The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[dirk2024]

MAJOR CORRECTION: Language Exchange is by @TheRedLantern not redgarters. You are right in your other part. It is a wonderful story.

Oops. Thank you for the correction!

Sorry @TheRedLantern !

 

[redgarters]

Honestly getting mistaken for @redgarters is the best thing that's happened to me in a while. You might need to apologize to him, though

No no, we'll have none of that, your story is being hailed as terrific! I was kinda hoping I had written it by that point
It's going on my reading list at least

 

[ChloeTzang]

@Duleigh and I are following up with Manu and Laurel on the missing stories that should have been published. Sorry I wasn't on it sooner - been heads down at work most of the day - but Duleigh stepped right in

Can you all do me a favor and drop the name of your story here and the status it shows in your submissions page - I want to give Laurel and Manu a list of the ones we know should be up and aren't. Apologies everyone. Let's hope it gets fixed fast.

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

@Duleigh and I are following up with Manu and Laurel on the missing stories that should have been published. Sorry I wasn't on it sooner - been heads down at work most of the day - but Duleigh stepped right in

Can you all do me a favor and drop the name of your story here and the status it shows in your submissions page - I want to give Laurel and Manu a list of the ones we know should be up and aren't. Apologies everyone. Let's hope it gets fixed fast.

My story is called Santa's Littlest Helper and it's claiming to be posted 'today' in the romance category. It also has little boxes saying published and new in them

Thank you both for putting in all this effort <3

 

[redgarters]

All the red in the emojis is intentional.

Go Team Red!

 

[RoyalAuthor]

My story just published, and it looks like a bunch of others did as well. Sucks that the first day of the new tag was mostly wasted but I guess it's nice that it's been fixed.

Hope everybody likes it!

 

[ChloeTzang]

My story just published, and it looks like a bunch of others did as well. Sucks that the first day of the new tag was mostly wasted but I guess it's nice that it's been fixed.

Hope everybody likes it!

Has it gone live, or does it show published with tonites date? It's not on the Winter Holidays page as yet

 

[DEFCOM5]

@TheRedLantern
I need to finish my story first. Then I will read your and all of those great authors who posted.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Has it gone live, or does it show published with tonites date? It's not on the Winter Holidays page as yet

It's there for me, but weirdly the page loads with the original 9, and then when I refresh it the new ones show up.

It always showed published with today's date but now it's on the new page, my works page, and it showed as published in my activity on the control panel.

 

[Duleigh]

We're up to 16 entries on the contest web page...

Will you folks check your Works/Pending page to see if your story has cleared then check your Works/Published list to see if your story got listed on your own page?

 

[ChloeTzang]

We're up to 16 entries on the contest web page...

Will you folks check your Works/Pending page to see if your story has cleared then check your Works/Published list to see if your story got listed on your own page?

Oh yeah I see them there now.

@bmeyem8 @GemmaGemmaGemma - your stories are up now!

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

Mine says it has been published but it doesn't yet appear on the new stories part of the romance category. It does appear on the new erotic stories page though

 

[ChloeTzang]

It's there for me, but weirdly the page loads with the original 9, and then when I refresh it the new ones show up.

It always showed published with today's date but now it's on the new page, my works page, and it showed as published in my activity on the control panel.

I see it now. Cool.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Well, this is interesting. My story posted just a while ago with the correct title, subtitle and tags,but the wrong story text. If you submitted a story that begins like this:

Snow fell heavily as Grant stepped out of his downtown office building onto the sidewalk. It was already almost eight in the evening; he'd gotten stuck working on a last-minute web design project for a client that 'couldn't wait until after Christmas,' according to his insufferable boss. Given that it was Wednesday, December 20th, it meant long hours to accomplish the design overhaul, which definitely wouldn't be deployed until January at the earliest.

Please reach out to Laurel and let her know she's giving me credit for your work. You've got 5 stars so far. Good job.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Well, this is interesting. My story posted just a while ago with the correct title, subtitle and tags,but the wrong story text. If you submitted a story that begins like this:

Snow fell heavily as Grant stepped out of his downtown office building onto the sidewalk. It was already almost eight in the evening; he'd gotten stuck working on a last-minute web design project for a client that 'couldn't wait until after Christmas,' according to his insufferable boss. Given that it was Wednesday, December 20th, it meant long hours to accomplish the design overhaul, which definitely wouldn't be deployed until January at the earliest.

Please reach out to Laurel and let her know she's giving me credit for your work. You've got 5 stars so far. Good job.

And after I left you that nice comment too...

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

Well, this is interesting. My story posted just a while ago with the correct title, subtitle and tags,but the wrong story text. If you submitted a story that begins like this:

Snow fell heavily as Grant stepped out of his downtown office building onto the sidewalk. It was already almost eight in the evening; he'd gotten stuck working on a last-minute web design project for a client that 'couldn't wait until after Christmas,' according to his insufferable boss. Given that it was Wednesday, December 20th, it meant long hours to accomplish the design overhaul, which definitely wouldn't be deployed until January at the earliest.

Please reach out to Laurel and let her know she's giving me credit for your work. You've got 5 stars so far. Good job.

This would be such an iconic way to win

 

[old_prof]

My story appears on my list of stories, but only in alphabetic list, not the by date list. I've seen this bug before. It usually clears up eventually.

And yes I set 16 stories on the list now. Is that really all we have for the first day? That still feels low to me.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Well, this is interesting. My story posted just a while ago with the correct title, subtitle and tags,but the wrong story text. If you submitted a story that begins like this:

Snow fell heavily as Grant stepped out of his downtown office building onto the sidewalk. It was already almost eight in the evening; he'd gotten stuck working on a last-minute web design project for a client that 'couldn't wait until after Christmas,' according to his insufferable boss. Given that it was Wednesday, December 20th, it meant long hours to accomplish the design overhaul, which definitely wouldn't be deployed until January at the earliest.

Please reach out to Laurel and let her know she's giving me credit for your work. You've got 5 stars so far. Good job.

That's mine. The Velvet Ribbon, also published. This is fucked up.

Chloe or Duleigh, or whoever has the site's ear, can you say something?

I lost most of the highest exposure day and now I'm competing against my own words. Wild stuff.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

That's mine. The Velvet Ribbon, also published. This is fucked up.

Chloe or Duleigh, or whoever has the site's ear, can you say something?

I lost most of the highest exposure day and now I'm competing against my own words. Wild stuff.

I've PM'd Laurel and asked her to fix it. I added a second message letting her know the story is yours.
I'm going to have resubmitted as an edit with the correct text.

 

[Voboy]

Just mind-boggling. I've participated in almost every non-April Fools contest for the past 6-7 years and these past two are the two glitchiest, by orders of magnitude.

Definitely makes me wonder what's wrong at Lit Central.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

I've PM'd Laurel and asked her to fix it. I added a second message letting her know the story is yours.
I'm going to have resubmitted as an edit with the correct text.

Tell your followers if they liked it they know where to find me lol. Hope you get your words in soon, and hope the reviews on mine don't drag you down before the real one is included.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Tell your followers if they liked it they know where to find me lol. Hope you get your words in soon, and hope the reviews on mine don't drag you down before the real one is included.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

Based on @RoyalAuthor and @ShelbyDawn57 's Freaky Friday-esque switcharoo, I feel like I should mention a weird thing that happened with my previous contest story...

My story was published, yes, but the published version wasn't the exact version I'd clicked submit on. In other words, the published version was some intermediate draft that I'd clicked Save Draft on at some point in the middle of my editing process.

Now I'm wary of clicking Save Draft so many times before I click Submit for Publication. I dunno, I might go straight from New Story button to Preview to Submit, and bypass the Save Draft button altogether.

I'd be curious if this has happened to anyone else.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Based on @RoyalAuthor and @ShelbyDawn57 's Freaky Friday-esque switcharoo, I feel like I should mention a weird thing that happened with my previous contest story...

My story was published, yes, but the published version wasn't the exact version I'd clicked submit on. In other words, the published version was some intermediate draft that I'd clicked Save Draft on at some point in the middle of my editing process.

Now I'm wary of clicking Save Draft so many times before I click Submit for Publication. I dunno, I might go straight from New Story button to Preview to Submit, and bypass the Save Draft button altogether.

I'd be curious if this has happened to anyone else.

I write in word and then copy in, review quickly and submit. I've only saved a draft a couple of times before submitting when i get distracted mid-proofread.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

View attachment 2577029

When I click @RoyalAuthor 's story I get the Ribbon Story, and the same for @ShelbyDawn57 's. I'm seeing the same story both places. So it doesn't look like a complete switch, just that Shelby's isn't there.