"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Hello.

Anyone got any good advice on writing Book reviews?

Congratulations to ^LadyLincoln who is Lit GD number 4!

Did everyone have a nice Easter break? I am back at work today after 4 nice days off, and still tired! I didn’t sleep to well last night, even dreamt at one point I was fighting as a solider in war, which if you ever met me is one of the most hilarious notions ever. Becca with a real gun would be dangerous. Funny, the battleground appeared to be a retail store, I think it was Woolworths!

I took the yellow CSS off, simply because it looked too bright with a hangover. I am in CSS limbo at the moment, but I am sure I will find another gem somewhere!

The spring cleaning is going fairly well. I am happy to hear reports from others they haven’t torn their hair out yet. Personally Spoken Word has been a nightmare. I haven’t even finished a months worth yet because nearly every single submission is a miscat. I conclude that perhaps understanding of what Spoken Word is, is what is contributing to the high level of miscats. I am considering in the wrap-up of this cleaning event to interview the participants as part of an article to share opinions and own conclusions about the project and about miscats as a whole. I am sure it will be fun, but also really useful to help people perhaps identify future category issues.

DA drama finally got to me the other day, even though nothing has been directed at me, but has been to those I regard as friends. The things I read written by others appalled me a great deal. After thinking and sleeping, the only conclusion I made was that if people want respect, they should respect others too even if you don’t agree or share the same opinion. Most of the people involved are all adults, and instead of sniping, calling out or making childish remarks about other people- take the high road. I have placed a quote at the very top of this journal that seems fitting from To Kill a Mockingbird, which will remain there.

In fact the DrAma, as well as watching some rather sad events on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ (yes I said ANTM!), where a group of girls are picking on another girl who just happens to be a little bit different from them, has instigated a fire in me to push forward more information about my contest that will be running in May.

‘The Anti-Bullying contest’ is about creating a message to those who are suffering in situations that seem endless. These are about messages of strength, survival and taking a stand against something that may have affected us all in our lives one way or another. Bullying is all around us. Whether you are at school, at work or even walking through town, you can’t avoid it. The internet has also become a new source for people to endure torture, it even may happen here on deviantArt. In the news we hear often about victims, usually horrific cases of how people have been hurt by bullying, even killed by bullies, or committing suicide. Over the years schools have struggled to maintain anti bullying policies because of the extremes young people can go to now; in the UK especially trends such as ‘Happy Slapping’ and gang bullying have left things beyond control. Victims of bullying can be anyone. It is hard to conclude what makes someone a victim and also how someone deals with it. Have you ever felt a victim of bullying? Do you remember how it felt? Do you know someone who is being bullied, or are you currently being bullied? If you could say something to a bully, what would it be? What would you show them?

This contest will be open to all forms of Art, and will not be running until May. However if anyone would like to share thoughts, donate prizes (It doesn’t matter what the prize is, I will be happy with most things), good resource information (i.e. websites of anti-bullying charities in your country/support information etc), or are desperate to have a try at judging, then drop me a comment or note.

*Writers-Workshop has a few days left of the ‘Brevity’ workshop, which is probably useful for any writer to have a go at!

The ISpy contest results are out. Becca got a Runner up place again, it seems to be my forté in contests at the moment! Lets hope Runner up Rebecca can push that up to a winning entry sometime.

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Older news:

Readthismagazine had published one of my poems in their lovely journal. Strangely I had gone off the idea of these zine things, but it is really nice to have it elsewhere. The poem, Cup of tea Promise can also be read in my gallery. I am not much of a poet, so it is quite pleasing to have my work recognised, especially in a field I don’t really believe I am that sound at!


In other amazing news, a touring theatre company is interested in The Lemon Phantasm . Therefore I need to finish my rewrite of it and then redraft it again. I have until the summer, but it’s really enthused me about this piece again. If anyone has time to share some thoughts on the piece, feel free to do so. I am more concerned in terms of dynamic, character and plot interest than spelling and grammar at this stage, but will accept any thoughts!


CLEAN UP YOUR LIT 2008

We’re about halfway through and the GDs have received a fair amount so fair. It’s not too late for more people to volunteer, so if you’ve got some spare time, why not drop me a comment and let me know you want to help!

Please note that #dAmnLit is no longer in use for this project. Therefore all queries can no come to the new AR Literature chatroom #getLIT or for specific GD only questions, check out #LitGDonCall


Welcome to everyone who has signed up for this Spring Cleaning month. Firstly I would like to thank you all for being selfless and generous enough to take out some of your own time to help the community. The literature community for a long time has suffered with a huge influx of miscategorised work, and now we’re all here to spend the next month making a very positive dent.

Before you all begin in your miscat reporting, there is some very important information you all need to read. Please do spend the time to go through this information, as it will benefit you during this month.

1. Do you know how to report a miscat? Well if you’re unsure, please check out the following material:

`shell4art has a fantastic flash tutorial that is a great step by step guide on how to report.



There is also FAQ #155: How do I report a submission which I think breaks the rules? worth reading.

You can also ask anyone is #getLIT to help you if you’re unsure.

2. How much do you know about fan fiction? Fan fiction is not actually part of literature and part of Fan Art. However it is one of the biggest miscats in the literature galleries and probably the one you will come across the most.

Check out the list of common fan fiction and key words list.

Don’t be afraid to browse the Fanfiction Gallery and familiarise yourself to identify fanfiction amongst literature.


3. Get educated! The literature GDs have been working hard this week, producing a series of articles that cover various points of interest for anyone participating in this. This includes some overviews of poetry and prose, as well as identifying key categories that perhaps aren’t as clearly established as they are in their gallery info. This information will help you all.

Poetry, Prose: Who knows?
Truth & lies: Nonfiction Prose
Who needs reality? We have fiction!
Poetry Pickles

Please also take the time to read your gallery info, and if you are serious maybe consider reading about your genre elsewhere. Google and Wikipedia are your friends.

4. The Rules : These are really important for you to follow. There isn’t many but the more you follow these the more positive this project remains.

We would like to make it completely clear that this is a project that reports deviations that are in the wrong place. This is not about looking at poor quality art and mocking it, nor reporting it because of its quality.

The GDs should be the only people to contact someone who has a miscatted deviation. In no means should you take it upon yourself to tell the member to move their work. It may be best to refrain from contacting the member completely, unless you wish to offer a critique or are friends with that person.

Please make sure you leave a comment in the report. You need to make sure you put some useful information for the GDs, and where possible please suggest where the deviation should be categorised. Again, this is not open for you to abuse the writers quality.

If you are unsure about a deviation, feel free to drop a note to any of the GDs or myself and we will help you. You can also join #getLIT and those in the chatroom should be able to help you. Sometimes a second opinion is worthwhile.

Finally, have some fun. You never know you may uncover a piece of work that you really enjoyed and could suggest as a DD, as well as meet some interesting new members.


The Official List

Below is a list of all those who have volunteered for this project. There are still a few gaps, and we welcome anyone interested in volunteering. All that we require is a few hours or your time over the entire month to sift through your allocated gallery. Drop a comment or note to `Beccalicious and you will be added!

For those on this list, it is now up to you to decide when you start miscatting and how you approach it. If there is more than one of you allocated to a category, why not have a chat and work out how you will spread the work? The other question if how far back should you go? Well again, this is entirely up to you, but I recommend personally starting from the newest and then February 2008 and work backwards. Check the newest maybe every 1-3 days because there will be new submissions to consider. Those with subs can actually search really far back in time and select months back till 2000 by hitting the ‘way back’ button whilst browsing.

Without further ado, here is the list for Spring Clean 2008:

Poetry- Genre

1. General: *ThornyEnglishRose
2. Romantic: *Mental-Mishap
3. Human Nature: ~zephyrchaser *kaminariookami
4. Children’s: ~lady-shirakawa *TheKingofFall
5. Erotic: *batousaijin
6. Experimental: ~MeNTaLPSyCHo
7. Family life: =tori-margaret
8. Horror and Macabre: *al3xander =TreuVonTrapp
9. Humour: ~chugglepuff
10. Narrative: ~EverRoxas
11. Nature: ~Tangerine-Tickle
12. Old Poetry Structure: DO NOT USE
13. Philosophical: ~LilithLairPoetry
14. Satire: ~starfireone3
15. Socio-political: *SpokenAubade
16. Spiritual: *HiddenCaitastrophe
17. Transgressive:
18. Urban: *batousaijin
19. Visual Poetry: =Flutterings

Poetry- forms

20. Ballard: ~thekingofall
21. Fixed:
22. Haiku & Eastern: `AbCat, ~wayfarergallery
23. Limerick: *fllnthblnk, ~lady-shirakawa
24. Open: ~TigerStarcatcher
25. Sestina: *fllnthblnk
26. Song: *Mental-Mishap
27. Sonnet: *SpokenAubade
28. Spoken Word: `Beccalicious
29. Villanelle: =Itti

Prose- Fiction

30. Romantic: ^LadyLincoln
31. Children’s: ~thekingofall, *ThornyEnglishRose
32. Erotic: =Flutterings
33. Fantasy: *squanpie-lit, ~kadarian
34. General Fiction: *wordworks, ~0sh *raspil
35. Horror: ~Moyrn, ~Devathi
36. Humour: *Iscariot-Priest, *itzjusdrama
37. Life Stories: *Amberlouie
38. Mystery: ~bekkia, ~ninjapengui
39. Occult: =Erinamis, *poprocksandcharlotte
40. Perspectives: *poprocksandcharlotte
41. Philosophical: ~wikketry
42. Satire: =GaioumonBatou, *Iscariot-Priest
43. Science fiction: ~ninjapengui
44. Socio-political: =IBinsanity ~carena
45. Spiritual: =TreuVonTrapp
46. Theatre and Scripts: *Amberlouie
47. Transgressive: =IBinsanity
48. Historical: *itzjusdrama

Prose- Non-fiction

49. Biographies: *SpokenAubade
50. Editorial:*HiddenCaitastrophe
51. Essays: *DjangoDurango
52. General non-fiction: ~mossi-mo
53. Historical: =GaioumonBatou, ~bekkia, ~EverRoxas
54. Journalism: =Squarix, *MeadowCress
55. Philosophica: =Squarix
56. Satire: *DjangoDurango
57. Reviews: *MeadowCress, =Erinamis

Thank you to everyone who has participated in this event. The deadline for submissions counted is the 10th April, however there is no reason to stop you continuing. At the end of this month, we will have a roll of honour for all participants.

If you have any concerns or queries, please feel free to contact me. It may also be worth checking in with your literature GDs via note or #LitGDonCall:



Don't forget to stamp us too:

Thank you very much, now get reporting!

`Beccalicious