New Submissions
Pre-Ramble
Yesterday I reached a milestone. I managed to do 100 significant posts in 100 days. By significant post I mean an item/ npc/ ...front page entry, a scroll post, a good sized informative forum post, or 10 lines of significant comments or edits on a post. One Hundred and One days ago I challanged myself and I did it.
Some of you might have noticed there were days I did not post at all. There were other days I was a posting machine. I averaged 100 posts in that 100 days. Because lets face it, there are some days you can log on, and if you did, you just don’t have an idea to post. So I worked it out to an average of one post a day for one hundred days.
Note: This did not include any of my item comments or admin/ moderator type posts - that is just part of the job. Nor did it include any thread sheparding (dinky posts or bumps to get a thread back to the top).
End Pre-Ramble
So now I ask you to do the same.
Sites like this are made through content, good content, new content. That is probably what brought you here way back when and is what is keeping you here. Where do we get content? From viewers like you, to borrow the phrase from PBS.
And some of you are saying, "There is no way I can do that, what is MoonHunter on?" (or words to that effect).
Okay, not a problem. One hundred days is a big commitment. Lets start with something managable. I want you to commit to 10 significant posts in 10 days. That is fairly easy and a small commitment.
Ten Significant Posts in Ten Days
Go ahead. Try it. No shame if you fail, just try it again.
And some of you are saying, "I don’t have that many ideas!"
You think I do? Have you seen some of my posts? Some are just expansions of existing ideas. Some are quite new though. There is something about having a deadline or meeting a commitment that pushes your imagination to new heights… looking for inspiration in places you never though of, just desperately trying to meet the commitment.
So try it. Try it for ten days. Then if you don’t do it, try it again. If you do do it, then do it again. And again. In 50 to 100 days, you might find yourself with 50 to 100 posts, all from doing each section of 10 days.
Your journey of one thousand metaphorical miles starts with ten simple steps.
And the desire to take them.
So take the next step.
January 11, 2006, 12:07
Good job Moon, this almost motivated me into making the big 10 in 10 but then I fell off of the way and was lost.
January 27, 2006, 11:05
March 2, 2006, 10:25
Why 10 in 10 days? There's a good chance 7 wont be any good. Doesn't it become a quality/quantity thing?
I dont see why subs need to be forced. For example...I have 1 million ideas in my head, but If I just start posting them willy nilly, I wont be happy with them....but thats just me
I remember that 'western' thing I asked your advice on (another example). I can't post it until I get it just right (again that could just be my problem)
MoonHunter says
Good points. You always want to post something good... but everything you post is not going to be great.
Mostly, the 10 in 10 days is really about practice. Simply practice. You see what works, you see what does not. You work on your weaknesses. You post towards your strengths.
So sure 7 of those posts are going to be 3 to 4, but 3 of those are probably going to be 4-5. People only seem to remember the 4.5 to 5s. Most people are concerned that it has to be perfect.
Perfect is a hard goal to achieve. In fact, it can stop you from writing and posting at all. You need to shoot for something between 'good enough' and 'the best I can do'. You only get better at writing if you write. You only get better at posting, if you post.
The Frequency and Goal is just that a goal. But you can think of it as a training schedule. Also remember, you can tuck posts in your work space for many days before you release them.
I had one piece in their for nearly nine months. I was working on it and working on it... I was never satisfied. Eventually, I just had to release it to the world. It was doing no one any good just sitting in my work space. So I let it loose and thought it was crud. It ened up being rated 5.0 with 10 votes.
March 2, 2006, 10:53
I have read over five different books by four different authors regarding writing. Mainly how to write and productive novel type of books. Stephen King was one of these authors.
In every single one of these books they explain the best way to create working manuscripts that better suit you writing style. To expand your mind by reading every genre out there, not just the one your writing about.
But they also explain in great detail that in order to be a successful writer you need to work at it. Practice is not just for sports. Practice your writing. They all say if you write at least 10 pages a day, whether pertaining to your work or not. This produces results in that it kleeps your creative brain working. If you stop writing your creative side will lapse and it wil ltake more work to get it working a again.
A difficult concept to understand but proven.
March 2, 2006, 10:38
March 2, 2006, 10:44
To be honest, editing is almost harder than writing.
March 2, 2006, 10:49
I think you hit on "the crux" of my beefs when you both mention frequency=honing your skills. Great point
March 2, 2006, 10:53
ofcourse followed by several fine counter-points by Moon and Mourn! thanks guys!
May 1, 2006, 14:47
June 11, 2007, 12:02
This is my preamble ramble for a shameless bump.
August 18, 2007, 0:46
September 5, 2007, 5:24
And this is not a significant post yet. :)
January 2, 2008, 18:56
January 3, 2008, 16:10
So it's often not necessary to produce 'new' ideas out of nothing, but to build upon the existing material - and that has its own appeal.
January 3, 2008, 21:53
And remember, just do ideas or just write . Nobody hits it out of the park all the time. Scroll submissions are a nice stress free way to practice writing.
February 11, 2008, 8:07
March 10, 2012, 16:30
This was pointed out to me after I was 7 days into a goal of posting for 8 days straight. I should have known MH would have something covering the idea ;)
So I'm tacking a few extra days on my goal to do the 10 in 10.
August 4, 2012, 23:25
To be honest, I prefer posting here.