S8 @ 10

[Arcadia]

Doreen: a second printed book is a great idea & if it´s not trouble for you it´s double great!!!

Cecil: wow, I would love to listen to your voice reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year, Michael - an old member of s-8- gave me tips about how to record mp3 (the same that Judih & Doreen explained). I still couldn´t use with total success the program audacity though: (it´s great: you see the vital signs of the sound like if you were in a estudio de grabación, you can cut & paste tracks, it has too many options! But I still have to simplify them in my analogic mind in order to use them .... ). And back noise is also life´s noise ... what can we do about it...! . I´ll excercise as soon as I can and ask for help if I need it!

[Doreen Peri]

Yeah, Veronica... I think I'd like to create a book. I have to do SOMETHING. *smile* Maybe we could do BOTH... we could create a book on a theme and I'll figure out what that entails and we could set up a 10-year-memories thread for spoken word audio recordings? What do you think?

[judih]

like.

[Steve Plonk]

Doreen, the book sounds good. I'd probably need a tutorial with the audio. Maybe my
daughter could help me. I wished I'd been present to submit to the first book.

[mnaz]

It would be a bigger task this time, with ten years' worth of material to sort through vs. three and a half years to draw from for the first book, but ... a book's always an exciting idea. jeez, i have a hard time sorting through just my stuff here-- some of it's been worked and re-worked so many times . . .

but yeah, i recall, litkicks published a book at ten years old . . .

[Doreen Peri]

I was thinking of something different than sorting through the material already posted. I was thinking of asking for NEW material especially written for the book on themes which I would think of... themes like the tried and true poetry theme of TIME passing... other themes I'm beginning to make a list of.

I was also thinking of requesting short prose pieces in addition to poetry, also newly written on a theme.

I was thinking of asking for submissions by email and handling the selection process myself rather than using a committee to vote on the material. That will help streamline the process.

Now, if there are previously posted works which fit into the themes I have in mind, works which have not been published before in print, then that would be OK to submit them, too.

But I was thinking of something fresh and new.

I was thinking of artwork to be included, also, maybe especially drawn or painted for the book but I have to look into pricing for color art. I'd like the book to have color art this time, not just black and white.

One thing I wasn't thinking of was books published by any other site, though I'm sure many sites have published books at notable anniversary years and that's commendable.

I'll have to work on the ideas I have to make an announcement to ask for submissions and set a deadline.

Thanks to all for your interest!

OH.... one more thing. I was thinking of a special section for those who have left us: Lrod, Norman, and Dino. For that section, I was thinking of asking people to select a work which has been posted and submit it to me by email and then I would choose 2 or 3 works per artist and write a dedication intro for that section to state why these artists were important to the site.

[mnaz]

That sounds like a good approach, Doreen.

[Doreen Peri]

Maybe, but all of a sudden it's overwhelming me and we haven't even started. Maybe it's not a good idea at all. Just like the 8-year in-person anniversary party (8 for Studio8), it's quite possible this won't happen either. Could be the thought that counts. We'll see.

[judih]

it's a great concept.
maybe take it one section at a time.
first - new poetry
with a deadline.
you could sieve through what gets sent to you and then if you needed second or third opinions on your choices, you could ask someone here (me!me!)

then next stage:
prose....

bit by bit the book would grow.

[Doreen Peri]

Judih... I have to think about it more. I'm thinking. That's a good sign! Thanks for your support and yeah, I may need your help if I decide to move forward. Good ideas you posted.

One thing that's bothered me some is that there have been two anthologies created by friends of mine on FB which caused those who submitted to get angry. In both cases, the people who were angry were angry because they didn't receive a free copy of the book. It is the practice of some publishers (I think.. there I go thinking again) to give a copy of an anthology to those who submit. That said, Studio8 has no money and neither do I and these books would be created for print-on-demand and each one would have to be paid for. I can't afford to give away copies. So, if I move forward with this idea, I'll want to make sure people know that and they agree to submit anyway. I'm not interested in getting anybody angry at me, that's for sure. There's no money to be made in this, either. Last time, we sold only a handful of books and the books were sold for only a dollar or so more than the cost they charge to print them so I may have profited $20, tops, but not even that because certainly my software and skills are worth more than $20. Sigh. Just thinking aloud. This is a hurdle we'd have to deal with. Maybe I'll have submitters sign an agreement that they understand the process is print-on-demand and that Studio8 cannot afford to pay for copies for those who submit. If we do this, I want to do it with INTEGRITY. I don't want anyone angry because they didn't get a copy for free.

Remembering these incidents when angry people posted messages to a group of other submitters complaining to the whole group that they didn't get a copy of the book they were published in... well that just sort of put the brakes on this idea in my mind and I began to get overwhelmed.

That doesn't mean we can't move forward. I have to keep thinking about how to best organize it and make sure the above issue doesn't happen for us.

If we do it, I'd like to keep it simple.

I like the theme of time passing but I don't want the word "time" to be used. Maybe I'll keep it simple and ask for 10 submissions from each person, max, (10 years, 10 submissions), in the form of poetry, artwork, or prose, any combination and all on the theme of time passing. These submissions could be works already posted on Studio8 or new works.

The other idea I'm thinking of is a second suggested theme of meeting people in person who you originally met online. Mark (mnaz) has some written some wonderful poetry with this theme and that inspired me to want to ask others for this theme.

[Steve Plonk]

Doreen, I agree with some of your suggestions, but not the idea of themes with "time" not mentioned. Like you said, let's keep it simple. Let's have it on any theme or subject.
However,I think you might need to limit the number of lines in each poem, or pages in
each amount of poetry. Ten poems, for ten years, sounds good...

If we do it, I'd like to keep it simple.

I like the theme of time passing but I don't want the word "time" to be used. Maybe I'll keep it simple and ask for 10 submissions from each person, max, (10 years, 10 submissions), in the form of poetry, artwork, or prose, any combination and all on the theme of time passing. These submissions could be works already posted on Studio8 or new works.

Also, Most people here have never met the folks they correspond with on line. So, your
second suggested theme is a good thing only for the fortunate few.

[Doreen Peri]

Steve, thanks for your input.

If we do it, I would definitely want it theme-based for a reason. I don't want it to be just any anthology. The fact that we've been online for 10 years inspired the theme of time passing. It sure doesn't seem like 10 years. Time passes quickly. I know that's cliche, but it's cliche because it's true. Time passing has been a much used theme for poets throughout history. MANY of the poems and prose posted on this website focus on the passing of time in that they deal with the poet's past experiences and memories.

Not using the word "time" is silly. Thanks for pointing that out. I guess I was just saying I'd rather see a piece of writing SHOW vs. TELL and the pieces which have imagery the language which shows instead of tells would be more likely to end up in the book.

Yes, I realize that many people haven't met others in person who they've met online. But some have and those experiences are something special. So, because the book would be about an online community, I thought it would be cool to include writings about some of those experiences.

For those who haven't had those experiences, they would be able to select poems or prose pieces to submit which reflect the passing of time. This should be easy to do since, as I said, many written pieces are reflections of an author's past experiences. That's pretty simple.

I like the theme.

[Doreen Peri]

PS... I don't want to place limits on the number of lines. I can't count the times I have not submitted my poetry to a publication that places limits on lines. I may SUGGEST that the pieces be pieces which could be short enough to be printed on one page but I wouldn't want to place strict limits. If we do this (and that's a strong IF at this point), I may ask for the leeway to edit pieces to be shorter to fit with a printed product with the approval of the final edit going to the author.

[judih]

good with me - a) having people indicate they know there will be no free copies
b) length according to your final discretion. ie. there may be room for some 2 page poems but not others according to the validity of length.
If you ask for leeway, you will be thinking of the book as a whole and how best to compile its parts.

so, yes.

[Arcadia]

Doreen!:

Yeah, Veronica... I think I'd like to create a book. I have to do SOMETHING. *smile* Maybe we could do BOTH... we could create a book on a theme and I'll figure out what that entails and we could set up a 10-year-memories thread for spoken word audio recordings? What do you think?

Sure you´ll make a beautiful SOMETHING ... and people won´t get angry at you, Doreen!
Neverthess what you said about the confirmation of submissions in orden to know if the book making & printing is available or not is a necessary start.
And about the 10-year-memories thread for spoken word audio recordings is a great idea!! The ones who want to post there could make it directly and when they can. That way it won´t disperse the energies necessary to focus on the book, yeah, let´s do it!!! (Steve...!: start practicing with your daughter´s help if you want, it would be great to listen to your voice!!!! )

As a desire, it also would be great if at least color art images can be included ... personally, I deeply love the visual arts´side of S-8...!

I absolutely trust in cooperative thinking (I agree with all you have been saying in the last days) and in Doreen´s & Judih organization capacity, let´s keep talking!