LJ Idol Round-Up

[teaberryblue]

cacophonesque has been much more diligent in rounding up her favorite posts every week. I thought this week I would do it.

As most of you know, I'm participating in therealljidol. I've been pretty solidly safe with votes, so I don't need anyone's votes to stay in the competition yet, but one of the main reasons I joined was because it seemed like a neat way to read writing by people I wouldn't normally get to know.

And boy, there has been a lot of it! With approximately 200 entries every week so far, it's been a struggle to read them all before voting closes. The first few weeks, I tried to comment to everyone. By the last page or so, I just didn't have time to comment because I was reading within hours of the polls closing, and I felt kinda guilty. So this week, I only commented when I thought I had something interesting to say, or when I just really felt compelled to. Not necessarily to the best entries, but to the ones I wanted to say something back to! There were a lot of good entries I didn't comment on. I'm still trying to get the hang of this.

Anyway, here are a few of the posts I liked best this week, in case anyone is looking for some good reading! The prompt was "Smile."

battle_kitten wrote about a day in the life of a school photographer. It was charming, witty, and entertaining, and she totally captured things I'd forgotten about school picture day.

douchejuice has been writing a story about a perfectly horrid young man named Max. His style is refreshing and his character is likable in spite of what an ass he is. This week, Max actually started to show another side to his character and there is a bit of mystery coming into the story.

gildedage also went the photography direction, but her story is completely different from battle_kitten's. It's kind of cool to see how many things people can do with a similar prompt and theme. She wrote a really adorable story about a family photograph session.

hug_machine is always the cutest! She is ridiculously creative in her prompt responses and this week she actually made hers interactive while describing what a smile pile is.

joeymichaels wrote a fictional tale about the assassination of a union organizer that took the prompt in probably the most creative and divergent direction I saw this week. The way he told it also has a fairytale or folktale quality to it that works really well.

talonkarrde88 wrote about a photographer's project to document the terminally ill. It was moving and thought-provoking-- I wondered if I would have the guts to participate in something like this.

To vote for these and other entries this week, you need to actually join the therealljidol community. You can also read my entry and many others on the voting page! Voting ends at 7:30 PM EST Tonight

Do you have any favorites I haven't mentioned?

Comments

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

These were all entries that I liked a great deal!

The one by joeymichaels was especially awesome. Totally would have been on my list if I hadn't already rec'd him two weeks ago!

I don't have my list with me right now to add any others (I have a hard time remembering without some sort of memory jog).

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

Thank you both so much for the boost. :D

Now I need to write something decent in a week when my tribe doesn't have immunity. :P

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha oops! I have really enjoyed all your posts so far! Especially because you've pretty much run the gamut as far as theme and content. I never know what to expect!

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

Well thank you! I like playing with style and content.

I had not previously been exposed to LJ Idol when my friend encouraged me to apply so I had no idea that most of the entries would be focused on better-than-average LJ style journal posts.

I love the variety that writers like you (and cacophonesque) have brought to the contest, too. It makes for compelling reading and I look forward to your entries every week. :D

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

I really didn't know what to expect, either! And I ended up signing up because of other people who didn't know... but it's been a good adventure so far.

You make me feel all smiley with your compliments!

And I agree, playing with style and content is fun. It would get boring to write the same things week after week (and even more boring to read them!)

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

I want to play around a bit more but I also need to be careful not to take on more than I can do! Doing a different style of comic might end up being prohibitive.

And yeah, I'm not really sure what I was expecting-- I guess it is whatever people want to work on improving, or for many people, it's a prompt to help them blog more frequently or thoughtfully. I am totally using it to expand my cartoon content!

And likewise, for sure!

[gildedage.livejournal.com]

I am always a fan of negativeneve and tamaraland because they are always hilarious. And I think arasan was good because, if i am correct, her entry was just adorable baby pictures.

[gildedage.livejournal.com]

Actually, arasan was the girl who cut her hair which was a no-no for her Pentecostal family, which is still an amazing entry, with a snazzy photo reveal at the end.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

arasan is another one of my longtime LJ friends and she is generally awesome and a really interesting person!