Howdy all,

Been awhile but life doth get in the way. Hope all is well with my Litmock brethren and sisters. We’ve been working on some things and thought we’d give a shout out. First of all, we have a new contest, which I’ll let StarLizard tell you about in just a tic. I like it. It looks like fun and I can’t wait to see the submissions.

For those of you abroad in the UK or Canada or Pakistan (WOW we have people all over) or wherever, Turkey Day in America is November 27th this year. We eat too much, get tranquilized by turkey and watch football (the American kind) with little puddles of drool spilling from our mouth as pumpkin pie crumbs accrue on our chest. It’s a perfect day to vote on good submissions. That’s all I’m saying. And there’s no law—well maybe there is but I hate laws except for ones like gravitational pull—but there should be no law against GETTING a Turkey and eating yourself into a stupor if you don’t live inside the borders of the US of A. Go ahead. You have my blessing. If it’s against the law where you’re at and you get caught just send the authorities my way. I’ll save some tryptophan from my bird and dip some blow darts in it. I can stun at least 4 or 5 overzealous police types with the trytophan from one good turkey breast I’m sure.

On the work front the economy has been brutal as everyone knows but I am getting some decent bookings for January. Hopefully I’ll have some overflow work to spread around by then. Hopefully we all survive until then. Maybe I’ll just OD on turkey! Blech. Then I’d miss all the depression Xmas brings! 

Ah well, till next time,

Sayonara..
& now from Star:

New Category: Litmocracy Short Contests

The Short Contest category was added to enable writers to write within guidelines. Some writers may find it easier to follow general guidelines and use them as inspiration, instead of writing in any of the many ‘free’ categories available on Litmocracy. Writers and voters alike should keep guidelines set for the contest they are entering in mind when submitting or voting on a piece. Ultimately, I will decide whether a piece has gone too far out of those guidelines, based on comments and flags submitted by voters and writers alike. I may ask you to re-work your story, or advise you to post in a free category instead. 

Litmocracy wants to free your mind, but we know it’s scary. That’s why we’re introducing this guided contest forum. To help those who may need it get going in a structured environment. And many of you already writing in free categories might like the added challenge of having to include or exclude certain elements, and to respect a word-count guideline. 

Here is a brief explanation of the contests guidelines, as can be found here in the forums:

Entry length: When a word guideline number is provided in the contest rules, we expect you to respect it. When a word guideline number is posted, entry lengths are not carved in stone, but you should keep your word count close to that number. Guidelines are not a word count limit, but a guideline as to how long your entry should be. 
Special Tags: Special tags should always be respected. They may include words or ideas that need to be developed, or that may not be included in your piece. The special tags will often be challenging, especially when considering the contest theme. The goal is to get writers to think ‘out of the box’ – not following special tags may lead to being ‘voted down’ by voters or to me asking you to edit your piece or submit it in one of the free categories. 

Submit by date: In addition to these guidelines, there will also be a ‘submit by’ date in the contest thread. You need to submit your entry before midnight on that day in order to win.

If you’ve been here a few times, you know what Litmocracy is all about. You know it isn’t about rules or administrating. Please rest assured that all comments and suggestions I may make on this category’s entries are meant to ensure that all participants get their fair share, and have been thoroughly reviewed and assessed and based on comments from this site’s administrators, writers and voters. 

A thread has been started in the Short Contest forum – please drop by and share your comments, ideas and suggestions for this new category.  Our first contest is November Blues.

Enjoy!

- Star