Wintery day here. Have to drive to Toronto (a couple hours) this evening and it doesn't look pleasant, though better than it initially looked yesterday.
Drinking David's Blueberry Jam, black tea flavoured with blueberry, black currant, and elderberry.
Find your next favourite story now
Login
Forum
Crazy old ape
I'm thinking about this for my other site right now (the one where I admin). We also don't have an income stream. Day-to-day costs are covered by the admin team as donations and only amount to a couple hundred US a year (for software maintenance and web hosting). However, we need some additional money for work related to a major upgrade and I'm thinking of ways to get the membership involved in funding that.
One idea I had was to invite donations and have a sponsor's page where anyone donating > $5 or $10 or whatever gets listed with a link to their profile. I was just going to do alphabetical order and not print the size of the donations so it wouldn't turn competitive. Of course, that link would be more valuable here since a link to your profile is also a link to your stories.
We also have some requests for additional functionality like a way to have blogs on the site that would cost extra $$ so I am looking at "stretch goals" where if we raise more than needed, we will promise to implement those. Basically, hey, if you folks come up with an extra hundred bucks over and above the cost of the upgrade, we will add x and y.
Don't know that the second one would really apply here but the first could be tried.
One idea I had was to invite donations and have a sponsor's page where anyone donating > $5 or $10 or whatever gets listed with a link to their profile. I was just going to do alphabetical order and not print the size of the donations so it wouldn't turn competitive. Of course, that link would be more valuable here since a link to your profile is also a link to your stories.
We also have some requests for additional functionality like a way to have blogs on the site that would cost extra $$ so I am looking at "stretch goals" where if we raise more than needed, we will promise to implement those. Basically, hey, if you folks come up with an extra hundred bucks over and above the cost of the upgrade, we will add x and y.
Don't know that the second one would really apply here but the first could be tried.
). Crazy old ape
Quote by Survivor
They're cleaning up after the snowstorm. Blizzard conditions all day yesterday. Winds blowing the snow around last night.
Our neighborhood got less than 2 inches so no cleanup from the maintenance crew we hire.
I'll be going out to put down some deicer on the sidewalks after I have my cuppa java.
We are supposed to get some snow, mainly just flurries with a risk of squalls, over the next 2-3 days but nothing like that.
Crazy old ape
Quote by AnnaMayZingQuote by Lonelyoldman
I draw
I wish I could
I used to as a teen (nothing fancy, just pencil sketches of my pets and nature as well as drawings of spaceships and other s-f stuff). Probably should take it up again. Would be a nice, meditative activity.
Crazy old ape
Quote by gypsy
Ah yes, this explains that.
Good luck with it all
Progress, though a lot of it was redoing a scene that wasn't hanging together. 2500ish words done so this won't be short. Starting to wonder if it might even go multiple parts. Still feels more like it belongs here right now, though there is sexual tension between the characters so it could yet tilt the other way.
Crazy old ape
*Kicks back with a cup of green tea.*
It's Black Friday. Anyone buy anything cool? I'm not much of a shopper and Boxing Day tends to be as big or bigger here in the Great White North anyhow. I see Lake Street Dive, my current favorite band, dropped a new EP for Record Store Day (but also put the tracks out on the usual online suspects). May get that or at least check it out on streaming.
It's Black Friday. Anyone buy anything cool? I'm not much of a shopper and Boxing Day tends to be as big or bigger here in the Great White North anyhow. I see Lake Street Dive, my current favorite band, dropped a new EP for Record Store Day (but also put the tracks out on the usual online suspects). May get that or at least check it out on streaming.
Crazy old ape
Quote by gypsy
Do both versions, post one at each site. It's been done before.
It'll be one of those "see what happens" things. And I've contemplated alternate versions of stories before and the usual conclusion is that the first version is the one I want "out there".
Crazy old ape
Quote by rune
Yes
Interesting. Your body must metabolize it differently from most.
I don't drink coffee myself. I'm a tea drinker through and through in case you haven't noticed already. My tea du jour is Blueberry Jam from David's Tea. Black tea with blueberries and cranberries. Yummy.
I've been writing but I'm not sure about where to take the story. I could do it as a straight romance or I could 'sex it up'. Of course, that decision will then determine which site gets it. It's an old idea that I'm trying out for the umpteenth time (in the past, it was definitely headed for 'sex it up') so we'll see if it makes it this time.
So a double shot of espresso could cure your insomnia? 
Crazy old ape
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Enjoy the day and don't knock yourself dead on Black Friday.
The squalls missed us and we just got a dusting. Temps are below normal for this time of year, though, so we're still freezing our little butts off. Sunny, though.
I now have a tooth running on two roots (should have three). One root has been giving me grief. It was root-canaled years ago but split somewhere along the line so my dentist finally removed it. In pieces. He went overboard with the freezing, too.
* gets hot water and some orange pekoe *
The squalls missed us and we just got a dusting. Temps are below normal for this time of year, though, so we're still freezing our little butts off. Sunny, though.
I now have a tooth running on two roots (should have three). One root has been giving me grief. It was root-canaled years ago but split somewhere along the line so my dentist finally removed it. In pieces. He went overboard with the freezing, too.
* gets hot water and some orange pekoe *
Crazy old ape
Quote by curvygalore
Nope, but I've had chocolate mint stout. Surprisingly nice!
Not usually a beer drinker (though I have had some that I like, including Stella Artois) and really not fond of stouts, but I'll ask my beer gourmet son, who is fond of stouts, if he has heard of this.
Crazy old ape
Quote by AnnaMayZing
It doesn't really need badges but if that's what people want then so be it.
This. I don't write for badges but I see no problem with them existing. In fact, I had suggested the idea of a challenge badge to Maggie in a PM not long after she started this thread. Not sure if it was that suggestion or otherwise that got the ball rolling.
Crazy old ape
Quote by Wordpusher715Quote by AnnaMayZing
In this same vein, I have opted for the setting which disallows scoring without comments and yet I have some stories with a higher vote count than comments. How is this possible?
I made an assumption that moderators and management could read without commenting or scoring. Is that not true?
Anyone can read without commenting or scoring. The setting in question simply forces you to make a comment if you score, ie. you can read without scoring or commenting, but if you score, you have to comment.
Crazy old ape
Quote by AnnaMayZing
It's a great song.
How about this to relax to:
From the movie, Legend, right? Or something like that? God, I love Ferry's voice.
I've got a thread on my other board celebrating Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. He turns 80 today and is doing a charity gig in his hometown, Orillia, Ontario, to celebrate.
From 1969, one of my favorite Lightfoot hits: