[WARNING! This FAQ contains dated information. See the Weekly FAQ for the latest and greatest.] Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 16:33:06 EST From: raising the undead Subject: FAQ: First Nut, 1996! Comments: To: can a zombie do the limbo dance? *bubbly, bubbly, who's got the bubbly!* cheers, one and all! or as tiny tim is reputed to have burbled in ecstasy at the conversion of Scrooge, "god (or diety, demiurge, or other expression of superstitious high potency of your choice) bless us everyone!" (for those of you who are seeing this for the first time, relax, read, and if you want to, keep a copy of this around...glad you're here, and now let the good words party!) tink +=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=# First Nut, 1996! Copyright 1996 Mike Barker (Hey, glad you could join us here this year. Keep writing!!!!) Once upon a time... The page just sort of sits there, waiting for words. Or (in the year of our electronic savor 1996, with the world wide web madly spinning links hither and yon) the screen sits there, blank and dark, with the little blobby cursor blinking, winking, waiting for you to tap at the keys, except... You don't know where to start. Or perhaps you scribble, secretly, around the crack of midnight or over the yawns of sunrise? Five minutes every day in the bathroom, twenty minutes every noon, and now you've got boxes and boxes of words that no one has ever seen? Make this your year on your list. Write here. Write now. And... (pardon me while I slip into something metaphorical?) Plant an acorn. Take that apple core out of the trash and plant a seed for Johnny. (we'll ignore the fertilizer--there's usually plenty around, no need to hunt for it:-) Add water, sunshine, and just a touch of exposure--then stand back! Because you are about to plant a tree, that may grow into a copse, or even a grove, which could turn into a thicket of wildwords, and--in time--a veritable forest of giant red words leaping out of the icy tundra of cyberspace into the glistening future! (with Firewords at midnight! and light zephyrs of poetic musing in the morn! perhaps even romance--that ol' rascal!--rustling the skirts of hurricanes in the Haven?) But new beginnings can be worrisome. You may wonder about your plot. "When should I plow?" "Should I till it or turn it or what?" "Does dancing in the light of the full moon with a neighbor really ensure a good harvest, or just a good fence?" "Is dancing with beagles or butterflies or some other friendly animus necessary for happiness?" And this is a great place to get some advice on your own little garden. I know, I know, sometimes we get noisy and seem too wrapped up in patting each other on the back and confused about who's leading the band. (hah! got you fooled! there isn't a conductor. Some of the folk are playing jazz while others prefer classical rhythm and boos. And the drummers all beat to different marches, ides, and rittles. Really! So sit down and add your own odd notes, grace tones and melodies as the band plays on...) But when the keyboard hits the end of the cable or the mouse runs off the edge of its cute little pad or even when quill-dipped ink slips slickly across smooth pressed bond paper... It's words, writing, putting together fiction and poetry--that craft of dreams and art of the blackest inkspots, that mystery of bemused inspiration, that wonder of the storytellers' way which ties these humble (and some not so humble:-) practitioners together. That's why... When the lightning of fairy poems crackles and the hairs on the back of your neck prickle... When the explosive crash of ice snapping resounds across ponds and lakes of frozen talents caught by an unreasonable thaw... When wordy flows remind us of the slow grandeur of the avalanche, the glacier, and the iceberg advancing implacable and awful in all their white glory... When the dry slither of sunbaked air draws mirages, dustdevils, and Englishmen out in the daylight... We'll know that you've been here! Look forward to reading you on the list! +=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=# [Please feel free to print this FAQ and keep a copy for when you have questions! In fact, the author would be pleased if you did that.] The meat in this sandwich - v. 19, Dec. 28, 1995 1. Posting to the list--Submissions and other work 2. Help with LISTSERV 3. Some of our programs 4. Archives and other resources 5. PM&I 6. Poke around with the web... 7. Other questions 1. Posting to the list--Submissions and other work Submissions: To provide all members with a copy, send it as email to writers@mitvma.mit.edu (internet) or to WRITERS@MITVMA.BITNET (bitnet) (everyone will get a copy automatically). Please use the tag SUB: in your subject line for submissions. Many members now use the TOPICS filtering of listserv to limit mail. As a result, the following tags are especially significant SUBMISSION, CRITIQUE, TECHNIQUE, EXERCISE, WOW, FILLER One of these should be used in every Subject line. You can use abbreviated versions (SUB, CRIT, TECH, EXER, WOW, FILL are recommended). [Note: Novels or other longer pieces should be announced and offered to those whose email systems can handle them. Please do NOT post extremely large pieces. my rule of thumb: 50K or 8000 words in one post is pushing. I also recommend posting one or two pieces in a single day, then waiting--give people a chance to read and respond.] As a self-imposed discipline, many of our members use the 50/50 rule - for every "chatter" posting, they try to post one posting relevant to writing. You may want to follow this rule to help maintain the focus on writing. Public chastisement, unfortunately, is NOT an effective method of promoting writing-related postings - it adds one more irrelevant post, and does not provide positive encouragement. Notice that SUB and EXERCISE really only make sense on the original submission or exercise. In responding, please change the subject line. For example: EXERCISE: Write A Story might become SUB: Write A Story ("My Story") and be commented or critiqued as CRIT: Write A Story ("My Story") (you can combine tags! e.g. "Subject: SUB: ROBIN: Once More Down the Dandelion Tail" is a perfectly acceptable subject line) To archive a copy of your work, send it as email to wfiles@mitvma.mit.edu (internet) or to WFILES@MITVMA.BITNET (bitnet). Postings to WRITERS are NOT automatically archived, and material filed in WFILES is NOT automatically posted. It is YOUR decision. Those who prefer to send their work out individually should use the RFC (Request For Critique) heading below on a general announcement describing your work and saying that you will send a copy to anyone requesting it. You should be prepared for such requests by private email or the list. Critiques and comments for RFC work should be sent by private email. To help us recognize the kind of work it is, you may want to use the following "tags" in your subject line as appropriate writing SUB: pieces (genre--poem, short story, essays, etc.) CRIT: critiques COMMENT: comments (some people have suggested that detailed technical critiques and quick comments should be tagged differently, thus the two headings) RFC: request for critiques--used to announce availability of a piece with exchange and critiques handled via private email OPIN: opinions TECH: techniques of writing (a good place for summaries of techniques, workshops, or other helpful aids) EXERCISE: exercises ROBIN: round robbins interesting WOW: writing related interesting bits (World Of Writing) WOE: electronic related interesting bits (World of Electronics) FILLER: non-writing related interesting bits FLAME: self-admitted stupidity; or, the dam burst and here's the spill list related INTRO: say hello now BIO: background about yourself (may overlap intro) SOCIAL: addresses, phone numbers, and other personal ads ADMIN: topics about the list use a plain subject line for odds and ends, like everyone else RE: for followups you can also make up your own - useful ones WILL be adopted. 2. Help with LISTSERV To take a short vacation: send email to listserv@mitvma.mit.edu (internet) or LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET with SET WRITERS NOMAIL when you leave. Then send email with SET WRITERS MAIL when you return. To have batches of mail collected in large mailings, send email to LISTSERV with SET WRITERS DIGEST To return to normal mailing, send email to LISTSERV with SET WRITERS MAIL To leave the list: send email to LISTSERV with SIGNOFF WRITERS [NOTE: The SIGNOFF is NOT instantaneous. You may want to SET WRITERS NOMAIL first, then send the SIGNOFF command as it takes some time to process. I recommend waiting at least a day before deciding it didn't work.] To subscribe to the list: send email to LISTSERV with SUBSCRIBE WRITERS yourfirstname yourlastname To get a list of members: send email to LISTSERV with REVIEW WRITERS BY NAME To check on your own mail parameters: send email to LISTSERV with QUERY WRITERS [Note: this is a good way to check whether you are getting mail from listserv or not, since it checks the path from you to listserv and back--without sending over 700 copies to everyone on the list] To limit your mail to certain topics: send email to LISTSERV with (select your own list of topics from the six: SUB, CRIT, TECH, EXER, WOW, FILL) SET WRITERS TOPICS= SUB CRIT You can then go back to the normal full delivery of all topics with SET WRITERS TOPICS= ALL 3. Some of our programs Poems On Demand--on Friday, the challenger posts a challenge (usually describing a form, theme, maybe some allusive references). Others respond with a poem of their own over the next week. (NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE--needs someone to organize and run it) Story swap - each participant writes a story around a common theme or title, then the stories are "swapped" - and you rewrite the story you get. (NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE--needs someone to organize and run it) Critic's Galore--the Critmeister helps make sure everyone gets critiqued, and that we share the load of critiquing! Don't hesitate--let the critmeister show you how to get in there and CRIT! (NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE--needs someone to organize and run it) Parsons M&I - the small town newspaper of Parsons, Iowa always amuses. A new issue came out in January, 1995 - if you haven't read it, get a copy! Title challenges - these are interesting phrases proposed by a member as possible titles for you to write a piece (story, poetry, or other form) around. Just another one of our ways of provoking writing... Dare to be bad challenge - this is a self-imposed discipline, to write and submit at least one story for publication each week. Variations on the basic challenge are up to you, but several published writers have recommended this program as a definite way to get published. Round robbins spring up from time to time - essentially a form of writer's relay race, with the hope that someone will take up the baton and finish the race. Sometimes we have several participants grabbing the baton at the same time, and somehow these races don't seem to reach a finish line very often, but they are quite entertaining... and another method of provoking writing. Square robbins are another program, with a moderator who paces and selects the public postings to help maintain the integrity of the race. We also have had sine robbins, with a "writer's bible" issued along with the first post which provides guidelines for the style and other issues of the runners. A "convention" for robbins has been the author's name list - each person adds their name with a colon, thus allowing branches if two people want to add sections at the same point. E.g. such a list might look like tink:mji:jane:randy:bill:ming. Just add your name when you post a new section. Other programs include QOTD (quote of the day) and WOTD (word of the day) - both intended to provide you with thoughts to help you keep writing. Note: all of our programs are open to submissions from anyone - but don't overload the list with all of your favorite ideas at once. Pace yourself, and tantalize us with your good taste! 4. Archives and other resources Send a message to WFILES-SEARCH-REQUEST@mitvma.mit.edu with just the number from the following list 3776 FAQ: A Preliminary List of Sparks and Irritants - some upsetting topics Tink's discussion of what causes anger on this list 3777 FAQ: SUB guidelines (DRAFT!) - submission guidelines 3778 FAQ: CRIT guidelines (DRAFT!) - critique guidelines (if you find other helpful documents in the archives, please let me know and we'll add them to this list!) and if YOU want to write one of these useful documents, let me know! To get information from the archives, first send a message to LISTSERV similar to the one between the dashes -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= // JOB Echo=No,Reply-To=None Database Search DD=Rules Echo=Yes //Rules DD * search * in wfiles from 1 jan 1995 to 1 feb 1995 index -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= you may also want to use search lines such as: search * in wfiles where sender contains ( barker ) search exercise in wfiles since 1 jan 1995 LISTSERV will send you a list of available postings matching your search. second, send WFILES-SEARCH-REQUEST@mitvma.mit.edu a message with the number(s) of the pieces you want to get a copy of (change the number to what you want). it's that simple. 5. PM&I The local newspaper is irregular, but you might like to read it. This is the archive number for the most recent issue. (Most of the original issues are now out of print, unfortunately, although I have heard rumors about someone finding some in a spider's web or downspout or something) 115 PM&I Golden 1995 Issue 6. Poke around with the web... try these URLs the listowner's collection of trivia http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/writers.html Others worth looking at... http://www.ucalgary.ca/~rmherrin/writers.htm http://www.wsnet.com/~alphabet http://www.physplt.wsu.edu/pub/people/althea.html http://linux.burridge.nscc.ns.ca/burridge/homepages/thea.htm http://negaduck.cc.vt.edu/DPMA http://www.ucalgary.ca/~phamel http://www.umr.edu/~acareaga http://xp.psych.nyu.edu/~giner/Homepage.html http://www.eskimo.com/~ericj http://bvsd.k12.co.us/~dewitt http://pages.prodigy.com/MD/starbug/stuarbug1.html http://bronze.ucs.indiana.edu/~dlodge/writing.html http://www.missouri.edu/~wleric/writery.html general interest http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html 7. Other questions There may be other information or help you would like. Ask, and someone will (usually) answer. Sometimes you may be asked to help turn the answers into a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) piece, sometimes you may have to repeat the question a few times to get an answer, but don't be afraid to ask. +=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=# Should old plot engines be forgot... And never poetry rhyme... We'll make the words to ring again... And sing of old plot lines! Happy First Nut, 1996! As we look forward to many more words from you! +=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#+=#