If you've got a writing itch… · 2:35am Mar 1st, 2017
…and don't have a solid idea to throw your words at, here are some possibilities which could earn you actual money! Arranged by deadline:
1) Everfree Northwest's Scribblefest
They're seeking pony stories of 2000-6000 words by Monday, March 6. The prompt is "Growing up wild and forever free". There are six categories, each of which has a prize of $20 plus possible publication in the conbook.
2) The Twiluna group's inaugural Tuna contest
This one's for the shippers: write 1,500 to 35,000 words that are "focused on, or have heavy elements of Twilight and Luna's relationship". The prompt is "Broken Crown". First, second, and third prizes all score Steam gift cards. Deadline has been extended to March 11.
And for those feeling a little more adventurous:
3) Open submissions call for a furry Tarot-themed anthology.
For the story theme, you can choose between one of a dozen Major Arcana cards (you will be competing with other authors submitting for that same card). They're NOT looking for My Little Pony stories (that could cause copyright/publication issues); however, it's a furry anthology, and if you file the serial numbers off, it's possible a story about talking horses could fit the bill. Stories must be 2000-5000 words and published works will be paid at 1/2 cent per word. Deadline is March 31.
Yes, this is a legit, your-name-in-a-published-book opportunity — and judging by the quality of writers I know here and the oddly small number of pledged submissions, if you get a good idea you could have a darn good shot at it. On top of that, "previously published works not under contract" ARE allowed — that could make this weekend's Writeoff Association competition a good staging ground for your fic's first draft, or you might even have a story lying around you could edit and repurpose for the anthology!
(This is a signal-boost post in lieu of actual Horizon content. Apologies for my continued absence. I'm almost through the other end of my crunch time.)
Ooooooooooooooooo. That furry one tempts me, I actually write furry on occasion, I used to way before I ever wrote fanfic at all. Half cent is not too terrible a pay rate either, though it's not amazing.
The deadline's a little close for me, especially given I am working on an erotica piece with the same deadline, but I may have a stab at it anyway.
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Cool! Any idea which card you'd write?
4440056 I'm currently considering the Emperor and Empress. They don't have many pledges, and I feel like I could use Celestia as a starting-point inspiration for something interesting there.
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Now that you mention that, it's already filling my head with ideas, but I'm not going to be rude by stealing your idea to compete against you.
Oh, dang, I wish I'd thought of that.
I'm good — I've got time to gnaw it over, and I'll be curious to see what you come up with.
4440079 He he. Feel free, really, I'm sure we'd do very different things. I have thoughts on The Devil and The Magician as well. I basically made a list of all the ones without much pledged, and they're all ones I find interesting.
Huh. The tarot card one is interesting. Might look into that.
Not sure if I'm going to try and get in on the next WriteOff. My muse has been finicky as of late.
But you aren't telling us the things I'd really like to know, like what your farm looks like and who you're in a ten heart friendship with!
--Sweetie Belle
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Someone is following me on Steam, I see.
Mea culpa, yeah. I've been playing Stardew Valley as stress relief as I juggle the other responsibilities. And maybe also a little because it's more addictive than I'd like. I'm in spring, Year 2, and I've got a pretty modest farmpatch that's growing about ... 100 crops total? I'm going for quality over quantity and using the extra time to adventure in the desert mines and finish training up my skills. Cash-wise, I rousted together a half-dozen ancient seeds that I'm cultivating for fruits for more seeds which I can plant in the greenhouse I'm about to get (I just have to raise some goddamn ducks and goats first so I can finish the animal products set, and wait for Summer 1 so I can harvest the fruits that will finish the artisan set), and I'm making most of my ~2k/day income via Artisan, with a houseful of kegs and pickling jars that I'm feeding everything I grow into.
My first ten-heart was Linus, because of course my in-game best friend is going to be the lonely outsider. My second was Robyn, because I managed to give her a birthday gift she loved and the quest board keeps running me errands to her. I'm capped at eight hearts with Penny but I'm holding off on marriage until I can get a few other single villagers up to the cap. Most likely I'm going to choose to settle down with Maru or Abigail. All the single guys are dicks (except for Sebastian, but I'm not a car guy).
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I kinda figured you'd be all over the Twiluna one!
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I am! I'mma judge!
My writing is less of an itch and more of an orifice through which I breath in sanity and expel plumes of questionable grammar
Here's a few more writing contests that end in March.
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Stardew Valley is very addictive. I love it, but I don't play it as much as I'd like, 'cause I feel like if I start it up, that's it for the rest of the day. I don't play Civilization V much for the same reason (especially 'cause I'm usually going for a
cutenesscultural victory).I think I'm in summer, year 2, but it sounds like you're a little farther than I am. I also restarted a couple times, so this time, I'm doing one of the four alternate farm layouts that were in the last update, so I have less farmspace than I would with the base map (but I do have a little mini-quarry on my farm).
I was actually in process of upgrading my coop and barn, 'cause I can't get ducks yet, and I just barely got to the desert. I do have sprinklers on I think pretty much all my crops, though. I was actually kinda thinking of buying a shed to get some more space, 'cause I want to do more artisan stuff. I have been farming a bunch of wheat, making it into flour, and making bread, though, which is neat.
Linus is pretty nice, and I get along well with Robin and Demetrius, who gave me that neat bat cave. I remember giving some gifts to Marnie, too, so I could get in her bedroom. And she's my neighbor and gets me all my animals anyways.
Abigail is probably the best choice. It's fun to give her rocks and let her eat 'em. I do like Penny and Maru too, tho'.
The Wizard isn't bad. I don't think he can be married, though. I do kinda like Sebastian, but being all about cars would be an issue. Elliot's kinda funny, but not in a way that I'd actually want him living with me...
I should try out this tool sometime. It's supposed to take a picture of your entire farm.
(And you know, I like how customizable your character is, but I wish I hadn't had to pick between pink and purple hair. Of course, one of my earlier farms, I decided to reproduce Guybrush Threepwood as my farmer. Came out reasonably close, too!)
--Sweetie Belle
Hey, cool! Thanks for sharing these.
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If you want to go the artisan goods route, crank out kegs and preserve jars as fast as you can gather the resources for them (kegs in particular require tapping oak trees for oak resin, which is a pretty severe bottleneck). All that wheat you're baking into bread can instead be put into kegs to brew beer, which has a significantly higher sell price. Bread earns you 60 gp and beer earns you 200 (plus it saves you a step since you don't have to put it in the mill). Putting high-value fruits and vegetables into kegs lets you basically triple their base sell price, and that's without even factoring in the 40% "artisan" bonus if you pick that side of the farming skill tree.
Right now I'm gathering ancient fruits as fast as I can and putting them in my greenhouse — kegging them into Ancient Fruit Wine means one week of growing plus one week of fermenting for a profit of over 2,000 gp per bottle. If I can get a good ancient fruit engine going then I can probably hit the million-gp mark before the end of the year. (As it is now, I'm bottling starfruit, melons and cauliflower as fast as I can, and I think I just passed 600k.) That lets me keep my farm fairly small so I'm not spending ludicrous amounts of time on maintenance, which means I can go out and do the fishing and adventuring challenges too.
Re character customization, btw, if you get up to four hearts with the Wizard and get access to his basement, there's a little altar which allows you to change your appearance. No more hair regrets!
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That would make sense. I've already been planting hops in the summer and making Pale Ale with it, but I only have enough kegs for a few. Hops are also great for taking mining, tho', and I end up with a ton of 'em. Maybe I need to plant some oak trees and tap 'em, since I think I only have one or two tapped at the moment.
Actually, Pam sent me a beer in the mail she said she found in a drawer, which seemed a little odd. Since I know she likes beer, I bought her one, and tried giving it to her, but I was having trouble with the controls and drank it. I bought her a replacement, though.
I'd try the face altar, but the trouble is my main hair regret is that my hair isn't both pink and purple, and there wasn't an option for that, so I'm not sure I could do better than my current purple hair. I wear a fedora over it anyways, so I can just pretend the part under the hat is pink...
I've been thinking of buying a shed, too. Having someplace to put a bunch of my chests and kegs and barrels and stuff'd be nice.
--Sweetie Belle
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