Now that Indigo Scribes is growing, I’ve decided to create a group chat for us!

Indigo School members use an app called Celly  where we talk every day. We’ve made lots of friends over there. You can download the Celly app on your phone or sign up on the web. Each Scribe received an email with Indigo Scribes’ group chat’s name and password. The password will only be given to members of Indigo Scribes, so it is a protected space for writers to talk and make friends!

If you are already a member, check your email, get the information, and then go make your Celly account! It’s very easy and fun. If you’re not a member, join us  so you can be given the password. Celly also makes our lives much easier in that critique groups and the book club can use it to talk during the month. 

Indigo Scribes is in need of some help!

I’ve been very busy lately, so I need some help running the group. We are now hiring admins! Read this post first, where I provide background on why I’m doing this and a synopsis of some of the positions. The only requirement for all positions is that you join the Indigo Scribes first. When submitting your application to join, include what position you’re applying for. If you are already a Scribe, just go to our ask page to apply. 

Journalists (We don’t need professional journalists, you’re eligible if you can write an article!)

- General Journalist: The general journalist will post news on our Tumblr page. They can write about anything, from op-eds to politics. They will be responsible for reporting about current events of all kinds, both within the US and international. 

- Craft Journalist: It’s called the ‘craft journalist’ because this person will be writing about things related to the craft of writing. They will write about writing tips, writing advice that published authors have given, writing tips from other websites, and more. 

- Industry Journalist: This person will write about things related to the publishing industry. They will write about publishing industry, news in the publishing world, traditional and self-publishing, etc. 

Literature Spy

- This person will be responsible for the Book of the Week (#BOTW) segment, where once a week they post on the blog about a book of their choice. They will write about the book itself, what it was about, the author, its themes, and more. It is a short book report, essentially.  (Note: This position can be shared by two people, one who writes about new releases and one who writes about old ones.)

The Advertiser

- The advertiser is responsible for spreading the word about Indigo Scribes. They will print out posters to put up around their neighborhood and school, they will tell their followers on social media about us, they will reach out to writers and ask them to join/promote us. 

The Co-Manager

- This is one of the most important decisions. The co-manager will share most of my responsibilities,which include: making sure the other admins are doing their jobs, answering members’ questions, managing the critique groups and the book clubs, encouraging member participation, etc. 

The Music Manager

- The music manager should be someone who has a good ear for music. A lot of writers need music when they write, so they will create playlists on our Soundcloud for writers to use when they write. (Note: This position can be open to many people, since different Music Managers can create playlists for different genres.)

Those are all the open positions! To apply for one, go to our ask page and let us know you’re applying for X position. If you haven’t already joined the Indigo Scribes, do so! When submitting your application to join, include which position you’re applying for. 

“Your brother’s not here, but we’ll take you. Go in the back and get dressed.” 

I announced critique group members on July 2nd. Usually, I’d wait seven days after that and then remind you guys to switch from critiquing one person’s story to another. 

I’m not going to do that now. A lot of you guys (I’m assuming) haven’t even started critiquing anyone’s story yet. That’s understandable; it’s partially my fault. I thought that you’d all be able to message each other on here, exchange emails, and then start working. 

But, a Scribe brought to my attention that it has not been that easy due to disagreements regarding methods of contact and other things. That’s why I created chat rooms for all five critique groups. That way, you can go to the chat room and talk to your fellow critique group members there! Everyone in your group is able to talk about how you’re going to get started. You can also talk about the person’s story you’re reading, ask each other questions, and anything else you’d like. 

I used chatzy.com to create the chat rooms. If you are a member of a critique group, you’ve probably already seen your chat room and have maybe even spoken to the other members in your group. If you didn’t get the email, let me know. 

If the chat rooms don’t seem to be working for your group and you need some assistance with getting things started, don’t hesitate to come to me! I’ll see what I can do to help you guys get things going. 

Part two. Here is the first post, where I announce all the critique groups and their members. 

You are probably here because you are in a critique group, and you don’t know what the hell to do from here. I’m going to help!

1. Talk to each other! Now that you’re in a group with each other, you have to talk to each other. Time is important here, because from right now, the countdown begins. Each person in a group gets one week for their story to be critiqued, and there are four weeks in a month, so you have to get each other’s information and figure out how you’re going to do this within a day or so. You can talk to each other using Google Hangouts, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), email, text messaging (if you’re okay with exchanging numbers), or Tumblr. 

2. Decide whose story is getting read first. One story gets read and critiqued per week. There is no official rule about how to decide whose story goes first, but I suggest that you do it based on alphabetical order of titles. The person whose story title comes first in alphabetical order gets to have their story done first. 

3. Share your work! Have you ever thought about where you’re going to read each other’s story? Probably not. I suggest uploading your story onto Google Drive if it’s not already there, since Drive has options for you to leave comments (even though that’s not how you should critique; it should be one, long complete critique). However, not all of you have Google accounts. So, you can also email the story as an attachment to your fellow group members. If your story is uploaded somewhere online (Wattpad, a blog, etc.) you can have your fellow members read it there. 

4. Critique the story! You don’t know how to critique your fellow members’ stories? You can find tips on that here! Does your fellow member have something you’re not used to, like poetry or nonfiction? You can find tips on poetry here and nonfiction here. Read your fellow members’ (FM) story during the week, take notes, and write/type your critique while you read. You can edit it later when you’re ready to deliver it. Read the piece more than once if you can. 

5. Talk about the story with your FM! If you want, during the week you can communicate with your FM about the story. Ask them how things are coming along with the critique, ask for their opinions, or just talk in general. I don’t suggest that you talk to the person whose story it is. If you’re unclear about something in the story, don’t ask them to clarify it. Just say in your critique that it is unclear. 

5. Deliver your critique! After reading your FM’s piece of work, you’re going to have to give them the critique at the end of the week. You can do this based on what day you all started reading it (for example, if you start reading the piece on a Wednesday, you all can agree to deliver the critiques the following Wednesday). Be polite and honest. You can deliver the critiques through email, in a Google Drive document that is shared between all four of you, or by social media. These are just suggestions, of course. 

6. Receive the critique! After you receive the critiques from your FM, thank them for it! Be polite and understanding. You can ask questions about their critiques if need be. To further understand how to receive a critique, go here. 

Now, the first week of critiquing is done. What next? Use the alphabetical order method to see which story is next, go to step 3, and repeat!

I don’t know why, but this kind of reminds me of those times in school when your teacher would put all your names in a hat, and she would pull them out in groups to tell you who was working on the group project with who. 

This is a lot less frustrating. (Hopefully.)

Since June 21st, you’ve all been requesting to be in critique groups, and you have had no knowledge of who is in your group. Now I’m about to reveal that. You can cue your own drum roll in your head if you’d like. 

HERE ARE THE JULY 2015 INDIGO SCRIBES CRITIQUE GROUPS: 

Group 1: 

- unapologetically-apathetic 

- jettcyber

- authorsparadise

- non-oblivion

Group 2: 

- knittingfrenzy18

- mexinope

- rose-in-a-fisted-glove

- mollyzwatermelon

Group 3: 

- itsnotmycupoftea

- haliasjane

- malacoda-in-bruges

- kiwimiist

Group 4: 

- writerly-girl

- scribblingcreations

- countessmikaelson 

- omgneonbee

Group 5/Trio 1

- beholdtheraveleus

- hectorathena

- twentyonedaysandcounting

(A trio works just like a critique group, only that you guys will use three weeks out of the month instead of all four. This isn’t Indigo Scribes tradition, but there were some late requesters that I didn’t have the heart to decline.)

There you have it, folks! Those are the people you will be sharing your work with. Most of you don’t know each other, but if by any chance you do know someone in your group and you two have some kind of bad blood together, or you don’t want to be in a group with them for other reasons, email us at [email protected]. I’ll try to rearrange things for you if I can.