Rising Star Journal

Rising Star Journal

I was honored to have been picked and sponsored by Lorna for the Rising Stars Program.
I admit that i feel somewhat challenged with the time I have to spend on the project. Although there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of information out there is is a little difficult to find and sometimes to interpret.
OCTOBER
My sponsor has been gone on vacation (good for her) but I did manage to submit my Poe Crossword, Mark Twain piece and post 3 reviews. I will say that I spent a lot of time trying to find the book we were to comment on, Mark Twain's, The Wayward Tourist, thinking I could download it to my Kindle, but it was not to be found. Next day after work I hurried to the Library knowing that they would have it but they didn't. What to do? I finally had to comment on what I could find which were snippets of the book online.
October 30th: Today I spent making templates for reviews, both Poems and Stories. I think I's starting to get the feel for that type of writing (similar to HTML).
I found out that unless I have an upgraded membership, I cannot have a journal so I asked Sophia Bugs and Hisses if there was an alternative I could use. Her response was that you have to have an upgraded subscription in order to be a candidate for Rising Star and you should be asking your sponsor those questions: so I sit here wondering if this is all for naught or should I spend the extra money and upgrade? I was going to download the required book report tonight but now I don't know if I am still part of the program so I guess I'll wait.
I also contacted my Star Pal to see if she wanted to co-write a piece for the competition but she is working with her sponsor on it.
I have to say that today was a depressing day for me except I did win first on a Writer's Cramp story so the weekend wasn't all in vain.
October 31st: Lornda contact me today to ask if I wanted to co-write a piece. I was relieved, as I already had posted in the forum for someone to write with but no result. I posted "something about myself" in the forum. That was hard, I don't like to talk about myself. I'm going to download a required book to my Kindle tonight and Lornda asked me about posting a story or poem to the RS contest. Wasn't sure if I had to do a new one or could use one(s) that I've already submitted to other contests. Will wait to find out.
Ok, I thought, "it's the 31st" I better get all 3 stories/poems posted before midnight so I hurried up and did it on my lunch hour. Needless to say, that prompted all kinds of notifications and emails, I am only allowed one. I must say that I will have to get 'humbler' to get through this competition because it seems I keep breaking the rules. I think I have fixed the stories down to 1 now. I hope so. There was some flurry about my membership. I was willing to pay for an upgraded membership if I needed one (truthfully, I read the rules of Rising Star and I never saw that it was required) but whatever, if that's what it took I was willing to purchase an upgraded membership or use my points. Next thing I know, I was given 118,000 points (still not sure why) and they gave me an upgraded membership until January. Really, I appreciate it but I don't want to appear as though I was begging for it. I have the money to buy it. At any rate, I have it now, and I'll have to eat humble pie again.
Going to download that required reading to my Kindle tonight for sure.
Book is downloaded, went to forum and posted "I'm In" notice.
NOVEMBER
November 1:
Started reading downloaded book.
Submitted poem for Whispers of the Soul challenge.
Returned Lornda's email re: Ice Breaker challenge. She had some good information and ideas.
Sumitted post on Candidates Café about Boston Tea Challenge (can't find it anymore) and Poem of the Day (can't find rules)
Now that I have an upgraded membership am going to try and figure out how to post an image. Did some research and found out how to do it. Tested email and it worked. One more thing to check off.
Received a nice email from Gabrielle about the upgrade. I'm glad to know she doesn't think I'm trying to freeload
Added Member to Member Review image to my review templates.
Now I'm going to check out the "Not Guilty" Story requirements because I think I have something started that might word well with that requirement.
Gave 3,000 GP for a request. It's a good thing they do.
Submitted my 5 Haikus.
November 2, 2016
I received a couple of reviews, 1 on a story, another on a poem. The reviewers were exceptionally helpful, pointing out how certain lines could be rewritten to give a better effect or more grammatically correct. I appreciate a review like this. Very helpful!!!!!
November 3, 2016
Finally figured out how to copy a c-note into my email so I could read it. Wanted to find out about the Boston Tea Party challenge. Need to email Lornda re: co-writing challenge.
November 4, 2016
Submitted Whispers in the Dark Poem for the contest. Researched Otters for an upcoming co-write of 'Oscar the Otter".
November 5, 2016
Submitted Guilty by Reason of Insanity for contest.Submitted entry for Boston Tea Party.
November 6, 2016
Re-worked Boston Tea Party after I realized I was not writing it correctly. I hope it's OK now. Thinking about Oscar. How about starting with: Oscar the Otter was floating around in his pond with a strange smile upon his face because he had a secret. Maybe the secret could be that he found a large patch of lettuce and the other otters don't know about it and he doesn't want them to find out. Guess I'd better devote some time to the required reading today. war stories aren't my favorite type of books to read but I'll get through it eventually. I've read 20% of "All The Light We Cannot See" so far and surprisingly I am enjoying the book. Goes to show you that sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to experience something you didn't think you would like.
November 8, 2016
Received a nice email from Gabrielle today about my Tea Party entry. It was a good day, I won Stormy's Poetry Contest too.
November 10, 2016
Busy day today. I won 10,000 GP for a Writer's Cramp article. Gave 2,000 back for pot. Got good feedback from my Poem The Seasons and it was featured in the newsletter. Nice acknowledgement. Received a couple of merit badges. I love them so! Got some GPs and nice feedback on one of my reviews. Learning a lot.
November 12, 2016
Good days, bad days. Today is a bad one. Yesterday was good, we started our co-write story and I learned how to post an image. Today I'm having a heck of a time getting my reviews codes right and into the right spot and after I posted them I now realize I have an item from my template pointed to the wrong item I was reviewing. Posted my Hot air balloon story, at least I got that in the right spot. Now they are telling me my journal is restricted and I don't know why, I haven't changed anything and it's set to public.
November 13, 2016
I rec'd a 5 star review on my Boston Tea Party submittal. That was awesome. My Go Team Purple partner asked if I would like to co-write the next assignment. I happily agreed. This week I want to concentrate on upcoming assignments, keep reading the book assignment and read more articles to familarize myself with the tips and tricks. I read the entire article on how to submit a b-items and still flubbed it up when submitting my reviews. Oh well, there is only so much time in a day to get everything done, I will keep trudging along because for the most part, I enjoy it. It really is an awesome site.
November 16, 2016
Making good progress on Oscar, the co-write I'm doing w/Lornda. What would I do without her ideas and help? I should mention that she had given me some great and helpful reviews of late on some of my other pieces. Making progress on my reading assignment, probably about 1/2 through now.
November 20, 2016
Things have quieted down some until new month. Submitted Oscar the Otter and the Green Heads co-write with Lornda. Isn't that a great title? Lornda thought of it. Thinking about the outside piece which scares me. I thought maybe I'd do something about my ancestry and The Quakers since I've researched that for about 4 years now. I see I'm a little toward the bottom with my points in reference to the other candidates so I need to ramp up somehow.
November 24, 2016
It's been a busy week for me but it's 6 PM, all the Thanskgiving guests have gone home and I finally have a few moments to myself. I got a huge surprise this morning when I turned on my email and saw that I have a yellow suitcase. It blew me away to see how much encouragement you receive on here. I finished my book report but thought it could have been better. It was such a complex book that it was hard to sum up in just a few words. I won on Writer's Cramp for my poem "Look Who's Coming to Dinner". Oscar and the Green Heads has been submitted. I think it's a cute story. Looking forward to the coming weeks to see what's next.
DECEMBER
December 1, 2016
Won a 1st on the Story Poem in preferred author group and a fantasy merit badge (so cute). Mare and I have begun our co-write story. Want to enter the Chrsitmas Carol for both traditional and non-traditional. December is ramping up to be busy. Finished challenge Hark the Herald Angels and submitted The Nutcracker Story (to the tune of Winter Wonderland)
December 3, 2016
Posted my three M2M reviews but I forgot to click the box for Rising Stars when I did the reviews so we'll see what happens, I can't figure out how to change them now. Guess that's what happens when you don't get enough sleep. I've been up since 11:30 last night taking someone to O'Hare Airport and it's now 7:51 PM. Think I'll turn in now.
DECEMBER 5, 2016
Received a nice merit badge today from writing.com for reviews. I try to do the best (and encouraging) reviews that I can but I find if the pieces are short, it's hard to find much to write about.
December 7, 2016
Mare and I submitted our co-wite, "Gypsy Eyes". Today is Hannah's 9th Anniversary. I sent her a merit badge, she has been so helpful and patient with me. Received merit badge from Gabrielle for donation to Rising Stars fund. Unexpected but I love it. Gabrielle is so encouraging to everyone.
{b"December 14
Rising Stars has been quiet but I know it will ramp up in January and I want to sign up for some classes. I won a couple of Writer's Cramp but one story "Lucy" has really gotten a lot of attention and I received a couple of merit badges for it. I also received a merit badge from Gabrielle which I love and an awesome costume for my suitcase from Hannah and I know I've forgotten somebody, I need to keep up with this every day.!
Decembere 15, 2016
I received 1st on my story in Writer's Cramp, "The French Chimps from Athens, Texas." This one I had to do a lot of research on and tried to incorporate a flavor of French dialect. The story was on the CBS news back in the 60's but I enhanced it.
January 2, 2017
I'm glad the holidays are over. Time to get back to work. Hope to sign up for the blogging challenge tonight when I get home and do my 3 monthly reviews. Still have writer's block, having trouble thinking of anything to write about.
Jan 7, 2017
Productive day. I got up early and siged up for New Horizon's Grammar Class. Submitted a poem that Schnujo asked me to co-write. Contacted Lornda and Choconut re: group write but haven't heard anything. Already submitted my (3) Jan reviews and have done some random reviews. Submitted Writers Cramp item but didn't win. Read my Handbook for New Horizons. Was pretty sure I had signed up for the 30 day blog challenge and even rec'd a confirmation but never rec'd. an email and so I missed the beginning of it. Hopefully there will be another down the road.
January 9, 2017
I'm enjoying the 30 day blog, it's nice to hear opinions on a variety of subjects and a good way to meet people. Took my pre-test today for the Horizons Grammar Garden - wow! Harder than I expected. Have to catch up on emails, didn't have much time this weekend and just got home at 5:45.
January 29, 2017
Well shoot, I had an entry yesterday but must not have saved it. It's gone. Oh well, here goes. I was explaining that my journal is a little lean this month due to health issues and a hospital stay. I've kept up with my 30 day blog challenge but not much other activity this month. I have a full time bookkeeping job which suffered a little from my illness. That being my priority, of course, I had to drop out of Grammar Garden this session to concentrate on work. Now I'm feeling better, have more energy and am back to getting excited about writing.com again. I started the Music Challenge which I think is really going to be a fun challenge. How Gabrielle keeps coming up with this stuff is a wonder but she does a great job of it. We have put off the group co-write until March so that Lornda and others can finish up some other projects. Choconut and I talked about a dark piece which she seems to like. Moving and looking forward to February.
January 30, 2017
One more day to go this month. I've made progress the last couple of days after encountering some health issues this month which kept my January a little lean. I threw out an idea for the group co-write to Choconut and happily she responded with a positive reaction and lots and lots of ideas to expand it so I'm exited to see what we can do with the idea. My 30 Day Blogging Challenge ended today, I will miss it a little bit, I thought it was interesting and I learned a lot from it about others in writing.com. Really getting a kick out of the Music Challenge although it's hard to pick a few songs when there are hundreds that I like. I'm going to try and cross genre's with this. I like almost all types of music except Opera and most Hip Hop.
January 31, 2017
Hard to believe January has ended already. More conversation with Choconut on group write. We have a theme, a location and general idea of what we would like to write. We will now work on outline and present it to Lornda and Hannah for their ideas. I'm excited about this. Have 4 music favorites done, will work on one more tonight, then time for bed. Thinking about starting a "new item" for February; this item is getting a little long.