therealljidol | The Wheel of Chaos Introduction

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!"

In Dante's inferno, that was the inscription on the gates of Hell. It's fitting to have it inscribed here, on these massive gates in front of you today, these gates that lead you into the realm that is

I am Gary, your host, and in some ways, fellow captive here in the realm of Wheel of Chaos. Because this is like no other season of LJ Idol. It is like no other event.

Yes. There will be writing and I'd say focusing on your writing and making the deadlines is probably the smart way to go. Because the rest is being left up to a wheel filled with all of the most insane twists Idol has to offer. I won't even know what is coming week to week, until a few minutes before you do!

The FAQ is here: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1182638.html
The Sign up Sheet is here: https://therealljidol.dreamwidth.org/1182845.html

Maybe it will be fun. Maybe it will be exciting. Maybe it will be the worst train wreck anyone has ever experienced, Maybe it will be all of these things. If you think you have what it takes to navigate these waters, and just want an excuse to write, welcome!

Comment below to say Hi. If you're an Idol veteran - let people know what you've been up to since we last crossed paths. If you're a newbie, do the same, only we've never crossed paths so you've obviously got more to let people know about! :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

roina_arwen

First?? Hello once again! I’m Laura, oftentimes called Ro, and I’m a Veteran Idol player. I’ve got over 200 weeks of play time here, but fear not—I’ve never come close to winning, I’m just stubborn.

Since we last met, I’ve done a bit of traveling. I’ve also been doing professional copy editing work in my spare time, and have four anthologies and two juvenile adventure novels under my belt, the first of which published this past April (Storm-Dragon, by Dave Freer) with a second juvenile novel being released sometime later this month, written by Christopher Nuttall.

I’m happy to be participating once again, and look forward to whatever may come of it!

From:

eeyore_grrl

hi there. rock on with the novels!!!

From:

roina_arwen

Thank you! It would be more impressive if I’d written the books, but at least I’ve got my name in print as the copy editor! :)

From:

eeyore_grrl

still (sorry, misread!)

From:

swirlsofpurple

Where did you travel to?

Yay for editing, sounds fun.

Looking forward to seeing what you write for Idol.

From:

muchtooarrogant

LOL That was my question too. "Travel? Where? Describe! Let me virtually tie myself to your shoelaces! :)

Dan

From:

roina_arwen

Not much to describe, mostly a few road trips to northern Texas to visit family and for a SciFi conference.

From:

muchtooarrogant

It's all about north Texas lately. (grin) Both my sister's kids have moved up there, and so now she and her husband have sold their house and are having a new one build near them. I'm just like, "Wow," total life change.

Dan

From:

roina_arwen

We have gone to Texas a few times to visit family and for a SciFi conference. We road trip everywhere we can, lol!

From:

swirlsofpurple

Cool :)

From:

eeyore_grrl

Hi new and old. It's been a minute, but I've started poeting again just in time for this to start so I figured it was meant to be. Eeep.

In the last four years I've parented, started a part time small business (Family Education and Special Education Advocacy), and dealt with fibromyalgia (well, that's been longer).

My muse took a break, but seems to be visiting again. We shall see what happens in Gary's coocooberry world!

From:

roina_arwen

Good to see you back! Great news on starting a business!

From:

eeyore_grrl

Thanks. It's good to be back.

From:

swirlsofpurple

Yay for writing poems again, looking forward to seeing what you write!

That business sounds awesome.

From:

eeyore_grrl

Thanks. And yeah I think it's a needed work in the world and I like doing it.

From:

muchtooarrogant

Great to have you back, and yay for the return of the muse! Feed them lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so they'll stick around. :) And, congratulations on the new business.

Dan

From:

eeyore_grrl

Aww thanks

From:

swirlsofpurple

I'm Jay. At the moment I'm trying to finish all my WIP fanfics. I managed to post a new chapter of a Tony/Loki fic I hadn't updated since 2018 and am now writing another chapter. And I've got another Loki WIP fic and a Jake/Amy WIP fic, hoping to get them all completed by the end of the year. I'm also writing some Tom/Shiv fics. And did some drabbles for a drabble challenge, realized how much I miss doing them, and am now thinking about how I can write more drabbles.

From:

muchtooarrogant

Welcome back! At least you've been exercising your writing muscles. I haven't done anything writing related after Idol's last season, and I'm always afraid my writing muscles have atrophied!

Drabbles are very cool!

Dan

From:

swirlsofpurple

Thanks. I still worry my original fiction muscles will have atrophied. I think we all worry that, but it's always okay.

From:

roina_arwen

Welcome back! Sounds like you’ve been keeping busy with all those WIPs!

From:

swirlsofpurple

Thanks. Yeah :)

From:

muchtooarrogant

My name is Dan, and I'm excited to be back for this season of LJ Idol. I haven't written anything since the last mini season, so will probably have to scrape some rust off. (smile(

My first entry last season was about accessibility aspects of being blind, and a few comments said, "I didn't know you were blind." LOL Is that a full disclosure kind of thing? Years and years ago, when I was still dating, I'd always disclose that to people I hadn't met in person yet, just in case it was a deal breaker for them, but here I dunno how much it matters.

My first impulse when considering one of
Gary's prompts is usually to try and write fiction, but I'll occasionally break out with a real life entry as well. I look forward to re-establishing connections with friends, and making some new friends during all the chaos!

Good luck to everyone!

Dan

From:

roina_arwen

I’ve found through the seasons that I started out doing mostly nonfiction, and have morphed into writing mostly fiction and occasional poetry.

Yes, I have a spreadsheet of my entries, including most of my home game entries. It’s basically season/week/topic then a column for type of entry (fiction/nonfiction/poem, then a brief summary of what I wrote (a sentence or two). It’s helpful if I want to look back and see what I’ve already covered.

From:

muchtooarrogant

I'm not quite as organized as you, but did at least start building my voting sheet for week 1 based on sign ups thus far. Can't wait for the first prompt.

Dan

From:

ryl

Whyyyyyyyyyyy? Why are you doing this while I still have chemo brain? *wails*

From:

bleodswean

HUGS

From:

erulissedances

Gary - I'm getting a broken link to the Sign up Sheet. Please send it to me directly, or just add my name to the list - Erulisse (one L)

From:

clauderainsrm

It should be good now.

From:

erulissedances

Much better, thankx.

- Erulisse (one L)

From:

used_songs

Hello, I'm Opal. I'm toying with the idea of writing a Lady Gaga/Medusa crossover about the rise of AI and some new discoveries about the nature of the universe. I have been reading a lot lately, which is usually a precursor to writing.

ETA: I'm brand new here! *waves*

Edited Date: 2025-06-09 11:08 am (UTC)

From:

adore

Hiiii! OMG we are going to have so much fun! And your story idea is fascinating :D

From:

muchtooarrogant

Great to have you join us, welcome!

Dan

From:

oxymoron67

Hi everyone! I'm baaa-aaack!

I'm still finishing up my thesis... although all the writing is done, I've moved onto the formatting stage...

It's good to be back.

From:

fausts_dream

https://fausts-dream.dreamwidth.org/6632.html

From:

krispykritter

Hi! I decided to start a new journal and figured a new name is in order. I'm still baxaphobia in other places but it's time for something new!
It's been ages since I've written anything fun. I've spent the past year and a half immersed in academia, obtaining my CAGS in rehabilitation counseling. So my brain was cluttered with all sorts of things which need now to be purged.
I have a new job since I posted last. I'll write more about that in future entries. For now let's just say life is mostly great!

From:

vik_thor

Wow, I looked through all of the 2024 and 2023 posts I've made here on DreamWidth,
10 during 2024, Most of them in July, which included my 3 Idol Enteries (week1, week 2 where I got voted out. partly because I didn't even VOTE FOR MYSELF...)
Week 3 I did a home game entry, sortof...
a 'catchup' post, and a GeneaBlog post.

August was a Wordle post,
and November was an election post.

2023 was mostly GeneaBlogs, in May 2023.

I did not work the local elections here in St Louis County this year.
I am continuing to go to the majority of the Hazelwood City Council meetings. I had been on the Neighborhood Watch Commision for the past 3 years or so, but I have switched to the City Plan board. (have not been sworn in, or attended meeting yet.)

one of the biggest things that has happened, my ork (OUTFRONT Media) has moved our Saint Louis office from Berkeley MO down to the City of Saint Louis.
It adds about 40 miles round trip to my commute, but is good in general for us.

The Saint Louis Pen Show will be the last weekend of the month again, and I will be volunteering (Probably)
heading down to the last club meeting before the show in a few minutes.

From:

chasing_silver

Hi all, late to the party, but this looks fascinating! Still wondering if school and such will give me time to play ... but if not, I'll for sure be reading!