It happened very recently when a YWS member noticed how few reviews he’d done this year. To think that four whole months had passed already and he’d only written a handful of critiques! First of all he felt guilty, then he felt sad, but worst of all he just didn’t feel like reviewing.
Then, right there in front of him, a tortoise hatched.
What does a tortoise do?
All tortoises have read Aesop’s Fables and know that they are meant to be slow and steady creatures. They don’t rush or hurry -- tortoises walk at a steady pace and don’t get flustered (even if they are overtaken by the hares).
What a YWS Tortoise is:
A Tortoise is just a YWSer who reviews once per day. If they average 365 reviews at the end of the year then they smile and feel happy that they managed to help so many people. There aren’t any prizes for it, but a tortoise doesn’t have much spare room in its shell for that kind of thing. They just enjoy doing a little something each day.
What Team Tortoise isn’t:
Despite the name, Team Tortoise isn’t a review team. They don’t race for the most reviews in one day or stress about being the best -- they have their mind set on the bigger picture. (After all it does take them a very long time to get anywhere.) You won’t see them at the top of the Review Day charts, but you will see them review again the next day, and the day after, and the day after that.
Who can be a part of Team Tortoise?
Unlike organisations such as SPEW there are no fiendish initiation rituals or complex application forms to complete. Any YWSer can be a part of Team Tortoise -- it’s up to them. The membership fee is just one helpful review per day.
What does it mean to be a Tortoise?
Apart from doing their bit to help their fellow writers? Not as much as you might think. Tortoises don’t have meetings or conferences or group seminars. All they have is a common goal, but that’s what keeps them plodding ever onwards. Someone once told them that “slow and steady wins the race”, but every tortoise will tell you that the “race” is only with yourself.
How do I become a tortoise?
I think by now you know what to do. Start off with one review today and then see if you can do another one tomorrow. Remember that each time you give constructive criticism you are helping a fellow writer improve.
And if, at the end of the week, you have written seven reviews then guess what?
You’re a Tortoise.
Gender:
Points: 10240
Reviews: 166