Young Writers Society

Welcome to Squills, the official news bulletin of the Young Writers Society!

What will you find here? Tons of interesting news about YWS, including but not limited to: articles about writing, art, and the world of humanities; interviews with YWS members; shameless plugs; link round-ups; and opinionated columns.

And where will all of this come from? Take a look at our fantastic creative staff!






Of course, our content can’t come only from our staff. We also depend on you to help keep Squills successful. You’re all a part of a writing community, after all. If you’re interested in submitting to Squills, pop on over to the Reader’s Corner to find out how you can get involved by contributing an article or participating in other Squills activities. You can also subscribe to the Squills Fan Club , or PM SquillsBot to receive a notification each time a new issue is published!

Well, that’s all I have for now. So, what are you waiting for? Enjoy!

See an empty position you'd like to fill? Find position descriptions and instructions to apply here .

1. LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
2. FROM THE DESK OF A KNIGHT: REVIEWING OPPORTUNITIES IN 2018
3. SOCIETY PAGES
4. SITES FOR SPARKING THAT SCHOOL SPIRIT
5. YWS NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
6. NEW YEAR, NEW STORYBOOKS
7. A NEW YEAR, A NEW SQUILLS
8. NEW ARRIVALS
9. SHAMELESS PLUGS
10. SUBSCRIBERS

LETTER FROM THE EDITORSwritten by Aley < PM: >

Dear Readers,

It is my unfortunate circumstance to announce that @megsug is retiring from Squills. She has been the Editor-in-Chief since April of 2016, and she's been with Squills since early 2013, so we're losing an old hat with megs stepping down.

Megs has been with us through the removal of chat, the creation of events like April Madness, the YWS Olympics, Review Month, NaNoWriMo, and so much more. She's outlasted many editors too.

Today, we tip our hat to megsug, and thank her for her dedication to this publication including late night writing sessions to get beefy editions, coding revamps, image recreations, the creation of the index, and beginning of the Squills subforum.

Thank you megsug for being with us and making us our best.


With megsug's retirement, I will be the new Editor-in-Chief and we are welcoming aboard @Lumi to the editing staff. In a way, it is a changing of the guard, or the shift from one traditional group of people, to another.

I look forward to our new guard, Lumi, @EternalRain, and I, keeping up the standards of excellence we've had passed down, and improve Squills with our new ideas of how to adapt Squills to be our own.

Thank you for everything megs.
We're going to miss you.
- Aley

FROM THE DESK OF A KNIGHT: REVIEWING OPPORTUNITIES IN 2018

written by LadyLizz< PM: >

Outside of moseying into the Green Room and slaying a beast, or carefully watching over a precious story for a friend, often it seems like there's nothing else outside of these two. There have always been review bets lurking in the forums and on people's personal pages, but there is always the fear of losing that comes with these. And once you take enough requests from your friends, it seems odd to beg them for more.

The solution to that last problem is the Will Review For Food forum, which has become rather lonely in recent days, but is currently looking for a bit of revitalizing. Whether you're looking to review more or want more reviews on your work, it's great and simple.
For reviewers: You can either take a look around the General Request Repository or create your own thread. In your thread you don't have to say much, just what you will and won't review, and preferences when it comes to genres.
For Posters: You can either plant your link in the General Request Repository or in an individual's thread, just make sure to read all the rules first.

If you want more information about this, check out the forum, which has lots of helpful links. And if you have any questions beyond that, ask @Kyllorac.

If you are in the market for a bit of competition and don't want to seek it out alone, there's @MJTucker's Review-Off . Below is the summary from the main post, so check that out for more information and how to get started.




As always in Knights of the Green Room, we still have a few active orders, which follow additional missions outside of the quests you may take on for the Knights.

@Rydia runs The Order of Chaos , a combined review order and storybook. It's taken some hits in activity as of late, but is looking for new members in the new year.

I still run The Order of the Ravens which has a rather simple to explain but hard to master mission each month. To stay in the order and earn the badge, all we require is 20 Green Room reviews a month.

That's all I have to report for this week. If you have any suggestions or have a review related event you'd like to throw into the ring, PM me and you might just see your name in lights.

SOCIETY PAGESwritten by EternalRain < PM: >

This is the first society pages of 2018! Wall posts have been filled with resolutions, goals, and reflections. A lot of people also reflected on the year in the yearbook post thread, too.

Will hashtags revive? @EverStorm wanted to create a hashtag, because the people tab has been lacking in them lately, so she created the #afewofmyfavoritethings tag. This tag has 10 “favorite” questions. @snowmonkey9’s favorite ice cream flavor is mint chip, @Steggy’s favorite animal is a dog, and @bluewaterlily’s favorite musical is Wicked. Be sure to join in the fun if you haven’t already!

@MJTucker has a daily tag they are doing called #yourdailyreminder . Everyday, they post a simple reminder! It’s very helpful, so if you’re feeling a bit lowly of yourself, be sure to check it out.

Another tag which brought itself back for a moment was #weirdtidbits , where you just tell a small weird fact about yourself. @saentiel hates seeing characters get in trouble, and @Omnom, who started the tag back up, hates sitting against an outside wall of a building. Got anything weird to share? Use this hashtag!

If you’re feeling up to the job of spicing up the people tab a bit, feel free to create your own tag! It can be questions or sharing stories or whatever you want, really!

What else has been up?

@TheBlueCat’s telescope gift for Christmas has made her realize how much she loves space, @kman134 has gotten into the anime Black Clover, and @Elinor doesn’t want to be an adult (to which snowmonkey9 suggested going to Neverland).

@Iggy can’t pick a favorite episode of Black Mirror. Along with Iggy, @Carina, @DarkPandemonium, and @DemonGoddess all love the show.

That’s it for this week. For those who have school starting back up, be sure to share your annoying, fun, or boring school experiences!

SITES FOR SPARKING THAT SCHOOL SPIRITwritten by JustPerks < PM: >

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I don’t mean to burst that happy bubble, but I fear that with New Years’ passing, the restart of school is creeping ever so closer for most teenagers on here, myself included. I’ve tried to find a few websites that can help transition you back into an academic-focused mindset.

Starting off is one I have a feeling plenty of you have heard about: Khan Academy

This site is useful for more than just math classes, including AP courses such as Calculus, but is growing more in the direction of aiding students on SAT tests, as well. By creating an account (completely free, don’t worry,) you can receive specific advice on what aspects you should focus on more, whether it’s on a class or a future test.

If you’re ever in the need of a graphing calculator, then Desmos is your new friend!

This website gives you access to an online calculator, complete with examples and all of the functions you could possibly need. You only need to create an account if you want your graphs saved for later reference. I’ve used this on its app as well, and it works just fine in that form!

When asked about useful websites, @Mea says that





As a matter of fact, I do agree!

Quizlet can be a very useful site whenever you get those vocabulary woes. I’ve used it for everything from Psychology questions to necessary Spanish terms.

In addition, Mea says that





An example of that is Keep Me Out !

This website will give warnings and then temporarily block you from accessing those pesky sites you can’t stay away from— like this one.

Last, but certainly not least, @Steggy recommends StudyBlue . This website is a huge database, with over 15 million users. You can enter your school’s information and get help from fellow students, which is included in the free app.

I hope this helps some of you get prepared for school starting soon! Good luck, and I hope you have some fun!

YWS NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

written by LadyLizz< PM: >

In real life, you have probably already made your list of resolutions and trying to achieve or are trying to avoid them, basically procrastinating your resolution to not procrastinate. How's that working out for you?

The pressures of resolutions in the real world are mostly focused around personal health, like dropping a few pounds here and there, and getting a closer connection with your emotions. Or it might be something like getting out more in your community, finding a better job or even just getting some form of companionship outside of a goldfish.

Luckily for you, resolutions on YWS are usually a bit easier to manage.

The first is reviewing, which you can adjust in no matter way that you like. There are some people I know you are trying to do a review a day for a certain amount of time. Or have an end of year or end of month goal. You can go a million different directions with this, all that matters is that you're getting something done.
A particular favorite here is following a novel. There's several good ones out there currently, most notably The Chosen Grandma by @BlueAfrica.

If you're looking for a writing goal more related to your novel or poetry, there's the 100 Words Daily club. The title is pretty self explanatory, your goal is to write 100 words per day and record it down in your thread. Once you're inside the forums, there's some more information but if you've got any more questions, ask @Kays.

There's also the goal of getting into a story book, which is one of the classic ways to get involved on YWS. I'm not sure what's on the market currently but we've got a whole year ahead of us, and there's sure to be plenty of options coming up.

Now obviously there are lots more of things to do on YWS that you can apply to New Year's resolutions, but these are just the main three. I don't even know how many clubs there are nowadays but there's plenty of things to get involved with.

Try out one of these or find your own.
Happy New Year folks. And for those of you returning to school, good luck.

NEW YEAR, NEW STORYBOOKS

written by Steggy< PM: >

This year we've seen a couple new storybooks peeping around in the storybook tab that is now becoming slightly bigger in participants. One of the many storybooks that caught my attention was Blook Club in Room U202, created by the wonderful @HazelGrace16. The storybook is based on the Syfy show The Magicians and is centered around the characters who happened to rent out the same book, The Tales of the Labyrinth. There is still plenty of room for people to sign up so don't miss your chance at this wonderful storybook!

Another storybook that is getting into rapid posting this new year is Shattered Moons, created by the lovely @Omnom. This storybook is following the same idea as RWBY, a series that features a lot of fighting for the protection of the monsterous Grimm creatures. The storybook does have some participants and they are as followed: @Steggy, @AllisonTheWriter, @ScarlettFire, @BrumalHunter, @Lael, @Sheytato, and @FigrothFelanor. It is currently keeping a great pace with posting and holds a great cast of character that it is hard to believe what could happen next. Keep a look out for this awesome storybook and the posts that follow!

Here's to new storybooks and a good year!

A NEW YEAR, A NEW SQUILLSwritten by Aley < PM: >

With the new year and the new leadership, Squills will be doing a few new things as well. We plan to roll out some changes to fan club, include more interviews, and get more in touch with you, our readership.

To help us with these changes, we'd love to get some feedback about what you like to see and read, so please click the star if you read an article you love. It's going to really help us moving forward.

One of the biggest problems with new years resolutions is a lack of motivation. With that in mind, and to keep us all motivated, I fished up an motivation article from our Knowledge Base . Here is the index of motivational articles if you want to find your favorite.

My pick is in the fashion of a "top five" article, so it's really easy to go over. That's right, it's Five Tips to Motivate Yourself written by @thunder_dude7 back in 2008! I'll paraphrase his advice.

1) Use events like NaNo to keep yourself on a timeline and motivated to write something you're already writing.

I have found that when I put myself on a deadline and break things up into small goals, I do them quicker. For the changes in Squills, you should start to see the results of this technique next week.

2) Use your friends to help motivate you. Making a bet with your friend that you can finish something can give you the extra push.

I've used my friends in a different way by telling them my plans to help them tell me when I'm not being accountable for my own actions.

3) Reward yourself! Set a goal and if you meet it, give yourself a treat or a break.

This is a huge one. If you don't have a reason to do something aside from enjoying to do it, then you're less likely to do it quickly.

4) Get your friends to help you.

This is like what I said earlier with how I have told my editing staff what I intend to do.

5) Place reminders in sight.

For me, I have a whiteboard where I keep all of my notes about stuff I want to do. Right now it is crammed packed full of ideas for the new year!

Do you have a different way you get motivated? Tell us about it! You can get in touch by sending me a PM directly, or talking in the Squills Fan Club , or writing an article for The Knowledge Base! We'd love to hear from you.

NEW ARRIVALSwritten by EternalRain < PM: >

Take a moment to welcome this week’s newest members to the site!

@LJF has completed 9 reviews as well as posted 7 forum posts.

@charleslee has completed 2 reviews! They like to write realistic and fantasy fiction, and are also interested in acting and singing.

@MaramMk has done 1 review (4 away from their first star) and has also posted a poem, As she looked in the mirror. .

SHAMELESS PLUGS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

We love to run articles and questions, but we also love to advertise for you. Let people know about your new blog, a poem or story you’re looking for reviews on, or a forum thread you’d like more traffic on through Squills’ Shameless Plugs. PM @SquillsBot with the exact formatting of your advertisement, contained in the following code.

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Place advertisement here. Make sure you include a title!

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SUBSCRIBERS

written by SquillsBot < PM: >

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