It's a Girl!

[Marilee Alvey]

Born the week of January 21st, at 10:30PM, to Faithwriters.com, after nine months of labor in the trenches, is Marilee Joyce Williams Alvey. Gusting in at a hefty never-you-mind pounds, at the age of fifty-none of your business, Marilee hopes to learn and grow even bigger in her brand new environment! Marilee would like to thank everyone for nursing her along and showing great patience with all of her entries.

[RedBaron]

Hi and Welcome!!

[Marilee Alvey]

Hi! I'm already laboring, about to give birth to my first 500 question:
How do we get our stories showcased on the front page? Are they stories written just for that purpose or do they go into the challenge stories to find one?

[RedBaron]

Deb (breathfreshair) would be the best to answer your question about the frontpage showcase Be sure to check out the FAQ, there's a lot of info there. May have to talk to Deb about adding somemore things like that!

[Laurie]

Welcome to the 500! And I love your introduction by the way.

Jan Ackerson (glorybee) chooses the articles that are showcased as she reads through pieces at FW.

[Marilee Alvey]

So, do the pieces that Jan reads appear in the challenges, or elsewhere? I just love her. She comments so much on everyones' stories and is so encouraging. You've gotta love her!

I'm glad that you enjoyed my intro. I'm afraid that I'm sort of stuck in Babyland General right now. Each day I work from 9 to 5 at my daughter's home. On Dec. 28, 2006, she gave birth to twin girls (7 pounds each!) Yesterday, her daughter, Lia, turned three. She has her hands full! There is absolutely no down time there. If I'm not busy with one or both of the babies, Lia nabs me for some much needed attention. It's a zoo over there! She gets one baby down and the other pops up. Get that one down and the other pops up. The only place they'll both sleep and be quiet is on her! She's nursing them, too, but one is a lazy nurser and falls asleep after a few minutes so I have to supplement her, feeding her breast milk through a tube attached to my finger. I hope this explains my craziness right now!

[Laurie]

I'm not sure where Jan gets all of the showcased articles. I've noticed some are challenge entries, though. And I remember her posting asking for holiday material once, too. And I agree - gotta love her.

[RedBaron]

That's right -I forgot Jan picks those!

Welcome to the 500! And I love your introduction by the way.

Jan Ackerson (glorybee) chooses the articles that are showcased as she reads through pieces at FW.

[glorybee]

Marilee, welcome, and thanks for the kind words.

Toward the end of each month, I choose the 4 or 5 pieces that will be showcased for the following month. I have several different ways that I find pieces. I have a list of the 500, and I can click anyone's name and read through their postings. I also look through the "newest regular postings" for the little "500" symbol, and read those. If there's a particular holiday coming up, I may solicit writings on that theme here on the message boards, or I may search for particular keywords using the "search" function.

I try not to use anyone more than once a year or so, as there are so many people in the 500. And recently, I've been noting new members and showcasing them.

The pieces may be challenge articles, regular submissions, or free reprint articles. If its a challenge article and it needs a tweak or two, I may PM the member and ask them to put it in regular submissions with a few edits.

Hope this answers your questions! I've got February done, but if you have something you'd like me to consider for March, let me know.

That goes for all of you 500 members, new and old--if I haven't showcased you for a while, drop me a PM or an e-mail.