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[Purpura Lipstick]

I am shocked that you found typos as you reread it Julie. .   

[RokofAges75]

I am shocked that you found typos as you reread it Julie. .   

LOL Even Grammar Nazis make typos!  27 of them, to be exact!  I highlighted them as I found them on my Kindle... now I just need to go back and actually fix them in the story and the versions that are online.  Most of them are just missing words that my eyes skipped over when proofreading.

[mare]

^ that's the only thing I noticed and I smiled every time I saw one lmao

[mare]

5) Any final thoughts or comments concerning the reading challenge and the person who read your stuff?

I don't care for the pairing system because I felt as though I really didn't connect with my partner.  I realize it is a challenge but I think maybe taking a list w/ a short summary and link, let the reader decide  what they want to read then let the person supervising the challenge know so they and can take it out of the running until there are no more to choose from so we really don't know whom is reading our story until the reviews start coming in. Just a thought. 

comes around again.

Do you mean just show you guys summaries without mentioning whose story it is and then once you decide then you find out who it belongs to? like a secret santa but with reading?

That's something else to consider. The only problem with that is if everyone just picks something they like, it kind of defeats the challenge aspect of it and then there is also the very good possiblity that there would be a few stories that no one would pick. But thanks for the suggestion! I appreciate it and will take it into consideration when working things out for next summer

[RokofAges75]

That's kind of how we did it last year, except we didn't get to choose; Mare chose for us based on what we said in our surveys at the beginning.  The challenge part of it is that you read something you normally wouldn't read, so I think it's okay to be assigned or paired up with someone.  It's the risk you take when you enter the challenge.

That said, I think the original idea for this challenge last year was for a reading duel, in which you could challenge someone to read one of your stories (someone who normally wouldn't), but you had to read one of theirs in return.  Doing it that way would be more like the partner thing this year, but also give you some choice in who you challenged.  And the person you challenged to a duel would always have the option to accept or decline the challenge.

You still might have the issue of some people not getting challenged or always being turned down.  But I guess maybe those people should start looking at their own stories and the type of feedback they give and wonder why that might be.  No one wants to read a story that they can hardly comprehend because it doesn't follow English conventions, and no one wants to put thought into giving feedback and constructive criticism, only to get two-word reviews in return.  Feedback is a vital part of the challenge.

[simple sue]

That's kind of how we did it last year, except we didn't get to choose; Mare chose for us based on what we said in our surveys at the beginning.  The challenge part of it is that you read something you normally wouldn't read, so I think it's okay to be assigned or paired up with someone.  It's the risk you take when you enter the challenge.

That said, I think the original idea for this challenge last year was for a reading duel, in which you could challenge someone to read one of your stories (someone who normally wouldn't), but you had to read one of theirs in return.  Doing it that way would be more like the partner thing this year, but also give you some choice in who you challenged.  And the person you challenged to a duel would always have the option to accept or decline the challenge.

Now this idea right there I like.  As for my suggestion, I meant more like once somebody made the choice of a story you could take it out of the running until all of them were gone. Now that I look, I wasn't that specific lol

[mare]

That's kind of how we did it last year, except we didn't get to choose; Mare chose for us based on what we said in our surveys at the beginning.  The challenge part of it is that you read something you normally wouldn't read, so I think it's okay to be assigned or paired up with someone.  It's the risk you take when you enter the challenge.

That said, I think the original idea for this challenge last year was for a reading duel, in which you could challenge someone to read one of your stories (someone who normally wouldn't), but you had to read one of theirs in return.  Doing it that way would be more like the partner thing this year, but also give you some choice in who you challenged.  And the person you challenged to a duel would always have the option to accept or decline the challenge.

You still might have the issue of some people not getting challenged or always being turned down.  But I guess maybe those people should start looking at their own stories and the type of feedback they give and wonder why that might be.  No one wants to read a story that they can hardly comprehend because it doesn't follow English conventions, and no one wants to put thought into giving feedback and constructive criticism, only to get two-word reviews in return.  Feedback is a vital part of the challenge.

I forgot that it originally started out as a duel lol that idea was a great one but I think we ended up changing it because once I started working it through, I quickly realized it wasn't going to work. I remember by the time I finished compiling all the lists and matching people up I had spent about 8 hours working on it. I also think that's why I was SO much more anal about the entire thing than this year because I honestly put in one full work day getting the challenge ready so when people flaked, I went a little ballistic! LOL

That's the thing, it takes a lot of work organizing this stuff. A lot more than I think most people realize and no matter what you're not going to make everyone happy.

I SO agree with your last paragraph though and that is something I am going to really be picky about next year. It's not fair to the person reading your work if you haven't properly edited your own stories and it's not fair as a reader if the feedback you get isn't more than good job or yay! That's okay for normal feedback but not for a challenge like this one! So i'm not going to allow those people to participate next year unless I see some kind of dramatic change.

Again, thanks guys for the suggestions. It's clear we all enjoy the idea of this and since it's so new maybe by next year I'll get it all sorted out.

[mare]

Now this idea right there I like.  As for my suggestion, I meant more like once somebody made the choice of a story you could take it out of the running until all of them were gone. Now that I look, I wasn't that specific lol

Ah, okay lol I get it now.

[RokofAges75]

I can only imagine how much time you must have put into organizing this and keeping tabs on everyone's progress throughout the challenge, Mare.

With the whole reading duel idea, it really wouldn't require any effort on your part, besides compiling a list of people who signed up and a record of who had agreed to "duel" with who.  It would be up to the actual participants to challenge each other, rather than you pairing people up.

You could still keep tabs on people's progress if you wanted to, but you wouldn't have to.  That's one other thing I liked about pairing up this year - if one partner didn't hold up their end of the bargain, the other partner had the option to bail on the challenge, too, without leaving anyone else hanging.

[tiggerc128]

First of all I owe all of you a HUGE apology.  My heart was in the challenge, but I've had a challenging summer and I just didn't have time to do everything I had to do.  Between school, work, my mother-in-law's death and $5,000 damage done to our car, I've been at the end of my rope. I haven't been on the message board since the challenge began which is why I didn't get to the half way survey. If not for Terri, I wouldn't have known this survey was here.  I feel SO bad about not being more into this....I just was swamped.  For that I beg your forgiveness. 

Name of story:  Rewind
 
1) When you were asked to pick a story for the challenge, what made you choose this one and why didn't you read it before this point?     With the number of stories on AC, I barely read a fraction of what's out there.  I've never been a fan of the whole time-travel genre which is why this story didn't catch my eye when I first saw it posted.
 
2) What actually was the biggest challenge for you when it came to reading the story?   The challenge for me, other than finding time, was I'm not into the whole time-travel thing.  A period piece, I love, where the story is based in the past, but I can't really say I enjoy the whole time travel idea on the whole.
 
3) When reading, did you feel like it was something you really were looking forward to or more a homework assignment? Did that change once you got into it?    No, actually, I loved reading the story.  I didn't feel like it was an assignment by any means. 
 
4) What was your favorite part of the story?    Where Nick first went back in time and thought he was doing everything on stage in a great way and then the whole group came at him like he was crazy.   It was the first time he realized this wasn't going to be a piece of cake.
 
5) Who was your favorite character and why?   I don't know that I had a favorite.  They all played an intricate part.  I loved Kevin being such a father figure to Nick to get him well.
 
6) What about your least favorite character and why?   I didn't have a least favorite.  Wasn't a fan of Nick's attitude when he thought the world was his oyster.  The ego thing bothered me, but I like that he was humbled at the end and saw how blessed he really was.
 
7) If there was a sequel to this story, would be you interested in reading it?    I probably would read a sequel.  I love seeing where things can go. 
 
8) Were you happy with the ending? Did it end the way you predicted it would?   I like the ending. I never thought he'd find out WHY he went back in time, but it was nice seeing him get a second chance and not blow it.
 
9) Overall, if you had to take away something from the story, what do you think the lesson learned was?   Not to take for granted what you have because it can be gone in a heartbeat.
 
10) Give us one final review that you feel sums up your experience reading this, maybe why you gave the kind of feedback you did or if you would have perhaps picked a different story from this one.    I'm genuinely glad I gave a time travel story a chance.  It was very well written and very believable.  It made me laugh and made me think, which, to me, is a sign of a talented author.
 
11) For the readers who did this last year and this year, which did you prefer, reading each other's stories or reading someone other than who was reading yours?   
 
12) Any final comments or suggestions for next year to make this work even better?   
 
13) Any final comments for the author?   I'm definitely going to check out some of your other stories.  I genuinely enjoyed reading this, and I apologize for half my reviews not showing up and not being more dedicated in reading.  I really did enjoy and I'm glad I had an opportunity to broaden my horizons a bit. 
 

[mare]

Aww, i'm sorry to hear you had such a rough summer, Dottie! And even still you did a great job keeping up with the challenge! Hope things get better for you!

[mare]

I can only imagine how much time you must have put into organizing this and keeping tabs on everyone's progress throughout the challenge, Mare.

With the whole reading duel idea, it really wouldn't require any effort on your part, besides compiling a list of people who signed up and a record of who had agreed to "duel" with who.  It would be up to the actual participants to challenge each other, rather than you pairing people up.

You could still keep tabs on people's progress if you wanted to, but you wouldn't have to.  That's one other thing I liked about pairing up this year - if one partner didn't hold up their end of the bargain, the other partner had the option to bail on the challenge, too, without leaving anyone else hanging.

Yeah, that was my biggest issue with the first year. I felt so bad for those people who were always left hanging. It wasn't like you could just stop reading theirs or mention it in your feedback to them because it wasn't a pairing thing.

You know how I feel about people not responding to their reviews so when I saw people blowing off the challenge it just really irked me. I mean, I know it's just a stupid fanfic challenge and for other challenges I really didn't care as much, but when you actually have to depend on someone else for the challenge to be a success, that's when I have issues! LOL

Even if it didn't particularly bother some of the people who got left in the dust, it didn't matter, it still bothered me. It still bothers me that one of them hasn't finished reading their story! That's just how I am. LOL

[Purpura Lipstick]

I never got my final survey last year   *shrugs*

I liked how this was done this year but however you organize it next year I am sure I will be a apart of it again.

[mare]

^ I know! And that bugs me as well!! lol

[Purpura Lipstick]

yes it bothered me which is why I was glad to be paired with Rose, I knew she would give good CC and I'm a little afraid of the final survey but I'm sure it will all be good CC to take in mind with my future writing.