Backup TW

I’d like to open the first post of the New TW Blog with some thanks and congratulations.

Thank you to anyone who voted for me during the elections, I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog without you. Thank you to everyone at TW for sticking with us and putting up with what has been a difficult period in the site’s history and finally thank you for reading this blog, if you don’t then it’s a bit pointless me writing one.

Congratulations to all the new mods and I wish them all a long and successful period in their respective posts. In particular I’d like to congratulate Espionette in reaching the “Story Mod” role where I believe her talents will be put to much better use.

And a goodbye to Calamire, Callamire or Andrew (whichever name he prefers nowadays) and the best of luck to him. His contribution to TW and effort will never be denied and I ask everyone to take a moment to remember his vast achievements. Whether liked or not, he was undeniably a huge part of TW and I believe his input to have been invaluable at times. I personally will sorely miss his help and wish him the best of luck wherever he finds himself.

The Old Fart also left and goodbye to him too.

New TW, New Beginnings.

So I’ve been deliberating as to where I should be starting my summery summary and supposed it should all begin from the founding of NewTW (the invisionfree forum we made as a backup and ended up planning to move there, remember that place?) and Andrew’s ascension to Admin.

After losing all faith in the return of Admin, myself and Imelda began (as we always do when things aren’t going our way) plotting. We decided that, after a period of two months, we’d slowly evacuate TW (from this point on to be called OldTW) for NTW and implement the changes we’d been crying out for for months. The forum was made and then half way through preparations we were interrupted by Admin apparently “selling” TW to the highest bidder. We brought plans forward and for a few days all was running beautifully. Then Admin returned.

The Honeymoon Period Ends.

The suspect “return from holiday” of admin heralded an exciting, and eventually troublesome new chapter for TWers.

Andrew, now in the lofty position of Admin, began implementing the changes we’d already seen on NTW. Reluctantly (on my part, at least) we trudged back to TW and the feeling of swings and roundabouts finally began to die down.

The initial period went well and TW saw changes abound with a Myspace, a Bebo, Facebook, site email (teenagewriters@yahoo.com) and the very blog you’re reading now. The anthology also began to really lift off and you could almost smell the virtual roses and hear the children giggling away merrily in the background.

Cue proverbial excrement hitting proverbial cooling device.

Now it’s been said before and it’ll be said again but man simply don’t like change. No sooner had we dealt with the collapse of the Roman Empire are we collapsing at dealing with the VCR. Too much, too soon and TWers were calling for heads and boy did the heads soon roll.

Back To The 70’s

Anyone who knows anything about/remembers 70s Britain (not me, I was still a twinkle in the milkman’s eye) will know it was characterised with strikes, instability and weak leadership. And then along came a Thatcher.

The only problem being TW’s Thatcher was on the other side and had no plans of jumping ship any time soon. The Admin situation had reached boiling point and the lack of confidence in him, his disregard for member’s opinions and sudden distance from everyone had rubbed people up the wrong way too many a time. The moderators went on strike. Users also joined and after a few days a meeting was held between Myself, Imelda & Andrew and an apparent armistice was met between both parties. Everyone went back to work.

Then I quit.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

I left for various reasons and Andrew asked me a few times to clarify with everyone exactly why and here is the official, 100% honest and sorry-to-anyone-who-gets-offended answer:

I spent a brief period in exile because, for many reasons, I was unhappy with the direction in which TW was headed.

I disliked and had no confidence in Andrew’s leadership, which was the biggest factor in my leaving. As a person I find Andrew sincere, helpful and a good person to work with. As an Admin I find him rude, at times ignorant and terrible to work for. I was friends with Andrew, I was not friends with Admin. For those of you who think it’s exactly the same person, you should give it a go for a week. You leave with a good poker face, I’ll assure you of that. He was always a good super-mod but was never ready to be thrust into the limelight as he was. It was a recipe for disaster and soon disaster struck. I warned of this situation arising months before it did but was ignored. Hopefully should, god forbid, a situation such as this ever arise again that we can talk it out before things go, as we say in England, “tits up”.

Another important decider for me was that I felt like I had run out of steam on TW. I felt bored, uninterested and useless when online – Everyone seemed to have moved away from me and I was stuck harping on about a time that was being left behind. I then decided to try helping out on YWS and got myself Instructor status there. An attempt at a shake-up of what was, in my opinion, a rank that held little more merit than a colourful name seemed to come into flower only to be stood on by a careless rambler called Laziness. All credit to Nate and everyone at YWS, they were amazing people and made me feel more than welcome but anyone who knows me knows I have to be kept busy and YWS Instructors just weren’t interested enough for me. I’ll always hold everyone there in the highest regard and still check in from time to time.

That’s my statement. So why stop with YWS so suddenly? Good question, dear reader.

Because my beloved TW needed me, of course!

And So We Face Our Final Curtain

After coming back I can hardly describe TW as being at crisis point, but things were in a pretty sorry shape. Nearly all the Moderators had resigned, the Admin seemingly powerless to make a huge decision and intrigue rife.

In all honesty, for the first time in my TW involvement, I can say that the following events had little, if not nothing to do with me and take no credit for them. I was not some triumphant messiah or returning conqueror, I simply slipped in quietly through the back door and things actually sorted themselves out like I said they would.

The elections took place with no real surprise appointments, congrats again to everyone, Andrew resigned, Fart and Shadow left and the site began to recover of its own accord.

Just lends weight to Imelda’s “progress for the sake of progress” theory. Things sort themselves out; we don’t always need to meddle.

Boldly Going Where No Site Has Gone Before…

Not quite, you’ll probably be glad to hear. We’ve all learnt our lesson and while I still believe that exciting times lie ahead for TW and we can all look forward to a long and prosperous future at the site, we won’t be speeding to get there. Things will come when they do and hopefully we’ll be prepared for whatever should arise.

We’ve got a new admin, Ellira, and the Mods are gelling well together. Everything’s looking up for us. Keep checking the blog for updates and interesting titbits (I’m the new editor!) and we’ll still keep you posted on major changes via mass PMs and Announcements.

Here’s to good times ahead!

The Future’s Bright. The Future’s At TW.

Poetry
sulk across the sky (the same flower that smile today)
by Tie Dye Tuxedo

The streetlights keep our faces warm
by blondiE

Prose
That Bears Thee Dead
by Saint Fawkes

Cherry Lane
by MT_Drivel

Reached Goal:
AsSubtleAsASplinter
Empress Artisan
The Old Fart

Congratulations to all three! They get the award in their profile, and a picture for their sigs if they want.

In addition, these others get a mention and an award:

AsSubtleAsASplinter completed his challenge before anyone else by the 8th August.

The Old Fart was the most prolific with 38,889 words.

Olea Laurifolia, while she didn’t actually win, was the closest of those who didn’t reach their goal. At 28,274/40,000 words, she completed 71% of her goal. Considering she started a long time after everyone else, she did extremely well!

Jenn and Tie Dye win the prize for over-stretching themselves. They both only completed 5% of their goal. Still, they did try to take part, so good on them.

In addition to those awards which can only really be given through statistics, there are more which will be voted on by the readers.

Most Committed
Most Believable Characters
Most Consistent Plot
Most Memorable Read
Most Original Plot Or Character
Favourite Character
Favourite Novel
Favourite Setting

The thread for nominations can be found here.

Thanks to everyone for taking part, and I hope to see you all next year.

A thread of note for poets: “stealing the muse” challenges prompts one and all for prompts and poems from them. Drop by to read the poetry thus far, add to it, or challenge residents.

Also, Hypo’s poetry recordings are not new, but they are noteworthy; most of his work reads like it should be sung or slammed or whispered. So here it is.

Poetry
They Say Hell Came In a Tablet That Day
by apeva

Poetry recordings
by Hypocrit

Prose
Equus Cruorem
by Carraka

The Oil Fields Are Burning
by Kylan

Congratulations to Isis, who won first place.

Kudos also to Callamire, and Charlie, who won second and third respectively.

Thanks to all who entered, I enjoyed reading them all!

Imelda

At last, we’ve completed the first episode of the TW podcast! You can subscribe to it through iTunes here:

Subscribe to Feed

Or, download the first episode directly here:

Download Episode 1

Podcast Notes:

The Team
Presenters: Joe (Ducksworthy), Imelda, Lexie (espionette)
“Big Muddy” Reader: Anonymous (Skippy’s Friend)
“Rounded With A Sleep” Reader: Skye
Interviewer: Andrew (Calamire)
Interviewee: Imelda
Content Finder: Isis
Tech Work: Andrew and Imelda
Special Thanks: Claudette and Hypocrit

Site News
Moderation strike is now over! Nobody got hurt or banned. Or even angry, really.
We’re slowly reaching our goal of world domination. Second to writing, of course.
The TW Blog: http://teenagewritersblog.wordpress.com/
TW @ Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/Teenage_Writers
TW @ Facebook: http://umd.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4129223324
TW @ Bebo: http://www.bebo.com/teenagewriters

Short Story Reading
“Big Muddy” by Adam (ADH093)
Winner of the first TW Short Story Contest.
Contains strong language.

The Weekly Spotlight
Link

Literature of Note
“The TW Enquirer”, by Willis: http://www.teenagewriters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11771

Poetry Reading
“Rounded With A Sleep” by Ed (Pseudonym)

Contest Updates
Second TW Poetry Contest: Winner is Skye with “Between the Cracks”
Eva’s Fantasy Short Story Contest: Judging to Commence Soon
The Summer Novel Challenge Ends August 31! Reach your goal!
Don’t Forget to Submit to the first TW Anthology by 31st August.

The Interview
This podcast’s victim is Imelda, one of the most senior members of the site, with lots of novel-writing experience. Listen to her words of wisdom and chocolate.

Threads of Note
Willis’s Maps for Stories thread. View the maps, and add your own!
Stirly’s Process of the Cover. See the TW Anthology cover art in progress! Featuring many members!
Shaun (The Old Fart) has created a weekly chatroom meet. Check the calendar.
Word Wars! Meet in the chatroom, leave, write, come back, and see how everyone else did.

Please also note that the deadline has been pushed back to midnight (wherever that might be in your time zone) 1st September to allow a Saturday for that extra push to the end!

Awards:

Most Believable Characters
Most Consistent Plot
Most Memorable Read
Most Prolific
Most Committed

On the 2nd September, Critiquing Season sets in!

Please remember also that the deadline for submissions for the TW Anthology is the 31st August.

Poetry
fever frosted
by Skye

Venice Journal entry
by Wanderer

Prose

Two Loonies and a Dime
by Olea Laurifolia

The Mansion’s secret (short story version) — (novel version)
by youngauthor

An archive of past spotlights can be found here.

August 12th

Poetry
I have faith
by _clementine

Summer Circle
by *Indigo Fox 33*

Prose
Tuba
by Calliope

The Winnower
by Calamire