All Comments on 'Highway Song - Coming Soon'

I'm going to have to load up on visine for St. Patrick's Day, 'cause it looks like I'll be getting lots of great reading in and very little sleep! I'm excited for this event. It's been a while since we've been hit with a bunch of stories by excellent writers all on the same day. Randi does a great job curating events and I'm sure this will be par for the course.

Especially when Randi is behind it. I see from your list of participants that you've managed to drag some really good authors, that haven't posted in forever, out of the wood pile. Well done! I look forward to the 17th. Thanks for all your efforts and those of the writers. ROAD SHOW!

Invitational? ... It's more like All Stars to me.

Laptopwriter, Todd172, Qhml1, Markelly, KK, Andyhm, Woodmanone, MattBlack, the curvaceous Amy, the luscious GirlintheMoon, the sensuous NoraFares, the mysterious MsCherylTerra, the talented Angiquesophie and the much loved Patricia51 are writing for us readers! Toss in SlipperyJim and Stev2244 for shits and giggles and we have a wonderful group of writers, and a few clowns! CLIT seems to attract some of the best writers around. The reader's support tickles CLIT pink! Who is this kid, Just Plain Bob?

Woohoo! Gonna be busy for a while trying to get through all these but it's worth it. Yay!

So excited for this event and cannot wait to share my story! Thanks to blackrandl1958 for the tireless efforts of organizing a challenge like this.

Randi's St. Patrick's Day bashes are the high point of the year for this reader. I always know I'm going to get great stories from my favorite authors and there will be stories to read for a good while as I work through these. Thanks to the writers, Literotica and Randi for bringing us these great stories.

It doesn't get any better than this. Thanks for all you do fire the readers, Randi. I'm sure there will be some soreheads who complain, but the readers all know you're the best thing that has ever happened to this site. Thanks again.

Looking forward to this event. A great list of the classic literotica authors and should be great.

Did anyone ever hear what happened to TxTallTales? He never did finish the Honor story.

Randi, where are you? Hopefully your name will show up on the list come St Patty's Day.... ;-)

Thanks in advance for putting this event together and gathering such a great collection of authors.

St. Patrick's Day. After-all, a guy's got to keep his priorities straight.

I have read many of the stories, and they may well be the best I have seen. Some of the ones I have read are candidates, in my mind, for the best story I have read on this site, and I have read thousands. These authors took the time to do it right, and I am deeply grateful, as a reader, for their efforts. Randi.

I look forward to reading each and ever story.

An amazing list of authors. Looking forward to this one.

Who decides what authors get invitations? I see some good authors here, but I see a bunch that get left off. Is there an announcement somewhere inviting people to write or do you have to know someone? None of the writers I know ever get invited, and I talk to a lot of them in the forums. Look at how many 750 word stories there were, and everyone was invited. What gives anyone the right to exclude people? Is there some standard or qualification you need to get an invitation? Lots of us would like to know.

I've marked my calendar and I'll be waiting. I think I'll read one a day so I can make them last a while. Thanks to all the writers. RPL

As has been explained multiple times in the past, anyone (including you!) can organize an Author-Organized Challenge. Full information on this can be found linked at the bottom of the announcement above. The event organizer can make the event open to all writers (OPEN) or not (INVITATIONAL).

Again: we welcome anyone who wishes to do so to organize an Author-Organized Challenge - on any topic, Open or Invitational! We look forward to hearing from you!

I wasn't intending to work on any extra stories but Randi inspired me to join in. Writing the story was fun and I'm looking forward to sneaking it into the stack of brilliant prose from the minds of all these amazingly talented writers.

"1) Who decides what authors get invitations? 2) I see some good authors here, but I see a bunch that get left off. Is there an announcement somewhere inviting people to write or do you have to know someone? None of the writers I know ever get invited, and I talk to a lot of them in the forums. 3) What gives anyone the right to exclude people? 4) Is there some standard or qualification you need to get an invitation? Lots of us would like to know."

More of this idiocy. It gets tedious. First off, drop the anonymous shtick, it's transparent.

1) The organizer. For this event, it was blackrandl1958.

2) You don't have to "know someone", the organizer has to want you to be a part of the event and extend an invitation.

3) They have the right to exclude or include anyone they'd like because THEY ARE THE ORGANIZER. A better question is why on earth do you believe you have the inherent right to participate in someone else's event? That's the height of hubris. Want to control who does or does not get invited to participate in a story event? Run your own. If you can't be bothered to do the actual work like Randi has, your opinion is without merit. It's much easier to bitch from the sidelines than to do the work and get in the game.

4) Be the sort of person that the organizer would like to invite to participate.

The sense of entitlement on display here is odious.

@Anonymous Re: Who decides? The person or persons who organize the event. Some you don't see may have been invited and declined. You know writers who should have been invited? Organize your own event and invite them! I can guarantee that most if not all of Randi's invitees won't be insulted if you don't invite them. Some have many non-event stories that take up their time. Some rarely post here any more, and probably still wouldn't if Randi didn't invite them.

Please.

Good news for some, bad news for others.

I'm very sorry but I will not be able to contribute to this event. I have too many things on right now. I'm sure you will find enough to entertain you from all the wonderful writers who are contributing.

You do, of course. Organize an event, and you can decide. Invite everyone on the site; invite five people, it's up to you. The site welcomes all. I support all author organized events, as well as those organized by the site. I always try to leave an encouraging comment. I do happen to have criteria:

A) I have to know you, mostly through the stories you write. If I don't know you, I can't invite you. I don't know any authors named "Annie."

B) You can't be an asshole. I don't know about you, but when I have a party, I tend not to invite assholes.

C) I have squicks. If you consistently hit my squicks, I'm not going to invite you. Rapey or racist shit is not going to fly with me. You can have an event all about that, but I won't.

D) I won't invite anyone who has stood me up before: promised me a story and then didn't deliver without notifying me that they wouldn't deliver.

E) My events are for readers, not writers. I invite writers who want to write stories that readers want to read. I have no interest in multiplying the number of stories on Lit. I am quite interested in multiplying the number of stories that readers will enjoy. I give zero fucks about large numbers of stories. I care a great deal about promoting stories readers will enjoy.

Just to inform you, or anyone else who is of your mindset, I have organized seven story events, and three mini-events, featuring 210 stories. Those stories have, collectively, over 7 million views.

Taking one event: "Literotica Writers Go West," as an example, has over a million views on 25 stories. Of those stories, 23 are scored 4.50, or better, 14 scored 4.70, or better and nine scored 4.80, or better. It is typical of the events.

The fact is, readers enjoy these events in large numbers. Writers who don't post, or have not posted for long periods, will write and post for them: writers with multiple stories in the various halls of fame around the site. Readers like them. That is all that matters to me. I will not address the subject again.

that I love these invitationals, those who participate, those who read and comment and especially those who bitch and moan. I addressed this obvious lack or social comprehension in a brilliant short story titled "It's My Party" ( https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/its-my-party-4 )

By definition, an invitation is "a written or verbal request inviting someone to go somewhere or to do something". Randi is having a literary party and invited people she wished to have attend. When anonymous has a party, he can invite whomever he wants. The obvious difference is people clamor to wrangle an invitation to Randi's hoedown. Anonymous would have difficulty getting quality writers to attend his fandango.

The mystery is not why Randi invited people she wanted to participate. The mystery is why so many anonymous readers cannot understand the meaning of the word invitation. If someone was forced to admit a person to an event, it would not be an invitation. Surely you can see that, but apparently not.

I do look forward to these events and the discussion leading up to them. The solution to not receiving an invite is to start writing quality stories and become known as a skilled writer and/or story teller. If you really had any passion on this subject, you would go through all of the hard work and spend all the time Randi does to make it work. No one else on Literotica has, or will, devote the time, talent and energy to do what Randi does. It's much easier to stand on the sidelines and complain. How's that working out for you so far? Thanks so much, Randi!

Good one stev2244! For that matter, there's nothing to stop a writer from writing a story on the event theme, and submitting it around the time of the event.

On HDK's party analogy, when people have friends over for a party, do they leave the door open for anyone passing to join?

....because I meet none of blackrandi1958’s criteria. And I fully support her stand and her standards. Y’all whiners need to grow up.

But under any circumstances, I should not be invited for a lot of other reasons. The biggest, is that I am not a contributor. And even if I were, I would not expect to be included because I had contributed a story or two, or even 50. They need to rank well and draw a considerable following.

Besides, if it were my party, I’d be somewhat discriminating about who I’d invite...wouldn’t you?

And further, I’d not likely invite all the same folks every time. Variety makes for better social interaction.

That all said, if your feelings are hurt because you aren’t one of the cool people or whatever your perception of the slight may be....don’t whine.....DO something positive about it! Find out what the audience likes and write stories like that.

Too many contributors want to take ownership of the audience mindshare. Sorry, won’t ever happen. This is one of the most democratic places on earth.

If you write what you like and don’t find a strongly positive response, oh well. You can’t hold others hostage to your preferences. And you might think you’ve written the Next Great Story, but if it rates below a 4, the audience clearly does not agree. And since audience acceptance IS EVERYTHING in the literary world, you need to suck it up and do it better and different until you understand and produce what others like.

One well known contributor here (whom I particularly appreciate) states categorically that his writing is more for his own healing and catharsis than for any audience appreciation. In short, he doesn’t give a flying turd about public opinion. That’s his right. It happens that his stories and style appeal to a modest portion of the audience and so he has a following. He hasn’t contributed in some time, and I for one wish he would, but he will or won’t as his needs dictate.

I hope to become a contributor in the not too distant future, but I doubt that I will ever get an invitation to one of these. For the next while I work under a set strict security restrictions, so cannot register as an identifiable member.

So, until I hang up my clearance, die or retire, I remain part of the great (as in large), hated juggernaut audience block known as Anonymous.

But I still LOVE blackrandi1958’s invitationals!

buried in the depths of LW. Perhaps it could be moved to romance or even anal, in honor of the commenters who dislike the concept of an invitation.

to see that some of the very fine authors, who are amongst my favorites, were unable to participate. Hopefully, next time. Thanks Randi for all the great work you do on this site.