Welcome to the First Crasstalk Writing Workshop

Well hello there, cuties! Welcome to the Crasstalk writing clusterfuck. If you have an author’s account or are planning to write in the near future, you are in the right place. Tonight we are going to try to get everybody ready to post or to improve your posts if you already are. I am going to try and cover some basic issues about the mechanics of posting, but I also want people to kick around some ideas and coordinate with one and other if you are working on related topics. I will be around for the next few hours and will occasionally add to the post, so refresh your screen now and again for new announcements. I will be in the thread so feel free to asks questions, but since I am drinking some delicious beer tonight look for the last 20 minutes or so to consist of my sending you bunny pictures and typing I love you guys in all caps through my drunken sobs.

All right, let’s get to work. First, everyone of you need to go and read this now. Yes, you! I don’t care if you read it yesterday, take 5 minutes and look it over again. I’ll wait.

Ok, so now I want to post something for those of you who are new to Word Press. First, click on this link and bookmark it. This will answer 99% of your questions about creating a post. Also, if you have never posted watch this video to help get you started.

Ready? Great! Now that you have Word Press mastered you are set. Now, let’s move to the next issue. What the hell are we going to write about? There are no content limitations for the most part and there are no assigned beats. Write whatever you are passionate about. Don’t feel like you have to have some amazing topic to get started. Write about what you find interesting and your enthusiasm will probably spread to your readers. Don’t be afraid to take the plunge. We are all pretty nice over here. Also, the beauty of Word Press is that if you really hate it you can just take it down. Take a deep breathe, you are going to be good at this.

So let’s go ahead and throw out a few ideas for each other and try to give each other some feedback so everyone can develop their ideas. Please post ideas if you have them, or if you want to see what people think about a topic. Also, I know several of you have similar interests, so maybe you can work together to come up with some stuff. I know there are a lot of TV fans out there, so we can try to come up with what shows you guys want to cover.

Here are a few things that myself, Dogs, and Meat want to stress:

  • Please try to take the time to write up good material. You don’t have to write a novel, but you are making this for our community, so give them something good.
  • Please don’t over post. Everyone who is taking the time to write here deserves to have their stuff seen.
  • Don’t be a jerk commenter to people who are just getting the hang of this. I should not have to add any more to this.
  • Let us choose the categories for the posts. It is necessary to keep the front page looking orderly.
  • Make sure you have a thumbnail image for every post. You must load the image into the media library and link it from there. You can not just copy the link from the internet.
  • Ask of if you have any questions are need help. The admin types here are doing this because we really enjoy all of you guys, we are here to help.

I am going to post a few links to some good stories that have been posted in the past. Please take a look at them because I think they will really help you.

Here is a wonderful story from Aunt Betty Crocker.

A great music column from Left Coast Lady.

Great political column from Arken. I think this was Arken’s first post so he deserves a bro hug.

I can’t even really explain this one, although it is an example of a post from a recurring column.

Ok, let’s get to it. Post your questions, ideas, irrational fears below and we will all try to make sense of this.

Quick note: If you are interested in a certain topic, put that word first in your reply so others can find you. Second, please thank Coffee and Cigs for being our sexy secretary this evening.

New Update:

I am putting some topic threads below. If you are interested in those topics, put a reply in the disscusion so I can see who is who. Also, I noticed no one said thank you to Coffee and Cigs for taking notes. Don’t make me take the cute bunny pics away.

BTW, here is a really fun TV column.

OK. I am going to take a break for a minute. Please take a brief dance break.

Also, I could really use a few news items for tonight’s overnight open thread. Send ’em if you got ’em.

Update: I think we have had a productive night. If you are reading this late still feel free to add comments and sign up under a topic section. I will check this post in the next couple of days to see what people are thinking and what they are interested in. I think the next step will be to have some posts for each section so we can help each other develop our posts. I will try to get that started in the next week. In the meantime, please feel free to put up posts and get started if you haven’t already. Let us know if you need help.

It has been an honor to serve with you all. Together, we will win the internet.




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