Admin Position Open: Carnival Editor

Alright crew,

There are over 1000 of us now, which is pretty insane. I'm sure you'll believe that there is a TONNE of background admin going on, but would you believe that it is being done by a mere trio?

I'm looking for somebody to take over as official editor of the 20SB Carnival. Every future edition will still be published on the 20SB blog.

Job duties include:
- encouraging submissions
- making sure all submissions are written by 20sb members
- being a point of contact for anybody with carnival questions
- choosing the best submissions for each carnival edition
- organising excerpts, and formatting each edition
- posting each edition!

Sort of sounds like a lot, but it each cycle takes a month.

Rewards:
- everybody's gratitude (right guys?)
- virtual high fives

Interested?
Email me (Lisa, at lfarblogatgmaildotcom) answering the following questions:
1. Why do you want to be the editor?
2. Why do you think you'd be the best editor ever?

Everybody is welcome to apply! Read rest of these entry>>>

Carnival Volume II: Firsts

A round up of the best submissions on the theme "firsts":

Kristen writes about her first diagnosis,

Ever wanted to know what it feels like to be treated like a leper? Get a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and you will come really close. Doctors, therapists and other people see those three little letters and they run like hell. BPD automatically gives you the reputation of someone who is a master manipulator, only cares about themselves and views the world though a black and white perspective with nothing lying in between.

Tin Ma'am writes about her first broken heart,

I experienced a devastating, gutt-wrenching pain that I thought would leave me shattered forever! It was John Grady Cole losing Alejandra (All the Pretty Horses) or Gatsby losing Daisy (The Great Gatsby) or Ishmael losing Hatsue (Snow Falling on Cedars).

DS writes about her first time having sex,

Partially bored, partially curious, and partially spiteful, I agreed to shower with him after having made out with him, the newest Scott Bakula Star Trek playing in the background (his interest, not mine.) There was no great passion with him - just mild curiosity.

Jaylynn writes about the first time she started a fire,

Five minutes later I caught a whiff of something funky. I sniffed the air contemplating the stench. Smells like burning rubber maybe? Has the bleach had it’s way with my nose? What if all that inhaling of harsh bleach chemicals was now adversely effecting my smelling capabilities? Okay so maybe I have hypochondriac tendencies but something smelled undeniably foul. I began sniffing and walking as if I was a stray dog on the hunt for dinner. Sniff sniff, hmm getting closer. Walk more, sniff more, look around, sniff once again, and open doors to laundry room. …HOLY HELL SMOKE coming out of the back of the dryer! I walked closer to see if this could be easily remedied by pulling the plug. With the step forward came SPARKS! lots and lots of SPARKS! It was a fireworks show in my laundry room.

Lisa writes about her first triathlon,

This title of triathlete comes not without trials and tribulation. It was just a super sprint distance, which means 375m swim, 10k bike, 2.5 k run. I knew I could finish that distance. Plus, it goes in order from my worst event to my best event (that is, swim-bike-run) so I wasn't feeling too, too bad. However, yesterday's travels put me in what can hardly be called good pre-race condition. We had to get up really early, too. So tired, and with a cold, we arrive at the race site.

Princess Pointful writes about her first kiss,

As we're sloshing through the creek, he turns to me and says "I like you". He then pauses, and says "Like girl-boy like."

I hesitate. "I like you, too."

He then spits out the kicker: "I want to kiss you."

Just Jinny writes about the first time she was pregnant,

And then, in July, I took a pregnancy test because I was a week late. And for the first time EVER I saw two pink lines. My husband held me in his arms while I cried with joy. Finally, finally, we would be a family. For one weekend I was the happiest I have ever been, glowing with the knowledge that I would be giving my husband a child..that I would be a mother.

Kayleigh writes about the first time she got drunk,

I was going to be a junior in high school, hadn't even taken driver's ed despite the fact that I was already 16, and never ever drank or did drugs. I was on the straight and narrow. [...] I was definitely an impressionable young lady who was pretty insecure and ready to fit in.

Stylish Handwriting writes about the first boy to ask her to prom,

However, senior prom was my only invite to a dance during that time period. And I’m kind of pleased that it’s the only one because the story is PERFECT. The awkwardness that surrounds it makes me smile, even though it made me cringe back then.

Tiff writes about her first crush,

We both wore glasses, even at our tender ages.  He was meant for me; we were of like kind.  And even at this moment I can remember with what force that I adored him. 

And that's the end of Volume II! 

Big news on blog carnival coming up, so keep your eyes peeled!

Read rest of these entry>>>

Offline Meetup Chatter: take it to the polls!

We've been thinking over the idea of organizing some sort of offline meetup lately on the forums.

Let's get some numbers:

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Read rest of these entry>>>

1000 Members!

20SB got its THOUSANDTH member yesterday!

Hi, that's crazy! We're only about 10 months old!

When do you think we will get our 2000th member? (Answer in the comments) Read rest of these entry>>>

New Menu Tabs

So you'll see at the top menu... a new tab called "Awards"

Ning has this beta feature that allows you to add new tabs, but it's incredibly restricting. Each new tab can only be a list of announcements, basically. Or like, a blog. A useless blog. It's... stupid.

But is it stupid? I hope not; I've spent quite a while figuring it all out, so hopefully it's at least slightly useful.

The only use I could think of would be a really nice place to organize all the stuff that's goes on with awards. We made our own sub-site for that because it was getting too messy. Maybe for the next awards, this little tab can help us keep it together!

Next awards? Yes, it's time to start thinking about thinking about them. In the interest of transparency, I'll post an awards time line. Soonish, I promise.

Questions.
1. Awards tab...
a) useless?
b) useless now, helpful during awards season?
c) always a great idea?

2. Tabs in general...
a) could be great! My suggested use of a new tab would be:
b) seem silly. Cease, please. (<-- those words to not rhyme) Read rest of these entry>>>

Welcome to the official 20sb blog

Alright! Let's do this!

As if we don't have a blog. It only makes sense that we'd prefer to communicate via blog... so add us* to your reader!

Expect lots of big announcements soon!

*"us"... I don't know, what do you think? That's the proper pronoun. I mean, it's just one writer and I don't want to all "refer to me in the plural, please", but "me" seems overly exclusive. Read rest of these entry>>>