Leave A Note...

Date & Time: 9/1/2008 8:25:12 AM User: Also Content Note: I agree, please leave Calliope just as it is. I don't know about the website yet as I only just tried it, but it seems fine to me. It seems about the same as everything else on the web, I think I prefer the printed version personally.
Date & Time: 8/30/2008 5:22:30 PM User: Huntzenpecks Note: Wowser, all I did was mention the bad fiction contest. You people really should cut back on the Starbucks before someone goes off the deep end.
Date & Time: 8/30/2008 7:21:13 AM User: perfectly content Note: Calliope is what it is. It's a small press publication (okay, very small press) that caters to reasonably bright people who enjoy reading and writing. If an article or story is avant-garde or wonderfully literary, it's purely by accident. I love the little magazine just the way it is. And as for the web site, it provides a means to submit opinions like this one without battling a gatekeeper. I like it, I use it, and I have no problem ignoring the inevitable internet characters who will surf through. Don't change a thing, kids.
Date & Time: 8/29/2008 5:37:08 PM User: fed up Note: This web site thing does seem to be a waste of SIG resources. You make available at no cost the same material that SIG members pay for in print. I can't explain why I continue to bother surfing the Forum since it's always populated by the same group of thick skull, no talent whiners. I think this web site is giving a bad name to the SIG and to Mensa. I've had enough, I won't be back.
Date & Time: 8/29/2008 8:01:41 AM User: Loring the Repentant Note: Let me start by apologizing for my part in keeping the "rag the gals" stuff going. The Forum can, indeed, serve a serious purpose. For instance, it may be a place where we CAN suggest/criticize the content of our favorite magazine. For instance, "A Writer's Workshop by Mail" doesn't bring to mind the News From Walton Mountain" flavor of our two editors. Both have a long and respected experience in small press and we might expect that they would more focus on what they see falling over their transoms and what weaknesses they identify and could share with us. In olden days, when I was a pen-pup in the newspaper racket, "over the transom" meant unqueried and unsolicited material. Since all of Calliope's material is probably of that sort, the column title is appropos. But what do you see falling there, and how can we become privy to the decision-making weaknesses and strengths in it? Yup. We could be more useful. Or we could change the name of the magazine to "C" to emulate that other chick-zine, "O."
Date & Time: 8/28/2008 6:01:48 PM User: Yural Yukster Note: No no no, we goin to keep on pulling your piggietails because your fun to watch pbthhhhh!!!
Date & Time: 8/28/2008 9:08:18 AM User: plaster Note: I agree with Annoyed Fiction Editor. Some folks must have too much time on their hands or are wasting their time at work. Geez, folks, get a stand-up-comic job somewhere.
Date & Time: 8/27/2008 6:03:58 PM User: Soar Thumm Note: Neener neener neerer pthbbbbbb!!!
Date & Time: 8/27/2008 7:52:40 AM User: Annoyed fiction editor Note: I thought the Forum was supposed to be about writing and writers, markets, critiquing, and relevant comments about the content of Calliope. I'm sure there are plenty of jokester forums on the web to attract most would-be humorists.
Date & Time: 8/26/2008 5:45:55 PM User: annoyed fem Note: Will you male chauvinst pigs never tire of your adolescent rants??? How would you like to be compared to a "sack of hammers" and how do you think YOU would rate on a scale of 1 to 10?
Date & Time: 8/25/2008 8:43:49 AM User: Lit Los Note: Lawsy, both of those conjure up really BAD mental (and lower visceral) images.
Date & Time: 8/24/2008 2:12:22 PM User: Mike Hammer Note: Might also be ball peen or sledge??
Date & Time: 8/24/2008 8:05:46 AM User: Lit'ry Loser Note: Is that claw hammers or jack hammers? I ran both. (There must be a joke here, but I can't think of it.)
Date & Time: 8/22/2008 5:31:55 AM User: Binthere Dunthat Note: Well, she's either a 10 and dumber'n a sack of hammers or a three-and-five sixteenths with undeniably a very good personality. It all just depends.
Date & Time: 8/21/2008 1:10:47 PM User: Loser and still Champion Note: Well, what about the girl who loses in the "Ugliest Girl" contest? Is she a ten or a three-and-five sixteenths?
Date & Time: 8/19/2008 5:26:05 PM User: Bons Mots Note: Huntz: if I lose the "bad fiction" contest does my work then qualify as "good fiction"?
Date & Time: 8/14/2008 5:16:23 AM User: Huntzenpecks Note: Did you know there's an annual contest for bad writing? Talk about a hoot, here's a real giggle to start your day: http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/
Date & Time: 8/11/2008 7:57:31 PM User: Cynthia Note: Pat and Kathy, On reflection, the message seems to be coming from Comcast but that's not your provider....curiouser and curiouser....
Date & Time: 8/11/2008 7:55:38 PM User: Cynthia Note: To Pat and Kathy, I tried emailing both of you and got an error message from mail-daemon@comcast.net. The email instructed me to authenticate myself and provided a link. The link had a message saying the link was invalid. I also noticed the error message had an attachment, so I'm wondering whether you have a virus. I have comcast.net as my main mail provider and have never seen anything like this. When you contact Comcast, tell them I can forward the error messages to them if they think it will help. I don't want to sound like an apple groupie, but my iMac is probably pretty safe from viruses....although I'm not opening the attachment to find out.
Date & Time: 8/11/2008 7:36:16 AM User: Spackel Note: Hey, Plaster - I don't always "get" everything in your column, but I hardly think that's a valid criticism. Whilst I am in the Mensa-plus region of IQ, I don't think like everyone. However, I seldom admit that I don't get it - I just smile and nod. To Reg - that "I'm no Mensan" sounds like reverse snobbery. But I can be wrong - after all, I'm pretty dim about people and their relationships. To both of you - kiss and make up. Calliope should be constructive, not destructive.
Date & Time: 8/8/2008 8:25:12 AM User: Plaster Note: Cynthia: I didn't know about our lack of email commo. I only checked the forum this morning. Still don't have enough time to critique --tho I like to critique--by your new deadline. To "regular reader." What's not to understand about my column? I am NOT a Mensan, by the way, but thanks for the thought. I wish I were.
Date & Time: 8/3/2008 2:48:54 PM User: Lorin Note: To Elmer Dud - thanks. Got a connexion.
Date & Time: 7/30/2008 6:03:28 PM User: Elmer Dud Note: Google found a person same name at http://www.rambles.net/alicia_elkins.html . It's a zine of some kind, maybe there's a link to her or maybe the editor there will forward your note (if this is the right Elkins.)
Date & Time: 7/30/2008 2:12:50 PM User: Lorin Note: Still looking for an address for Alicia Karen Elkins.
Date & Time: 7/29/2008 8:38:02 PM User: Calliope Note: Hi everyone, There's one week left to enter the critique contest. No fees. Great prizes (okay, maybe lame prizes--I haven't picked them yet, but they will include at least one book on writing and one Calliope membership.) To enter, go to Nonfiction Contest, click on Entries, read an entry and write a critique. Email the critique to cynthia@theriver.com. Enter as often as you wish.
Date & Time: 7/29/2008 8:34:51 PM User: Cynthia Note: To Plaster,Your emailer is rejecting my notes again. I received your piece. Could you find out why your provider keeps rejecting my mail? Thanks for your piece. Sorry to have to post notes to you in a public forum.
Date & Time: 7/29/2008 8:00:06 PM User: Belles Lettres Note: Well really, only three stories this time, and two of them are of the vampire persuasion. Full moon when Calliope went to print? Oh goody, lots and lots of little poems this time.
Date & Time: 7/28/2008 3:47:38 PM User: Lorin Note: Too bad, regular reader. Here in Albuquerque we don't pay that much for gas. Of course, everything's farther. . .
Date & Time: 7/21/2008 6:39:17 PM User: a regular reader Note: Thanks for the payola, Loring. To let everyone know how generous you are, I bought a gallon of gas with the bribe, together with $4.00 of my own money.
Date & Time: 7/19/2008 1:43:46 PM User: Lorin Note: I want you all to know I didn't pay the Regular Reader to say that! (And I didn't write it, neither!)
Date & Time: 7/18/2008 4:34:35 PM User: a regular reader Note: Loring's Corner is quite good, and I enjoyed Scary Scrawlings (as always). Even though Coffee Break is more blog than content, I like reading about what goes on in Cynthia's life. The fiction and poetry this issue are good but not remarkable. However, this episode of Generally Speaking mystifies me. The author wrote a similar column last year, which I didn't understand at all, and I surely don't understand it this time either. Is it a "must be Mensa to understand" thing, or am I just slower than the rest of you?
Date & Time: 7/14/2008 9:03:29 AM User: Danny Dimbulb Note: Wow!
Date & Time: 7/13/2008 5:56:39 PM User: Mac-I Note: Hi Loring, Well, how do I say this. Your system remembers where YOU have been. The fading or color change in a link is letting you know that YOU have been there before. Everyone who hasn't viewed your article still sees it in the darker blue color. Ain't computers wonderful?!?
Date & Time: 7/13/2008 3:59:21 PM User: Gray Woof Note: Hey, that's nifty. But who would want to visit me twice? I thought Mensans were - well - bright.
Date & Time: 7/12/2008 5:15:02 PM User: Cynthia Note: Hi Plaster, I have good news and bad news. The good news: You (and everyone else) have a whole month to write a critique for the nonfiction web contest entries. PLEASE write just one...or two... One of the reasons folks entered the contest was for the feedback. The bad news: little feedback has been provided by our members and visitors. EVERYBODY WRITE A CRITIQUE.
Date & Time: 7/12/2008 5:11:48 PM User: Apple Annie Note: Hi Loring, The reason the link to your article is faded is that you've clicked on it already. One of the hyperlink norms is to remember links you've previously visited. Try clicking on another link in the table of contents. The next time you open the Calliope site, you'll find that one will also be faded. Nifty feature in case you don't want to visit a link twice.
Date & Time: 7/12/2008 3:49:39 PM User: plaster Note: Alas, with all the traveling this summer, I failed to get a fiction, an on-line non-fiction OR a critique in. Maybe next year.
Date & Time: 7/12/2008 1:59:48 PM User: Loring Note: I notice that my line on the Contents table is a faded gray while most of the others are a purty blue. Does this mean that I'm fading also? I don't feel any different. Well, a little. Actually, quite a lot. Sigh. Whimper.
Date & Time: 7/4/2008 5:42:39 PM User: Cynthia Note: There is no link for "Landings" because the author did not give permission to publish her work on line. Calliope uses one time rights to all work. Online publication requires additional permission. But thanks for asking. It's good to know people are reading the stories. For most authors, the web site expands their opportunity to share their work.
Date & Time: 7/4/2008 6:56:34 AM User: confused Note: Why doesn't the link to the story "Landings" work?
Date & Time: 7/2/2008 10:44:48 AM User: Loin Note: Hey, it IS Spring! And it's great!
Date & Time: 6/26/2008 7:17:43 AM User: Ziller's drum teacher Note: It's still Spring?
Date & Time: 6/16/2008 8:00:17 AM User: Fiction Editor Note: The Fiction Contest is now closed and judging will begin Wednesday, June 18. Results should be forthcoming by July 15th. Thanks to all who entered the contest! Regular submissions of fiction are welcome. If you have questions about submitting a story, email me and please put "Calliope short story submission" on the subject line. (SR)
Date & Time: 6/10/2008 2:01:39 PM User: Ponca City Phil Note: So soon? Great! My life is so empty without your connection to the outside. Sorry for the reminder. I ain't really a poet, as you all knowit.
Date & Time: 6/9/2008 2:01:26 PM User: Cynthia Note: You're a poet.....and don't know it....your feel show it....they're _____________ It's still spring, officially anyway. It's over 100-degrees in Tucson. Calliope will be in the mail by the end of the week. C:)
Date & Time: 6/4/2008 2:28:49 PM User: Doggie Rell Note: Spring is past Grass is riz Wonder whwre Calliope is!
Date & Time: 5/27/2008 6:28:58 PM User: haiku hector Note: woolens tucked away -- shorts and tees are now the norm -- where's the spring issue?!
Date & Time: 5/27/2008 12:01:52 PM User: Uthor the Uggery Note: Very much desire e-address (or otherwise) for "old relic" who steered me to the People. Sounds like we might fruitfully liaise.
Date & Time: 5/9/2008 7:16:23 AM User: Fiction Editor Note: To all the spacklers and plasterers: How about putting all that lovely wordplay and creativity to work by sending me a story or two. Or maybe, entering the Fiction Contest? There's still time.
Date & Time: 4/29/2008 8:37:53 AM User: Spockel Note: Gee, Spackle - you speak Tagalog?
Date & Time: 4/28/2008 5:51:54 PM User: Spackle Note: Yah tagalongs bite. Bah.
Date & Time: 4/27/2008 2:56:16 PM User: Spackel Note: Sounds like we once again must allow those who lack self-discipline to tag along with those who respect the rules of the game. Well, Cindy, it's your magazine. . . But, bah!
Date & Time: 4/26/2008 5:14:14 PM User: Cynthia Note: Thanks for all your input. I'm going to extend the deadline to June 15 for the nonfiction entries, and July 4 for the critiques. There will, however, be a bonus for any "winner" who also submitted his/her work by the original deadline. Does that sound fair?
Date & Time: 4/25/2008 11:32:31 PM User: Stucco Note: Mud bites
Date & Time: 4/25/2008 5:45:03 PM User: Mud Note: Yah deadlines bite
Date & Time: 4/25/2008 2:26:27 PM User: Stucco Note: Why have deadlines at all? They only stifle the freedom of the creative.
Date & Time: 4/24/2008 2:47:38 PM User: plaster Note: Moving the deadlines back suits my schedule better. June 15, entries; July 4, critiques. Maybe by then I can get both an entry and critiques in.
Date & Time: 4/20/2008 5:56:37 PM User: Cynthia Note: Well, entries for the nonfiction contest are dribbling in--but the ones we've received are all good--and each so very original. I was thinking of extending the deadline. Your thoughts? We've also had several critiques. Don't forget to check them out. To view the entries. click on Nonfiction Contest (in the list on the left side of the screen.) This will open the guidelines, but to the left in another menu that includes a choice for entries. Clicking on "Entries" will open a table of contents with five entries (so far.) The critiques for these entries are posted at the end of each entry. Do we extend the deadline? If so, would July 4 be too long?...for both entries and critiques? Or maybe June 15 for entries and July 4 for critiques.
Date & Time: 4/15/2008 11:31:10 AM User: Uthor the Uggery Note: To the "old Relic" - thank you so much for steering me to the People. I am now plowing through the anthology. Suddenly it's 1964 and I'm young, pretty and rich. And still believe in a better People. And platting twishers, in fact.
Date & Time: 4/6/2008 7:00:13 AM User: Lorin Note: If you think about the beginnings of the careers of the most influential writers, you come to see that they were all plowing still water. Imagine saying of Twain or Tolkien or Miller or Steinbeck or Conrad that they were "out of style!"
Date & Time: 4/5/2008 7:33:55 PM User: Cynthia Note: Hi Pat. I think it's just silly to write "what's in style." A good story is a good story. After 10 years, your genre may very well have come back into vogue. I'm sure it has never completely disappeared. Keep up the good work. Get it done and move on to the next while you send this baby out into the world.
Date & Time: 4/5/2008 6:37:06 PM User: plaster Note: I'm in residency at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, AR with the goal of working on my long-in-progress (Sandy will attest to this). My guide (for good or bad) is Evan Marshall's The Marshall Plan, 1998. He says right off that gothic and family sagas have gone out of fashion and are not being published (this was 10 years ago, remember). Do any of you think this statement is of any consequence? I've certainly written too much to start over. I'll self-publish if I have to, but Marshall's observation stopped me for a moment.
Date & Time: 4/4/2008 10:17:05 AM User: L'il Lulu Note: Before you buy any software look into the publish-on-demand companies. Some of them will take your manuscript in pretty plebeian form and make a book of it. Lulu comes to mind.
Date & Time: 4/4/2008 5:07:03 AM User: Gray Bard Note: I suggest you should at least weigh software compatibility as well as price. If you make a go of your enterprise and have to expand or have to move on to software compatible with bigger players, brand X software might not easily export data to more professional and better supported applications. There isn't much worse than user-unfriendly (hostile even) computer software, even if it's cheap or free.
Date & Time: 4/3/2008 8:49:42 PM User: 8-Finger Sammy Note: Scribus works pretty good but you might have to tinker with it a bit depending on your operating system. It's open-source, it's supported by the folks who use it, and the price is right--it's free. Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribus and http://www.scribus.net for a start.
Date & Time: 4/3/2008 8:02:57 PM User: Laura Hill Note: Hello! Are you willing to give some free advice??!! I am looking for desktop publishing software; I am beginning a project to reprint a book (if successful, hope to do it again and again!). Because this is the first - and depending on outcome, maybe the last - book, I don't want to spend big $$$$ for software but also don't want to buy something that's so poor I end up tearing out my hair. Anything you would suggest? And why? THANK YOU for your response. Laura Hill member of MN Mensa
Date & Time: 4/2/2008 10:35:41 AM User: Cynthia Note: We have another entry in the nonfiction contest. Please take a few moments to read and comment on the entries. Go to Nonfiction Contest, then click on Entries. Send your comments to cynthia@theriver.com.
Date & Time: 4/1/2008 8:43:48 PM User: Cynthia Note: This note is for Pat Laster: Pat, my messages to you continue to bounce. They're returning as "undeliverable." I've forwarded them to Sandy and asked her to try sending them on to you. In the meantime, I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. Soooo...answers to your questions: The nonfiction contest is open to all--even Calliope staffers. I'll need your next column in the next couple weeks, please. I really, really appreciate all your contributions to Calliope.
Date & Time: 3/28/2008 6:27:57 AM User: An LA Opportunist Note: Hmmmm...International humiliation--it just might be a new and untapped niche market. Maybe a slick new photo mag filled with teary confessions and self-flagellation...and opinion pieces. MAYBE A SPOT ON OPRAH!!! Off to the keyboard, off to fame and wealth! Now if I can just find an editor to abuse me...CYNTHIA, PLEASE RING ME UP!
Date & Time: 3/27/2008 7:18:38 PM User: Zorba the Gree Note: I've done Mensa for ages, watching across the years as members of all stripes come and go, apparently with little in common except high IQs and an immutable inability to agree on anything--including the time of day. I assure you that the prospect of Mensanians (well, it really OUGHT to be a word) getting together in numbers sufficient to think anyone out of existence is unlikely. Besides, at the moment we're rather busy trying to think that damned "*" out of existence...don't bother me.
Date & Time: 3/27/2008 6:34:01 AM User: The Gree Honnet Note: "Gree" is a softer, kinder form of "green." I can't afford to insult the Mensanians - they could all get together and THINK me out of existence.
Date & Time: 3/26/2008 9:58:59 PM User: Col. O'korn Note: Nope. I meant "gree" not "green!"...You've got us all in suspense. Wot's "gree?"
Date & Time: 3/26/2008 9:53:50 PM User: Cadwalader J Birdbath Note: "Random word generator." What a perfect way to describe the way that some modern poetry is strung together. I've been told that the reader is free to read his/her own

Date & Time: 9/1/2008 8:25:12 AM
User: Also Content
Note: I agree, please leave Calliope just as it is. I don't know about the website yet as I only just tried it, but it seems fine to me. It seems about the same as everything else on the web, I think I prefer the printed version personally.

Date & Time: 8/30/2008 5:22:30 PM
User: Huntzenpecks
Note: Wowser, all I did was mention the bad fiction contest. You people really should cut back on the Starbucks before someone goes off the deep end.

Date & Time: 8/30/2008 7:21:13 AM
User: perfectly content
Note: Calliope is what it is. It's a small press publication (okay, very small press) that caters to reasonably bright people who enjoy reading and writing. If an article or story is avant-garde or wonderfully literary, it's purely by accident. I love the little magazine just the way it is. And as for the web site, it provides a means to submit opinions like this one without battling a gatekeeper. I like it, I use it, and I have no problem ignoring the inevitable internet characters who will surf through. Don't change a thing, kids.

Date & Time: 8/29/2008 5:37:08 PM
User: fed up
Note: This web site thing does seem to be a waste of SIG resources. You make available at no cost the same material that SIG members pay for in print. I can't explain why I continue to bother surfing the Forum since it's always populated by the same group of thick skull, no talent whiners. I think this web site is giving a bad name to the SIG and to Mensa. I've had enough, I won't be back.

Date & Time: 8/29/2008 8:01:41 AM
User: Loring the Repentant
Note: Let me start by apologizing for my part in keeping the "rag the gals" stuff going. The Forum can, indeed, serve a serious purpose. For instance, it may be a place where we CAN suggest/criticize the content of our favorite magazine. For instance, "A Writer's Workshop by Mail" doesn't bring to mind the News From Walton Mountain" flavor of our two editors. Both have a long and respected experience in small press and we might expect that they would more focus on what they see falling over their transoms and what weaknesses they identify and could share with us. In olden days, when I was a pen-pup in the newspaper racket, "over the transom" meant unqueried and unsolicited material. Since all of Calliope's material is probably of that sort, the column title is appropos. But what do you see falling there, and how can we become privy to the decision-making weaknesses and strengths in it? Yup. We could be more useful. Or we could change the name of the magazine to "C" to emulate that other chick-zine, "O."

Date & Time: 8/28/2008 6:01:48 PM
User: Yural Yukster
Note: No no no, we goin to keep on pulling your piggietails because your fun to watch pbthhhhh!!!

Date & Time: 8/28/2008 9:08:18 AM
User: plaster
Note: I agree with Annoyed Fiction Editor. Some folks must have too much time on their hands or are wasting their time at work. Geez, folks, get a stand-up-comic job somewhere.

Date & Time: 8/27/2008 6:03:58 PM
User: Soar Thumm
Note: Neener neener neerer pthbbbbbb!!!

Date & Time: 8/27/2008 7:52:40 AM
User: Annoyed fiction editor
Note: I thought the Forum was supposed to be about writing and writers, markets, critiquing, and relevant comments about the content of Calliope. I'm sure there are plenty of jokester forums on the web to attract most would-be humorists.

Date & Time: 8/26/2008 5:45:55 PM
User: annoyed fem
Note: Will you male chauvinst pigs never tire of your adolescent rants??? How would you like to be compared to a "sack of hammers" and how do you think YOU would rate on a scale of 1 to 10?

Date & Time: 8/25/2008 8:43:49 AM
User: Lit Los
Note: Lawsy, both of those conjure up really BAD mental (and lower visceral) images.

Date & Time: 8/24/2008 2:12:22 PM
User: Mike Hammer
Note: Might also be ball peen or sledge??

Date & Time: 8/24/2008 8:05:46 AM
User: Lit'ry Loser
Note: Is that claw hammers or jack hammers? I ran both. (There must be a joke here, but I can't think of it.)

Date & Time: 8/22/2008 5:31:55 AM
User: Binthere Dunthat
Note: Well, she's either a 10 and dumber'n a sack of hammers or a three-and-five sixteenths with undeniably a very good personality. It all just depends.

Date & Time: 8/21/2008 1:10:47 PM
User: Loser and still Champion
Note: Well, what about the girl who loses in the "Ugliest Girl" contest? Is she a ten or a three-and-five sixteenths?

Date & Time: 8/19/2008 5:26:05 PM
User: Bons Mots
Note: Huntz: if I lose the "bad fiction" contest does my work then qualify as "good fiction"?

Date & Time: 8/14/2008 5:16:23 AM
User: Huntzenpecks
Note: Did you know there's an annual contest for bad writing? Talk about a hoot, here's a real giggle to start your day: http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

Date & Time: 8/11/2008 7:57:31 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: Pat and Kathy, On reflection, the message seems to be coming from Comcast but that's not your provider....curiouser and curiouser....

Date & Time: 8/11/2008 7:55:38 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: To Pat and Kathy, I tried emailing both of you and got an error message from mail-daemon@comcast.net. The email instructed me to authenticate myself and provided a link. The link had a message saying the link was invalid. I also noticed the error message had an attachment, so I'm wondering whether you have a virus. I have comcast.net as my main mail provider and have never seen anything like this. When you contact Comcast, tell them I can forward the error messages to them if they think it will help. I don't want to sound like an apple groupie, but my iMac is probably pretty safe from viruses....although I'm not opening the attachment to find out.

Date & Time: 8/11/2008 7:36:16 AM
User: Spackel
Note: Hey, Plaster - I don't always "get" everything in your column, but I hardly think that's a valid criticism. Whilst I am in the Mensa-plus region of IQ, I don't think like everyone. However, I seldom admit that I don't get it - I just smile and nod. To Reg - that "I'm no Mensan" sounds like reverse snobbery. But I can be wrong - after all, I'm pretty dim about people and their relationships. To both of you - kiss and make up. Calliope should be constructive, not destructive.

Date & Time: 8/8/2008 8:25:12 AM
User: Plaster
Note: Cynthia: I didn't know about our lack of email commo. I only checked the forum this morning. Still don't have enough time to critique --tho I like to critique--by your new deadline. To "regular reader." What's not to understand about my column? I am NOT a Mensan, by the way, but thanks for the thought. I wish I were.

Date & Time: 8/3/2008 2:48:54 PM
User: Lorin
Note: To Elmer Dud - thanks. Got a connexion.

Date & Time: 7/30/2008 6:03:28 PM
User: Elmer Dud
Note: Google found a person same name at http://www.rambles.net/alicia_elkins.html . It's a zine of some kind, maybe there's a link to her or maybe the editor there will forward your note (if this is the right Elkins.)

Date & Time: 7/30/2008 2:12:50 PM
User: Lorin
Note: Still looking for an address for Alicia Karen Elkins.

Date & Time: 7/29/2008 8:38:02 PM
User: Calliope
Note: Hi everyone, There's one week left to enter the critique contest. No fees. Great prizes (okay, maybe lame prizes--I haven't picked them yet, but they will include at least one book on writing and one Calliope membership.) To enter, go to Nonfiction Contest, click on Entries, read an entry and write a critique. Email the critique to cynthia@theriver.com. Enter as often as you wish.

Date & Time: 7/29/2008 8:34:51 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: To Plaster,Your emailer is rejecting my notes again. I received your piece. Could you find out why your provider keeps rejecting my mail? Thanks for your piece. Sorry to have to post notes to you in a public forum.

Date & Time: 7/29/2008 8:00:06 PM
User: Belles Lettres
Note: Well really, only three stories this time, and two of them are of the vampire persuasion. Full moon when Calliope went to print? Oh goody, lots and lots of little poems this time.

Date & Time: 7/28/2008 3:47:38 PM
User: Lorin
Note: Too bad, regular reader. Here in Albuquerque we don't pay that much for gas. Of course, everything's farther. . .

Date & Time: 7/21/2008 6:39:17 PM
User: a regular reader
Note: Thanks for the payola, Loring. To let everyone know how generous you are, I bought a gallon of gas with the bribe, together with $4.00 of my own money.

Date & Time: 7/19/2008 1:43:46 PM
User: Lorin
Note: I want you all to know I didn't pay the Regular Reader to say that! (And I didn't write it, neither!)

Date & Time: 7/18/2008 4:34:35 PM
User: a regular reader
Note: Loring's Corner is quite good, and I enjoyed Scary Scrawlings (as always). Even though Coffee Break is more blog than content, I like reading about what goes on in Cynthia's life. The fiction and poetry this issue are good but not remarkable. However, this episode of Generally Speaking mystifies me. The author wrote a similar column last year, which I didn't understand at all, and I surely don't understand it this time either. Is it a "must be Mensa to understand" thing, or am I just slower than the rest of you?

Date & Time: 7/14/2008 9:03:29 AM
User: Danny Dimbulb
Note: Wow!

Date & Time: 7/13/2008 5:56:39 PM
User: Mac-I
Note: Hi Loring, Well, how do I say this. Your system remembers where YOU have been. The fading or color change in a link is letting you know that YOU have been there before. Everyone who hasn't viewed your article still sees it in the darker blue color. Ain't computers wonderful?!?

Date & Time: 7/13/2008 3:59:21 PM
User: Gray Woof
Note: Hey, that's nifty. But who would want to visit me twice? I thought Mensans were - well - bright.

Date & Time: 7/12/2008 5:15:02 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: Hi Plaster, I have good news and bad news. The good news: You (and everyone else) have a whole month to write a critique for the nonfiction web contest entries. PLEASE write just one...or two... One of the reasons folks entered the contest was for the feedback. The bad news: little feedback has been provided by our members and visitors. EVERYBODY WRITE A CRITIQUE.

Date & Time: 7/12/2008 5:11:48 PM
User: Apple Annie
Note: Hi Loring, The reason the link to your article is faded is that you've clicked on it already. One of the hyperlink norms is to remember links you've previously visited. Try clicking on another link in the table of contents. The next time you open the Calliope site, you'll find that one will also be faded. Nifty feature in case you don't want to visit a link twice.

Date & Time: 7/12/2008 3:49:39 PM
User: plaster
Note: Alas, with all the traveling this summer, I failed to get a fiction, an on-line non-fiction OR a critique in. Maybe next year.

Date & Time: 7/12/2008 1:59:48 PM
User: Loring
Note: I notice that my line on the Contents table is a faded gray while most of the others are a purty blue. Does this mean that I'm fading also? I don't feel any different. Well, a little. Actually, quite a lot. Sigh. Whimper.

Date & Time: 7/4/2008 5:42:39 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: There is no link for "Landings" because the author did not give permission to publish her work on line. Calliope uses one time rights to all work. Online publication requires additional permission. But thanks for asking. It's good to know people are reading the stories. For most authors, the web site expands their opportunity to share their work.

Date & Time: 7/4/2008 6:56:34 AM
User: confused
Note: Why doesn't the link to the story "Landings" work?

Date & Time: 7/2/2008 10:44:48 AM
User: Loin
Note: Hey, it IS Spring! And it's great!

Date & Time: 6/26/2008 7:17:43 AM
User: Ziller's drum teacher
Note: It's still Spring?

Date & Time: 6/16/2008 8:00:17 AM
User: Fiction Editor
Note: The Fiction Contest is now closed and judging will begin Wednesday, June 18. Results should be forthcoming by July 15th. Thanks to all who entered the contest! Regular submissions of fiction are welcome. If you have questions about submitting a story, email me and please put "Calliope short story submission" on the subject line. (SR)

Date & Time: 6/10/2008 2:01:39 PM
User: Ponca City Phil
Note: So soon? Great! My life is so empty without your connection to the outside. Sorry for the reminder. I ain't really a poet, as you all knowit.

Date & Time: 6/9/2008 2:01:26 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: You're a poet.....and don't know it....your feel show it....they're _____________ It's still spring, officially anyway. It's over 100-degrees in Tucson. Calliope will be in the mail by the end of the week. C:)

Date & Time: 6/4/2008 2:28:49 PM
User: Doggie Rell
Note: Spring is past Grass is riz Wonder whwre Calliope is!

Date & Time: 5/27/2008 6:28:58 PM
User: haiku hector
Note: woolens tucked away -- shorts and tees are now the norm -- where's the spring issue?!

Date & Time: 5/27/2008 12:01:52 PM
User: Uthor the Uggery
Note: Very much desire e-address (or otherwise) for "old relic" who steered me to the People. Sounds like we might fruitfully liaise.

Date & Time: 5/9/2008 7:16:23 AM
User: Fiction Editor
Note: To all the spacklers and plasterers: How about putting all that lovely wordplay and creativity to work by sending me a story or two. Or maybe, entering the Fiction Contest? There's still time.

Date & Time: 4/29/2008 8:37:53 AM
User: Spockel
Note: Gee, Spackle - you speak Tagalog?

Date & Time: 4/28/2008 5:51:54 PM
User: Spackle
Note: Yah tagalongs bite. Bah.

Date & Time: 4/27/2008 2:56:16 PM
User: Spackel
Note: Sounds like we once again must allow those who lack self-discipline to tag along with those who respect the rules of the game. Well, Cindy, it's your magazine. . . But, bah!

Date & Time: 4/26/2008 5:14:14 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: Thanks for all your input. I'm going to extend the deadline to June 15 for the nonfiction entries, and July 4 for the critiques. There will, however, be a bonus for any "winner" who also submitted his/her work by the original deadline. Does that sound fair?

Date & Time: 4/25/2008 11:32:31 PM
User: Stucco
Note: Mud bites

Date & Time: 4/25/2008 5:45:03 PM
User: Mud
Note: Yah deadlines bite

Date & Time: 4/25/2008 2:26:27 PM
User: Stucco
Note: Why have deadlines at all? They only stifle the freedom of the creative.

Date & Time: 4/24/2008 2:47:38 PM
User: plaster
Note: Moving the deadlines back suits my schedule better. June 15, entries; July 4, critiques. Maybe by then I can get both an entry and critiques in.

Date & Time: 4/20/2008 5:56:37 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: Well, entries for the nonfiction contest are dribbling in--but the ones we've received are all good--and each so very original. I was thinking of extending the deadline. Your thoughts? We've also had several critiques. Don't forget to check them out. To view the entries. click on Nonfiction Contest (in the list on the left side of the screen.) This will open the guidelines, but to the left in another menu that includes a choice for entries. Clicking on "Entries" will open a table of contents with five entries (so far.) The critiques for these entries are posted at the end of each entry. Do we extend the deadline? If so, would July 4 be too long?...for both entries and critiques? Or maybe June 15 for entries and July 4 for critiques.

Date & Time: 4/15/2008 11:31:10 AM
User: Uthor the Uggery
Note: To the "old Relic" - thank you so much for steering me to the People. I am now plowing through the anthology. Suddenly it's 1964 and I'm young, pretty and rich. And still believe in a better People. And platting twishers, in fact.

Date & Time: 4/6/2008 7:00:13 AM
User: Lorin
Note: If you think about the beginnings of the careers of the most influential writers, you come to see that they were all plowing still water. Imagine saying of Twain or Tolkien or Miller or Steinbeck or Conrad that they were "out of style!"

Date & Time: 4/5/2008 7:33:55 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: Hi Pat. I think it's just silly to write "what's in style." A good story is a good story. After 10 years, your genre may very well have come back into vogue. I'm sure it has never completely disappeared. Keep up the good work. Get it done and move on to the next while you send this baby out into the world.

Date & Time: 4/5/2008 6:37:06 PM
User: plaster
Note: I'm in residency at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, AR with the goal of working on my long-in-progress (Sandy will attest to this). My guide (for good or bad) is Evan Marshall's The Marshall Plan, 1998. He says right off that gothic and family sagas have gone out of fashion and are not being published (this was 10 years ago, remember). Do any of you think this statement is of any consequence? I've certainly written too much to start over. I'll self-publish if I have to, but Marshall's observation stopped me for a moment.

Date & Time: 4/4/2008 10:17:05 AM
User: L'il Lulu
Note: Before you buy any software look into the publish-on-demand companies. Some of them will take your manuscript in pretty plebeian form and make a book of it. Lulu comes to mind.

Date & Time: 4/4/2008 5:07:03 AM
User: Gray Bard
Note: I suggest you should at least weigh software compatibility as well as price. If you make a go of your enterprise and have to expand or have to move on to software compatible with bigger players, brand X software might not easily export data to more professional and better supported applications. There isn't much worse than user-unfriendly (hostile even) computer software, even if it's cheap or free.

Date & Time: 4/3/2008 8:49:42 PM
User: 8-Finger Sammy
Note: Scribus works pretty good but you might have to tinker with it a bit depending on your operating system. It's open-source, it's supported by the folks who use it, and the price is right--it's free. Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribus and http://www.scribus.net for a start.

Date & Time: 4/3/2008 8:02:57 PM
User: Laura Hill
Note: Hello! Are you willing to give some free advice??!! I am looking for desktop publishing software; I am beginning a project to reprint a book (if successful, hope to do it again and again!). Because this is the first - and depending on outcome, maybe the last - book, I don't want to spend big $$$$ for software but also don't want to buy something that's so poor I end up tearing out my hair. Anything you would suggest? And why? THANK YOU for your response. Laura Hill member of MN Mensa

Date & Time: 4/2/2008 10:35:41 AM
User: Cynthia
Note: We have another entry in the nonfiction contest. Please take a few moments to read and comment on the entries. Go to Nonfiction Contest, then click on Entries. Send your comments to cynthia@theriver.com.

Date & Time: 4/1/2008 8:43:48 PM
User: Cynthia
Note: This note is for Pat Laster: Pat, my messages to you continue to bounce. They're returning as "undeliverable." I've forwarded them to Sandy and asked her to try sending them on to you. In the meantime, I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. Soooo...answers to your questions: The nonfiction contest is open to all--even Calliope staffers. I'll need your next column in the next couple weeks, please. I really, really appreciate all your contributions to Calliope.

Date & Time: 3/28/2008 6:27:57 AM
User: An LA Opportunist
Note: Hmmmm...International humiliation--it just might be a new and untapped niche market. Maybe a slick new photo mag filled with teary confessions and self-flagellation...and opinion pieces. MAYBE A SPOT ON OPRAH!!! Off to the keyboard, off to fame and wealth! Now if I can just find an editor to abuse me...CYNTHIA, PLEASE RING ME UP!

Date & Time: 3/27/2008 7:18:38 PM
User: Zorba the Gree
Note: I've done Mensa for ages, watching across the years as members of all stripes come and go, apparently with little in common except high IQs and an immutable inability to agree on anything--including the time of day. I assure you that the prospect of Mensanians (well, it really OUGHT to be a word) getting together in numbers sufficient to think anyone out of existence is unlikely. Besides, at the moment we're rather busy trying to think that damned "*" out of existence...don't bother me.

Date & Time: 3/27/2008 6:34:01 AM
User: The Gree Honnet
Note: "Gree" is a softer, kinder form of "green." I can't afford to insult the Mensanians - they could all get together and THINK me out of existence.

Date & Time: 3/26/2008 9:58:59 PM
User: Col. O'korn
Note: Nope. I meant "gree" not "green!"...You've got us all in suspense. Wot's "gree?"

Date & Time: 3/26/2008 9:53:50 PM
User: Cadwalader J Birdbath
Note: "Random word generator." What a perfect way to describe the way that some modern poetry is strung together. I've been told that the reader is free to read his/her own