I'm a little lost here, were do I put this?

September 2, 2010 2:55 PM

I asked a question in AskMe about a story I'm writing, now the story is pretty much finished, and I'd like to share -- just in case anyone is interested. But I'm not sure how.

I looked in the FAQ but didn't see anything, and I searched old posts but also came up empty, so I'm at a loss... I thought I'd upload it into Google docs and post a link to it, but I'm not sure where I'd put the link.

I just thought I'd share since y'all were very helpful answering my question.

Thanks.

posted by patheral to Etiquette/Policy at 2:55 PM (24 comments total)

If the story is done and you dont mind sharing it with people then yeah, putting it online somewhere and adding a link woulsd be fine. You could also add a note to the thread offering to send a copy to people who MeMail you their email address or whatever. I think you migh tbe happier sending email copies to people only because once you link it online anyone can see it [in and outside of the MeFi community] and that may not be what you want. Or you could post it on projects [i.e. make a little website with a link to it or put it online somewhere] and have people click through and read it that way.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:58 PM on September 2, 2010

Isn't this EXACTLY what "Projects" is for?
posted by hal_c_on at 2:59 PM on September 2, 2010

I don't think a single, static short story would qualify as a Project as far as that space is concerned. A new bog short stories? Yeah. But not a single one.
posted by griphus at 3:01 PM on September 2, 2010

"A new blog of short stories?"
posted by griphus at 3:02 PM on September 2, 2010

Can't wait to read the part where the bear gets knifed.
posted by fleacircus at 3:05 PM on September 2, 2010

I don't think a single, static short story would qualify as a Project as far as that space is concerned.

If the story was 'published' online, with a dedicated site/subsite and all the requisite "Like This!" cruft, it would most certainly qualify.
posted by carsonb at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2010

Yeah, the "dedicated" part is the kicker.
posted by griphus at 3:44 PM on September 2, 2010

I don't think a single, static short story would qualify as a Project as far as that space is concerned.

I think it'd depend a lot on the definition of "short", and on whether this was a recurring thing. Ultimately Matt's the arbiter of what flies on Projects—if he doesn't approve it, that's a no—but we're not super strict generally about things having to be ambitious. If you write up a piece of fiction and put it on the web, and you're fairly proud of it and think it's worth sharing, putting it up as a Projects submission is generally gonna be fine.

If you're doing that every month, it might be time to look at putting together a blog for that stuff and posting that to Projects instead, certainly, and save the one-off posts only for the occasional more-ambitious-than-usual thing. But we don't want people to feel like they have to do something really big to ever be able to post to Projects; a smaller but still substantial piece of work as a one-off is okay.

Random "I had a cheese sandwich" blog posts: not good for Projects. That's more the scope of stuff that we really definitely don't think should be submitted. But stuff a bit meatier than that can be okay. It's of course fine to drop us a line via the contact form to get an opinion ahead of time if you're not sure something will fit.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:06 PM on September 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

I never said thanks to AskMe for this thread, which I used for a pretty kick-ass story (if I do say so myself). Said story is at least partially responsible for my current job.

So, thanks, AskMe!
posted by Bookhouse at 4:06 PM on September 2, 2010

"I'm a little lost here, were do I put this?"

1. Get bog.
2. Post story in bog.
3. Project!
posted by iamkimiam at 4:42 PM on September 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

1. Get bog.
2. Post story in bog.
3. Project!

Step 3 is not really guaranteed, though. The story has to meet or exceed the bog standard.
posted by FishBike at 5:06 PM on September 2, 2010 [5 favorites]

I note here that www.instantdeepwearysigh.com has not yet been registered.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:29 PM on September 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Okay, so if I post the story in a blog and link it in projects that would be okay? That way when I finish the other story I asked for help on, I can just add that one to the blog as well?

I'm unfamiliar with blogs and how they work... I'll have to look into it some more.
posted by patheral at 7:29 PM on September 2, 2010

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog,
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring blog!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:42 PM on September 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

That'd be totally fine, patheral, yeah. The good news is that setting up a basic blog is ridiculously easy at this point; depending on what you want to do, you can be up and going in like five minutes. Your biggest problem there will be choosing what blogging platform to use; there are a ton of options.

Blogger is an old warhorse that might be a good option for you; it offers pretty standard blog functionality like clear archives and comments if you want them available, and it's got a good collection of different default themes to choose from. Other folks might have alternate suggestions as well, but that's a really easy place to start.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:01 PM on September 2, 2010

Wordpress.com is also super simple and a little more ... up to date than Blogger, at least that's been my feeling. The good news is you can sign up for an account with both of them and fiddle around and see what you think and then post whichever one works out best to Projects.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:09 PM on September 2, 2010

Just go to Blogger.com and everything should be self-explanatory.
posted by John Cohen at 8:17 PM on September 2, 2010

Thanks... i'll check them out tomorrow. :)
posted by patheral at 8:19 PM on September 2, 2010

Oh, and my advice is to use Blogger rather than Wordpress. I tried to start a blog in Wordpress and I could. not. figure. out. how. to do it in any kind of reasonably simple way. I know a lot about blogs, and Wordpress was over my head. If you've never heard of blogs before, you're not going to want to deal with Wordpress unless it has become dramatically more user-friendly since I tried it a couple years ago.
posted by John Cohen at 8:23 PM on September 2, 2010

I tried to start a blog in Wordpress and I could. not. figure. out. how. to do it in any kind of reasonably simple way. I know a lot about blogs, and Wordpress was over my head.

Are you talking about the hosted sites at wordpress.com or installing your own version of wordpress on a server? Because those are two totally different things.
posted by andoatnp at 9:24 PM on September 2, 2010

Please also see and comment on the post I just made in this section.
posted by swimming naked when the tide goes out at 10:02 PM on September 2, 2010

okay, i started a blog and posted in projects... thanks for the advice.
posted by patheral at 11:22 AM on September 4, 2010

Are you talking about the hosted sites at wordpress.com or installing your own version of wordpress on a server? Because those are two totally different things.

The instructions I saw said to pay for a server. I asked an AskMe question about this (not under this username) and had people tell me over and over that it's easy, but no one could actually give clear instructions for doing it, or even point to clear instructions.
posted by John Cohen at 12:30 PM on September 4, 2010

The instructions you saw would have been for a self-hosted install of the Wordpress CMS software, then; it's a fine option if that's what you want (I've used it for several things) and has nice flexibility if you need it, but is more than a raw newbie will want to deal with.

However, wordpress.com is, like blogger.com, a really straightforward quickstart blog service. Signing up is really simple, the signup button is hard to miss in the top right of their front page, and there's a very friendly step by step walkthrough for the skittish.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:42 PM on September 4, 2010