I've been watching a Travel Channel series on Netflix called Expedition Unknown. Not only is the series itself great -- Josh Gates was always amazing on Destination Truth too, and is more than a little hunk-y -- but the places he goes and the things he sees are nothing short of awe inspiring.
When I was around a year old my aunt Paula moved in with my mom to help take care of me. My sperm donor was never much of a parent, even then, and between me, her job, and a little sister on the way, she needed the help. To this day, my aunt has been a huge influence on me, both in the things I like and the way I see the world.
Anyone who has spent any length of time talking to me already knows this, but just so it's stated... I'm a video game geek. Not like some casual "yeah I play on occasion" or "I like X series but not much else," but a dyed in the wool, I-can-name-you-the-processor-chip-from-every-console-ever-made kind of obsessed gaming geek.
Tomorrow is the last day for submitting your stories for the March contest, so if you haven't done so yet, please do. We're still sitting at only seven entries,with the last one being posted Sunday. At this point I'm honestly tempted to just ask the entrants if they would accept a 3 month sub consolation prize and call this month a bust; we got some great entries from wonderful authors, but the volume of turnout has been pretty lackluster.
I was going to ask if people wanted an extension, but eh, I'll just go ahead and do it. The March "On An Adventure!" contest deadline is being moved to the 19th, giving interested authors who have uncompleted stories an extra week to finish them, with votes likely being tabulated the 24th.
Please, more entries! Everything's been great so far, but a contest without competition isn't a contest at all!
This is just a quick reminder for everyone that the final day to submit stories for the March "On An Adventure!" contest is this Saturday, March 12th, so if you are interested in taking a shot please do so!
We've had some really great entries so far, but response has been a lot less than it was to last month's contest. Remember, 10k words is the CAP, but that doesn't mean your story has to be that many words; your story can be as short as you want, from fifteen to fifteen hundred, all the way up to the limit.
Thanks to how successful my last contest was, Miss Erin has given me permission to run another one of these things! As such, it is my pleasure to announce the BCTS contest for March 2016:
As of today, entries are officially being accepted for the March 2016 contest, "On An Adventure!"
As a reminder, here is the original blog entry, including instructions on what the terms of contest entry and final prizes are. Y'all have two weeks to get your entries in, but with us utilizing the Kudos system for votes there is a minor advantage to posting earlier, though not as much as you might think! (Just look at the last contests' entries to see THAT!)
I keep the BCTS main page, as well as my own tracking page, open at all times, and routinely refresh them throughout the day to check for content. I keep the site's scaling slightly smaller than my monitor, though, so along each edge of the screen there's about an inch of the site's default background color.
Imagine my surprise today when I refreshed, and that went from a very very soft, creamy pink to a much darker maroon with dots!
After recovering from the surprise, I think I like this better though. It mellows the site's appearance a little bit. Good choice, elves!
So, if you've got a story for the competition and haven't posted it yet, I'm trusting y'all to get 'em in by Midnight (February 5th 2016) your local time zone. With the response we've had I don't see any reason to prolong the due date, especially after the idea being submitted garnered minimal concern.
Also, just a reminder: as of right now the prizes are:
That's what I have, in regards to stories for my mini-contest thing. I've read about half of them, but most of my open browser tabs right now are stories starting with the words "The Crush."
People, you have no idea how much this means to me. So much, in fact, that I'm upping the prize for the winner to a 3 month sub, rather than a one-month. Well, okay, I was probably gonna do that ANYWAY since there's not a non-recurring option for one month any more, but still, the thought counts, right?
That is how many pieces of fiction I've posted to the site.
Of course, this is a bit selective. I skipped title pages, obviously, but I'm also not including things like the lyrics to the "Hollywood!" theme song (a story I still plan to write, one of these days,) the BC Chat Gaming posts (don't remember those? not surprising, nobody read them :P ) and similarly not-really-stories-but-in-the-stories-list-anyway bits. Likewise, it ALSO doesn't include blog entries or forum topics, both of which have seen short bits of fiction shared as well.
There are some things in life that are unobtainable, like the legendary white stag. Everyone has that one thing they've wanted, and every organization has that one lofty goal that every member seeks.
Today (or, in point of fact, last night,) I have obtained one of those goals.
I had a user of the site (who I hope to see more stories from soon!) contact me about my last list of Rules for Non-Suck Writing and ask my advice about a couple of things. While I was talking to them I made an observation that stuck me as something that could be really useful to share with everyone else too, so I thought I'd add it here:
My first post about my personal rules for what makes writing -- whether it be games, movies, stories, etc. -- good or bad did really well, and a lot of people seemed to think I had good advice, and good points.
Well, of course I'm going to take a chance of mucking all that up by adding more!
For those participating in the role-playing game tonight...
If you aren't already aware, the chat server for BC has changed to http://chat.bigclosetr.us/c/ . It DOESN'T auto-reroute you to a room, though, so you'll have to manually direct to the dungeon via the [/JOIN dungeon] command.
I'm heading there now, and I hope to see everyone for the game tonight!
Yep. I'm still here. I check the site every day, in fact, though I've been quite remiss in my commenting.
Work is keeping me thrashed. Writing is, as a result, going slow. With luck the more I get used to the former the better I'll do at the latter. Until that time, though, sorry for the delay on any and all projects I've been working on, though just so everyone's up to date...
For many of us who've grown up primarily over the last 25 years, Satoru Iwata was an important figure in our lives. As a member of the team at Nintendo, and CEO, he's influenced a lot of us more than we may care to admit, and for many of us -- such as myself -- the products he's helped bring to the market have been one of the few things in life at times that helped us deal with the pain of transgenderism, adolescence, and just life in general.
I'm not sure what Satoru's stance on trans issues or LGBT stuff in general was, but it really doesn't matter at the moment.
Today is shaping up to be a landmark day for equality in the US. Heck, a landmark month in certain ways, given recent changes to the standing of TG treatment in government health care. Whether you agree with gay marriage or not, though, let's all give a few moments to feel happy for all the people whose lives, both now and in the future, have a chance of being enriched by the decision the court made today.
On the one hand (and the more important one at that,) it's GREAT to have a job again, and I'm making more per hour than I've ever made before, with semi-stable hours to boot.
On the other....
I'm completely, utterly thrashed at the moment. As mentally ready as I was to get back to work, my body is definitely feeling it, especially after two six-day-in-a-row sessions virtually back to back. I'm sore, and I'm exhausted to the point that writing has been the last thing on my mind: heck, some days I've barely gotten out of my bed until time to go to work.
Crazy times have been had the last few weeks, but I am now employed again!
I'm back at Wal Mart, though this time in Mountain View rather than Heber Springs. The upshot is that it's less than 5 minutes' drive or 15 or so walking away from my aunt's, where I'm now staying, so gas costs are no longer an issue at all. I'll also be making more an hour than I ever have before, AND working a relatively stable schedule since I'm an "IMS Associate," from 10 PM to 7 AM.
Checks can be made out & sent to:
Joyce Melton
1001 Third St.
Space 80
Calimesa, CA 92320
USA
Note: $6000 is the operating, maintenance and upgrade budget. Amounts received in excess of the $6000 will be applied to long term debt accrued over the last 19 years.
