Hello, Again?

[Shackled]

Hi.

I was part of the olde Litopia colony that mysteriously disappeared for awhile...or at least, I couldnt ever find it after it became a pod-cast "station"...or something. Its been a while....years in fact.

Does this Colony have any attachment to the old? The old one had this tiered system of forums and some areas were only accessible if you had passed a tribunal critique. Anything like that here? I am pretty sure I was paying the monthly support donation too but it stopped being charged.

I guess its at least different in regards to the user database since I *think I was able to register the same user name again.

I suppose this comes off as disoriented and rambling...but I guess I am disoriented.

-Shackled

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Welcome back! Don't worry, we all feel disoriented now and again. Fortunately, there's always someone here with coffee. This is Litopia 2.0, I suppose. Some of the same faces (and @AgentPete still at the helm), but apparently a quite different structure (I didn't know the old version, though I've been here a while now).

 

[Marc Joan]

Welcome back!

 

[MaryA]

Welcome back. A number of us are from the old Litopia and happy to discover it in a new incarnation!

 

[Rich.]

Welcome to the [new] Colony!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Welcome to the Colony Redux.

 

[AgentPete]

Hi Shackled (what was your old name?). New software, new systems, new(ish) Litopia, but same ethos.

 

[Sea-shore]

Hello Shackled, and I am assuming you are shackled to the writing desk? To me, that sounds like my idea of heaven.

 

[Carol Rose]

Welcome back!!

 

[Lex Black]

Welcome (back) to the Colony!

 

[Boopadoo]

Hello and welcome back! I'm old-school gone-and-come-back too!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Hello Me too. Take a look around...it's changed. No tribunals.

 

[AgentPete]

Hello Me too. Take a look around...it's changed. No tribunals.

How true that is!

 

[Shackled]

Hi Shackled (what was your old name?). New software, new systems, new(ish) Litopia, but same ethos.

I believe it was "Shackled" back then too, but it has been years. I took this name originally because my work was the absolute polar opposite of creativity, innovation, or any other kind of intellectual progress; processing tax data for a State Govt. A place where proposing changes is considered "rocking the boat". I finally left that bleak place (long overdue) and have a less grim outlook on life. In hindsight, it was having a much bigger negative effect on me than I realized. My work is still quite boring, but not as bad. In this instance, I took the name as a test to see if it would 'collide' with the previous one.

And I really am shackled to the writing at this point.

I've realized I havent really done a proper intro, so here we go:

Since then, I've got one book professionally edited and out on Amazon. I won't plug/link it here since I don't know if you have rules on such a thing yet. Although I am happy to have finished it, I think the writing was too sterile from over-editing and a myopic focus on 'mechanical perfection' (grammar). I've joked it's subtitle should be "Mike Learns to Write". My pen name is 'Austin Newberry' though. I've also written some shorts, one that was picked up for an anthology but the publisher folded up before it saw ink. I think the contest for the anthology was rooted in Litopia 1.0, but...its been a while.

Currently, and I will admit this is why Litopia came back to mind, I am finishing my second book which I am a lot more hyped about. However, I was looking at the previous edit of a chapter and thought it might be better than my post-edit! I think that I had over zealously hacked off the 'meat' yet again. I need some feedback and no one in my circle has time, is into reading, or could be trusted to give me unvarnished feedback. So here I am (after a visit to Google)

Like all good writers, I also have several half-baked books in 'the drawer', but the current one is to setup a series. I live on the MD-PA line with a wife and 2 kids (+1 more living on her own), 3 cats, a dog, and when I do need a break from the keyboard, I work on my 1969 Pontiac GTO or do a little blacksmithing. The old car is an expensive hobby, so the bucks down alternate is the forge.

So, did I miss anything?

 

[Barbara]

Hi Shackled. Nice to meet you. I'm fairly new here, but still, welcome back.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I grew up just a wee way north of the Mason-Dixon line in Lancaster Co. A bit further away now...

 

[David Newrick]

Welcome again Shackled.

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

I believe it was "Shackled" back then too, but it has been years. I took this name originally because my work was the absolute polar opposite of creativity, innovation, or any other kind of intellectual progress; processing tax data for a State Govt. A place where proposing changes is considered "rocking the boat". I finally left that bleak place (long overdue) and have a less grim outlook on life. In hindsight, it was having a much bigger negative effect on me than I realized. My work is still quite boring, but not as bad. In this instance, I took the name as a test to see if it would 'collide' with the previous one.

And I really am shackled to the writing at this point.

I've realized I havent really done a proper intro, so here we go:

Since then, I've got one book professionally edited and out on Amazon. I won't plug/link it here since I don't know if you have rules on such a thing yet. Although I am happy to have finished it, I think the writing was too sterile from over-editing and a myopic focus on 'mechanical perfection' (grammar). I've joked it's subtitle should be "Mike Learns to Write". My pen name is 'Austin Newberry' though. I've also written some shorts, one that was picked up for an anthology but the publisher folded up before it saw ink. I think the contest for the anthology was rooted in Litopia 1.0, but...its been a while.

Currently, and I will admit this is why Litopia came back to mind, I am finishing my second book which I am a lot more hyped about. However, I was looking at the previous edit of a chapter and thought it might be better than my post-edit! I think that I had over zealously hacked off the 'meat' yet again. I need some feedback and no one in my circle has time, is into reading, or could be trusted to give me unvarnished feedback. So here I am (after a visit to Google)

Like all good writers, I also have several half-baked books in 'the drawer', but the current one is to setup a series. I live on the MD-PA line with a wife and 2 kids (+1 more living on her own), 3 cats, a dog, and when I do need a break from the keyboard, I work on my 1969 Pontiac GTO or do a little blacksmithing. The old car is an expensive hobby, so the bucks down alternate is the forge.

So, did I miss anything?

Nice to meet you.

 

[Shackled]

I grew up just a wee way north of the Mason-Dixon line in Lancaster Co. A bit further away now...

Working in Lancaster now at a financial processing firm.

 

[Geoff]

Welcome!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Working in Lancaster now at a financial processing firm.

Ha! Small world. Lancaster was the 'big smoke' for me growing up.