Hey, I'm Grasshopper, and I'm happy to be back with all the Savvy Authors. There is lots to learn and folks to meet.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your sentences and cast a vote.

We've tallied the votes, and @Melyssah's first three sentence won as the favorite.

Here is Melyssah's entry:
"Cracks in the paint on the old walls, rows of scuffed and dented lockers, flags with the names of prestigious colleges hanging in the hallways packed with students, and panoramic views of the beach out of the windows give Salt Cliff High a personality all its own. It’s familiar since I’ve been here for two years, it’s cozy because we make it our own space and it’s ghetto because the kids here do what they want, last week a senior brought a mini grill and had a cookout on the side of the building. It’s a fun, beach school."

Thanks for participating. Please stay tuned for more SavvyAuthors contests. If you have any ideas on topics or contest ideas, please reach out to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

The SavvyCrew

Thank you for the warm welcome from SavvyAuthors!

I am a published author of two non-fiction books. The titles are "The Dawn of a New Heart: A Guide to Self-Discovery and Cultivating Harmonious Relationships" and "The Ultimate Best Friend."

Looking forward to this group. I write children's books. Four have been published and three have been self published.

(1) I have yet to receive my refund for the Writers Conference I paid for, despite the promise.
(2) I have asked on numbers occasions to be removed from all emails from Savvy Authors - to no avail.

I hope your new site turns out better than the former, but I would respectfully ask that my wishes regarding the above, are respected and fulfilled.

Unhappy camper!

It's time to vote for your favourite first three lines. (A huge thank you to those who shared.)

Please vote HERE.

The voting will close Sunday at 11:59 pm. EST, and winner will be contacted and announced on Monday September 30th.

If you have any trouble, please email us HERE.

Thanks!

The SavvyCrew

Post your first three sentences of your current work-in-progress for a chance to win a $20 coupon on an upcoming SavvyAuthors workshop.

Contest will remain open until Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST. Members will vote on their favorite entry.

Please email us if you have any questions.

Thanks!

RJ

Hello, amazing authors!

We are excited to announce that you can now register for the fall/winter 2024 workshops. You can find the workshops and events under the Classes & Events button on the top menu bar.

Please let us know if you have any issues with registration or need any assistance. You can email me or send me a direct message.

Thanks!

RJ

Hello!

Since it's almost the middle of September (where the heck did the summer go?), I'm already starting to plan my November bootcamp novel.

If you are planning to participate, are you a plotter (like to plot out your entire novel), pantser (write as the words come to me), or a plantser (the hybrid approach)?

I am a plotter at heart, but when I'm in the middle of bootcamp then often times I'll jump off my plotting path. I'm trying to get down a skeleton plot so that I can write without distraction.

What about you? I'd love to hear if you are participating and if you do any planning leading up to November 1st.


RJ

Hello, everyone!

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is RJ Garside, and I have been at SavvyAuthors almost since it began. I started out as a writer looking for a writer-friend that understood the struggles of being an author and discovered a community that I’ve loved being a part of for nearly twelve years! I never want to leave.

I have worked as SavvyAuthors’ Workshop & Special Events Coordinator for nearly nine years, and a member of the support team for more than a decade. If you've contacted Savvy support, we've probably already crossed paths.

I’m beyond thrilled that Savvy will be continuing and that I will be back to continue scheduling and running workshops and special events. I know you’ve met several of the wonderful team members that have taken over ownership of SavvyAuthors, and they have amazing ideas to grow this community. I can’t wait to see Savvy grow!

We will be planning to open our workshop registration in the very near future with our classes starting in October. Please watch our workshop registrations as new workshops will be added.

We are looking to do a deep dive into what the community wants and how we can help. This includes learning what topics you want to learn about and also revamping our special events. We also plan to offer a writing bootcamp for the month of November, so keep an eye out for that registration. It will be a fun month of revving up those word counts.

We hope you will consider sharing your thoughts with our class survey, and you can also reach out to me privately either through the SavvyAuthors site (RJ Garside) or my email [email protected]. I would love to connect.

Thanks for your continued patience and support. We're excited to support and motivate you on your writing journey!

RJ

Hey everyone, we're looking at getting classes started up again and we wanted to get your thoughts on classes you'd like to see. Please let us know in the survey below!

Take a look at the Survey

Hey everyone, the site is going to be down for a short period of time starting tomorrow at 8am CT. We're planning to do some routine updates to the site as well as introduce a few new changes to make the site easier to use and navigate.

If you've got any questions on the changes or anything you'd like to see, let me know!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to reach out to introduce myself, get to know you all, and let you know the plans we have in store for Savvy.

I’ve been working with a small team behind the scenes with Savvy for several years, helping Leslie keep the site up-to-date with the latest software, so when we heard that we had the opportunity to be a more direct part of Savvy Authors, we couldn’t pass it up!

We're planning to start making a few changes over the next few weeks to improve your experience on the site, but I’d like to have your input while we’re making these changes. If you’ve noticed any bugs, have requests for new features, or any questions, please let me know.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you all better and I’ll see you around the site!

Hi all!

I am still due for a proper announcement but meanwhile figured Id get some feedback on how things were run before and what you would like to see changed! Particularly around workshops and events, or things you think you'd like to see and would make you more interested in being involved!

I don't like making these "public" threads of this nature, but I'm struggling to get any response regarding this issue.

I have tried repeatedly to contact someone regarding this. My previous contact was RJ Garside. With my communications with RJ, I have documentation that says I was supposed to receive a payment for the class I ran early July 2024 (The Antagonistic Beats of a Story with Judy Mohr), with payment going out around July 29, 2024. We also had assurances that instructors would be paid. Yet, I have not received payment.
Please advise.

Judy L Mohr

Hi there,

My name is Mike, and I am interested in helping our, partnering, or taking over Savvy! I am posting this thread to see if there is anyone who wants me to be involved or not. Please message me on LinkedIn or DM me here if:

1. You would like to help moderate or manage
2. You would like to run some classes
3. You have some ideas for the future
4. You think I would be better off finding a different hobby

A bit about me:

I'm from the Chicago, IL area. I went through the system growing up. Got into Harry Potter and Tolkien at a young age, and started going online to many message boards and digital communities. I founded some of my own communities. Early on I wore all the hats, such as editing people's fanfics, articles, and posts, graphic design, web design, etc. Eventually I focused a lot on engineering and web and founded Audentio, a digital agency, which has a bit over a dozen or so team members from around the world specializing in online community building and management.

What must be some 6-8 years by now, our team built some of the tools used here at Savvy today. We've been around behind the scenes helping with managing the server and web hosting (the energy company so to speak), building the web interface here (the foundation and interior design of the house, as it were), and the lessons system (Im out of analogies ). In general we've been around, but just as hired help. We would stop in from time to time, and always loved seeing everyone and the care they put into this community.

The reality is that communities like this are becoming far more rare. More and more platforms like this are bought by data/AI companies, their user data fed to the models. And while this may just be the way of the world, I feel it my responsibility to help communities stay open, democratic and free wherever possible. So I have offered to step in in some capacity to rebuild Savvy, continue it, or perhaps do nothing at all... and that is why I post here today, to see what you the community members would like out of me.

So maybe an AMA might be a good idea? Ask Me Anything. Looking forward to meeting you guys!

Hi All!
Well I have been contacted by someone who is interested in taking over SavvyAuthors! Watch this space for more information!

Also please post here if you would like to see us continue and your ideas for a NEW SavvyAuthors!!!


Leslie

Congratulations to all the participants in our Hot Summer's Flash Contest and Special Congrats to @suzylangevinwrites for her story: West Mesa Highway!

Flash is a great way to hone your writing skills and have fun! Sign up for our next Flash Contest:
Write your Fantasy Flash Contest! Starting in July!

Thanks to everyone who participated and voted!

Hi all, so today I got what was initially a pretty scary email from what purported to be a legit organization...Read on.. for today's Foil the Hacker Extravaganza!


Scary, right? So I did a quick search and yep this is a legit if sort of smarmy legal firm in the UK that goes after license infringers.
But its a phishing attempt. How do I. know?
I found this wonderful blog article on these guys, which helped. And in the UK there is a law, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 that requires the following for any claim to be held up in court:

1. Identified the copyright holder (your client).
2. Established your authorisation to act on their behalf.
3. Identified infringing content.
4. Requested removal of offending items.
5. Cited the law(s) in question.
6. Possibly, you would site loss of earnings in exact amounts

Also the IP address is tied to a bunch of known scam and spammers
You can do an IP lookup to determine that. Just type into your search engine: WHOIS <IP address>

I did reply to them via our contact form here at Savvy asking for details. I will update you if they respond!
Stay safe out there!
Leslie

The desert stretched off away from the road for miles, dotted with wind-twisted trunks of trees that had long since given up the ghost. A hot wind swept over the arid landscape, blowing up sand that stung Ari’s eyes. It was a convenient way to explain away the tears of frustration that welled up as she squeezed them shut before turning back to the sunbaked highway, their rusted out Jeep lifeless in the breakdown lane.

Jerry had popped the hood, but he had no fucking idea what he was doing under there, so it wasn’t going to do any good. Ari checked her cell phone for the dozenth time, as if reception would magically appear to get them out of this absolute disaster of a situation.

Mitch had tried to warn her.

Mitch, with infuriatingly reasonable stances on everything. Mitch was steady, safe.

He was also boring as hell.

So Ari had broken it off with him and agreed to this whirlwind road trip with Jerry, crossing the country from their tiny hometown in New Hampshire to San Diego. Jerry was everything Mitch wasn’t. Spontaneous, fun. Every day with him was an adventure.

But as they crossed the southwest, there were more and more misadventures along the way.

The motel they’d crashed at three nights ago in Texas had roaches in the bathroom, and the one before that, mold around the air conditioner that barely wheezed out any cold air in the thick heat of Louisiana in July. And now they were stuck on the side of the road in the desert somewhere outside Albuquerque, unsure when or if anyone else would come through and bail them out. Because there was no way in hell that Jerry was getting that shitbox going again on his own.

Ari sat down in the dust on the side of the road, drawing her knees to her chest while Jerry huffed and swore a few feet away.

“I can’t believe this fucking thing,” Jerry said before slamming his hand down on the bumper.

Ari could say the same about him.

Jerry had left town the minute he could, taking off for California just three days after they’d graduated high school. He and Ari had been a thing back junior year, when he was the best looking guy in their class and the star of the football team. Ari felt like she was living out some teenage movie fantasy. But she’d dumped him after he got so drunk at prom, he couldn’t even take her home.

Mitch picked her up instead.

Three years later, Jerry blew back into town on a wave of promises and bluster, and Ari believed him. Tired of waiting tables between semesters and waiting for her life to feel more like something she was living rather than just getting through, she bought everything Jerry was selling. So off she went, leaving a heart broken Mitch in her wake. He was the son of the wealthiest family in town, she reasoned. He’d end up doing just fine without her.

She wasn’t so sure she’d be able to stay the same.

Eventually, a pickup drove by, rolling to a stop next to them. “Need a hand?” the kid in the passenger’s seat asked.

“Please!” Ari said, jumping to her feet, before Jerry’s ego would turn down the only offer of assistance they’d had in hours.

Both he and the driver got out of the car. They couldn’t have been more than seventeen, both with jet black hair and dusty sneakers.

“Don’t know what’s wrong with the damn thing,” Jerry mumbled as they looked under the hood.

“I think you’re just out of gas, man,” the first boy said. “We’ve got some in the back of the truck, it’s a long way between stations out here.”

“Thank you,” Ari said, shooting daggers at Jerry. How fucking stupid could he be? He didn’t say anything, avoiding looking her way completely as the boys grabbed their gas can from their truck bed.

She’d barely spoken another word to Jerry the rest of the day. By the time they checked into another cheap ass motel that night, Ari’s phone was completely dead from searching for a signal all day through the desolate stretches of desert highway. While Jerry took slugs of Jack straight from a bottle, she plugged her charger into the wall in the bathroom and walked straight out past Jerry to the convenience store several doors down. As she sat in the parking lot having Takis and Diet Coke for dinner, she had to admit this whole thing had been a giant mistake.

Ari dragged herself back to the room, once again not acknowledging Jerry as he called her name and passed by to the bathroom. She sat on the edge of the tub, ancient mildew clinging to the corners, and picked up her phone, now halfway back to life.

Scrolling through her contacts, she selected a number and hit call. The phone rang once, twice.

Like always, Mitch picked up before the third ring.

Unlike always, an unfamiliar woman’s voice came through the line. “Hello?”

Ari nearly dropped her phone in shock. That definitely wasn’t his mom, the only other woman who had any reason to pick up his phone.

Unless…

When she recovered, she hung up as fast as she could. Mitch with a new girl? Already? Sure, he was handsome and wealthy.

But he was hers.

Always had been. Since they were kids, he’d idolized her, chased her, wanted her to love him.

And eventually, she did.

Now she’d let that slip away, too, like the sand on the desert wind.

Ari looked up at the ceiling, with a soft spot of water damage in the corner that looked like it could crumble at any moment. She closed her eyes for a moment, before she settled down on the worn out linoleum floor, waiting for Jerry to pass out in the next room.