1-Million-Words

It's time to pick the long challenges for 2025! Firstly, though, I have decided that as it is the 15th already where I am, that I will get us started this year, and I've picked an easy one: WIP Push! This is a popular one, because it give us a chance to pick up something we've already started and do our best to get it finished before the challenge period ends. I'll post properly about this soon.

Now it's time to vote for the other six long challenges we'll run between the 1st March and the end of November this year. Please keep in mind which ones we did last year, and if you want to challenge yourself, try voting for something different! Of course, I know we have some that are more popular than others, so feel free to vote for a couple you love to take part in, and then try voting for a couple you've never had a go at!

( Get under the cut and vote! )

Hey everyone! Here we are on our second Monday of 2024 already! I hope it's going well for you so far. I am working from home all of this week while they do electrical work on our office building, so I am VERY happy, and next week I'm off on holiday! I fly to Christchurch next Sunday to spend a couple of days visiting my two kids and grandson living down there, so that makes me happy! I am driving home again with my son, who is coming back to load up his car with all the things he couldn't fly down there when he moved, and then his father makes the return journey with him driving down via a slightly different route, visits the family, and flies home. Sweet! LF (my son) and I will travel northward slowly over 3 nights and 4 days, visiting my sister for one of the nights (the others in motels) and I am looking forward to it, although hopefully the heat won't be oppressive and my son's car's aircon will work! LOL ;-)

As for this week, bleh, I'll get through some work and try to find time to take down the rest of the Xmas decorations and thank people for the gifts and cards they sent! How is your week shaping up? I hope you get some writing done! I don't have any planned, but I did manage to make 100 icons for the 100-in-100 prompts that K put up at the end of last year. Unfortunately I didn't make them in time for 2023, but I'm using them as my January contributions to the count for this year! I posted 50 of them on my LJ and hope to get the other 50 up before I go away, and get the 2024 count posts up so I can add them in there!

I know I also need to do the final 2023 count (so rush in now to add yours if you haven't already!) and let you all know how we did! In addition, I'm trying to get a volunteer to run our first long challenge for 2024, so if you haven't voted in the poll, nor read the post about the challenges, please go do so NOW! I need to get this one going, STAT! I'm not sure I can get anything up and running before I go away, and we usually start on the 15th Jan, so if you think you can help, I would be very grateful!

So, there are the usual weekly and other regular posts up for the last week; please go and check them out for inspiration! Your flash challenge for this week is: Don't cross swords with me! Give us at least 100 words on that subject and then pat yourself on the back for adding to the count!

Big Buddy peeps, you should be at around 25% of your monthly goal! How's it going? Need help or inspiration? Just ask! We're here for you! And I hope all the daily challengers are going OK too!

I think that's about it for now! Have a great week, everyone! ;-)

Hi everyone! We had a great year of long challenges in 2022, so let's see how we can do with 2023!

To get us started, since we usually kick off the first one from the 15th, I've unilaterally decided (with K's approval *wink*) that our first long challenge for 2023 is a WIP Push, and I'll be kicking that off in a few days, so if you have any suggestions for that, let me know in a comment here. This WIP challenge will run from 15 Jan to 28 Feb.

( to the poll! )

Hey, everyone, it's time to look forward to this year's long challenges! And we want your input! I have listed most of the long challenges we have had in the past, although I've left out Advent and Swap of Joy, as well as 100-in-100 as these are ones we're likely to run in some form or another in December.

Long challenges generally run for six weeks each, starting from Jan 16th, which means we have room for seven of them before December. Please vote for as many as you like, but aim for a minimum of three and preferably no more than seven, and try to vote for ones you would like to take part in. There is no requirement to take part in them, by the way, but it would be great if you could!

If you don't know a particular challenge, try checking out the appropriate tag for samples and/or explanations of each one, though I will point out that we never actually used video games, so if you have a brilliant idea on how to run this one, please do vote for it and tell us about it in the comments.

( To the poll! )

The other thing I'd love to hear from you is whether you can help run any of the long challenges, and if there are any dates you cannot help out in, so we can roster them. You can run these alone or with another person who is also interested, and we'll pair you up if you show interest, so don't worry! We will also support you in any way you need while you're in charge!

If anyone's up for running our first challenge, which will be from 16 Jan to 28 Feb, let us know in a comment (and you may be able to choose the challenge too if it looks popular enough), then we'll get you on it ASAP!

Finally, if you have any NEW ideas for a long challenge and want a chance to run it, tell us about that in the comments too!

I'll leave the poll open for three days, and then we'll look at deciding which are the most popular in terms of participants and people who will run them. Thank you all!

Time for a poll to tell us how we are doing and what things you'd like to see in 2021.

( Pop under the cut to take the poll )

Check out the tags if you need to know what the challenges are about before voting. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions; we'll answer as best we can! And if you want to suggest anything new to any of these lists, we are all for it - comment away! ;-)

This poll will be open for TWENTY-FOUR hours only, as we need to get onto collecting pictures!

Please vote for ANY & ALL fandoms you'd consider writing and/or making graphics for this month; I want to include as many of you as possible, and knowing which fandoms you'd actually create for will help with this.

[Poll #2094629]

It's time to start thinking about next year! I know it's busy for most people right now, but even if you are a lurker, we want your opinion! There are no wrong answers, and no shame no matter how you answer here. I am leaving the results open to everyone, so all I ask is that if you are going to comment about anything or to anyone, be as nice as you usually are, as we're just wanting this to be a great place for everyone to feel safe, no matter how silly they think what they're suggesting is!

kaige68 and I are probably going to need more help next year, as we have both been distracted away at times this year, and we really want to keep this comm going if people are enjoying what it provides and want to keep it alive. We probably only need a few people, but think seriously about whether you can reliably offer your time before answering the mod question, as we really don't want gaps in posting, although obviously we're pretty relaxed on the whole and no-one gets in trouble for forgetting or being late with anything! ;-)

( To the poll! )

That's it for now. I'll leave this open till Dec 26th, and we'll post about where we go from here after that, when I at least will hopefully have more time...

And in case I forget later in the week, MERRY CHRISTMAS, SEASON'S GREETINGS, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS, however and whatever you celebrate at this time of year! ;-)

Here is the poll for August Rush! There are TWO questions in the poll:

For the first, please tick as many fandoms as you like - but please make sure they are ones you would personally play in for August Rush! This does not mean you have to use all of them in the challenge, it just means I will be better able to be sure everyone gets at least one fandom they like in the final choice.

For the second, these are fandoms we have played with before for August Rush, so I would ask that only vote if you really do want something from here ABOVE anything from the previous question. Please only vote for the ONE fandom you want the most. (The reasoning behind this is that a fandom from here will only be chosen for the challenge if there is not a clear-cut set of 5-6 fandoms from the first question, AND one of the fandoms here out-performs the most popular fandoms in the first question. We really want to stretch ourselves and cater to new fandoms every year for August Rush if we can).

( To the polls! )

Only I will see who voted for what fandoms, but you will all see the final numbers. I'll leave the poll open until Friday night PST, and on Sunday I will announce the fandoms for the Rush! We will be a little late starting because I am not organised (!!!), but I will be in touch with those who offered to help ASAP after the poll closes. We will aim to start on Wednesday 3rd August, or before if at all possible, but I will keep you all informed.

Finally, I am able to post the poll to vote for the fandoms you want featured in this year's August Rush challenge. Anyone who wants to play with the graphics we'll have on offer in August (you can make words or pictures), please step under the cut and vote for your TOP FIVE. Please don't vote for more than this, as this will skew the final vote (less is fine if you only have a couple of choices, but if you want to try a new fandom, this is the perfect time!).

( August Rush Poll! )

The poll will be open until Wednesday 23 July

So, you have a week to get your votes in!

Hello! I'm here today to announce a new graphics challenge that will be running through October and November! It's a Calendar Challenge, and this means galadriel34 and I will be asking you to help us make one or more calendars for everyone at the comm to use in 2014, should they so wish!

( First up, we're asking for volunteers - if you would like to be part of this challenge, check out the info below the cut and sign up here! )