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Thanks to Kathleen for allowing us to post these announcements here.
Go to the below link to learn about the challenge. Please note that you now must be registered at Liberty Hall (mike's site) to participate. The registration is to make our lives easier and to protect your publishing rights. No moaning, please.
The challenge is open from now until Monday, 25 April 2005, 0800 GMT 0 (London, 5 hrs ahead of EST, US)
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Don't know why. If you are registered, which you are, it should take you right there. Try http://www.munsil.net/index.html and click on Forums, then go to Flash Chalenge #4. If you don't see it, you are either not registered yet, or have not logged in. Or we have a glitch. Let's not forget the glitch. Next to the infamous snoggle it is the most maligned beat in history. It does have its purpose... oops, maundering again. Sorry.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I don't know if it's my e-mail or what, but I'm not getting the auto reply.
I've tested my spinfinder account and nothing seems to be getting through (which could be half the problem), but I also tried from my office account and I didn't get a reply.
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No, I think my web account is acting up, but that still doesn't explain why my office e-mail never got the auto-reply. (BTW, while I was typing this I just received Mike's e-mail about his story in F&F, so I guess it's working with some sort of three hour delay. It does that from time to time -- go figure ).
I'll send Mike an e-mail with that address so he can send it to me directly.
Yeah, I finally got the request... it took about 20 minutes to reach me. Not sure if earthlink or hotmail or someone else's lag, but I hope this doesn't happen again.
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Okay, I think I got it in in time. There's probably going to be a lot of stories with the same subject matter, but I don't care. It was fun. Posts: 836 | Registered: Jul 2004
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There seems to be a serious delay on your end Keeley, I've yet to see your story come in. Nevertheless, it'll show up eventually, I suspect.
Posts: 1520 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Whew! That was an ordeal and a half. I thought, Great, I'll start the challenge over lunch and finish it up before it gets busy again.
So much for that, the Gremlins in my e-mail decided to make this one hellish for me. Instead of writing while it was nice and quiet, I did while the phone was ringing off the hook!!!! Arghh! It must be the full moon or something, because this couldn't have been more stressful if I'd had the sword of Dameclese hanging over my head!
Oh well it's done. I can release. I can let go. I can stop ranting. <deep breath in...and out>
All right. Best of luck to the rest of you planning to this over the weekend. This should net some interesting stories. (Okay I'm starting to smile now.)
I would like to add that it really helps out the people putting on this Challenge if those submitting follow the formatting guidelines (follow the link in the FC#4 topic post). I know it says optional, but if, like last time, 19 people end up submitting, and it takes the mod an extra 5 minutes to format, that means he'll be spending a little over an hour and a half on formatting alone. And that's if the formatting goes smoothly.
So, please, no matter how much HSO has offended you in the past, please follow the guidelines.
Posted that thought on Mike's site and decided I should add it here as well.
[This message has been edited by Keeley (edited April 22, 2005).]
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Good luck to everyone who plans to write this week-end. The trigger is a challenge, but it's just right. I had fun with this one even though I don't particularly like my end product -- but I think just about everyone says that.
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I'm sure mine was close. I had to rush to get it saved and sent...but it was fun. Sigh, another sloppy ending, even though I had a good idea where it was going...the last few paragraphs were rushed. I'm sure it will show.
Posts: 807 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Presently, there are 11 entries. We're about on track with last weekend's flash.
On Monday, we will be posting the stories on the FC4 board, which is now private and cannot be crawled over by web robots -- protecting your publishing rights, and making it easier to find and crit a story.
Although, I'm wondering if in the meantime we shouldn't post the stories up to a hidden or protected web page so that those who have already finished their flash challenges can get to reading and critiquing. I could send the web address, login and password with your receipts...
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I love the idea, since I want to read them, darn it!
I've worked with phpBB enough to know a couple of easy ways to do that without making much extra work. Shall I shoot you an email or do you have it under control?
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Oh, he has it under control, it's just that he wants to do it on a separate web page for which he has to create the html.
What I could do instead, is set up a separate hidden forum where those who have already flashed or who are not going to flash could start reading. But in phpBB the way to do that involves creating a group and assigning the appropriate rights to that group. Which by itself is not a big deal. However, then you have to approve Group membership on an individual basis, and on the weekends we also try to have lives.
So... if you have a better idea than that, please let us know.
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Well, I flashed and Yahoo reports that the story was sent, but I haven't gotten the response saying that the story was received. I'll toss a message in at Liberty Hall, too, I guess; hope it made it.
Posts: 491 | Registered: Oct 2004
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HSO snuck me a few of the stories earlier so I can read them on the plane--but I succumbed to temptation and read a couple. Brace yourself for some stiff competition. Judgeing ain't going to be easy.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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I really missed not being able to participate last week. I just got back home from Las Vegas today, and there was no way I could get on the 'net while there. I don't have a laptop, and the internet cafes were all around $.25 a minute. On a budget of $20 a day to include all meals and transportation, it just wasn't happening. Especially because I wanted to really take time to enjoy reading the stories and critique all of them. So, oh well.
But, I have once more launched into the fray, and submitted a quickie that is only half as long as my first one, for the picture challenge. I am actually proud of writing something shorter, as I have a tendency to be overly verbose and use 20 words to say something that could probably be summed up in less than ten.
We'll see how it fares, now that it has been tossed amongst the sharks . Actually I'm looking forward to having it torn apart.
Good luck to one and all!!!
[This message has been edited by autumnmuse (edited April 24, 2005).]
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Okay... so you've written your flash, right? Do you want to get a head start on reading and critiquing the stories?
Well, you can. All you need to do is email me, and I'll send you a Word doc with all of the stories up to the moment. Please do this only if you have already taken the challenge. If you haven't already written your flash, you will not get the file.
To get the story, the following must be in your subject line:
"Send me the Flash!"
Send it to the flash challenge address, please.
Presently, we have 18 stories ready. If any more come before the challenge ends, they will NOT be added to the file. You will need to wait until Monday to read them on the board.
Actually, there's 19 if you count my story, which comes in at 1400 words (not exactly flash). Naturally, I had time to think it over, so it won't be part of the voting process. I will post it up on Monday, though.
Let me know if you want to read. Send an email with "Send me the Flash" in the subject line.
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We now have 19 highly official and qualified entries.
I've not read any of them, strangely, though I have spent quite a bit of time formatting a few to add in the tags for italics and stuff (for posting on the boards).
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Well, I read them all and I am anxious to be able to post critiques, and get started on the votes.
Also I humbly plead everyone's patience next week. I'm going to try to relieve HSO of some of the burden of going through all the stories every week by himself, and next week I'll do some slogging. If there are any screw-ups, blame me instead of him, okay?
Hmm . . . maybe soon I'll be a registered Offender like HSO . . . the power is speaking to me .
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Can they start blaming you for this weekend's flash? I hope so.
We have twenty stories in... one more than last week's total. Good thing many have decided to get a head start on their reading for tomorrow's postings. And for those who have, do you like it? Do you think it will help.
At the time of this post, just under 9 hours remain to take up the challenge and submit it.
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Having the stories to read now is a good thing, and will help me a lot! I have more time to read today than I will all of next week, so it's good.
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I think it's a good thing, but I'd rather wait until tomorrow when I can write up my comments/critique right after reading the story (fresh read = better comments).
Posts: 1621 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I'm just adding my comments to the Word doc...I can copy and paste them tomorrow. I'm still trying to figure out a way to not comment on a few so it isn't obvious which one is mine.
Posts: 807 | Registered: Mar 2003
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It's hard to comment on my own. I didn't like it much while I was writing it, but after reading it again...it turned out better than I expected. I wouldn't call it great, but I sort of like it.
Ending was still too abrupt.
[This message has been edited by Lord Darkstorm (edited April 25, 2005).]
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LDS - I comment on my own as well, following pretty much the same format as Beth suggested. I also read what others are saying and kind of mimic that because usually they're right! Posts: 225 | Registered: Feb 2005
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