>>> Item number 19519 from WRITERS LOG9310D --- (130 records) ---- <<< Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1993 18:00:05 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: My Wish List When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are... Oh, you surprised me! Hold on, let me set my broom down. There, now, what can I do for you? You say you're interested in what a virtual body might do around the bar to help out? They don't pay real good, you know? Oh, that's ok? You just want to help, huh... well, I don't know... If you really mean it - What the heck! Since I haven't collected the dreams and schemes and assorted notions that have popped up and vanished over the last year, here's a list dredged from the sewage currently washing under this id... 1. Task "Masterlist" - keep track of those elusive notions that people point out now and then. Occasionally post a consolidated list of "good things to do that aren't being done" and try to sucker someone into taking on cleaning out the stables... Don't forget to say "thank God" when someone accidentally does something on the list! 2. Exercise "Master" - collect exercises from books, private email, etc. Act as central point for this and dribble out the exercises to the list at regular intervals. Perhaps provide a consolidated collection for those wishing such a list (via private email?) 3. Book excerpts and summaries. There are books about writing, etc. that are worthwhile, but it is almost impossible for any one person to read them all. Whenever someone reads a real winner, summarize it for the list. Whenever someone references something like Twain's "RULES OF WRITING" (which I am still looking for, incidentally), make sure someone digs it up and puts the important information out there for those who would like it. 4. Bio, address, etc. "master" - keep track of the intro's, bio's, addresses, and other bits and pieces that float across the list. Provide archive number list or consolidated access (private email?) so that we can figure out who's who without always having to re-introduce everyone via public posting. Solicit intro's (and help with them if needed) when newbies turn up (see "welcome wagon" later). 5. Archive annotations - I can't even identify all my postings from the subject line index that listserv gives, and as for the older archives, it is painful slow crawling to dig through all that stuff. An annotated index would be great! If everyone did their own postings, that would make a significant start. Then people could volunteer to take an old month or some chunk and do those. Plus, start doing the current index - last week, say - get the index from listserv and annotate it _before_ we forget what the heck the message behind the subject line is. Obviously a monster task, but it can be broken into littler jobs, and those collected, to give us useful access to the archives. 6. Welcome Wagon - when newbies turn up, it would be nice to have someone (with full mail access, unlike me) get in touch and turn over a set of "starter papers." Like the usenet set (emile postnews, etc.) Somewhere in there would be the time to suggest they really ought to do an intro, too. (note - if you review the list regularly and use diff, you can fairly easily identify who's new without waiting for them to post something...) 7. Other list "watchers" - Randy does this sometimes, I've piddled with it, but when someone reads another list regularly, it would be good to (a) check with the author and (b) cross-post good material that fits the purpose. I'm not sure if anyone has access to alt.writers or any of the other electronic writing groups, but some cross-fertilization sure would be nice... 8. round/square/cubic/whatever robbins "master" - like other masters, keep track of notions (starting segments, whatever rules, etc.) and dribble them out to the list from time to time. Not necessarily that you _run_ each robbin or even dream up all the ideas, but act as the central coordinator to make sure we don't start 20 at once or wait inordinately long periods after one has bit the dust to start another. 9. QOTD - First, I want to say THANK YOU to our current QOTD master. Jane, I have trouble believing that you just keep chunking them out, day after day, with as little recognition as you seem to get for it. A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR JANE!!!! Okay - I'm not sure if anyone ever sends her anything, or if she ever asks someone else to handle it for a week or so, but if she wants help, she should certainly be able to ask for it. Further, I'd like to make sure that people remember to send her good bits - might save her fingers some typing someday... 10. WOTD - This program ran for a little while and then folded, but I liked it. Not sure how to resurrect it, but we probably need a master who does the same kind of consolidation, scheduling, and organizing as I've mentioned before. 11. Plot outlines, summaries, etc. - I've got some of the "100 Classic Plot Outlines" or similar books, and mostly they seem useless to me. What I keep hoping is to find writer's style outlines that I can steal... ur, uhm, study to see how the outlines can be expanded into stories. I'm not interested in the key names and other bits that most English teachers put on their tests... Just like the book summaries mentioned before, I don't think any of us can hope to read everything, but if'n we could split the work, we both might benefit? Heck, with this list, may be several hundred that benefit... (I wonder if there's any way beside posting to get stuff into the listserv archives. Some lists, like the D&D folks, have regular books that they maintain somehow...) A lot of this is just smoothing out the flow of what we have, or consolidating it so we can find it when we want it. To me, at least, it feels like we're not doing so bad, except that the "good ideas" come in clumps and disappear so fast. Need someone to pan for the gold, put it together, and keep track of it - then re-introduce it when times get thin... Now, then, if you'd like to volunteer... Where did everybody go? oh, well, guess I'll get back to sweeping. Two hours of pushing broom, buys a ... I'm a were-writer, virtually! tink, V.F.W.