Activity

@j-a-penrose

Hey, no need to apologize. You’ve been an amazing guildmaster and friend. You have helped me more than I thought was possible (you know this 😉 ), and I’m forever thankful for it. I miss you when you’re not around much, but I totally understand and I don’t hold anything against you for it. You’ve got a lot more to deal with than most people your age (at least in this country), and I don’t think I could manage to do everything you do if I were in your position. I didn’t realize you have a job too (unless that’s your editing?).

I’m not surprised the lessons were lacking a bit towards the end, because with pacing and suspense there really isn’t much to teach and the rest just comes with practice. Of all the general writing topics to teach, it’s probably one of the least extensive. For quite a long time they did help a ton, but I think you squeezed everything you could out of the topic and it was just time to move on. I’m looking forward to our new topic next year!

Please don’t feel bad about any of the inactivity or any of the ways our guild has been lacking lately. As a collective group of people, if our guild is stagnant, we’re all responsible. Including me. I haven’t been particularly active lately either, and I really don’t have an excuse for it. I should have taken the initiative and started something myself, rather than sitting around and waiting for someone else to post. The burden of keeping us active shouldn’t have to be on you. You’ve really done a great job, despite everything going on. You needed a break—probably more than any of us.

If there’s ever anything I can do, please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email. I’d almost always be able to squeeze in some extra SE time. I’m more than happy to help in any way I can. I don’t want any of this to become a burden to you, and as someone who has greatly benefited from this whole deal, I’m longing to help others get as much out of it as I did (and still am).

Also, you did say a couple weeks ago that we would be taking a break from lessons, and with school projects for many of us and general holiday business, I’m not surprised at all that things have been slow. And back in November, I think that NaNo and the month long guild war took away from a lot of the guild activities because they are projects that we do in isolation. Not that those are bad things, but they do mean that with everyone trying to write as much as possible, they’ll hardly have time to spend on the forum. And I think once we get out of the habit of posting often, we have a hard time getting back into it. With Christmas coming right on the heels of November, it just didn’t really pick up again. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do long word wars, but we shouldn’t be surprised if activity drops for a while and would have to spark it again with some new activities. I’m sure it’ll come up again once it’s January.

All of those ideas sound great to me! I recently started up a character roleplay in a Google Doc with a friend and her brother, and that’s been really fun. Anything like that is definitely something I would try to participate in. And I’d love to do a lesson sometime. 😉 I think it’d be great practice for some of us to give it a try.

About the live Q&A: I’m definitely interested, but would we have to be on camera or could we just type in our questions, or at least only be on audio? Would it mostly just be you answering our questions, or would it be more of an open discussion? And also, would our names or other information like email be visible? (My parents are concerned.)

Something we could work on is building more relationships within our guild—getting to know each other better. Part of the problem is that the guilds really aren’t much closer than the general community, so there isn’t much incentive to post within them. (Also, I think it would be great if people had more say in which guild they ended up in, because I think some of them would have liked to have been put in the same guild as a sibling or friend.) As a result, people might be more inclined to post on the general forum with people they know better, or just as well. We’re meant to be close-knit communities, so I think we should be focusing on becoming close-knit as much as we are on learning. Writers need friends and support as as much they need critique and instruction. If we’re in a group of friends, we’re probably more inclined to share more and be active. I know I would be. I love being around people, but I’m a very close person. Especially lately, things like my writing have become very personal to me, and I haven’t felt entirely comfortable with sharing with people I don’t know well. That’s partly why I haven’t posted much about my work lately. Having more relationships with people in the guild would change that.

As for time I could spend, it’s hard to say for sure, but probably anywhere between three and eight hours a week.

Also, I know we’re not supposed to tag more than 12 people in a single post, but is the guild tagging list an exception if we’re starting a new thread? I think part of the reason people aren’t getting the feedback and responses they’re looking for in the guilds is because some topics go unnoticed. Unless they’re constantly checking the Recent Activity page, chances are they’ll never see them unless they’re tagged. If we were allowed to tag everyone when we’re posting something of general interest, maybe that would encourage more activity. (Possibly the guilds could have their own recent activity pages?)

Thank you so much for everything, Jess. Take care of yourself. I’m praying for you, as always! Keep trusting in God, and He will give you the peace and strength you need to press on.