LJI Prompt: Regrets. To Do, or Not to Do, That is the Question

[furzicle]

To Do, or Not to Do, That is the QuestionThey say when a dying person realizes their existence is slipping inexorably away, they often express their Life’s profound regrets. Cheerfully we are told that they never say they wished they had spent more time in the office, but rather that they wished they had attended more of their beloved children’s

Comments

[furzicle]

Oh, I, too, find the long list of pieces to read daunting! Truth to tell, I generally scan through those early looonnnggg reading lists and am brutal about looking for a "hook" and not reading past the point I think the piece is not catching my interest. Of course, as time goes on, you find authors whose work you enjoy and then you can go straight to those. I am really grateful for this three strikes system because, in the past, some new writers just missed the mark and were eliminated immediately. That felt too harsh. In my ideal world, I would like to see each of us just tally up points. At a certain point (like around now), I wouldn't mind the contest being called done and we could all just say, "Oh, I got 223 points or I got 350 points." Or, perhaps better, "I came in tenth" or "I came in fourteenth". There would still be the drive to submit as many entries as possible (or lose possible points.) Another "improvement" I would recommend would be to make all polls contestant only. This would eliminate the advantage of people who it appears just have very successfully recruited all their friends to vote for them. Case in point: this time around I actually ended up with a strike because my one, true supporter within the group got too busy and didn't manage to vote this time. Proves the point because this time I couldn't even rely upon my one other true-blue supporter, my best friend outside the competition. More idealism: Maybe we should all be in groups of fifteen for several weeks and then totally switch everyone around into new groups of fifteen so that we can all really get to know other writers. Leave the eliminations until later. But, I hate eliminations!

[engarian]

I agree 100%. I think the votes should be limited to contestants only. I don't have large circles of friends I can call upon for votes, and it seems that others certainly don't have that problem. I'd like the votes to truly be based on the writing skill and story, not the friends/relatives they can call upon.

- Erulisse (one L)