Green Room - Week 30 - Day 9

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We are waiting for the Gatekeepers to come to their final decisions, but that's not reason to sit around and do nothing. There are still entries to be read! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/811500.html

There are some who say "Well, it doesn't count for anything!"

It counts for *you reading something cool*! It counts for you being able to legitimately say "Man, I LOVED that entry! What were they thinking????" or maybe you will be the one who will comment to the entry and a Gatekeeper will read it and say "You know what, they have a good point!!"

So really it's all in your hands right now!

(Well, OK, it's still not "in your hands", but there's always larger forces of voters out there. This is just another version of that.)

So get out there and READ AND COMMENT!!

and then come back here and tell people what THEY should be reading - what awesome things are they missing in Idol-land this week?

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I don't know if you saw it or not, but in the comments yesterday I asked if there was anyone interested in doing BETA TESTING for Livejournal. Be the first to test drive the changes to the site! Just send me an email and let me know if you are, and I will forward your information to them!

***

To pull a Jeff Probst - who among you feels "safe" this week? Who thinks they are in danger?

Gatekeepers

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When I start sending out invitations, I'm never quite sure who is going to say "Yes".

After all, I'm asking people for a favor - on behalf of the competition, I am asking them to read the entries and cast votes that will help determine how a season is going to play out.

Some people say "No". Others say "Yes", but something comes up.

I'm happy to say that there were quite a few "Absolutely"s this time around, and all of them seemed to enjoy themselves.

So - thank you to the contestants for not embarrassing us. ;)

But since this is the "Gatekeeper post", it's time for me to let you know who they were - and give you a moment to thank them for their time. Some of them may pop in and comment about their process and things they noticed as they were reading. None of them are going to say "I voted for you""didn't" (or shouldn't) but it's always interesting to get a look into the thought process.

This time around was a mixture of Old Friends of Idol, some folks working professionally in the writing field, one actual Survivor, some of my personal favorite writers (and people), and a mixture of all these things.

So without further ado...

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Thank you to our Gatekeepers!!

Results - Week 30

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With the Gatekeeper post now out of the way http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/814499.html

We can now move on to why you have been injuring your F5 finger over the last couple hours. Who is going to be eliminated this week.

Of course we know that eska818 sacrificed, taking up one of those 8-12 spots.

I'm going to just post the names in a moment, but before I do, I want to take a moment to thank of those leaving this evening for writing their asses off for 30 weeks (in some cases less because of Last Chance, but still, it hasn't been easy and you absolutely deserve to have made it to this point!) Thank you for being awesome and I hope that we will continue to see you around the Home Game and hanging out in the Green Room cheering on your favorites, or just relaxing now that you have the time. ;)

With that said. I'm taking a deep breathe and posting the results. It's always sad to lose people... OK, I said I was actually going to POST... so here it is...

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Oh yeah, totally forgot to mention this: WELCOME TO THE JURY!! Where, every week until I announce otherwise, you will be voting on who gets immunity!!

Topic - Week 31

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You survived the Gatekeepers. Looking around at who is left standing, there is a quote that comes to mind.

That quote is our topic this week:


“The future outwits all our certitudes”

You have until Monday, Dec 15th at 8pm EST to link your entry back to this thread!

Have fun!

Work Room - Week 31

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Congratulations to our Top 25! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/814597.html

Before you start getting into this week's topic: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/814969.html
just stop and celebrate that for a moment. Let it sink in.

Jack Foster sent along comments for a couple people - and if you are one of them I will include that bit in with your "in danger" "safe" or "very safe" standing in the Gatekeeper round. I should probably note here that only *2* of you were "very safe".

Which brings me to something else he had in that email - which is always good advice and something that I've been pushing here and in the Killing Floor. But it's never a bad thing to hear it from a stranger:

"Hi and thank you for inviting me to your party. This was a lot of fun.

One note in general: you guys should be editing each other; the comment section is great for that. To be clear, I don’t mean critiquing, but editing. Some of you are very tight and you should be helping the other ones out. No need to be pedantic, just “hey, how about a semicolon after that second sentence” or “perhaps that line would read better as two independent clauses”. The more you watch for it in other people the better you get at seeing it in your own; I, for example, love to comma splice, I’m doing it now, I’m all but blind to them. A good edit is always best from a second pair of eyes and this is a great place for that. Just do it kindly J"

elledanger added something of her own in her email: "I really enjoyed the entries that opened strongly and within the first two paragraphs were able to demonstrate an economy and precision in their story telling. Unlike entries that used that same space for world building or pre-ambles; if you're going to tell me it gets better 500 words in, please, you need to cut those first 500 words. This is because the good entries have already gotten my attention and good will in the same amount of time that I've gotten distracted and bored with those I didn't enjoy. And it takes spectacular writing to win me around once I'm bored."

If you take a look at the Gatekeeper comments http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/814499.html there are themes there. Things you SHOULD be doing. Things you SHOULD NOT be doing. Listen to them. Take them to heart and then follow the one biggest piece of advice you are hearing: Your Work Needs to Take Risks. This isn't the time of the competition to play it safe. It's the time to knock that door down and declare "I'm going to win this thing and here's why".