do have an end, or are originally designed to end. If DofC ends, then by my definition, it's a series.
I do not criticize anyone for writing a series or for how long they take doing it. Real life can easily interfere, of course, and a story can change directions, putting the original ending into a monstrous plot hole. Some fine stories end with a whimper in just that way.
And you're right. A new author needs encouragement - I know I did - and may well write a serial as a means to test the waters. I prefer to leave a review at the end of an entire story because it's easy, and more efficient, but that wouldn't do the important task of encouragement.
I will try to do better in the future. :)
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
I'm way out on my writing too
Don't know why, other than busy-busy at work, but I just never seem to find the time or when I do, I don't have the needed spark to make it flow right. I suppose, at some point, I'll just have to fight through it and then edit like crazy!
Shifting Priorities
Right now my writing is on hiatus as I am in the middle of a job search. I have a few good nibbles but no offer as of yet and may end up contracting for a few months until something permanent shows up.
I still have a few chapters of Kimberly in the works, as well as another Diana Hunter story and a new adventure of The Rose. Plus, I am excited about a new project with commercial potential. More details as they develop. That and a few half-finished short stories in the pipeline.
Be patient. Content is on the way. And Big Closet will get it first.
New Stories
Erin,
Of course, with only three comments on my two stories, and over 400 hits, who could blame the authors for not posting much?
80,000 words, and three people actually left comments. The only reason it looks like six, is that I appreciate comments enough to answer each of them.
If I got a dollar a comment I'd starve. Maybe hundreds of hours are being wasted.
I heard other authors complaining about not getting many comments too. I think maybe Erin should get a reader's hall of shame. Members with X amount of reads, and only Y amount of comments?
At least that will increase the amount of 'I read it', comments.
It would prolly only give incentive for folks not to become 'members' and just lurk and read the stories.
I guess someone smarter than I am will come up with a good answer.
Wholeman
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Yes, the weird author with the boob fetish.
Why do we write?
Wholeman,
I truly understand your posting, but at the end of it all it comes down to the question I pose as the subject.
Why do we, as authors, take the time to write these stories? Why did you take the time to request the permission of Chelsea Charms? What's the point of the hours of research, the mental effort to respond to an editor's or beta-reader's comments, the work to get the setting right and the characters fleshed out? Only another author can really understand how much work goes into one of these stories.
I have my reasons for writing that are quite independent of feedback. Yet even when there is negative feedback, or worse no feedback at all, we write.
That said, for stories that are large/long enough to be multi-part, feedback can affect the course of the tale and improve it for both author and reader. For shorter stories, all it can do is encourage new works.
Ultimately, though, each author has to decide if we write for the comments, or for ourselves. If we write for the comments, then trying to come up with a way of encouraging comments is desireable. If we write for ourselves, we can take pride in having accomplished something few will try, and fewer will take the time to do well.
Nicole (a.k.a. Itinerant)
--
Veni, Vidi, Velcro:
I came, I saw, I stuck around.
<-- comments -->
I don't think i write for the comments, but they really do make a difference. Especially when I've been slowed down in my next chapters by illness for the last several weeks. :-( I love people to tear into the text. Really; I value those more than those that just (just!) say they enjoyed it. Specifics! Why did you enjoy it? What didn't work? what do you actually think is happening? It helps improve later chapters and stories no end!
--
Rachel
I write because ...
... I need to. I write because the story demands to be written. Because I've fallen in love with this world and these people, and because the characters have taken on a life of their own and I'm just as curious as every other reader when it comes to finding out where they're going and what they'll find when they get there.
That being said, I admit I love the comments as well. What girl doesn't like attention? *grins* I come to BigCloset and Sapphire's Place everyday to check -- sometimes several times a day. They remind me that people really do read what I write, and care about my characters the way I do. I want to hear what people think, where they think my characters are heading, where they'd like them to go, what works, what doesn't work -- I like to hear it all. But in the end, I don't write for the readers alone. I write for myself, and for the sake of the story.
I guess the bottom line is, I miss the comments when they don't come. But as long as there's still a story to tell, I'll keep writing. It's part of who I am. *smiles* Besides, I want to see how it all comes out, too.
*hugs*
Randalynn
"Certainly the game is rigged. Don't let that stop you.
if you don't bet, you can't win." -- Robert A. Heinlein