{"id":284,"date":"2014-08-21T15:15:47","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T14:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/?p=284"},"modified":"2014-09-17T15:18:24","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T14:18:24","slug":"alphaday-1-minus-1-season-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/alphaday-1-minus-1-season-xi\/","title":{"rendered":"Alphaday 1 minus 1 – Season XI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Alphas,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019re enjoying a blissful break from the Alpha routine. Nothing lasts forever though, and perhaps you\u2019re now beginning to long for the company of those who\u2019ll remind you that what you really want to do is to write something brilliant.<\/p>\n

The good news is (if that\u2019s the case) that Alpha Season XI starts in exactly three weeks, i.e. the usual break between Alphadays and hence the \u2018minus one\u2019 tag.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m taking this opportunity to alert you to the imminent approach of Season XI and to ask you to do a mental inventory of what you\u2019ll contribute to make Season XI the best season ever. Alpha is, as always, as good as the sum of its members, and aren\u2019t we lucky to have gathered together such a great bunch of outstanding individuals?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s another matter that I\u2019d like to mention here: The book we intend to publish to celebrate the ten years of Alpha.<\/p>\n

When I first suggested it, I didn\u2019t have a clear-cut idea in my mind of the exact shape or form. Your helpful queries and suggestions gradually shaped it up for me. Nothing is set in concrete yet except that we\u2019ll all contribute something. New and bright ideas are always welcome.<\/p>\n

This is how I envisage our oeuvre:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An introduction outlining the nature of Alpha and the reason for the publication of the book.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ten chapters, each related to an Alpha season. These will consist of the following elements:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a) A paragraph outlining of the main events of the season. We\u2019ll gear this towards a non-Alpha readership; in other words we\u2019ll mention activities and achievements rather than enumerate members who came and went. Members who made a difference to the group\u2019s history will of course be mentioned.<\/li>\n
  2. b) The creative writing input, i.e. the main element of the book: A piece of writing by one of our members, illustrating one of that season\u2019s challenges. Each member only contributes one story; you have one hundred challenge themes to choose from (see Chris\u2019s list) and this gives you the opportunity to contribute in your favourite genre; prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction. The word limit is loose; say, between 1,000 and 3,000 words; less for poetry. (Some seasons will have more than one piece of writing because we have more than ten contributors.)<\/li>\n
  3. c) I would like these main pieces of writing to be preceded by one of the top entries for that particular challenge. This is purely for historical and illustrative reasons; showing a typical challenge entry. The longer piece is completely separate; a different take on the theme, detached from the strict constraints of the brief and showing your (our) creative writing at its best.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Credits. Contributors can give a brief bio and mention their other writings.<\/p>\n

    4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Epilogue.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Have you already given this some thought? If not, please do. Any suggestions for improving the plan shown above are welcome.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    I\u2019ll set the ball rolling by asking you to pick the season and the theme of your choice (second choice would be useful). With a bit of luck we\u2019ll get an offer for each of the ten seasons without too much wrangling.<\/p>\n

    First come, first served! If somebody else has already picked a theme from the season you wanted, you\u2019ll be asked to come up with something different! We need to cover every one of the ten seasons.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve been swallowed up by \u2018life generally\u2019 over the last couple of months. Perhaps it\u2019s about time I devoted some attention to \u2018life personally\u2019. Alpha will shove me along in the right direction, I think.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    See you on Alphaday 1, Season XI, on the 11th<\/sup> of September 2014.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Christine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hi Alphas,   I hope you\u2019re enjoying a blissful break from the Alpha routine. Nothing lasts forever though, and perhaps you\u2019re now beginning to long for the company of those who\u2019ll remind…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alphaday-bulletins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alphawriters.net\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}