Young Writers Society

1. GREAT TORTOISE RACE RECAP
2. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: ALPACABOSS
3. CAMP NANOWRIMO IS HERE AGAIN!
4. GOOSE SIGHTINGS AND GREEN ROOM CHALLENGES
5. MAD GABS
6. FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: LOVEISSOURGRAPES
7. FUN AND GAMES: FIND THE GOOSE WORD SEARCH
8. SUBSCRIBERS

GREAT TORTOISE RACE RECAPwritten by alliyah < PM: >



Hello again reviewers and readers! In our last edition of Squills we brought you a mid-race update on how the Great Tortoise Race was progressing, and today we've got the final results!

On July 30th the Great Tortoise Race of 2023 concluded - to stay in the race reviewers had to write at least one review every single day of the month! This year the final winners were @IcyFlame @alpacaboss @KaiaJersaga @MerleBlackbird @alliyah @DreamyAlice @Spearmint @vampricone6783 @OrabellaAvenue who each managed to write at least one review every day of the month! An exciting win about this year is that the win is actually record-breaking! We've never had more than 8 win the Great Tortoise Race, so having 9 means we get a new entry in the YWS Book of Records .

This year the Great Tortoise Race was especially energetic I feel like - with many moderators posting support in the Main Thread and users cheering the Tortoises on through making banners or posts too. I also hosted a little Great Tortoise Literary Contest on the side and we had two Tortoise-Themed poems posted on the site - that you can still check out if you'd like: The Tortoise by alpacaboss and Dear Human: NOT a Turtle by OrabellaAvenue.

While the Great Tortoise Race has concluded now that June is over, there's actually an opportunity every month to participate in the Tortoise Race - just write one review every day of the month and you'll get recorded on the leader board. We also continue with our Search for the Golden Goose | Clear the Green Room Summer Challenge that runs until the end of July or until the Green Room is cleared!

Wonderful work to our nine winners of the Great Tortoise Race this year and thank you to all of our encouragers!

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: ALPACABOSSwritten by Liminality< PM: >

This FM will be recognizable for her participation in the Great Tortoise Race, where she has brought lots of reviewing and team spirit. On June 1st, @alpacaboss became FM! She is a prolific writer and reviewer. Since joining us May of this year, she has been giving encouraging feedback to writers around the site. She also stands out for her signature alpaca avatars. We had the chance to chat with her about becoming FM and about writing.



alpacaboss: Honestly, I was shocked. I never expected to get FM in less than a month. I am very grateful for being FM as it also encouraged me to continue and develop my passion for writing.



A: Honestly, I believe the only thing I did to earn FM was doing what I loved, but until now I'm still wondering why I became FM. It was purely unexpected for me and I'm happy to be awarded for something I love to do.



A: In terms of the website, I love the publishing center and the green room, even if it can be a beast to conquer. The publishing center gives me an overview of my works and helps me assess my progress and development in writing. The green room, on the other hand, lets me find new stories and be a part of helping someone improve. So overall, my favorite part of YWS is how it's a safe space that pushes us writers to grow in their writing journey.



A: Currently, I'm focusing on a story of a girl who has a special ability to hear music associated with a certain person, place, event, and object. She uses that ability to deal with an unfortunate event in her school. On the side, I'm writing short stories and poems, too.

Aside from the works I'm reading in the Green Room, I'm reading several Christian non-fiction books like "The Case for Faith" by Lee Strobel and "Do More Better" by Tim Challies.



A: Keep doing what you love to do. Continue to explore the world through writing from its deepest secrets to its most outstanding truths. Aim for excellence and improvement every single day. Most of all, don't let your dreams fade away. Nurture them. You'll never know if they will blossom into a beautiful legacy one day. That's it. May God bless you all!



A: It was a great pleasure! Thank you for the interview.

If you have yet to congratulate alpacaboss, you can do so on her FM thread or on her wall!

CAMP NANOWRIMO IS HERE AGAIN!written by IcyFlame < PM: >

You may be thinking but Icy, we just had Camp NaNoWriMo back in April and dear reader you'd be right, but the half-crazed fools amongst us that like to attempt obscene writing goals in thirty days aren't to be limited to just one camp a year!

If you don’t know what Camp NaNoWriMo is, it’s an event that originated from the NaNoWriMo event that happens in November with the goal to write 50,000 words. Unlike NaNoWriMo, however, Camp NaNo occurs both in April and July and (here’s the best part) you can choose your own goal! You can sign up on the NaNoWriMo Website or simply follow along with your fellow YWS'ers .

Several YWSers have already committed to their own, preset writing goals for the month of July including NaNo veteran @BluesClues, NaNo enthusiast @Carlito and NaNo first-timer @Ventomology.

So far, we've seen novels about ice skating, lighthouses, gay soldiers, a lady and her maid solving puzzles, and mobile libraries! You can follow along with updates in all the Camp NaNo Threads .

If you’d like to join in the #CampNaNo fun, it’s not too late! We’re a few days in but you can always set a lower goal for yourself, or try to make up the difference.

For those who are participating, don’t forget to share some #23in23 or #CampNaNo updates on the People Tab. If you'd like a fun way to get your words written, @Carlito has written a YWS-themed word crawl!

Whether you're participating or just watching along, don't forget to cheer each other on!

GOOSE SIGHTINGS AND GREEN ROOM CHALLENGESwritten by alliyah < PM: >

If you've been on the site at all this Summer, you probably know that right now there's a challenge going on to Clear the Green Room and Find the Golden Goose before the end of July. There's a few different ways that users are participating in this Search for the Goose beyond just writing Green Room reviews.

There's a Team Challenge going on between Team Maple Leaf and Team Lily Flower competing to complete the most Green Room reviews by the end of the Challenge! So far Team Maple is in the lead with 186 reviews versus 102 reviews written by Team Lily - but either team could pull ahead by the end of the challenge!

Then there's also the challenge to write Five Green Room Reviews called the Following Feathers Challenge as well as the challenge to write Ten Green Room reviews, hosted by Knights of the Green Room called KotGR Main Challenge. Several users have already completed both challenges, but if you want to give it a try and earn some of those sweet prizes, there's still plenty of time to jump in and do some Green Room reviewing!

These users have successfully completed the "Find the Feathers Challenge" all helping us inch closer and closer to the Golden Goose: @alpacaboss @KateHardy @Rinisha @IcyFlame @KaiaJersaga @alliyah @DreamyAlice @Spearmint @MerleBlackbird @Rose @LuminescentAnt @cookiesandcream123 @OrabellaAvenue. Thank you all for being expert bird detectives and wonderful reviewers!

Finally, there's even a tagbook set up just for this challenge! The Search for the Golden Goose Tagbook is a roleplay that anyone can jump into at any time. The premise is that a group of YWSers are searching for the Golden Goose, collecting bait, finding a net, locating the goose, and now clearing the Green Room while trying to stay out of too much trouble. So far users who have made an appearance outside of myself are @DreamyAlice, @momonster, @PoetryGoos, @GengarIsBestBoy, @LuminescentAnt and @KaiaJersaga - the entire crew has made their way through Randomosity's jungles, and even saw the Golden Goose while at @Snoink's home (see picture below)



Tagbooks are so much fun to get involved with and you should definitely give it a try and jump into the search!

The Green Room is looking to be in good shape so far - it'll still be a stretch to get every work in there reviewed by the end of the Summer, but if we stay on the pace that we have been on I think we'll be able to do it. Right now as I'm writing this article there are around 50 reviews needed still to clear the Green Room (not counting any new works added in July) which I'm guessing will be around 150 works. So we still absolutely need all hands on deck to make it through this challenge and find the goose.

Oh! Did I mention what the site prizes are for finding the Golden Goose? If the site is able to clear the Green Room before August 1 - we'll unlock 3 days of free literary work posting (5 work limit) as well as a Social Week celebration in August. How great is that? To help us reach our goal, find the goose, and celebrate with a Social Week all you need to do is complete some Green Room reviews. If you'd like to read about the other activities and challenges as listed above, you can check out all of the information right here .

MAD GABSwritten by Spearmint< PM: >

High dare, yawn right hers oh sigh itty!

Did you understand that? Try reading it fast.

You should hear: "Hi there, young writers society!" This is something called a Mad Gab, and it's a fun activity/game that involves figuring out the phrases that seemingly-gibberish words represent. In this case, for example, "hi there" was represented by the words "high dare."

A few strategies in solving these are saying the Mad Gabs fast, or saying them but slurring your words or saying them slightly differently. Try using some creativity and puzzle-solving skills to figure them out!

Here are a couple more, with answers in the spoiler. :]

Less fine thee goal ding who's!

Blew very pang aches

Ha bag rate hay



If you want to try more, check out this website!

Feel free to try making your own as well. Enjoy! ;D

FEATURED MEMBER INTERVIEW: LOVEISSOURGRAPES written by Liminality< PM: >

You will know this FM for her cheerful and positive presence on the site. That’s right, it’s @loveissourgrapes, also known as Ina! Ina joined us last year in November and became FM soon after, on December 5th. Ina has continued her activity on YWS, writing lots of reviews in June and participating in the Great Tortoise Race. You might also have read some of her latest stories in the Literary Center. Last month, Squills got the chance to interview her.



loveissourgrapes: When somebody introduced me as an FM, I was happy yet shocked at the same time. I didn't know YWS had that thing. I thought you just reviewed people's works to post your own too. When I join this site, it was my first time having my own personal phone and I do YWS sometimes on my mother's desktop. But I was happy and thankful for everybody who had welcomed and taught me stuff about writing and about the site as well. Even you c:



L: Posting stories are one of my favorite things to do in this site but I think reviewing and helping other writers are fun too. Especially when they need the help. I also like how some writings in this site are relatable. Especially when they are written by my peers. It is fun to congratulate and welcome people as other FMs and to post funny things on my wall too.



L: Recently, I would like to read novel/chapters but I prefer reading them when the whole thing is complete so I don't get crazy over it. I like short stories that take time to read and poems too. My favorite genre is something realistic and narrative so it's relatable. But I like fiction, fantasy, and action/ suspense too. I'm not a big fan of horror because I want to sleep at night But my most favorite genre in this site is chickens. Who does not like chickens?



L: To my fellow YWSers, keep on writing! Enjoy writing masterpiece and reading masterpieces on this site. You can fell free to talk to me about anything, I am free to listen to you. It is fun that my fellow YWSers and I get to learn from each other so I hope we get to continue doing that in the future. I am happy I got to be in this site and see people like me, even get to socialize with them. I am happy that I also am growing up with kind people around this site. Have a lovely day/night every day you wake up and live healthy with a strong well-being, physically, emotionally, morally, and spiritually.



L: You're welcome! I enjoyed our little interview too

If you have yet to congratulate Ina on being chosen as Featured Member, feel free to do so on her FM thread or on her wall!

FUN AND GAMES: FIND THE GOOSE WORD SEARCHwritten by alliyah < PM: >

As you no doubt already know, we've been searching for the Golden Goose in the Green Room throughout the Summer - but here's another way to search for the Goose... in a Word Search!

Try to find each word listed below in the scramble of letters. Words can go in any direction. Words can share letters as they cross over each other. If you are able to show that you've found all 15 words - send me a PM and I'll send you 50 points for finding all the words!



Word Bank:
CRITIQUE
FEATHER
GOOSE
GREENROOM
HONK
KNIGHTS
LILY
MAPLE
NOVEL
POEM
QUOTE
REVIEW
SUMMER
TORTOISE
YWS

If you liked this puzzle, you may also enjoy:
The YWS Word Search .

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