1-Million-Words

I am just about to get to work on the schedule for Weekend Challenge hosts for the 2nd half of 2024, and realise a couple of people who usually sign up haven't yet, which is fine if you can't help, but I thought I would give everyone a chance to jump in if they want.

Please comment here in the next few hours if you're interested in being on the roster and haven't yet let me know. Also let me know any weekends you CAN'T help, and please do so in words for the month (eg "Aug" or "August" not "8") so I don't get confused, as Kiwis (NZers) do our dates the opposite way from the US! ;-) We can manage on who we have, but in case anyone else is keen, let me know in a comment ASAP!

I'm also looking for someone for the next weekend, which includes Sat 17th August, if I have any volunteers? That can be anyone, including those who already signed up. Thanks, Diva! ;-)

My volunteers so far are: kitmerlot1213, erinm_4600, angelus2hot, skargasm, cmk418, agdhani and flipflop_diva.

Thank you!

And I'm actually finding some time to post! It's a miracle! I know I am behind with a couple of things; namely I haven't done the January Count yet, nor have I done up the Long Challenge (LC) schedule due to start at the beginning of March - ulp! I need to get on those! The LC will come first, as I need to check my host/s are ready to dive into the next challenge, so a bit of warning is called for!

I am sorry about the count, but I was unexpectedly called out of town for the last week and this meant I didn't do any of the things I'd planned for the last two weekends (and days in between). I'm pleased to say that the cause (my sister was seriously ill) is resolving, as my sister is slowly coming right and should be back to normal in a few weeks, and I am home again! I have to say that TWO 9-hour travel days (driving to her place, and then back again a week later) is not recommended, especially not to older ladies like me! I was exhausted afterwards twice, but still had to do stuff!

Anyway, how are your plans for this week? Obviously, mine revolve around the afore-mentioned LC schedule, but I also hope to get some more icons made, as I was just lamenting to myself how I don't have any specifically for Mondays! If anyone has any other ideas for 1MW-based icons, or in fact any others, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with!

Now, how are the Big Buddies amongst us doing? I suggest you should be at around 65% of your goal for February, and don't forget it's Leap Year, so you have an extra day to get those last words in!

Also don't forget our current Long Challenge, which is Crossovers! skargasm has been dropping wonderful prompts (and have you seen the awesome graphics included in those posts?) for the duration, so no doubt there will be some more great ideas coming your way before February and the challenge both end! It's not too late to give it a go!

We have all the usual prompts and posts that you see here regularly for your inspiration as well, whether in Crossovers or any other thing you're working on, so don't forget to scroll back or check out the tags if you're stuck - something's bound to nudge you along!

Finally, here is your Flash Challenge for the day: We have Contact! Do what you will with it, 100 words, an icon, or a whole lot more! Link it here so I can praise your inventiveness and wow at the words you made, and then we can all pat you on the back for helping raise the count! ;-)

Other than that, all I can say is my usual, let's be creative out there! ;-)

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! ;-)

It's time to vote for the seven long challenges we'll run between 15th Jan and the end of November!

THE POLL

I'd love to see some of the less popular ones given a go this year, just for something different, but you, the voters, will help make that decision. If you can, vote for one you haven't seen in a while, and three others, be they common or rare!

In all, vote for a maximum of FOUR challenges, please! Preferably ones you plan to be involved in. Note: you can run a challenge and also create for it, in case you wondered!

( Here is the poll )

Please let me know if you have any issues with the poll. I will leave it open until the 10th Jan, so get your votes in! I'll be looking for the SEVEN most popular challenges.

RUNNING THE CHALLENGES

I need people to run (or help run) the seven challenges, so the other thing I need you to do is to comment here if you can help. Please let me know what you are willing to do, be it run the whole thing yourself, or help someone else, make bingo cards, create prompts, post daily/weekly updates or whatever. Also, let me know if there are any dates in the year you CAN'T work with for a challenge.

Firstly, though, I need someone who is willing to run the first challenge from the 15th Jan to the end of Feb. If you can do this, I would be grateful, as unfortunately I am going away on the 14th Jan and won't be able to kick things off. If you're that person who feels happy to run ANY challenge, this is a job for you! If there's a particular challenge or challenges you would feel happier running, let me know that, so we can choose the most appropriate one from our seven winners for you to kick the year off with. Thanks, skargasm! Crossovers it is!

CHALLENGE DATES

( In case you want to know what dates we use, they are here )

LAST YEAR'S CHALLENGES

( In case you want to try voting for different challenges this year but can't remember last year's )

And that's about it! Get your votes in, and don't forget to comment with anything relevant or any questions you may have!

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! ;-)