voxbytes’ blog

Maybe you haven't voted in the Voxhunt HP Writing poll yet. Or maybe you have, but you'd be willing to change your mind with what we have to say. We hope that is the case, because our favorite candidate isn't winning. Yes, we were excited when two of the entries we picked popped up on that list of five.

But, but, but!

We really want sixleaf's entry to win. It's so sweet and hartfelt, genuine and true. Sure, dewitt's is funny, which is probably why people are voting for it, but it's just not winner material.

Go vote for sixleaf (she's third on the list) and make us (and her) happy.

(And if only redlygal had written something! She's still winning in our book.)

We're not doing anything about the photos because our favorite is winning anyway!

So, we haven't written in a while.  We're not sorry.

While not writing, we have been loving the recent VoxHunt questions sponsored by HP, and we don't mean Harry Potter. We also see that it's part of a contest. While we're not the judges, we do have a few picks on which entries, perhaps, should be nominated to win:

I Wish I'd Written This by scriptedinpencil. My dear, any literature buff knows that Wuthering Heights is not a romance novel.

I Wish I'd Written This by dewitt. Clever.

By the way, anyone who would have written something best-selling just to make a wad of money is lame.  If someone actually wins with such an entry, we are going to send them a truckload of used Steven King novels.  Get a fire permit.

Where I Write by schadenfreudette. She writes in her head, constantly.

My Favorite Writer by sixleaf. We'd be happy with all of her entries (except the inspiration one) but this is quite... touching.

Makes me a Better Writer by denialdelicious. She makes a good argument for fanfiction.

We're not highlighting any entries of "snippets" because the contest rules make it impossible to really get anything good since nothing can be over 200 words. We thought that QOTD and VoxHunt were supposed to inspire writing, and now there's a word limit for entries to qualify for the contest!

Our Next Post: Our picks from the photos.  And we don't like looking through photos, so it might be a while.

Unfortunantly, everyone is horrible at finding anything for us to read, so now we have to do it all ourselves yet again. Come on, can't anyone let us be a little lazy? (Points to redlygal, though, for her comment about Vox vs. Livejournal. Vox beats "elljay" in our opinion. Oh, and we are keeping score, and redlygal is winning.*)

Well, a while back lostdwarf requested that we think of a few things for people to write about. So here we are, doing the work for you again. If you can't think of anything to write about, instead of writing "I can't think of anything to write about" try one of the following:

1. Draw something and write about it. Or take a photo, but we like drawings better.

2. Explore your political history--why you vote the way you vote, or think the way you do.

3. Tell us how you eat brussel sprouts without them tasting nasty.

4. Rant about something that really bothers you.

5. Write what you did while intoxicated (if you can't remember, ask a friend).

6. Write about a current hobby and how it's effecting you.

7. Get your handwriting analyzed. This is probably the closest thing to a quiz result we'll allow.

8. Use Vox as a notepad for planning a party.

9. Review a film. Go into some detail here.

10. If you don't have anything to write about, just don't write! Instead, keep a notepad with you and while you go about your day if you think "I should write about this" then write it down so you don't forget!

If you decide to use one of our ideas, please let us know!

*Just a note--if we're in your neighborhood and we write about you, we're not going to leave a comment. (Although we may forget and comment anyway.) You can read it yourself. Do a little work, you lazy voxers!

This is just a post to say "hi." We've also decided that we want you all to do a little work for us for a change, so what are some things on vox that really get your head spinning?

(These can be good things, or bad things. Good things make us smile and bad things make us frown (maybe with a little chuckle). But if we agree, we'll post both.)

Something really boring to do: Go through explore posts and look for interesting and well-written posts to mention. It doesn't help that today's QotD is completely lame. We're glad no one was credited for coming up with this awful question and now we can refrain from insulting someone.

Well, it looks like billikendoc is heading off to medical school. Good luck, and remember to find time to write in your blog.

ckc is having a "blogging identity crisis". We really hope you decide to keep voxing, dear, because we see some quality writing in your previous posts. Everyone should go read them quickly just in case she decides to scrap it. She has good taste in things.

abigailvr has posted the best knitting entry we have ever seen. We love the yarn monster.

Maybe we're wrong, but this is a post. Really, it is.

It's a good idea to post when you have something to say that's interesting, or amusing, or weighing on your chest, or that you just want to share or remember. Or, if you have a friendly tip!

And, as always, if we misspell something please let us know.

Dear Upset Voxers,

We're here to state our opinion, whether you like it or not.  If you don't like what we have to say about you, feel free to post as many snide and snappy comments as you would like.  We actually expected it.  We're not going to keep doing what we're doing because that's what we're here to do.  Likewise, if any of you want to continue wasting webspace with poorly written drivel, that is your choice.  That does not mean we have to like it, regardless of how tragic your home life may be.

Also, just to keep this clear, we post comments when we mention a blog just so we're not talking about someone behind their back.  That's not cool.

Sincerely,
The Fine People at Vox Bytes

PS. krisnit we just love your recent entries, even the one about us, but particularly the one about int3rn3t sp34k.  We could not agree more.

We also love lostdwarf because she's hilarious, and she uses dialog!  We just wish she would stop posting those quiz results and post more dirt on her coworkers.

cupcate is lots of fun too, spunky, and has a cute banner designed by her husband.  Her name sounds sweet but she's bursting with opinions.

We're glad that redzilla posted such and informative entry about the recent collapse of the bridge in Minnesota.  We're glad that beingcommitted is OK.

The group simpleabundance looks like it may produce some quality writing.  If only participation wasn't required, we would love to join just to read the entries.  Maybe we could come up with something to make the theme of the group fit with the theme of our blog.

We hope the summer 2007 QotD produces some interesting responses, like this one that's full of dialog.  But thefatalshore makes a good point--it's not summer everywhere. 

What is it with blogs consisting* only of QotD answers?

One word responses aren't cool, either.

And in case you're just as sick of this nonsense as we are, on to some actually decent responses to today's question:

People do many different things to cope with stress, loss, and "bumps in the road". How do you handle stress and hard times? 
Submitted by RedlyGal. 

1. colbalt_blue's answer.  If only there was more text and the video showed the actual appliance being shot.

2. debtink really goes into detail with her answer.  Some of the stuff she adds are new and actually useful!

3. liveit could have gone into more detail about quitting her job in response to stress.  Maybe if we weren't so lazy, we'd go through the archives for it.  Ha!

The best response is, ready for it--redlygal's.  That has some beautiful detail.  Maybe when you pen a question, you have a detailed answer in mind.  I think we need to suggest a question.

But mostly they are just too short!  If you know of a voxer who writes really good QotD answers, or just writes well in general, please let us know what we're missing.  (Even if that person is you, you egomaniac you.)  Comments are the best way to tell us anything.

*She gets some credit for having only two entries and some quality images (stock?).

We like dialog in blog entries.  We like it very much, in fact.  In this post, the author manages to convey quite a bit about herself in a few simple sentences.

kristinakrause's vox is full of drama and swearing.  Which we tend to like, particularly the drama bit, although her term for mother nature was endearing.  Her banner is beautiful.  She could put a little more effort into her titles, though, which are not just for "blogging newbies."

We like the patchworkgirl of Vox.

We love Redzilla.

[Now that you have a taste of what you're doing, please let us know what we're missing!  If you know of a super-excellent post, banner, QotD answer, or anything on Vox, please comment and let us know!  Alternitevely, we like to be kept abreast of anything that as mom used to say, really needs to go.]

We do not like how comparingreligions clogs the recently posted list posting several times an hour information copied from other websites.  Besides, comparing religions is what beliefnet is for.

This is like [this is good] only better--with a little more bite, and hopefully, more frequent updates.  We will discuss:

1. Discuss posts.  Some posts are funny and enjoyable.  Some are heartwrenching.  Some are informative.  Some are a waste of time.

2. Examine photos.  Since we're not great photographers ourselves, we'll probably just comment on ones we like and try to stay away from hypocritical behavior.  We hate hypocrites.

3. Explore QotD questions and answers.  For example, why do people give one-sentance answers to what is meant to be a writing prompt?  Why do some feel they need to answer it every day?

4. Talk about Voxhunt results.  Unless it means watching movie clips.  We don't enjoy doing that so much.

5. Divulge information about ourselves.

6. Add anyone to our neighborhood who adds us.

7. Provide an opportunity for voxers to share the wonderful nooks and crannies of vox that they have discovered with the rest of the vox community.  Please, if you find something you want to share, post a comment.

8. Not feel restrained by the contents of this list.