Call for betas and first-readers/cheerleaders

[mizface]

If you want to participate in this year's big bang, but not create a Primary or Complementary piece, there are still options! Please consider volunteering as a beta or first-reader/cheerleader!

A beta gives constructive criticism, which can mean anything from looking at the structure and plot to pointing out grammatical errors and typos in a story, to listening to podfic for mispronunciations to questioning if people really bend that way in a drawing to being a soundboard for vidders, etc. A first-reader/cheerleader can provide feedback and squee to give the creator more energy to keep going, or even help brainstorm, if that's what the creator needs.

Please include the following in your comment:

- Will you beta or cheerlead or both?
- What type of fanwork can you beta/cheerlead?
- What fandoms/pairings/characters are you comfortable working with? To see what fandoms besides due South might be available, check out the Sign Ups post.
- Limitations: are there things you aren't comfortable seeing?
- If you are a beta, what are your strengths and weaknesses? For example: line-editing, plot, structure, characterization, grammar. Do you have any special knowledge that might be useful?  

Basic Info for the First Chat of 2015

[mizface]

Hello and welcome (or welcome back)! hazelwho and I are super-excited to be running this challenge again this year! And part of that is getting to run the chats, and see how everyone's progressing, and watch how the comm comes together to help those who are stuck or need a sounding board or a well-times YAY! While some of the chats will be on Saturdays, this first one is scheduled for Sunday, April 12th at 12:00pm Eastern/11:00am Central.

This chat will be very informal (because that's just how we roll), with some talk about what we're thinking about doing for the challenge, whether or not we've started, brainstorming, any questions/concerns/etc, and general squee, cheerleading and random off-topic hilarity. Oh, and you don't have to be a creator to come to a chat - the more the merrier! If you're looking for some brainstorming/handholding/venting time, this is the place!

As in previous years, the chats will be on Skype, and for those who don't have an account, it's free, and signing up is fairly quick and painless. Here is the link to Skype if you need to get started.

Once you have a Skype account, go to Contact -> Add contacts and search for hazel.who or mizface68 and add us. Once you've done that, we can add you to the chat group. If you have trouble finding us that way, you can search by email:
hazel.eraser at gmail dot com
mizface at comcast dot net

Questions? Comments? Let us know!

We are soooooooo excited, and hope you can make it on the 12th!