RISING STARS GALAXY --MARCH, 2011

Dear Bright Stars:

Good Thursday evening to you ! First, I want to congratulate and thank the the two Andrews-- Andrew C. Bowman - 6 years! and A.T.B: back mid June -- for making a fabulous gift of the Quill Awards to the W.Com community ! The Quills made an impressive leap forward this year, thanks to Andrew C. Bowman - 6 years! 's leadership and initiative. We have several Quill awardees in our midst. I'm especially privileged to have presented awards to: HuntersMoon - Gone4Awhile , Ghostranch and A.T.B: back mid June for their extraordinary poems nominated for Quills in the long and short poetry categories. Each poem is exceptional.

ID: 1755030   (Rated: E) Presentations: Quill Awards  Quill Awards presentations in two poetry categories by Gabriella

Warmest congratulations to Hannah-Paper Doll Gang , one of Rising Stars' beloved senior staff members. Hannah is the bright, sunny leader of Paper Doll Gang, winner of the Quill Award for best group on W.Com ! Woohoo !! Hooray for PDG ! Rising Stars came in second, also a splendid, much appreciated surprise ! I credit all of you for making Rising Stars what it is today. You're the best "foot" we put forward whenever we can ! . Thank you, one and all ! Last, but not least, we're so proud of our dear MDuci who was given the Quill Award for her many contributions to W.Com since joining 5 years ago. Marlena is a fine mentor, teacher, poet. She is also the winner of Rising Stars' very special "Good Samaritan" Award. Marlena is a prominent leader of Circle of Sisters, and she's served as an avid reviewer for a number of W.Com groups. Needless to add, Marlena has mentored many emerging writers, and she continues to be a great friend to many of us. Thank you Tornado Day for making a gorgeous presentation !

NEWSWORTHY:

Congratulations to the new RISING STARS' BLUES: NickiD89 Scuba Classes! , Ghostranch , eyestar-computer stopped! , and Pat returns 2 Porch 1799901

JOIN US IN WELCOMING OUR NEWEST RISING STARS:

janice48 Enjoying Nice Weather
DOC, gone insane, back later.
Helene - Missing being here!
Carlita
Christina in Brazil ♡
PatrickB-new biz with MissBee
MumstheWord-OutOfCirc
Finn O'Flaherty
jannie one seven

NEW SPONSORS:

blainecindy - I love my WDC!
A.J. Lyle
eyestar-computer stopped!


THE NEWEST ADDITION TO OUR FUND RAISING STAFF: Black Willow - away who is joining us as a co-leader, along with SoCalScribe, of our fund raising program. Special thanks to all of you who jumped on board to contribute to our RISING STARS AUCTION. This has been an amazing experience !! We raised millions of gift points--a record amount-- thanks to Black Willow - away who did a fabulous job setting up and managing the event. Thanks also to * §apph * for his capable help ! We're so blessed to have such generous support and encouragement !

Want a little break from your workday chores ? Be sure to check out blainecindy - I love my WDC! 's raffle. You'll have fun and, with luck, you'll win something too !!

ID: 1689944   (Rated: E) Cindy's Circle of Friends Raffle  My first raffle to benefit several WDC groups. by blainecindy - I love my WDC!

I hope you'll check out the gorgeous trophy contributed to Rising Stars by Riot™ is having...Boy or Girl? ...what a glorious gift. Thank you, Justine !
Now we're all dressed up and looking fine

TOUGH TIMES : if you have a spare moment, write Free_Rip to let her know we're thinking of her. She lives in Christchurch, the city in New Zealand that was devastated by a 6.3 earthquake recently. While she is safe and hasn't suffered damage to her own living space, the city is in shambles. Churches and tall buildings
have tumbled. Many homes and iconic landmarks have been reduced to dust. Rip has been busy volunteering to help those in need during this difficult time in her city.


JOB OPENING: Leader, Rising Stars Book Club. Each month a different member selects a book to be read.
There is no obligation to read every month. We encourage our Rising Stars and Sponsors to jump in when the book is of interest. The leader of our Book Club sends out notices to our Rising Stars and Sponsors to announce the new book each month. He or she will also facilitate discussions of the books in the Book Club Forum. For the readers, posting book reviews is an important part of the Book Club experience. If you're interested in the job, please contact: Gabriella


LISTEN UP---IMPORTANT RISING STARS DEVELOPMENTS

Rising Stars has enjoyed 4+ wonderful years here on W.Com. We've been motoring along beautifully with the help of extraordinary staff--all volunteers-- who contribute greatly to the program by their professionalism and wonderful, welcoming spirits. To a person, these are bright, talented individuals. This past year, we undertook a survey of a randomly selected group of Rising Stars and Sponsors. We received a number of helpful suggestions and lots of support for the program. I've included a link to that feedback for each of you to read if you're interested.

ID: 1663895   (Rated: E) CURRENT YEAR PLANNING 2010   Forum set up to gather valuable feedback about Rising Stars. by Gabriella

Along with checking in with our members, we began looking at some of our activities and targeted two of them for upgrades and change. They are: our Member-to-Member Reviewing Program, and our Sponsorship Program. Proudly and with much gratitude, we brought on Hannah-Paper Doll Gang as a Senior Staff Member to help us breathe new life into our M2M Reviewing Program. And, we've just recently added A.J. Lyle a wonderful, talented sponsor, to help us set up a "Review the Reviewer Program" which
will serve as an adjunct to our M2M program. Last, but far from least, we've recruited blainecindy - I love my WDC! to lead our Rising Stars Sponsorship Program. Cindy is working behind the scenes to help us do some revamping. We expect Cindy will provide this program with a glorious boost ! Look for Cindy, she will be fully on board on March 20. At that point she'll be in touch with our Sponsors to introduce herself and get started. We're so pleased to have each of these wonderful new additions to our program and hope you'll take a moment to greet them and make them feel welcome.

NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION

For those of you who are our newest Rising Stars, it has always been our goal to offer you a good deal more than a title. We start by introducing you to our community of diverse writers--some with real potential, others with already established writing skills--by way of our reviewing program. I expect you'll find your Sponsor and fellow Rising Stars have the potential to become an extremely valuable resource--a source of encouragement and motivation-- if you're willing to jump in with both feet to participate in our contests, M2M reviewing program, and the activities we provide throughout the year.

If you haven't already, I hope you'll submit a piece to Rising Stars Shining Brighter monthly contest--one of W.Com's best !! RSSB provides a great opportunity to test your writing capabilities alongside multi-talented writers. We don't create opportunities like this to make uncomfortable demands on you. We do this to give you a quality program that is bound to help you boost your writing skills. This happens by osmosis. Participating regularly helps to raise our expectations of ourselves and our work ! We've set up our contest so that the same writer is only able to win the contest once a year. This way everyone has a shot at winning at some point if the work is worthy. If you have questions about the contest, contact its talented leaders Tornado Day and MDuci . Congratulations to D_Fish Thx Aardvarkbark! the latest winner of our RSSB Contest !!

ID: 1215871   (Rated: E) Rising Stars Shining Brighter  Contest for existing Rising Stars...Monthly award of "Shining Star" status. by Tornado Day

The same goals apply to our reviewing program. We ask that you review 3 pieces in the ports of your fellow Rising Stars to challenge you to become a fine reviewer, not because we think you'll be interested in a career as a reviewer, but because reviewing requires a level of discipline and writing capabilities that are quite different than writing a poem or story. I've found reviewing an exciting and challenging exercise. I am rarely thrilled with my reviews, but I keep at it ! The better I do, the greater impact it has on my writing as a whole.

If you've observed that there are far too few Rising Stars reviewing each month, you're right ~~! We created the obligation to review in our 3rd year. This means the fairly large group of Rising Stars who came in before this guideline was added have been given some leeway re their participation. Now that we're well into our 5th year, we feel we've given everyone ample time to climb on board. This guideline is no longer new. The time has come for all of us to pitch in to review.

ID: 1303972   (Rated: 13+) It's Our Job To Shine Bright  M2M review forum. Review 3 Stars each month. Win an award! by Gabriella

Quality reviewing on W.Com is an area that needs a huge amount of attention. Until recently, many writers on W.Com weren't thinking of reviewing as a serious extension of our writing skills. There has always been a greater emphasis on quantity vs quality reviewing. Our goal going forward is to get each of our Rising Stars to give precious time to develop the ability to write excellent reviews. Until recently, lots of inadequate reviews graced the public reviewing pages on W.Com. Meanwhile, the publishers and editors who occasionally stop in to check out the forum, may also look at the public reviewing pages. We're hoping to persuade each of you to think of reviewing as a showcase for your writing. The personal and professional rewards that come from writing, reviewing, joining contests and workshops through our Rising Stars program depend entirely on the motivation of each individual member.

IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN YOUR MEMBERSHIP AS AN ACTIVE RISING STAR GOING FORWARD

In light of the changes we're making to help and support our members, we're going to hold you to your commitment to review those 3 pieces in the portfolios of our Rising Stars each month in order to maintain your membership as an ACTIVE RISING STAR. If you are not able to do this, let us know. We'll move you to our inactive list. This way you can opt to return anytime you like.

I want it to be clear, we are expecting you to review each month. We asked all of you to think about this before joining. This is a very important function of your membership. Having said this, we understand that there are certain times of the year that we all need to step away from W.Com to take care of family, go on vacations, or give precious time to writing. So, we'll plan to excuse your participation as a reviewer 3 times during the calendar year. After that, we'll write to you to let you know we understand you aren't able to remain active, and we'll let you off the hook by moving you over to our inactive list. Of course, we love and admire each of our Rising Stars, and we hope you'll stick with us. You add a great deal to the Rising Stars program ! I visit your portfolios and have gotten to know each of you and your wonderful stories and poems. It will mean the world to me if you will become an active reviewer. 3 reviews per month is a tiny commitment. I know you can do this !!


OUR STAR REVIEWERS--FEBRUARY

Jen d'Arque - Busy Bee
~♥~Krysha~♥~
Just an Ordinary Jyo
VictoriaB


A DIFFERENT TYPE OF WRITING OPPORTUNITY:

"What is Happening in Wisconsin" has welcomed more than 300 visitors in less than a week We've enjoyed lots of positive feedback !! If you're interested and you've thought about participating but haven't yet, it's not too late ! We'd like to know what you think about the controversial stand-off in Wisconsin. We're always looking to open up new opportunities for you to stretch your capabilities. This is one more of those:

ID: 1755930   (Rated: E) What is Happening in Wisconsin ?  A chance to share your views and opinions ! by Gabriella

Before you go, please check out BEST OF RISING STARS. We have 1296462 Rising Stars' Best and our judges to thank for this

ID: 1296462   (Rated: 13+) The BEST of Rising Stars!  recognizing talented writers each month by Gabriella

Enjoy March, one and all ! Feel free to contact me if you have a program you'd like us to sponsor !


Warmest best,





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