- This topic has 7 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated September 2, 2016 at 4:35 pm by
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Some of you know that Julno ceased a while back. The great thing about it, and the thing I missed the most, were the leaderboards. On the old site Mar created a simple one, but it went away with the old forum software.
For the past year I’ve been working on a solution. The passing of Mother Hen pushed me even further, as I was having a really hard time getting back to writing. Having a type of ‘writing game’ to help push me forward was something I really needed, and there is no website out there that has this sort of capability running year-round.
I wanted to open up the site to the FM members first so they could have first choice of usernames. I’ve set the challenges to allow entries over the past two months. Once the site gets going the allowed editing will probably be only 14 days in the past.
Please let me know if you run into any issues. I’ve been doing a lot of testing, with the help of many people in chat (thank you!) but I know that bugs have a way of hiding.
Features:
- Writing challenges based on word counts, chapters/scenes, pages, time spent, and so on Writing challenges for various time-frames
- Leaderboards for all of the above, refreshed every few minutes.
- Points earned for participating in challenges
- Progress statistics
- Edit past progress
- Export CSV file of challenge entries
- See how your friends and other users are doing in their challenges by visiting their profiles
- Personalized user profiles
- Friends feature
- Blog feature
- User messaging
- Articles on progress, productivity, getting over story-block, and more
Live writer chat and writer forums will remain here at FM.
NOTE: Why not just have everything here? Simple answer is that I have more development experience with WordPress, not Joomla, which is why this is a companion site instead of these features being integrated here. Sorry about that. Trying to do it delayed this project almost a year before I finally just went ahead with a WordPress base.
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
Go to your profile.
Click on the “Writing Challenges” tab.
The “My Challenges” will list all challenges you currently participate in.
Click on either the “All Challenges”, “Word/Count-Based Challenges”, or “Time-Based Challenges” sub-tabs.
Pick a challenge and click the “Yes” box.
A place to enter your first update will appear. Enter a value.
Click “Post Update”
The challenge will now appear under “My Challenges” where you can update past and current progress, export files, and see statistics.Added the above to the FAQ.
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
I swear I didn’t see that this afternoon. Thank you!
I know a few people outline here, but could the writing scene challenge be how many scenes you’ve outlined?
I haven’t explored it in depth, but so far I like it very much! I especially like the look of it. And the “warp” speeds make me think of Dean Smith’s Pulp Speeds (update: ah-ha! That’s what you based it on! *hopes she doesn’t look like an idiot for speaking before looking*). Very nice!
My Internet is spotty right now (a big reason why I haven’t been able to participate as much as I’ve wanted here) but this site makes it very tempting to find wi-fi wherever I can. Thanks for posting about this!
Update: Signed up and looked more closely. I like it! Joining a challenge is a bit confusing, because I’m not sure if the update is for something I’ve already done or if I’m stating my goal. Either way, I’m in.
Author of a romance between Loki and Sigyn, a dragon shapeshifter series, and a romantic fantasy with forbidden magic and a mysterious minstrel. (More at amykeeley.wordpress.com)
Also writes space opera/sociological science fiction under the name Z.A. Waterstone. (zawaterstone.wordpress.com)
Right now it’s for those actually written. Time to get yours out and start getting the words.
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
Have you thought of counting your outlining words in the word count challenge? That’s what I’m doing at the moment as I’m neck-deep in Nano book planning.
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
The warp speeds are on purpose (and no you are not an idiot
). I didn’t go with the “Pulp Speeds” of DWS because no everyone writes at that pace. This site is to encourage writing and forward progress no matter the speed. However, for anyone else who is curious, look at the FAQ on the warp speeds and at the bottom you will see what higher warp speeds correlate with Dean’s Pulp Speeds. This way I have everyone covered. The very first update when choosing to participate in a challenge would be the current day’s progress. It can also be a placemarker. In any case, the system needs to see that you’ve participated in the challenge for one day before it says, “Okay, this person is now participating.”
Enjoy!
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
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