therealljidol | Green Room - Week 39

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Green Room - Week 39 - Day 3

Like a car on fire crashing into a dynamite factory – LJ IDOL Season 8 is coming to an end!

Tonight!

Which means you have one last chance to decide who you want to win this thing - http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/603806.html

The last time I looked, it looked like we could very well be coming down to the wire again! Which is appropriate, given the talent level of our final two!

It also means that this is the final Green Room of the season. You also have one last chance to enjoy this space. Because the staff is getting anxious to get in here and start cleaning! Or at least attempting to… I’m really not sure about some of those spots. Especially in the corners.

The DJ has started the music down in the Banquet Hall and it’s about time to move out of here… so get your group pictures of “Us in the Green Room, in happier times” out of the way, before it’s too late!

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to miss this place.

So, thank you Green Room, for another season of, well, everything it is that you do! Whatever that happens to be! ;)

And (if you are so inclined) remember to tip your wait staff!

***
Most of all though, we have one last chance to enjoy this moment.

They don’t come around all that often, and you should definitely take a moment to let it all sink in when you get the opportunity. Where you were when we started. Where you are now. Where you see yourself going now, and where all of this craziness fits into all of it!

“A punk rock song won’t ever change the world, but I can think of a couple that changed me” – Wingnut Dishwashers Union

I’ll see you later tonight with the results and the Afterparty!

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First?

First! In the last GR of the season too! Though it's pretty quiet in here for me to make first after reading everything twice (I'm tired guys).... So we need some drama or something to get everyone talking....

Hmmm....

Edited 2012-08-30 14:11 (UTC)

Not that long ago, I looked back at the entries I started this season with. I was writing fairly infrequently before Idol started, so I joined Idol as a way to make sure I was writing something at least once a week.

Dude, you guys. The amount of improvement I've had from week 1 to week 30 alone was ridiculous. I'm back to writing everyday now, and I'm putting out at least 1000 words a day. Gary, I can't thank you enough for doing this sort of thing. When my husband tells me I can't compete next season (jokingly), I keep giving him these horrified looks.

I hope to up my game next season and make it even further than top 31. ;)

Donated! This season has done so much for my writing and I've also made some super awesome friends. Can't wait to do it all over again. :)

You're FIRST!!!!

IKR?!? But I was even in the shower when the GR went up... It shouldn't have been possible! Where is everyone?!?

Can't believe it's the last GR! Can't believe how close the poll is!!!

Definitely playing next season, and my goal is WORLD DOMINATION... er, I mean, to make it further than I did this season!

I already wrote on it, but the improvement I've seen since Season 6 is mind blowing. And every season, I can look back at the beginning to the end and see growth.

I had a dream last night that'll hopefully turn into my first ever non-Idol short story. That's pretty exciting for me!

Probably like me? It's gorgeous outside, I'm off from work, and I really don't want to spend the entire day inside?

This season has had me thinking about a lot of writerly things, from watching people's steady improvement from one season to the next to picking through my own with the proverbial ice pick. This season, in particular, has made me question at times what writing means to me, how seriously I look at it, what I want to do with it and if I want to do anything with it.

Idol -- as well as LJ -- has always been my playground. Not that I don't take things seriously because I do, but I guess my issue is this: The bar has definitely been raised this season. I think we can all agree with that. On the one hand the reader/writer/teacher in me is thrilled. OTOH there's a big part of me that's in mourning as in "Oh, now that the bar's been raised, I'd better raise mine too and I'm not sure I really want to do that for [whatever reason]." The downside of the bar being raised is that, for me, it makes the game less fun in a way.

Understand I'm not putting down those who see/use Idol as a stepping stone. Please, don't take what I'm saying in that vein. I'm also not, in any way, putting down our beloved GR because we certainly do have fun here!

I'm seeing the game itself as a playground, and because the bar has been raised, it's dismantling the playground bit by bit. And I'm standing there, watching it, half in shock, and half trying not to weep.

And I'm going to shut up now lest I make any more verbal mish-mash...

:nodding: Idol was my lifesaver the year my mother passed. It was my first season officially playing, and it was my primary way of pouring out my emotions, just like you say. I can't claim it made me feel lighter and better afterward, but it did do a lot to untangle the grief. The support I received here was incredible, and it was more support than I had IRL. I'll always be grateful and will never, ever forget that.

The poll is so close! Im so nervous for the finalists!

Absolutely.

I'm glad you threw yourself into it and played this season.

People may say, "It's only a banner. It's only an icon." It's not. It's more than that. I made it to the Top 5, but that's not what matters to me. What matters is that I grew as a person, as a writer, and as a friend.

Winning may be a banner and an icon, but if that's all you get out of this... It would be pretty sad. I think anyone who's played this season can get a lot more than that.

The first season I played, I was unemployed and in a very bad relationship. I started the season to give myself a reason to wake up because I'd been depressed that I had nothing going in my life, nothing to write about. Reading other people's stories of strength, writing out my own hard times and getting advice, helped me see that I needed to make changes to find happiness. It seems so cheesy to say it, but Idol helped me through the end of my relationship and to see that I deserved better.

My fiction became a way I could express my feelings freely without fear. My insecurities, my low-self esteem, the feeling of not being like everyone else... It came out in my characters and helped me see what I was going through in a unique way. I learned more about myself because this was all stuff I wouldn't admit even in my own head.

I'm glad it was a journey for you and I think you've come out stronger this season. I've seen growth in your writing and in your strength and confidence. It's always a beautiful thing to see.

Just in general it's slowing down in here and stuff. Every day, even into the evening. And it's the last one too, which is sad....

I'm happily staying in the AC today. It's too flipping hot and humid...

I remember reading that -- and it's true. The simple act of writing frequently and consistently is enough to create growth, as a writer. I didn't think I had really improved all that much, but I can totally tell my newer stuff from the older stuff. I had forgotten just how much one's style can develop with consistent writing.

Yay! I've been punching things out for 500themes, because it's how my muse works best. Apparently it's time to focus on Stellar as I keep getting ideas for it. I'm glad that Idol gave me a starting point to jump off from with Jordan's Story.

I'm going to miss you guys! Well, except for the few dozen who are Flisters, so there's that!

Come on season 9! Mama's got to get to an even number of weeks, lol!

The bar has been raised every season.

I think the playground is going to stay intact as long as people still come in with the attitude that they want to come out and play.

If everyone is “ OMGZ, I AM A SRS WRITER!” then yeah, that will definitely take a lot of the fun out the process.

But we’ve always had “serious writers” and we’ve always had “I’m just doing this for the fun”. It’s been a matter of balancing out those interests, within the community, and within ourselves.

I'm seeing the game itself as a playground, and because the bar has been raised, it's dismantling the playground bit by bit. And I'm standing there, watching it, half in shock, and half trying not to weep.

::hug::

I get it. The people who liked to have fun don't hang anymore. There are probably a lot of reasons for it.

Sometimes Idol reminds me of this festival we have here in town. The Red River Revel started years ago as a craft and music festival. People brought their crafts and put together their talent and signed up down at the riverfront and had snow cones and shopped and sang and enjoyed the October shift from "sofuckinghot" to "is it going to rain?"

Each year it got a little more organized, which was good, and the word got out so there were more crafts people, which was great. Then there were so many people interested it was hard to fit them in and things got competitive, and it wasn't a community thing because most of the spots were out of town professional artist people. And then somewhere along the way it became an organization. It became an entity. And now there are big names and everything is polished, and there's still some time for local people, but during the off hours at the tiny stage on the edge of the grounds.

And I'm not saying Idol has gone that far, by any means. But the close-knit feeling hasn't been there for me this season. And there's a competitiveness that sometimes I feel like X person is SO talented that I shouldn't bother trying, or that people will wonder why I bother or what I'm doing here. Because I'm homegrown handmade in a field of people who are ar-TEESTs.

Except it's all baggage. It's my baggage and it's their baggage and the arteests aren't as arteesty as they think they are sometimes. :) And there's something pretty awesome about homegrown handmadewithlove. But it can feel like oil and water, and Idol has a place for both, and Idol changes with the people in it.

I honestly think this season was too big and too long. Too many people to read everyone in the beginning and too fucking long to sit on the sidelines and stay involved. I mean a few of us did it, but we're special. :)

Anyway. I get it. ::hug::

amusing to (probably only) me:

The "too big and too long" complaint has been around since Season 3 when people couldn't believe that there were 72 people who signed up! ;)

Finding that balance between "going through people faster" and "letting people enjoy their experience/give them the time to find their feet" is always a tricky one. For every person who wants to impose some sort of limits, there is someone who would have fallen outside those who ended up adding quite a bit to the community.

Everything is relative.

I agree; your writing has come a long way. Good for you for keeping it going.

Writing can be incredibly emotive. And I always tend to do better when I'm on a deadline. There were a lot of things I wrote this season that would still be rolling around in my head if not for Idol!

ETA: Whoops! Meant to say "cathartic," not "emotive." :)

Edited 2012-08-30 17:28 (UTC)

I've donated, and I hope many people do, as well. I think the Paypal donation button was a great idea.

Hey, I'll be rooting for you!

But I think that I ought to cheer from the sidelines next season. I was somewhat horrified to discover that I hadn't posted anything on Wild Violet since October 2011! Wow. Guess why that is?

I am going to miss the Green room too.

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Green Room - Week 39 - Day 3

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