Good morning and welcome to the last day of Week 0.
Yes, I finally just said that. I know it was a long "week". But I'm hoping that people appreciated the additional time more than they were offended by a week being longer than it "should be". :)
Today is the deadline to get me your votes for the Veterans entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/950046.html and it will also be the day when we find out what the advantages are that the Newbies, and a Veteran, are going to have at their disposal.
So make sure to finish your reading and get in your votes! If you have sent them to me and *haven't* received a confirmation email (as of this post), please let me know. (Note: the closer we get to 7pm EST, the longer it may take to send out those emails. But as of the moment I hit "post" on this, I'm caught up)
Also of interest - today is the day when the WEEK 1 TOPIC will be posted! Which means this train is about to leave the station. (before picking up steam, going full-throttle, jumping the tracks and crashing down the side of the mountain)
So if you are reading this, and you still haven't signed up, or if you know someone who you think *should*, that window is shrinking rapidly: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/945807.html (it closes on the deadline for Week 1 entries, which again, you will find out tonight!)
***
I've seen a lot of requests for spreadsheets lately. Heck, I've made a few because I still haven't made mine yet!
I've seen some people who literally only have a list of names, and others with detailed colored charts on who received their votes which week, as well as other criteria.
What you have, or don't have, on a spreadsheet, is highly personalized.
For those of you who DO like keeping spreadsheets - what sorts of information do you keep track of from the season? (and do you have one I can borrow? :D)
What suggestions do you have for anyone who has an interest in keeping one, but has never ventured down that path before?
Yes, I finally just said that. I know it was a long "week". But I'm hoping that people appreciated the additional time more than they were offended by a week being longer than it "should be". :)
Today is the deadline to get me your votes for the Veterans entries: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/950046.html and it will also be the day when we find out what the advantages are that the Newbies, and a Veteran, are going to have at their disposal.
So make sure to finish your reading and get in your votes! If you have sent them to me and *haven't* received a confirmation email (as of this post), please let me know. (Note: the closer we get to 7pm EST, the longer it may take to send out those emails. But as of the moment I hit "post" on this, I'm caught up)
Also of interest - today is the day when the WEEK 1 TOPIC will be posted! Which means this train is about to leave the station. (before picking up steam, going full-throttle, jumping the tracks and crashing down the side of the mountain)
So if you are reading this, and you still haven't signed up, or if you know someone who you think *should*, that window is shrinking rapidly: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/945807.html (it closes on the deadline for Week 1 entries, which again, you will find out tonight!)
***
I've seen a lot of requests for spreadsheets lately. Heck, I've made a few because I still haven't made mine yet!
I've seen some people who literally only have a list of names, and others with detailed colored charts on who received their votes which week, as well as other criteria.
What you have, or don't have, on a spreadsheet, is highly personalized.
For those of you who DO like keeping spreadsheets - what sorts of information do you keep track of from the season? (and do you have one I can borrow? :D)
What suggestions do you have for anyone who has an interest in keeping one, but has never ventured down that path before?
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therealljidol- LJ Idol: a writing rollercoaster with iffy brakes
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Now if I could just get LJ to let me log in, the whole process would be a little easier.
Amy / Spydie
SQUEEEE! As far as discovering the first topic.
*grabs her luggage cart and owl and runs with determination toward the brick wall on the platform*
I have tried keeping one here and there but I just can't stick with it.
Whatever you decide to include, it's best to think about it early, because it's a huge PITA to decide to add something a few weeks in and have to go back and add the info.
Some things I (or other people) have included (though, really, my skill with spreadsheets is pretty basic, so I have to figure out creative ways to do so with as few columns as possible).
User name
Actual name if known
Team name/number
Link to entry
Title/subject of entry
Voting for it y/n
How much they like it (scale of 1 to 5 or 10)
Genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, other)
Commented y/n
Recommended y/n
Space for random comment or opinion to jog the memory
I haven't made my sheet yet. Hell, I've barely done any reading.
Some people keep their list in order by poll. I've always kept mine alphabetically.
I try to keep as much info in just a couple columns, so if I'm tracking a y/n thing, I might do it by changing the font color, or bolding it. "y" for vote and "Y" for rec list, background color for the cell for genre
Oh, and at the bottom of the week, I usually note how many entries there were and how many I voted for, so I kind of know what percentage of people I voted for - not that I NEED that information, just one time I wondered, so... yeah.
ETA - when someone gets eliminated, I usually "hide" their row. You never know when someone may re-enter the contest, either through Second Chance, or a special power of some kind.
Oh, and some people track byes, who has used them and how many.
And the topic. Sometimes there's more than one topic in a week and you can choose.
Edited at 2016-11-17 02:55 pm (UTC)
I also keep track of how many times I comment on someone's entries and they comment on mine, because it bothers me if I don't interact with others enough, but it stops bothering me if they don't interact with me either :). And also because some weeks interaction of any kind is just especially difficult.
I didn't use a spreadsheet the first time I played - it didn't even occur to me. And then the next time I wanted to get organized and it seemed like a good idea. It helps me keep track of folks over the looooong haul, watch trends in my own voting and tastes, and make sure I comment.
What I usually do is fairly simple - the column headers are labeled "Week #: Topic", and each row is for a username. I make a short note about each piece when I read it - usually just one or two sentences. I bold my note if I commented on the entry or otherwise communicated with the person about it. I change the background color to green if I vote for it - when I'm reading, I'll often go ahead and change things to green if I really love it and know I'll vote for it, or yellow if I'm thinking about voting for it, but not quite sure yet. I'll revisit those when I'm actually filling out the poll and decide then, based on the aggregate of the other things I did end up voting for. That also lets me keep track of things that were "close but not quite" so I can see which writers are often falling on the edge for me (I'm pretty big into overanalyzing my own trends on these things). That's it! When someone takes a bye I'll just write NA or BYE in their cell for that week. When someone is eliminated I just stop taking notes for them and hide their row.
It's not a lot of work once the spreadsheet is actually set up, and I like the little notes because they're good mnemonic for what people wrote, and it lets me see trends in folks' writing, my commenting, and my voting. I'll read in all kinds of order, including just when things get posted in the topic thread, make my notes, and then I'm good.
I've been exceptionally lazy so far this season and I don't have one put together yet. I'll go ahead and do that now, and I'll put up a link to a google doc shareable spreadsheet when I'm done. :)
2- definitely vote
1- maybe vote
0- no vote
Or do as I did, and every time I iterate through and liked it, I added another vote. I went through three times to narrow it down to 5 I voted for, so the 5 I voted for have 3 points, the ones I liked but not enough have 1 or 2 points and the ones that didn't click with me at all have 0 points.
I haven't made mine yet, I usually wait until the first polls.
But I find them very helpful
I'm looking forward to Topic 1. Wish I had time for spreadsheets.
Jump right in!
The water will take your breath away for a second, then you get used to it.
A spreadsheet for Season 10
That link takes you to a spreadsheet I put together this morning. It's pretty basic - there's a tab with all the contestants, and tabs for newbies and vets. I pulled the info from the sign-up sheet and the topic thread, but I may have sorted someone incorrectly. If you notice any incorrect data, please let me know and I will fix it.
You don't need a google account to access the file. To use the spreadsheet for your own purposes, click the link, then go to the "file" menu and select "make a copy", or "import". Your copy will be editable by you, and you can rename it, make notes in it, and play with it to your heart's content. I'll try to stay on top of sign-ups, but because they're still open that means if you make a copy now, and data is added later, you'll have to add it to your own copy, too (or just copy the sheet again once it's finalized - but that would remove any notes you've made in the meantime if you don't name the file differently, so be aware). I hope it's useful!
Have a cookie.
My day is running away from me.
I also keep track of a bunch of stuff regarding my own entries and which ones were received well, considering variables such as word count, genre etc. (I don't know why I do that given I write whatever the heck I want every week regardless).
And I also keep track of the comings and goings; number of people voted out, number of people voted back in. Cumulative numbers left, numbers remaining etc.