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  Noticing Newbies  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!  Passionate about writing? Take your passion to new heights - with an online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, available only from top ranked National University. Choose workshops based on your interests. Work with experienced and published faculty. Prepare for a variety of career opportunities. Use a state-of-the art online system: Study where and when you want. Click here to get more information!  Dear Readers, Continuing on with last month's poetry theme, and ducking apples from the novelists and essayist, I want to talk about competitive poetry. What is competitive poetry? I am so glad you asked that. I am not addressing the more traditional single round contests, I am speaking of SLAMS! A SLAM is a multiple round and multi-tiered contest. Generally there are several "regular" rounds, usually ten, followed by finals or "finales." The original history of SLAMs is uncertain, but we know they evolved out of beatnik coffee house open mic poetry readings. SLAMs as we recognize them, a mix of spur of the moment poetry, competition, and performance art became very popular in the 1980s. Today you can find them online, in coffeehouses, and schools throughout many countries. One of the hallmarks of SLAM poetry is it is half performance, half poetics. Its very difficult to "perform" online, so certain conventions have emerged, such as using italics to whisper, and bold to show screaming or a loud passage (avoid ALL CAPS! IT IS ANNOYING!). Other hallmarks are playing with the spacing and line breaks to emphasize passages and movements from image to image. You might find any given SLAM poem using all of these conventions. Another feature of many SLAM style poetry contests is timing or a lack of time. Early rounds might be separated by days, yet the end of the contest will see new rounds and prompts happen in less than half an hour. It’s very demanding and stressful, yet if you stick with it, you'll see your poetry improve at an amazing rate, even if you start as a very average poet like me! Using the "performance" conventions opened strange corridors for me to wander in, and that alone is worth the price of admission. Slams generally are run in two forums. The first is the stage and only the prompt and the round poems go here. Never post off topic on the “stage.” The other forum is where everyone asks questions, kills time whilst awaiting the next prompt, or just hang out together and “chat.” Its here where the bonding takes place. There may be a third judge-only area that the play can't peek at. Those are the general guidelines, some SLAMs use single elimination, some use "passes" won in a round to "buy" admission to the finales. All are the same in one area: if you have not won a round you don't advance to the finale rounds. Etiquette for all SLAMS (and for really all contests.)  Never post off-topic on the stage forum. Make sure you read the rules! Don’t whine, it lacks dignity. The biggest mistake is to argue with the judges, or whine in the off-stage areas. You’ll never know how hard it is to judge a slam and be prepared for up to 40 rounds of poetry until you run one or co-judge one. Don’t second-guess! Sometimes it comes down to one typo, or one image off. If you have spare GPs donate them anonymously (so it doesn’t look like a bribe.) SLAMS often cost upward of 300,000 GPs to run, and that doesn’t include advertising!Good sportsmanship counts. Review the other players. Be supportive and helpful to new slammers!Why do I bring this up? Glad you asked. At Writing.Com, there are generally two flavors of SLAMS: good poetry and (intentionally) bad poetry (or, an "Anti-SLAM.") Beginning July 15th is: The "The SLAM! Green Room"  [18+] is the off-stage room to post questions and the like in.I will also begin running a 3rd Anti-SLAM, a fun bad poetry contest for the warped. (Hey, it’s hard to write award-winning bad poetry. Honest!) Mine will be a bad poetry contest with a twist, you can visit the stage here "Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item" for the off-stage area. The current prizes include 1 six-month upgrade and several three-month upgrades! If you want to try out bad poetry before jumping into the Anti-SLAM, visit "Invalid Item" with new prompts posted each Sunday.Remember, for all your hard work, you will rapidly improve in poetry writing, you will write poetry and, lastly, SLAMs generally have huge war chests for prizes. Most importantly, you will meet fellow poets, develop some lasting friendship, and have a grand time! Regards, Pita  *** Here are five outstanding new and outstanding members to Writing.com  archangel  has only 3 items in their port, a prologue and two chapters of a possible novel/novella. I found the work to be precise, well written and convincing, which says a lot about someone’s work in the fantasy genre! Sammmm Fun, new, and someone who has dived right into poetry and community here! csnyder73 Interesting mix of items. Well worth a port raid! NeweﮐЋewбie A good poet, a nice human being. lorrieann A talented poet with quite a range. Although she has not posted many poems, all are well wrought, precise, with such a clean style it is transparent!*** Poetry A poem that address having the courage to heal.
A poem to the of our times, a clarion call to judge ourselves first and only.citem:718367} A poem that challenges us to stick up for ourselves.
Highly recomended by Joy  Ever wonder how to make an elf? Charming and wonderful for children, even those of us who are big children!
*** Non-Fiction Featured Essays Four on the floor: a night with a bear!!!
Some adults should not be trusted. This is an essay about trust, abuse, and its aftermath. This has more adult content.
Highly recommended by lifewriter. The aftermath of losing a best friend.
Sometimes you can go back home.
Almost everyone has issues needing revisited and healing. Also interesting for those that practice meditation!
*** Lyrics Sad, sweet and a little bit haunting.
*** Fiction A strawberry with a twist.
Highly recommended reads by bianca_b Tradition clashes with justice in this short story.
*** Interactives In and Out - Wondering how to get into my editions of Noticing Newbies (and maybe the other editions as well?) Pop by here. You must be a member less than six weeks, item must be between G and R in rating. Read the rules carefully. One entry a month will win a merit badges and if you plug someone selected, you'll also get a community badge from me (for encouraging reading of newbies.)
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form  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! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! %%NL_AD_BOT%%  "Hello authors! I wanted to write to Noticing Newbies Newsletter and tell all of Writing.com members how welcome they have made me feel. I never knew that showing my writings would feel so good! But, you guys are terrific! Thanks to everyone for making me feel welcomed here." ~~Inner Peace Warmest Regards, Pita  Your editors: bianca_b amawitch yesnomaybe  Have a question or comment for the Editor? http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form  To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |
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