LJ Idol Presents:

 You've had a few weeks to get back into the swing of things. 

Feel free to use this space to discuss the new prompt, and brainstorm! 


Where is your heat at with this particular prompt? therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1240620.html

I think this is one of those prompts where the danger of similar entries is very real.  How do you take something like this and make sure it stands out as an entry only YOU could write? 

 Over the last few hours of the contestant only voting, there were a few people who went from the danger zone, to being quite comfortable. I wasn't entirely sure who was going to be leaving us until those last couple of votes, because the leader board kept changing. That also goes for the top of the vote count as well. But I'll get into that later. 

Because right now we have the sad duty to say goodbye to 3 contestants, and I get to announce what the 2 eliminated in the poll will be receiving that could heavily impact how this game plays out over this next stretch of weeks. 

We are losing 1 promising newbie and 2 beloved veterans. 

The newbie everyone knows - because they actually dropped in the prompt thread. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't have counted toward the total. But this is a special season, and I thought it called for a special exception. 

The newbie leaving us is annofowlshire  who I was really enjoying getting to know through their writing. This was far too short of a run. But I do understand "life happens".  

Obviously, the drop doesn't count toward "being eliminated in the poll".  

So it's those 2 veterans who will be the first members of the Jury, who will vote every week to determine one contestant to give immunity, which will keep them safe from being eliminated for that round. This will continue until we reach the Top 50. (Only contestants eliminated via a poll are eligible to serve on the Jury. The first 5 are actually going to have a "super vote", where it counts as two votes.) 

They may be gone FAR too early, but like I said, there is an opportunity to stay involved and make a very real impact!  At the Top 50 these members of the Jury will have the chance to vote amongst themselves to send members back into the game. (Before anyone asks, yes, super votes will count for that as well.) 

The first two members of the Jury are: middlesp00n  and  millysdaughter 


I'm really sorry to be saying goodbye to you, as contestants. But I'm really looking forward to seeing what you will be doing as the founding members of the Jury! 


Note: For the first time, I've actually broken down the results in advance into 4 categories:  Low, Middle, High and Super High. (as opposed to the first couple of emails and having to eyeball it asking me and trying to figure it out then.  :D)  

As is always the case if you are interested in where you placed this round, you can email me at clauderainsrm@gmail.com and I will tell you which group you were in. 

 I'm back. Which means I'll start recording your votes and responding soon. 

If you are a current contestant and haven't sent in your vote yet - therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1239796.html

There were some great stuff and some melancholy stuff. But that comes with the territory. 





How have YOU been? What have you been up to? 

 The EXTENDED deadline for this week is quickly approaching and there are still quite a few who haven't submitted yet and a few who have already blown through their byes or using the last one this week!  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1236482.html

Make sure you are not one of those people!!!

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I'm TOTALLY not taking it personally and in a spiral of feeling rejected!* 


(*Note: I'm actually not, but maybe I can guilt people into submitting their entries. Is it working???)

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It's therapy today, so of course this is on my mind - What's something you like about yourself? 

(No. I'm not going to steal yours and use it. Although, that would save time! :D  Just want to throw some positivity out there into the world. )



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Happy FESTeve!!!  (the night before I go to Gainesville for Pre-FEST, and then of course FEST, but NOT Post-FEST. As far as I know, that's not a thing) 

 Good morning. 

How was your weekend? 

Mine was pretty great. Celena bought us tickets to see the Steelers play the Buccaneers in Tampa! For those who don't follow American football - it was a massive come from behind win in overtime. Steelers fans outnumbered the Bucs by a WIDE margin, in their own stadium. We spent most of the game sad and subdued, but once that 4th quarter hit, the team started performing, I'm now REALLY hoarse!  :) 

For those who don't know Celena - that's my amazing stepdaughter! <3 

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There's a deadline coming up on Wednesday. So don't forget. Considering the extension, it will be pretty embarrassing to lose track of time and not turn something in!  therealljidol | Prompt - Week 3



Don't make me start triggering the highly aggressive killer wasp nests I have placed in your homes over the weekend! You won't know where they will be coming from until I hit the button and that section of your wall opens!! 

 Liberal (candidate name here) is going to RAISE YOUR TAXES!!! 
MAGA (candidate name here) is going to STRANGLE A PUPPY!!!

Ah yes, attack ad season.  The best time to watch commercials. My favorites of course are the people who have *switched parties in the last couple of years* so now they are "extremists" even if their politics really haven't changed much. 

You don't need Gary attack ads. My attacks speak for themselves!!!  <3 


(another day off work due to being sick, which means watching more TV in the recliner between "resting my eyes" for extended periods of time) 




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The new prompt is up:  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1236482.html
and if you still need to bounce around some ideas, there's a Work Room: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1236755.html

 I just realized that my annual punk festival/retreat is NEXT WEEK. 

Which brings up some interesting choices. I figured I'd throw them open for a "show of hands".  I'm not binding myself by anything you say. But if someone makes a compelling argument, I'll consider it.

Currently, Week 3 entries are due this Sunday. therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1236482.html

I can do a few things to adjust the schedule: 

- I can extend the writing deadline for Week 3 to Wednesday (I leave on Thursday) which means the poll wouldn't close until Monday or Tuesday the following week. (I'd be getting back Monday but setting deadlines the day I get back from something is never as good of an idea as I think it is at the time!) 

- I can shorten the voting time for Week 3 to Wednesday and give you the Week 4 prompt to keep you busy while I'm away. (I'll still be making Green Room posts. But probably from my phone) 

- I can unleash piranhas into your bathtub, or possibly very tiny ones into your drinking water. Which doesn't do anything for the schedule. But it amuses me. So that's a plus. 

The first option gives you more time to write *and* vote. 
The second keeps things moving along so you're not just waiting around.  
The third gives you flesh-eating fish tearing you to pieces. If it's the ones in your drinking water, it will do so from the inside out!! 

Thoughts? You're never shy to give your opinions. This time I'm asking for them!  ;) 
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The link to the new prompt is above. 
The work room to discuss your writing process is: therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1236755.html

and I've posted 2 Sidebars:  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1237305.html and therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1237589.html

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What has come up sooner than you were prepared for in YOUR life recently? 

 People dropping out that resulted in saving someone else goes all the way back to Season 1.  I didn't used to call it a "sacrifice" though, it was just a "drop". 

The rule was if you dropped during a poll, you took the place of whoever was due to be eliminated. 
But if you dropped at any other point, you just dropped without any effect on the competition other than one less person competing. 

Most of the time it was due to real life restrictions finally catching up to someone.  

The main rule is still in place, but over the years there have been nuances that have crept in - and *those* started in Season 6. 

Yes, I'm mentioning something about Season 6.  :) 

One thing that I'd seen over the course of several years was that every time there was a goodbye post there would be plenty of people expressing dismay over someone leaving the competition. Which, yes, of course that was the case.  But it kind of reached a bit of a fever pitch (in my head at least in Seasons 4 and 5).  Since these things tend to build on each other - in Week 14 of Season 6 I introduced something that only happened once but had a massive impact on how sacrifices worked going forward. 

It was a special twist called "The Sacrifice".   There was a shot clock on it of a few days that people had to decide if they wanted to use the power or not. 

It was pretty straight-forward - anyone who knew that they had time restrictions coming up, or just *really* wanted someone else to have another shot, they could sacrifice themselves and name who they wanted to take their spot.  

Of the entire field that was eligible, 5 contestants ended up doing it.  Which, to be completely honest, was 5 more than I thought would actually do it.  ;) 

(or maybe 4, there's always one person willing to throw themselves on that sword) 

This introduced the idea that has come into play in future seasons, the "Under these circumstances" sacrifice, usually put in place by someone who is playing with a relative/spouse. "If (their loved one) is in due to be eliminated, I want to sacrifice to save them". 

Again, originally this was ONLY for if they were the lowest vote getter of that round, but over the years I've become a softie and just started letting them do it regardless of the position. (In the case of multiple elimination rounds) 

It came to the point that there were actually a couple people who I could set my watch on receiving that email.  :D   

I get it. I totally do. But it still makes me sad because it means I can never see those people get anywhere close to a finale, unless their loved one is ALSO there - and then they would already have something in place that would mean that they would drop out!! A final three would instantly become a final 2. A final 2 would be an automatic win. Which would make me VERY sad/upset because then you just wasted my time to hand someone a win.  It's one thing if the voters as a whole do it (with one person who just ends up dominating that finale), it's another if contestants do. Fortunately, thus far, that scenario has only played out in my head and not in the game itself. 

One of my favorite sacrifices over the years (and it's happened a couple times) have been the chain-reaction ones.  Person A has a "I will sacrifice for Person B", and Person B has a "I will sacrifice for Person A" and then out of nowhere Person C will show up and say "I will sacrifice for Person A OR Person B".   That's actually happened a couple times and ended up happening at least once. (I'd need to look that up to tell you which season(s). I'm pretty sure I didn't announce it. (other than "this is the result") But it's happened. :) 

Or multiple people coming forward and saying "I will sacrifice for Person A", in which case its first come first served!  Off the top of my head, that's only happened once (maybe twice but only one that comes to mind readily). But there were at least 3 people wanting to sacrifice to save that person! (Either season 6 or 7) 

 The Week 2 result is up  therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1236316.html

and I can say without having to fact check myself that this is the first time we've ever opened with 2 sacrifices in a row! 

It does give everyone else a little room to breathe. What are you going to do with that space? 

What are you bringing to Week 3's prompt? 

For that matter, what IS week 3's prompt? 

I'm writing this and the Prompt post at the same time. So I'm going to head back over there and see!

So it's a "classic prompt".  Which means for some of you, this may have been something that came up before.  How are you going to treat it differently?  

(goes to see *which season and week it is before I write anything else here)

Wow. If there was ANY doubt that this Wheel is out to get me, this should cement it.  Or at very least fossilize it. 

There were some great prompts in Season 8 and some "challenging" ones.  I was *really* hoping for one of my favorites. But that didn't happen. 

It IS a classic prompt, because it gets referenced from time to time.  But rarely in a good way.  

This should definitely be interesting to see what this new group does with it! 

 I looked at the poll and started writing the goodbye in my head over the last hour or so 

Technically I was at  a hockey game, but Celena's team was getting slaughtered so I had the time to think about what I wanted to say. 

I got back to my apartment, sat down, checked the poll again to make sure I had been right when I looked at it on my phone (I was) and then noticed there were more comments since the last time I checked. 

I figured those were probably even continuing previous conversations or "Where is the new prompt?" comments! 

There were some of the former. Remarkably not of the latter. 

But there was 1 more message in there - a direct message to me. 

wildtalents decided to fall on her sword and sacrifice due to time commitments 

I will never fully be able to articulate what it meant to me to have Mona back in this game, even if it was just for a couple weeks, to see this thing she helped nurture and grow at the sapling stage!  (Now it's a giant oak, that has its insides eaten away by carpenter ants and will soon be falling over on someone's house. But I digress...) 

I'm also glad that everyone who came long after she was gone got a chance to meet her and see her talent! 

Thank you Mona, for coming out - and well, everything!