Halfway Update for 100 Days of Poetry Challenge - Day 50!
-----Halfway Update-----
100 Days of Poetry Challenge
----------Day 50----------
Introduction
Greetings to all poets and poetry enthusiasts! We have reached the halfway point along our journey. Day 50 began as of 6 PM GMT on April 25th. Rather than announcing winners, this post will focus on the restructuring of categories and list all the poets that are still in the challenge.
Changes to challenge operation & reminders
The challenge operation remains largely the same, except there is a restructuring of the category system described below. I will say that I'm disappointed that more people don't participate in the free live poetry classes held every weekday in the Steem Schools discord channel. While not a requirement, the people that engage there generally see much faster improvement in their writing than those that don't. Especially for non-native English speakers, it is very helpful to get feedback on your poetry.
I am still seeing tons of basic grammar mistakes in the Beginner poetry category and this will not change unless you take the extra time to work with people in editing your pieces. We don't have time to track you down individually and offer in-depth analyses, but if you come to class you can get that for free. They occur every weekday from 5-7 PM GMT. They are open to all poets, not just people in the challenge.
I know that the classes are not at convenient times for many, and that's understandable. Therefore, if you can't make it but you want in-depth analysis of your poetry, learn to leave poetry critique comments on Steemit and, depending on time, we can look at some pieces that are 250 words or less live on our Critique Thursday sessions. They are all recorded so there is no excuse to not learn about the art of critique and help make Steemit a better place by leaving more substantial feedback to content creators. All skill and experience levels can benefit from training critical thinking, a faculty too often deficient in the modern world.
All poets in the challenge have 14 skip days, that's one per week. Don't be afraid to use them. Remember that (except in special cases) more than 3 skips in a row results in disqualification. The best thing is to keep track of them yourself so you are sure. I have had to remove many people because of an excessive amount of skip days. As much as I'd like to give more chances, it's not fair to the remaining participants and it goes against the intention of the challenge—which is to increase your artistic consistency and break through creative boundaries.
Also, many people are posting their poems many days late. I will be getting stricter about this. Now is Day 50. It's your responsibility to stay up to date. Not doing so can lead to you being removed from the challenge.
Category Restructuring
Instead of "Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced" which I feel is rather inaccurate as well as having positive and negative connotations, we will be moving to Category I, II and III. This shifting will take place starting on Day 51. I have endeavored to make them approximately the same size so there is a similar level of competitiveness. Below are listed the 33 remaining participants in the challenge, out of an initial 135 entrants. Getting to the halfway mark is a huge accomplishment and I applaud all of you. I also admire all who entered and participated to any degree, as this is an ambitious undertaking.
Congratulations to those listed! I have decided to send everyone that's still in the challenge 1 SBD as a token of recognition. I know it's small, but I'm grateful for your continued participation! By the way, it's not a failure to drop the challenge. Anyone is welcome to be a part of our poetic community. The challenge is meant to be just that—a way to affirm what is possible and explore the pros and cons of perpetual poetic motion in a specific way: daily poetry blogging on Steemit.
Classes
We have poetry classes every weekday in the Steem Schools Live Class section of the Steem Schools discord from 5-7 PM GMT. We do a variety of things but generally look at the work of published poets, both living and deceased, for much of the class, and share our own pieces toward the end if we have time.
On Thursdays we have live poetry analysis classes led by @geekorner where we offer the chance to get your (250 words or less) poems critiqued for those who have left at least one piece of quality critique on any poem on Steemit by Wednesday (the day before.) I would like to record more of the sessions moving forward, but it takes time because I'm not willing to slap up a recording without editing out dead space and irrelevant sections. I've gotten a lot of requests for them so I'll try to record and upload at least one a week going forward.
Guy (@geekorner) already records all the Thursday sessions and posts them to his blog, so check those out! The class is very open-ended and we look at poems/poets that attendees are interested in. Please take advantage of this free educational forum when you can!
Winners
I'm a bit behind here, but I will be announcing winners officially in some upcoming posts. I'm sending the prizes as I get through things. I've determined up to Day 43 so far and plan to get caught up as soon as possible, definitely by this weekend.
Gratitude
Many thanks to all that are involved in this challenge. I never dreamed this project would be what it has become. Let's continue to do our best and help each other grow!
Huge thanks to all donors!
- @d-pend (440 SBD)
- @hopehuggs (50 SBD)
- @violetmed (30 SBD)
- @girlbeforemirror (20 SBD)
- @yahialababidi (15.017 STEEM)
- @carmalain7 (11.11 SBD)
- @madushanka (10 SBD)
- @taliakerch (10 SBD)
- @moeknows (5.44 SBD)
- @nikolina (5 SBD)
- @josediccus (5 STEEM)
- @whack.science (3.14 SBD)
- @naquoya (3 SBD)
- @firststeps (3 STEEM)
- @corderosiete (3 SBD)
- @nicholas83 (2 SBD)
- @acousticsteveo (2 SBD)
- @hartfloe (1.337 SBD)
- @johnrenald (1 SBD)
- @flysky (1 SBD)
- @zeleiracordero (1 SBD)
- @mineopoly (1 STEEM)
- @realnairda (0.5 SBD)
- @emekasegun (0.2 SBD)
- @zulacut (0.1 SBD)
- @setiagunawan (0.1 SBD)
- @nasrol (0.1 SBD)
- @rexdickson (0.1 SBD)
Sum of all donations
(excluding mine)
.
158.227 SBD
&
24.017 STEEM
out of
1500 SBD total prizes
Donations go towards the daily (9 SBD), weekly (15 SBD) & overall (TBD) prizes for this challenge. They are highly appreciated because the rewards are coming directly from my own earnings/savings. To donate, you can send to our dedicated account @steemitpoetry, or directly to me, @d-pend. I am keeping track of them all in a spreadsheet. Please let me know if you feel your donation was somehow missed. Thanks again!!
Writing & images
By @d-pend
4/25/18
Join the Steem SchoolsDiscord here: https://discord.gg/Ukubp9R
Become part of the movement!
This contest has really created a healthy competition among poets. Cheers @d-pend
Good to receive this update, Daniel, and thanks for the encouragement. I’ve commented a couple of times, recently, on your poems but imagine that you must be rather busy... Cheers ✌🏼
Hey Yahia! You're welcome, and I did notice those. I really apologize for not responding to them, yet, but I do appreciate it :-D Have a great night and hope all is well!
So long as you noticed, good enough by me, man ✌🏼Dunno how you do all that you do, but it’s inspiring. Sweet dreams, artist, waking ones, too...
I feel more than humbled and honored for being promoted into the same category as @hartfloe, @acousticsteveo, @marlyncabrera and @zeleiracordero, to name only those in that column whose work I've read.
I thank @acousticsteveo for taking the time to critique (this word has a bad connotation in Spanish but not so much in English) my poems and appreciating them, and I acknowledge that I haven't been completely reciprocal. I also consider him a teacher. Thanks my friend.
I thank @marlyncabrera for her enthusiastic words of encouragement.
I thank @zeleiracordero for being so appreciative and thoughtful.
I thank Mr. @d-pend for this challenge. It's inhumane. And also makes you grow.
I thank all donors and voluntaries that make this challenge possible.
I hope I can complete the challenge. This is a huge undertaking that has not being easy in any way. It wears and tears. It's taxing. But as I mentioned before, those are growing pains.
I ask forgiveness to all the followers that stopped visiting my blog because now I publish poetry everyday and not humorous stories as I used to, but there are only so many hours in a day.
I will resume writing humor after the challenge, although I will try to make time for an odd humor post here and there. Strangely enough, drawing caricatures every other day, or even everyday, is less taxing even when you have to post-produce them digitally to add colors, shades, etc.
I congratulate all contestants who made it into this new phase.
I salute with respect those who didn't.
I write poetry.
You can do it brother... I believe in you! Amazing that you have come this far with a full time job to compete with too... you are doing amazing work... you can make it until the end! I am sure of it <3
With Love
Hart Floe Poet
♥
Thanks! You're encouragement is comforting, fellow poet.
We've come very far it was just like yesterday when we started this amazing movement now look where we have come so far, it's been amazing certainly it really has, I'm glad for the updates really it's a fresh new start, thank you @d-pend
I really want to thank you for this challenge. The benefits to me have been amazing. I’m really going to try to make it to more classes cause I know they will help me even more.
The challenge has not been easy...... But it has been so rewarding.... At times, I'm always so squared up with activities that I find it hard to pour out the essential element of my muse..... But the satisfaction I get from the poem is what keep my spirit up for the next entry
I sincerely apologize for my recent absence in the class..... As you rightly said, that time of the day is usually one of the busiest for me compounded by the fact that I can't use the mic on discord..
Anyway, I'll try my best to be in the class more often...
Congrats to all who are still in the challenge.... The challenge can only make us better
Thanks a lot bro, for everything you do and for the token of recognition. There are only 33 of us :( But when I think about it, it seems like a low number because there were 130+ entrants. But, it's a big number, 33 people staying in the 100 day challenge is quite a good number!
Congratulations to all, hope to see you on the 100th day!
I couldn't believe myself when I was writing my 50th entry yesterday. I could only remember when we started hence why I wrote "The Common Milestone" expressing the inevitable beginning and end existing for each of us and anything we do.
It has been fabulous and encouraging and I have learnt alot. Thanks to @d-pend and the whole @steemitpoetry crew. It's been fabulous
Congrats to every participants who remained..Let's get to the end!
A big congratulations to all contestants participating in this great contest which normally would have seemed impossible to venture into but somehow @dpend brought out the best in me.
It's day 50 i pray we all would have the grace to finish what we started.
Kudos to all,
First, thank you for hosting this poetry competition @d-pend. You took a great leadership role and sacrifice to donate your earnings to keep this contest alive. The contest was impacting and influential.
I didn't know anything about poetry but I am getting the hang of it with the help of friends I met here. This will always be a milestone. I have no intention of disappearing.