 Noticing Newbies: July 12, 2006 Issue [#1143] |
  Noticing Newbies
This week: Edited by: Cubby  
More Newsletters By This Editor 
1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions
 Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com.
We hope all members of the site will take the time to read, rate, review and welcome our new authors. By introducing ourselves, reviewing items and reaching out, we will not only make them feel at home within our community, we just might make new friends!
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 ~ ~ Six Membership Levels and What They Include ~ ~
Free, Basic, Upgraded, Premium, Professional and Enterprise memberships are the six options at Writing.com, depending on your needs and/or what you can afford. What are the differences? you ask?
Free ~ There is no cost, of course, to a Free Membership. While options are limited, anyone can join and benefit from the community. Some of the features include your own personal online portfolio that allows up to five items you may create and store at no charge. These items may include Static Items, Creative Campfires, Interactive Stories, Product Reviews, In & Outs, Madlibs, User Polls, and Wordsearches. A Free Membership does not include Folders, Crossword Puzzles, Message Forums, Images, Groups, Survey Forms, Web Pages, Photos, Audio Items, and a few other options available at higher levels of membership. Not bad for free, eh? It also includes an email account, feedback from others, rating and reviewing, instant messaging, participating in other members' contests, and gift points. Gee, who could complain about all that???
Basic ~ Any Registered Member may purchase the low-cost Basic Membership either through the store or the Gift Point Center. A One Year Basic Membership is only $19.95, which averages out to $1.66 per month. There are also 3 Month ($9.95) and 6 Month Basic Memberships ($14.95) for those that might not be ready to commit a whole year just yet. I can testify that this is a great way to begin your journey through the Writing.com community. Along with all the options of the Free Membership, the Basic also includes storing up to twenty-five created items in your portfolio, Folders, two created Message Forums, and Crossword Puzzles. You also have access to the Chat Room with a Basic Membership, plus over twice as much email storage (1250 messages) in comparison to a Free Membership (500 messages). Your reviews may be left anonymously if you choose, and your instant messaging is a little faster than with the Free Membership. Popups are a bit less, too. You may also enter any Official Writing.com Contest. I would say this is a pretty good deal, especially for someone just getting their feet wet here.
Upgraded ~ Yes, an Upgraded Membership is more money, but it still is affordable, especially for what you are getting in return. While a One Year Membership costs $49.95 (that's equal to one meal out a month at less than $5.00 per meal), a Six Month Membership is $34.95, and a Three Month Upgraded Membership is $19.95. Huh, you might scoff. I can get a whole year Basic for the same price as three month of Upgraded! Yes, that's true, but don't scoff too much till you read what all the extras are. The first thing, and it's an important one, at least to me, is your Portfolio limit (which was total 25 items in the Basic Membership) is now 250 items! And your Message Forums are unlimited. You can also create Images, Groups, Survey Forms, and Community Notes. And while before you could not create Books, with an Upgraded Membership you can create up to ten! Plus your item size limit goes from Basic's 50K to 200K. Oh, yeah... Now you can post in Scrolling Messages, which is very cool indeed! Your email folders are unlimited with an Upgraded Membership, and your email disk space doubles to 10MB, or 2500 messages. This option may not be for everybody, but it's definitely worth it in my book.
Premium ~ Okay, I know, we're gettin' a bit higher in price at this point, but this is the Membership I have, and it's awesome. It starts out at $49.95 for the first three months, goes up to $84.95 for six months, and for a One Year Premium Membership, it costs $139.95. If you hadn't noticed before, anytime you purchase a membership for more than three months, you save a little. For example, if you bought a Premium Membership 3 months at a time, that'd be almost $200 a year. You'd be saving almost $60.00 if you purchased a full year. That's a lot of money. But... I'm not here to sell Memberships, believe me; I'm here to explain the differences and cost. Premium may or may not be for you, but most of us that have this Membership, we're not complainin'! Here's the extras: Full-time costumicons all the time. Change 'em whenever you choose. Create up to 25 Book items in your port and ten Web Pages. Documents and Photo Albums are also extra features with the Premium Membership. Submission Tracking and Full Screen Edit are part of the package, too. Instant Messaging is at its fastest so far and Email space is doubled once again from the Upgraded Membership's 2500 messages to 5000 messages. More options are also included.
Professional ~ This Membership begins at $139.95 for three months, $234.95 for six months, and $419.95 for a full year. It is what it says, a Professional Membership. Portfolio size is 2000 items. Up to 75 Book items are allowed. Item size is twice of Premium's 200K, making it 400K. Unlimited amount of Images, up to 100 Documents, and 25 Audio items, which are not offered at all in Memberships at a lower level. Again, email space is doubled from 5000 messages to 10,000, and Domain Name Email Forwarding is also available. Other features are included, too.
Enterprise ~ $419.95 for three months, $684.95 for six months, and $1249.95 for a full year. Options at this level include 4000 items allowed in your Portfolio, a whopping limit of 150 Book items, up to 200 Documents, 100 Photo Albums, and 50 Audio items. Enhanced Community Features is only available through the Enterprise Membership and allows members of the website to create their own items and store them in online portfolios. It's pretty cool because it allows for a full-fledged online community, offering most of the same features that Writing.Com provides to its own direct members. Email space is up to 20,000 messages. Other features are also include with this Membership. Why would I ever want anything like this? you might ask. Well, not everyone would, but there are members out there that use this level of Membership and appreciate all the features it has to offer. It's the highest level of Memberhip available.
I hope reading about the different Membership levels has helped you understand some of the differences.
Have a great summer!
Love, Cubby ") |
~ ~ Got questions? Look for answers here... ~ ~
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~~~And Now... For Our Featured Newbie Presentation!~~~
Excerpt: Bill was sitting in the armchair with a book in his hands and his feet propped up. June stood in the doorway to his left. Bill wasn't even looking at her; his eyes were still focused on the book. That was the problem, trying to talk to him while his attention was elsewhere. He hated being interrupted, even when he was only reading a TV schedule or just picking his bloody toenails.
Excerpt: Disdain is a word which fails to describe the extent to which I disliked my job. The fact that I had not left by then had been a symptom of my former apathy. I worked at a hospital. I was one of the custodians. It was not the work that bothered me, far from it. As you could guess the work occupied me, and so passed the time with relative purpose. It was the other employees, the ones who fulfilled the buildings real function, helping the sick, injured, and dying. I hated them.
Excerpt: The theater, located in the center of Hammond Park, was a serene, peaceful sanctuary, rarely used, and inhabited only by the few pigeons that rest there from time to time. Her shoulder-length black hair swayed gently to the rhythm of her head as it shifted to the music.
Suddenly, she stopped completely, creating an uncomfortably dead silence. She lowered the instrument and said, “How long have you been there?”
Excerpt: She started with her favorite steps and intricate movements and he mimicked her, a slight smirk crossing his face. She skipped up to him and breathed, “Catch me” and jumped into their lift. She hung in the air for a breathtaking moment and then fell into his arms and slipped to the ground as the song faded out into white noise. She pressed into him as they caught their breath, the loudest noise in the theater.
Excerpt: “Miss Quelm!” I awoke with a snap as a book was smashed on the desk in front of my face. I ran a tingling hand through my hair and stared up at the teacher with sullen eyes. The class laughed around me as my fingers kneaded my wrist, attempting to wake it up. I felt numb all over.
Excerpt: A reverberation of subtle footsteps filled every room of the church as Father Daniels sauntered towards the glossy doors of the entrance, when one of the tall doors opened with great sinew, introducing a dark-clothed stranger. With a face written with askance, he noticed the wet running shoes, the dirty black jeans with the fraying bottoms, the plain tight-black sweater, and a relatively dark face; a dark face of sweat and dirt and wide-feral eyes. His shaky presence wasn’t easily grasped—Father Daniels’s experience of over twenty years in the church had not trespassed on anyone like him; he stood stupefied and silent as the man took a seat in the back row, took his arm out of his sweater’s front pocket, and began throwing his brown shoulder-length hair behind his ears, while his other arm stayed in the other sweater pocket, appearing to be holding tightly onto an object.
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~ ~ Feedback! ~ ~
fiction_624
Dear Cubby,
thanks 4 the newsletter.i just felt that i had 2 answer u.well,i don't think that talent is really important.if u get a good idea then u can make real good use of it.But 1 thing is most important of all,and that is the wonders
of imagination!mostly,writers r more sensitive than others 'cuz they feel everything that they write as if it were real.
Keep on sending things.
Bye.Nini.
I agree with you, that writers are more sensitive than others, because I myself definitely feel everything when I'm writing. I cry, laugh, feel discusted, whatever the mood is. But I also feel other people's pain in real life, and I hate that because I shouldn't be feeling other's pain when I have my own feelings to deal with.  For example, I've been doing interviews at work lately. I wish I could hire almost every one of those people that applied. They all want the job and are hopeful, and envisioning themselves working at the library (for whatever reason). Now I feel like the Grim Reaper when I call them up with the disappointing news. Ugh! Why can't I be cold and unfeeling??? Actually, I don't really want to be cold and unfeeling. But it's not easy feeling other's people pain. Okay, I sort of got off track, lol! 
Breezy-E ~ In College 
~ Do you tend to write better when you are happy, or when a troubling situation arises?
When I'm happy. After my cat died, I went to my room and wrote a poem for her, but it was rotten.
Breezy-E
Aw, I'm sorry. It's tough to lose an animal. Thanks for sharing, Breezy-E. (((HUGS)))
Tammy~Catchin Up~
I am more productive with my writing when a troubling situation arises.
Many of us are. Thanks for your response, Tam!
Caren Rose
~ Do you tend to write better when you are happy, or when a troubling situation arises?
Even though in my stories I tend to write depressing or sad kinds of things, I can't write that kind of stuff when I'm upset. I write poetry (which I'm definately NOT good at) when I'm upset, or I'll write in my journal.
PS - Just a hint, if you included the questions people are answering at the top of the responses section, it would help.
A journal is an excellent outlet when someone is upset. And thanks for the hint! That's an excellent idea!
Naomi Verhan 
I can't write if my mood's shot. I get stuck if I'm not in a halfway decent mood. I try to write after having eaten something sweet. The positive vibes help to get my brain flowing and words into my mind and onto the paper or screen. So certainly, I write better when I'm in an uplifting and positive mood.
M-m-mmmm, yummy! Never thought of eating something sweet before I write. Perhaps some dark chocolate would do the trick for me! 
Puditat
Nice editorial, Cubby. Welcome home.
Thanks!!! I'm still not back to the norm yet. I'm plain tuckered out!
essence of thought
Thank you Cubby for another useful newsletter. I think that every moment counts special when writing. Our mood is reflected in our writing usually. For me, there is no special time for writing, it just emerges. Writing thoughts may come when happy or sad but they are neatly formed when back neutral.
That's a great answer! And perhaps that's the way writing should be... a reflection of our moods.
Nighala a.k.a. Doxie Do-Right
Cubby,
Great NL, thanks for the tip on the Reviews. I'd been here a good long time before I'd figured that out. 
As to your question: my writing changes depending of my mood. When low and depressed, poetry comes more easily, but when happy, prose is my thing. I find that the tone of my writing tends to either be the exact opposite of my emotional state, or a much darker version of it. I think our emotions play a big role in our writing, but I think it's very strange how that role gets manifested.
Thanks for the great newsletter.
Nighala
Like the response above this one, good answer. It's really quite true, I think, of most of us, that our emotions play a big role in out writing. Thanks for sharing. 
Tigerr
I do my best writing when I'm not feeling happy. I've always felt I was a lost cause but a happy one when writing which makes no sense. Sad to write great and that makes me happy so writing slows down. Oh well.
Gets confusing sometimes, doesn't it? I would just be happy to get my muse back at this point. It's been kidnapped, or something. I'm hoping to find it when I go camping this weekend. Sometimes it hides on the beach or in the woods.
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Quote: A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.
~ Gaston Bachelard
Cubby's Question(s) of the Month
What intimidates you most about writing?
See you again on August 9th!
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Love, Cubby ")
Next week's editor will be... Puditat |
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