For your aural pleasure

Hello rock stars,

It's time for our second check-in! Please try to respond to this check-in within 48 hours. We will send a follow-up email to all those we have not heard from at that time.

The complete writing is due in one week, on August 5th. The early submission deadline is this Wednesday, August 1st. You can find posting instructions here.

If you're feeling confident in your ability to finish the writing on time, we look forward to hearing about it and we always love to hear about what's going well in your partnerships. If you are having problems in your partnership, we're also happy to hear about those and help suggest ideas for troubleshooting!

If you're not feeling confident in your ability to finish the writing within the next 7 days, please let us know and we can talk about:

• The possibility of an extension. Please note this year's extension policy: "Each partner may request only one extension. Extensions of three days will be given with no questions asked. If more time is needed, you can receive an extension of up to 7 days total, but you will be required to include a plan for how you intend to finish within that time. Writing out the plan will help you structure your time and keep yourself accountable, and we can use our modly wisdom and experience to give you feedback and ideas that might make your plan even better."


• The possibility of getting a beta or cheerleader


• The possibility of getting a cowriter


• The possibility of writing a shorter version of your original story plan for your podficcer to begin recording (which is able to stand alone in case a life emergency stops you from writing more) with the agreement that if there is time and interest by both parties, you might create additional scenes later to add on.


• The possibility of (with your partner's approval) leaving some areas of the script for podficcer ad-lib


• The option of scheduled accountability check-ins, if that will help keep you motivated and not stressed!

Also, please remember to share what you've written so far with your partner. This means not just an update of your progress but sharing your draft itself. The minimum requirement is once per check-in!

Finally, if you're realizing that what you really need in order to take care of yourself is to drop out, that's fine. Yay self-care! Please let us know as soon as possible, though, so we can offer your partner a pinch hitter.

Comments are screened.

Welcome to the final check-in! We look forward to hearing from you and hope you are having fun!

Podficcers, when you check in, please let us know what’s going well, any concerns you have, and where you are in regards to meeting the August 13th deadline.

Writers, as long as your podficcer checks in, you’re not required to, but if you’re up for it we’d love to hear about any particularly positive or negative parts of your experience. The positive will make us smile, and the negative will give us an opportunity to offer help or give us valuable feedback that will help us tweak next year’s challenge to be better!

Some important notes/reminders:

1. Remember to share any edited audio you have with your partner, and let them know what you’ve accomplished so far.


2. Podficcers, please make sure you have given your writers some love about the work that they’ve done. Tell them what you think is great about their words. Sometimes in the rush to get things done, this step gets skipped, but it’s so important to everyone having a good experience! (Writers, once you hear the podfic, make sure you give your partner some love as well.)


3. If you think it would enhance your podfic to have multiple voices contribute, please let us know and we’d be happy to find you volunteers!


4. We put up our annual Party Favor Partner Finder post here. Check it out!


5. If you are interested in a podfic con, check out Podfication, which will happen October 21–22 in Minneapolis. All three of your mods and a bunch of your fellow participants are going (full list of current attendees here), and we’d love to see you there!

Comments are screened.

Today is our first check-in! You can check in over email or on this DW post (the comments on this post are screened, so your check-in here will be private between you and the mods).

Now is also a good time to touch base with your partner(s). Remember that sharing your work-in-progress with your partner(s) is mandatory, and that the minimum requirement is once per check-in. That means that, if you haven't already shared what you have so far, now is the time to do so. Partners, don’t forget to give feedback/encouragement on the work-in-progress when you see it!

Completed writing is due in 3 weeks, on Saturday July 15th. When you check in this weekend, let us know if you feel on track for that deadline so far. We'd also love to know what's going well in your group and any concerns you may have about your group or your project.

It's very early in the game, so if you are anticipating difficulty, this would be a great time to start discussing problem-solving options. We're extremely committed to making sure all participants have as positive an experience as possible! And if everything’s going awesome, YAY, we can’t wait to hear all about it!

Hello wonderful participants,

It's time for our second check-in! Please respond to this check-in within 48 hours. We will send a follow-up email to all those we have not heard from at that time.

The complete writing is due in one week, on July 16th. If you're not feeling confident in your ability to finish the writing within the next 7 days, please let us know and we can talk about:

-The possibility of extensions (please read the rules about extensions before requesting one)*.
-The possibility of getting a beta or cheerleader
-The possibility of getting a cowriter
-The possibility of writing a shorter version of your original story plan for your podficcer to begin recording (which is able to stand alone in case a life emergency stops you from writing more) with the agreement that if there is time and interest by both parties, you might create additional scenes later to add on.
-The possibility of (with your partner's approval) leaving some areas of the script for podficcer ad-lib
-The option of daily accountability check-ins, if that will help keep you motivated and not stressed!

Also, please remember to share what you've written so far with your partner. The minimum requirement is once per check-in!

Finally, if you're realizing that what you really need in order to take care of yourself is to drop out, that's fine. Yay self-care! Please let us know as soon as possible, though, so we can offer your partner a pinch hitter. If anybody reading this knows that they are interested in pinch hitting, please feel free to let us know, and you will be the first we approach if the need arises.

Comments are screened.

*A note about extensions: Writers, please keep extension requests to eight days or less, since any longer than that will cut significantly into the time allotted for the podficcer to create their audio. Podficcers, please do not tell your partners that they can have a multi-week extension because you only need a couple of days to create your audio! Even if you are typically fast, you may experience an emergency like losing your voice from a cold, a computer crash, etc. For this reason, mods won't approve the long extension you've promised your partner, and it could lead to hurt feelings all around. If you're fast, use that speed to get your podfic finished early, and then come sign up to work on a Party Favor (if you'd like)!

This is the last official check-in before the August 15th project completion deadline.

(However, if you are someone who would find additional check-ins helpful, please let me know, and I'd be happy to schedule a follow-up check-in with you between now and the deadline!)

Remember to share what you've done so far with your partner, which means that if you have a partial podfic completed, now is the time to send that to your partner. Also, if you haven't given your writer feedback about their work, please take that opportunity to do it now. We've found that it's often very important to pod_together participants to have their work acknowledged and appreciated by their partners, and sometimes with the rush to meet deadlines, this important step in the process can get overlooked! So this is your official reminder to send some love and support to your partner :)

And of course, please let us know any ways we can support you. Options include:
-Putting out a call for a co-podficcer for part of the story
-Putting out a call for an editor to edit your podfic
-Additional check-ins/cheerleading/podfic betas

Also, if you are interested in working on a Party Favor when you finish your modded project, and are about ready for the Party Favor matchups post to go up, that would be a helpful thing to mention during check-in, so we can get a sense of the best time for that.

(ETA: Here is the info on Party Favors from the FAQ.)

Okay, we look forward to hearing from you! We hope you are having fun! Happy Sunday!

It's been a little over a week since icebreakers ended, and we've reached the first check-in! Feel free to check in over email, tumblr, twitter, LJ, or DW--whichever feels more comfortable to you.

Now is also a good time to touch base with your partner(s). Remember that sharing your work in progress with your partner(s) is mandatory this year, and that the minimum requirement is once per check-in. That means that, if you haven't already shared what you have so far, now is the time to do so.

Completed writing is due in 3 weeks, on July 28th. When you check in, let us know if you feel on track for that deadline so far. We'd also love to know what's going well in your group and any worries you may have about your group or your project. Comments on LJ/DW are screened, and Asks on tumblr will not be published.

It's very early in the game, so if you are anticipating difficulty, this would be a great time to start discussing problem-solving options. We're extremely committed to making sure all participants have as positive an experience as possible!