Site News & Announcements

Writing.Com's 15th Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Writing.Com!

It's official, ! Today (September 1st) Writing.Com turns 15 years old!
Soon, it's going to be asking for the keys to the car... and we have to start looking at colleges!

We are older than Facebook, have more years than Twitter and were here long before the first iPhone. And we are still going strong, better than ever, and enjoying every second of building this website to be the absolute best online writing community writers could imagine. Every year we hit a bigger milestone and it gives us goosebumps of pride every single time.

We have some exciting site updates, a list of amazing community-run contests and activities, and an all-around wonderful week of festivities ahead!


The Biggest Writer's Block Party EVER!
From September 1^st through September 7^th, Writing.Com is hosting the biggest online block party for writers of all interests and levels! Contests, activities, increased daily rewards, reviewing challenges and rewards, new releases, and a 10% back sale... don't miss a single thing at "Writing.Com Party Central 2024!" !

         


The Writing.Com 15th Birthday SALE!
For every order placed in "The Writing.Com Shop"  during September 1-7, 2015, we will manually send you back 10% of your order's total in Gift Points!* Purchase a one-year Premium membership at the regular price and you will receive 139,950 in Gift Points. Buy a 3-month Upgraded membership, and you'll receive 19,950 back in Gift Points. Buy 1 million Gift Points, and you'll receive an extra 100,000! And if you order tangible items like mugs, t-shirts, journals and more, we'll even include your shipping in that 10% back. We're that excited to be turning 15!
         

* 10% back only when paid by credit card, PayPal, check or money orders. Orders paid with Gift Points are not included in this offer. This process is not automatic and we'll try to get the bonus Gift Points back to you within a day.

NEW: "Writing.Com Anniversary" Merit Badges!
We've added brand new yearly "Writing.Com Anniversary" merit badges into our shop for all of our members! As soon as any member hits a milestone anniversary, he or she will automagically receive a Writing.Com Anniversary merit badge from us as a congratulations! Your merit badge will correspond to your anniversary year. Merit badges will be sent for your first, third, fifth, tenth and fifteenth anniversary. These particular badges come from Writing.Com only and may not be sent by members of Writing.Com.
         http://www.writing.com/main/badges
If you've already hit any of these milestones, you will receive the appropriate badge(s). Just give us some time to get caught up.


NEW: Emoticons Revamped!
Over 1,000 Writing.Com emoticons have been completely revamped and given a new look! Our original icons, which we started creating in the year 2000, were based on small pixelated files. 15 years later, with better screen resolutions and fast connections, we had to start from scratch, recreating each and every icon in more detail... But the change was well overdue! We are very excited that your fun little emoticons won't look pixelated and outdated any longer on screen or mobile. And we are excited to bring you over 250 new ones to play with this week, so stay tuned and check "Writing.Com Party Central 2024!"  every day through September 7th to see what's been added!

NEW Emoticons!
To kick off your birthday week:

= {e:angelic}
= {e:crazy}
= {e:devilish}
= {e:gag}
= {e:geek}
= {e:greetl}
= {e:greetr}
= {e:golucky}
= {e:ha}
= {e:headbang}
= {e:hungry}
= {e:inlove2}
= {e:irritated}
= {e:jamming}
= {e:martian}
= {e:meh}
= {e:proud}
= {e:rant}
= {e:rolling}
= {e:shock2}
= {e:sleeping}
= {e:sleepy}
= {e:smirk2}
= {e:sob}
= {e:temp}
= {e:think}
= {e:vomit}
= {e:whistle}

Watch "Site News & Announcements"  and "Writing.Com Party Central 2024!"  each day through September 7th for our daily new releases, which will open around Midnight (WdC time) each night. Keep your eye on the community newsfeed to see what surprises might pop up and be sure to add Writing.Com Support as a favorite so that you don't miss a thing!


NEW: Notification Updates!
We've given your Notifications area a brand new look! When you click your Notifications link in the side column navigation, you will now find sections which break down your notifications by type: All, Likes, Tags, Forum Replies, Ratings, and Birthdays/Anniversaries.


Costumicons Available!
Costumicon subscriptions are available for purchase! This subscription will last through 11:59pm on September 30th, 2015. Subscribe to or change your current costumicon from the "My Account" area or directly at:
          http://www.Writing.com/main/my_account/view/costumicons

          NOTE: You can gift costumicons to your fellow members and friends! To gift a subscription, head to your My Gifts Points page:
          http://www.Writing.Com/main/my_gifts/tab/shop


DON'T FORGET: One FREE Badge Every 30 Days!
Every paid member can send one free virtual Merit Badge every 30 days! Choose a member, choose a badge and send it. It's that easy. If you are eligible for a free badge at the time, the Writing.Com system will automatically know this and discount the badge you wish to send. (You can not defer the free badge; the system will always use the free one first when giving badges.)
         http://www.writing.com/main/badges
* Physical merit badges are not free and are the same additional cost.


Thank YOU!
We are so proud to reach this milestone. FIFTEEN years! Thanks to all of you, our members, for your support and participation. We love hosting this online home for writers... here's to the next 15 years!

We hope you have a great time celebrating with us this week. We look forward to seeing many of you around the site... invite every writer you know to come and join the party!

Cheers!
The StoryMistress and The StoryMaster