  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: Annette  
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There was a day, last week or nearly a decade ago, that you typed "writing" into your search engine. You wanted to show off some of your poems, short stories, or maybe even get feedback for a whole novel. You found Writing.com.
On this site you found all that you had searched for: Portfolio space, helpful reviewers, encouraging groups, style and grammar lessons from peers. But nothing had prepared you for the amazing bounty of:
Contests & Activities |
| ASIN: B0CJKJMTPD |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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 Gift Points
Gift points, those mystical tokens that make our Writing.com world go around. They are in so many places around the site, it's incredible.
One of the first things I found out about when I was totally new to the site, was that some items had gift points attached to them which magically credited to my account once I made a review. I reviewed, got gift points, offered them for reviews of my items, and that was pretty much it. It took me quite a while to find out just how omnipotent gift points are. There are so many things you can do with gift points, it is mind boggling.
 Pay for items in "The Writing.Com Shop" .
 Get a cool new sig at one of the many member run shops.
 Give Merit Badges to other members, and decorate items with Ribbons or Trophies.
 Send a greeting with a little extra love.
Buy a membership for yourself, or give one to a friend.
 Reward a review through the public review page.
 Participate in raffles and auctions.
There are also a number of ways to get gift points.
You can buy them in "The Writing.Com Shop" . (I just love this one. The item ID is 12345, easy to remember)
Give reviews for items that have gift points attached to them.
 Earn gift points each time you review somebody you hadn't reviewed before, and get an extra bonus for all reviews made within a twenty-four hour period from the WDC system.
 Write the winning entry into a contest that offers gift points as prizes. Check out "The Writer's Cramp" for your daily chance at 10k.
 Maintain a c-note shop.
 Offer your services as a reviewer.
Run an auction, raffle, or other type of fundraiser.
Buy the winning ticket in a raffle. Most of those have really large payouts.
The best part about the gift point system is the ease of giving them out or receiving them. Obviously, the automatic points are sweet, they just pop up in your account. Sending some is as easy as attaching them to an email, a c-note, or a direct transfer from your account to another member or a group.
Not too long ago, a major revolution of the way to send gift points was unveiled by The StoryMaster  . You can now attach gift points to any forum message you make. Those who run raffles or auctions, or any kind of forum for that matter, can have the gift points that get sent that way go directly into a group fund. Except when the new message was in response to another poster, then that member is the recipient.
Did you know that WDC keeps a detailed list of all your gift point transactions for you? It's easy to find. Go to the top bar, and click on My Gift Points. The first thing you'll see is the store front for paid memberships. Once you scroll down, all your incoming and outgoing transactions are meticulously tracked in real time. I want to see my bank keep track of my cash that diligently!
Oh! And don't forget, gift point transactions such as review rewards, sending gift points directly from your account to another,and gifting memberships or items from the store can be done anonymously. Isn't that neat?
So, what are you waiting for? Dive into the wild world of putting your name in the hat for big fat gift point paydays! |
Win 20% of the total pot.
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#1582329 by Not Available. |
Win 50% of the total pot.
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#1648564 by Not Available. |
Win 40,000 gift points.
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#1652111 by Not Available. |
Win 250,000 gift points.
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#1140329 by Not Available. |
Win 1,000,000 gift points or a six months upgraded membership.
Win a membership or the equivalent in gift points.
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#1650781 by Not Available. |
Win different amounts of gift points and merit badges.
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#1632745 by Not Available. |
Double benefit for the first winner. 175,000 gift points, plus a 70,000 gift point donation to a group of winner's choice.
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#1563426 by Not Available. |
Win 30,000 gift points and 3 reviews.
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
| ASIN: B07P4NVL51 |
Product Type: Toys & Games
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Amazon's Price: Price N/A
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My questions this week:
Have you participated in any auctions and raffles, or maybe run some? How important are gift points to you? Is there any aspect of gift points that needs mentioning, which I overlooked?
My question from Contests & Activities NL from March 10:
Do you belong to any writing or reviewing group on Writing.com? How have those groups helped you to improve your own writing? Do you feel you've made a difference for those you reviewed?
Well, I am just blown away by the amount of answers! 
Free_Rip  Hi! I joined as many reviewing groups as I have time for... around 4 or 5. They're great fun and the occasional contests and raids add some variety, but my favourite part is all the responses and when you can help make the pieces better- it's like writing with the hard work already done!
Yes, I agree, seeing how a review helps an author see their piece with different eyes and see it evolve is really cool.
THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  Yes, I belong to "WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group" and I've stayed on in "Invalid Item" as 'Advisor' (though I haven't given too much advice so far!  ). It's because of these groups that I started reviewing publicly. I really enjoy raids when I participate in them! Since I have to give a 250 character review, it makes me think about what I'm saying and yes, that does help with my own writing. I hope I've helped those I've reviewed! - Sonali
I'm sure you've helped. Any review that shows the item was read and gives feedback helps. From a pat on the back to a full blown edit style review, they're all good to get.
Doug Rainbow I have only entered one contest and it was not a good experience. Maybe some day I will enter another one. Maybe. I somehow do not like the idea of competing with brother and sister authors to try to be better than them. Or them better than me.
Don't despair when you don't win a contest. I have entered plenty and not won.
Angelica Weatherby-Star on top  Well... There's Sara's Reviewing Reviewers... Frankie's Novel's Workshop Workshop... NaNoWriMo if you count that group... hehehe Just a few out of several groups I love! *looks forward to see how out of shape her query letter/synopsis skills are*
Those are some cool groups. I'm part also. Although I need to get back on the wagon and be more active.
Helen McNicol A brilliant note on reviewing at the end there...it is indeed very therapeutic for our own writing to review others, and a fantastic learning tool. We see what to watch and what we do wrong in our own writing, as well as learning from the art of others.
Thank you.  A brilliant note ... you just made my day.
wakko71 Heyas! I enjoyed this newsletter and found a great deal of humor with a bit that you wrote:
" Reading the reviews on the public review page can be very educational. I can not count how many things I learned from looking at the corrections I saw for others. Punctuation, style, grammar, and spelling are all areas that I have improved in by simply taking the advice I got from reviewers and from reading well made reviews. " - You know what I'm talking about. I never thought to see you write something like this since you are usually against anyone offering up punctuation or other technical issue suggestions in their reviewing. How did you put it...? "WDC is not an editing service..."
I love it when someone can point out ways to make my work better - whatever the suggestions are - even a misplaced comma. I have also found that dozens, if not hundreds of other authors also want that help. 
Ah, but I have to defend myself here. First of all, I said Showering Acts of Joy isn't an editing service. And, I have never attacked reviews that point out grammar or punctuation errors for others or for me. What I did say, is that those (the technical reviews) and reviews that deal more with the content of a piece have equal worth. And, I like it very much when somebody not only tells me that there is a missing comma, but may even tell me what the rule is, so that I can learn it.
It is true though, that WDC is not an editing service. It is a peer to peer reviewing site. As such, we can all learn from each other and grow as writers. |
| ASIN: B07B63CTKX |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 6.99
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Contests & Activities: April 07, 2010 Issue [#3638]
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