The Great Marathon: The Aftermath

It's 9 October 2011. It's a Sunday. The day of rest.

The finish line has been crossed and the Marathon is over at last.
It is quiet, mostly. I survey the participants, heaving and sweating, as I move through the crowds to the podium that displays several prizes and, of course, the big glittering trophy.

The prizes are:
Best individual team player - 1000 points
Best individual poet- 1000 points
Best team spirit- 1000 points
Best team quality- 1000 points

But the prizes and the trophy don't seem to matter at the moment. I see people shaking with exhaustion. I see members massaging others, offering them counselling. I see many simply weeping with relief and gratitude that it's all over now. Some look quite dead, so I step over them carefully.
There has been blood. And sweat. And tears. And a whole lot of lovin.

It's a long walk to the microphone (especially as I still haven't scored any poems since the last update, ahem). During this hushed final walk, thick with anticipation before the results are announced, I interview participants with the following questions:

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

Do you still like cats?

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
^^^
For sure, it was a loads of fun !!!

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
^^^
Out of the zillion, yeah a few ... lol

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
^^^
I'd have far too many to share. There were so many fantastic writes

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
^^^
Think the judging was perfect !

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
^^^
Not yet but I'm sure I can think of a few ... tomorrow .. lol

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
^^^
Yap found out I can write really fast when I want to and that some of my best writes came from this.
Nope the M&Ms are just as awesome, as they have always been. Pnq threads gained spirit and people having some laughs and fun. Something I would like to see this site rise to again.
You ... I don't really know you Abby but you throw one hell of a wicked contest !!!! You ROCK !

Do you still like cats?
^^^
Love em, I've got 4
Simba .. as in my one poem
twosocks ... yes like as in 2socks
Baby and Smokey

Survey time.

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
`Seeing as you told me I had to decide for myself if M&M participated or not I wonder if I'm getting my hate mail any time soon? haha. I'd participate regardless, it was full on and uni came second but I needed a change..

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
`Honestly I've been so sick of my style lately that I had a ball just getting down to the basics! I wrote poems that weren't personal or littered with metaphors and symbolism. I liked some of the pieces that were completely different to what I usually write and before this I was struggling with a bit of a block so thanks Abby!

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
`I will come back to this one once I read all the poems in all the other team threads! Some were hilarious in M&M and I can't wait to go back for some light reading.

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
`I have no problem with the way the poems were judgesd it was fair and no extra love for TC ;)

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
`Just make it when I'm not at uni hey, cater around Australia haha

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
`As I mentioned above, it was great to take a step away from my usual style, it seems to be everywhere these days... my club rocked it, the dedication we have is fantastic! As for you fellow Aussie, somewhere beneath that pirate hat and eye patch you're a bit more like a squid, soft and squishy.

Do you still like cats?
`I like wild cats, not one for kittens but I desperately wanted to write a poem about Jane and her cats.. never got round to it sadly.. but it involved me kidnapping one...

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

Yes,yes I would :) it was hectic at times but fun

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
I wrote a couple I like,this contest was good inspiration :)
Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
um well I guess a couple could have been overscored or underscored but I wouldn't know
Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
I'm sure others do but I don't it was fine for me

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
I think this contest brought out a side to poetry that no one thought they had and it really pushed us to expand our creativity,,,I believe it brought our club closer because we worked really hard and good as a team and inspired some to be more active,,,I enjoyed the contest,,, and last but not least you sound like a really great person to be friends with :) :) and give special thanxs and and good luck to everyone :) :)

Do you still like cats?

Yes I love cats

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
Yes, but not in the next few months - maybe during a break or after I retire.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
Actually yes, five come to mind

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
too short notice, but many of LTFR products touched me to my deepest being; frankly, I have not read as many of the others, but some grabbed my attention as I glanced through.

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
You are the judge of the contest, I saw no unfairness, and I can imagine, having been there, the process that went into your forced rapid scoring, since that was all you possibly can do with the volume. In fact, for us, the grandest revenge on you was writing more poems for you to wade through.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
My brain is fried. Ask me later.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
Yes. Yes, definitely. Yes, Absolutely. [Turn around! - Sibs did]

Do you still like cats?
I need to write more poems about cats.

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

Yes, but I'd rather you force me ;)

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

At least 1/4 of the poems I wrote will be submitted into my account. Eventually.

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

Ah, maybe tomorrow. I'll come back to this. Sibs wrote some wonders, and Jordan impressed me with his creative wit.

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

Hmm, somewhere in the middle, but I value your judgment and support your decisions.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

Hmmm, make the general Happy Hours happen when I'm actually available. That's not asking too much, right? Jk.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

I got a better feel for Jordan's writing and I'm becoming a fan.
The pressure made me doubt my imagination.
I thought you, Abby, would show some signs of bias toward the club and give us subjective advantages, but in fact... I think you were aiming so intently on not being biased, that you were a taaad bit biased against us :P haha. You did a good job though, no one can say otherwise. I thoroughly enjoyed this contest.

Do you still like cats?

Love 'em.

--

P.S. If only you could host the contest AND be a participant! Wishful thinking.

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

OF COURSE, UGH DO IT AGAIN, DO IT AGAIN, DO IT AGAINNNNNNNNNNN, PLEAAASEE.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

yes, I've submitted four or five poems from this contest :D which means that YOU ROCK BECAUSE I WAS A BIT BLOCKED AND HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO WRITE SO THANK YOUUUU.

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

From my club? LOTS of poems, I never expected them to write this fast and this good :P other clubs? HELL YES, lots of amazing writes.....

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

I didn't see the results until now, haha where are they????????????????????????

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

Make all the teams have the same number of participants, this way I won't be nagging about the wait round number :P:P

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

YES, I thought I'll never write about my toilet, but I did and I submitted it! LOL MY club? it was amazing though I know you'll laugh because we didn't post that much poems but we ended up 10 laps in a thread in our club, but what made us slow is that nobody was online but me and Tara! :(:(
towards PnQ? you turned pnq upside down, Abby, I mean in an awesome way..

YOU? Marry me?

Do you still like cats?

HELL no

I have a phobia towards cats and ....uhum
COULDNT YOU FIND ANY OTHER TOPIC THAN CATS!!?
you evil you

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
- I love to, but I wouldn't because this year, I'm about to fail :P

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
- YES

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
- Actually, all of Larry's poems were beautiful and there is one like of Girl's poems about Steve jobs.

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

- agree, I think

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

- Make it next year :P

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

-WRITING: I think I'm not able to write any poem till the next three month :P
- Club: LTFR is an amazing club, and it became amazing-er
- PnQ: the best site ever
- Abby, you're the best :)

Do you still like cats?
- I HATE THEM

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
YEAH DEFFO!!!!

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
A few yes for sure

Have you read any submitted poems that you'd like to share?
Too many!! Some amazing writers here.

Did you generally agree with the way poems were judged?
Yes, all seemed reletavely fair.

Do you have any suggestions?
Only to allow all clubs to have the same wait number.

Change the feelings towards...
Writing: Just that my emotions make the best work, and writing particular poems is harder
Club: I love WTMNIS forever regardless of how we did but they were great
PnQ: My home through and through
Abby: She's a heroine! Fantastic

Do you still like cats?
Yes, I do. Fortunately the cat topic fell on other rounds

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

>> I definitely would! would would would would!

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

>>lol yes many of them, I am being cheesy and I like that change (tho it's supposed to be odd)

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

>>oh damn yes, all the poems by Girl, all the poems by Larry, well most of those in my club (biased) I thought HELLONs poems had a great touch, and Janes ones. Loved them

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

>> I agreed yes, thought it would have been better if it was only 5's given per poems, but then it would be very obvious who'd win, and people would have written sucky poems, so yes yes makes so much sense

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

>yes, be the host lol

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

> my writing : no, I already write fast poems that i loved, though I suck at times XD but nothing much regarding the writing itself

My club: I think I am a very lucky person, I know most of them did efforts more than I, due to my university schedule and students, even if I scarified myself twice but they did all the efforts, Larry was a calculator i swear I have never seen a smart man :P, and I just can't believe how everyone gave their time and dedicated their everything, thought there won't be any personal rewards. We have a great relationship really and I now appreciate everyone more than I ever did, and can't find words to thank them, each single one.

Abby: no I always thought you were nice, funny, and creative, it shows in your poetry, as you know poems show a lot of our personality, and I always expect the unexpectable from you. Just loved your sense of torture LOL :)

Do I like cats? I despise cats XD

Do you still like cats?

*Beautifies self for camera and hogs the microphone*

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

- Yes I would indeed, I had great fun really and it was very different than the usual contests

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

- There may be a few that could turn out to be poems in the future amongst them. Others I will bury and never speak of again

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

- To be honest I read very few of the poems, was quite busy this week so when I was on I was concentrating on writing my own. But I look forward to reading over them when I get time, Im sure there are some gems in amongst them

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

-Agree, dont really see how else they could be judged due to the sheer volume of poems.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

- Just one minor one I can think of, possibly do not have happy hours giving x5 points, keep it at double or triple points to make it important to keep posting outside of happy hours too.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

- My writing: Not sure if I know what a poem is anymore, but I discovered I could write ever quicker than I originally thought.
Your club: Great things can be achieved with a little teamwork and co-operation :)
PnQ: Can still be an active place, with people willing to participate
Abby: You must be crazy :P

Do you still like cats?

- I do, I love cats :)

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
- Yes, but not this year due to my exams, and probably somewhere during a holiday. =p This was a very different and fun contest, I loved the way my club members were all very supportive.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
- Perhaps one or two, I actually can't remember what I've written anymore, lol. I have to read my club's poems too. How many have we written this week? Like, 300? I wouldn't know.

EDIT: I actually read some of my poems and they weren't as horrible as I thought they were. Though I wrote a poem about my turtle for a free round, and ended up posting half of it due to excitement. o.O

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
- Like I said before, I actually haven't read much of them. Especially these last two days because we were always just busy improvising/being fast so we didn't had the time to actually read each other's work. I must say that Slighte is our true star of FOP. :)

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
- Well, sometimes I had to laugh out loud because you seemed to like some of my most ridiculous poems which I had to churn out in like 2 min, more than those I thought were more unique. =p But I can see where this judging-point-of-view is coming from because this is truly a whole other sort of contest. Humour and nastiness is much more allowed, for example, and I like that. It's good to be a jolly poet sometimes.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
- I thought you organized this very well, so I can't think of many suggestions. But perhaps one more prompt change could've kept people running. At some point I was truly hating water.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
- Well, I was surprised that I could write so fast. This contest truly forced you to write, more than any other contest has ever done. Though I did notice that I was using the same objects all the time, and most of all the same words (need to expand my vocabulary).
EDIT: I just counted a lot of carrots, moons and balls, for some odd reason.
And, what I just noticed while re-reading what I actually wrote out there ... the poems (serious ones) were far much personal. I found myself writing much more about my family than heart break, for example. Even about my birthday a few times.

As for PnQ, I have never seen it so active before, and my club is full of lovely people. Me and Myryn have actually been worried about our club but after this contest, I know we can keep ourselves afloat.

And Abby, I knew you were crazy, so this didn't surprise me, hehe.

Do you still like cats?
Not anymore!

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

-Yes, but I don't know if I'll be emotionally available for a few months or so.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

-Actually... yes. I discovered the depths of my over-achievement, I think. Not all the poems will go to my profile, but I found that I was not.... physically...able... to submit a poem, if I didn't like it at least a little. Even under the time constraints, just couldn't do it.

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

-Yes! But I have to go gather them. I think my Club had some stunners, and some hilarious entries. I haven't delved as much into other teams threads (looking forward to doing that, now that it's all over), but "slighte" wrote some really awesome things that deserve some attention.

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

-I was sometimes surprised by the ones of mine that got 10's. I had 8's that I thought were better ; ) I bet this quick, instinctual method of judging was pretty effective, though.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

-I would maybe say to have it be 5 days instead of 7? I don't know, but it seemed like everyone was seriously dragging at the end.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

-Like I said in another thread, I think I found that there are a hundred ways of looking at one topic. I usually write my poems quickly, so that wasn't so much of a change, but I did accomplish more strictly "stream-of-consciousness" style than even I generally go to.

-Club: My feelings for my Club were totally reaffirmed: When we're on, we're ON. But sometimes we're just gone for long stretches of time. For this contest, it would have been nice to have just one or two active members. Because when two people just happened to not be online, it was basically impossible to do anything. However, I think The Club did wonders with the tools that were available to us. I would be shocked if there were many people who turned out as many poems as us, per person.

-PnQ really came into its own for a while here. I loved all the activity, all the communication, all the good-natured rivalry. It's been said several times before that "well, at least drama gets people talking." This proved that we don't need fights (well, maybe poetic fights, but whatever) to get everyone out on the boards. I think it was splendid, and I hope it doesn't go away.

-Abby - Still the queen. Wish we could have had you writing with us, but I don't think anyone could have run the contest like you.

Do you still like cats?
-Yes. But I will admit, I caught myself glaring at my cat the other day, before realizing why.

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
-Of course I would. This contest was loads of fun!

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
-A few, maybe. Although I will most likely take bits and pieces and form a few better poems.

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
-Yes, I did. I forgot to copy them :/

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
-Definitely agree. There's no really way you can judge them, haha.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
-New prompts more often. :)

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
My writing- Well, I know now how fast I can improvise.
Club- The teamwork was amazing, I definitely have some new found respect.
PnQ- Tons of activity, and communication among ALL members.
Do you still like cats?
I have two of them, so I can never get enough (:

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

Yes, definitely. These are always fun.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

One or two.

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

Lu had one about clogged toilets that had me in tears I was laughing so hard. I can't seem to find it again though!

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

I didn't really pay attention except for my zeros.. lol

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

More prompts than just 13. Since we know we got so much participation, maybe doing 20 or even 30 prompts per lap. Less repetition and you wouldn't have to change prompts that way.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

I know that MM can sure spit out poems when in a hurry!

Do you still like cats?
I hate cats, always have, still do!

How did you get a zero, Britt? Did you post too early or something?

I got two zeros. In the mad rush of one Happy Hour I posted two poems twice.

Bahahaha, same here. Sib I posted the same poem twice. I was going in between my phone, my laptop and my work computer, so it was mayhem!

Thanks a heap for the feedback, everyone.

I agree that it would be interesting holding this marathon with even-sized teams with members who have all signed up for the contest. I was torn about holding this contest like that. But I decided to go with the pressure-test of coming out and participating for the sake of representing your club, no matter what. However, I think it would be worthwhile for future marathons to be held like this- oh, the intensity.

As for the prompts- yes, they could have been changed more often or they could have been more. Trust me, I had to read all 750 Halloween poems. But I kept the prompts for longer to see how long your creative juices would last- it is a marathon after all.

Yes to making it 5 days instead of 7. Oh my God. It's a marathon enough.

I'm surprised you all seem to generally agree with my scoring. It is a horribly skewed contest to only have one judge who, on top of everything, also happens to be the host. In an ideal world, these roles should be split, if only for the sake of sanity. My judging was sometimes affected by my existing knowledge of the author's normal prowess (whether they exceeded or failed my expectations), their familiarity with English, their experience in writing (how much encouragement it needs), how many 100s of similar poems I had just read before, my mood (ranging from critical to generous to plain exhausted), and my efforts to make this a fair but tight competition.

There were many poems that scored an 8, where I would normally score them a 5 or 10 in the comparative scale. I was trying to think like 3 different heads instead of just my own. I'm not sure that's good.

That said, there is only an hour or two before the results are announced. I still have to grade all of MM's poems and do all the calculations...sorry for the wait...

Here we go...

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

Of course! It was a lot of fun. You did a great job Abby!

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

A few, lol. Not many though. I want to burn them!

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

I have, I couldn't name them off the top of my head however.

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

I thought it was quite fair. No club seemed to be favored more than the others.

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

Change the prompts more often.

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

I think a lot of us didn't realize that we could write in such a short time, and just because it's a quick poem doesn't mean it's necessarily terrible, some actually turn out quite nicely.

I thought my club worked awesome together, as well as other clubs, it was really a lot of fun and kind of brought everyone together.

Abby, you're awesome. I honestly would have gone more insane trying to keep all this organized and score all the poems. I'm glad I was writing and not scoring. I'm not very good at math, ha. You did absolutely amazing though. Very creative!

Do you still like cats?

Looove them! Probably one of my favorite topics actually.

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
--For sure! Although not for a while, my brain won't be emotionally ready to write again for a few months. And provided I wasn't in the middle of exams or some such.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
--Uh.. Bits and pieces. I have a vague memory of writing lines thinking 'that one sounded nice' but to be honest they were so rushed I don't remember most of them ><

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?
--I'll join the bandwagon and say I'll come back to this one later. I've only had time to skim over FOP's which definitely had some awesome ones. In my totally unbiased opinion..

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?
--The method of judging was fair I think, it needed to be the same person scoring. I've only looked at my scores and believe that you have (what did I say to Luna?) "some unjustified crazy liking for all of my poems no matter how good they are"

Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?
--The x5 for the first HHH was a bit extreme I felt. And yes I agree with the more frequent prompt changes, although I get why that didn't happen ><

Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?
--My writing.. well I learnt that I don't allllways have to write poems that are too emotional for me to handle :') and that poems can be light and still good.
--My club.. is awesome. And the crazy amount of spirit everyone has is amazing. I think we got up to about 11 or 12 threads at least in the club discussion board discussing the contest.
--PnQ.. Likewise with FOP, the amount of effort everyone put into this was awesome, and just goes to show that everyone does have it in them to keep this site going and keep writing.
--You.. are one incredibly evil genius and just like reawoke the energy around here.

Do you still like cats?
--I adore cats still, but I will never, ever be writing about them again. I even told my cat that this morning. "Sammy, I'm never writing a poem about you again." "Meow."

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?

- Yes and yes. Without question.

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?

- I did! Not a whole lot, but there were points before and after I scorched the artistic side of my brain where I though "hmm, this is actually pretty good!"

Have you read any submitted poems that you would like to share here?

- I found this one as I was combing through and it made me laugh:

'Until this afternoon, I would have laughed,
had you said:
"A happy hour will help you out!"'
-Silvershoes

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

- Considering the volume of poetry that had to be judged, I see no problem with the system. There WERE a whole lot of 8's I noticed. I know for a fact that there are a lot of poets here who are good writers and who are consistent in their writing, so that's not really an issue.

- Do you have any suggestions for the running of the next Marathon-style contest?

More prompt changes.

- Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

- I was very happy with the amount of participation from The Club. I was very happy to see our tiny family on PnQ so frequently even though a lot of us were very busy. The amount of participation from the site was impressive as a whole, too. It's amazing to look back and see the amount of participation in this contest.

Do you still like cats?

- Yep!

Would you participate again? Voluntarily?
-For sure, and perhaps the next time around, I will be able to fully participate

Did you write any poems that you actually liked?
-I did! I was pretty proud of the poems I tacked out, even if some of them weren't all that.

In particular, I liked "Leaves In Autumn","Melpomene", and "Firebug"

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

-First off, I'd just like to say how AMAZED I am at all the reading and judging you had to do in such a short period of time. You truly are like, some kind of contest goddess. (Marathon? Goddesses? haha...idk, maybe I'm just being corny)

Did you generally agree or disagree with the way the poems were judged?

-I thought overall, the marathon went pretty well, I would have liked to have been able to participate in the rounds after prompt changes. But I liked that there weren't too many. That was the entire point of the marathon, to see how we could perform under pressure, and how we could re-use what we were given.

- Did you gain any new insight or change of feeling toward your writing? Your club? PnQ? Me?

-I learned that I can work well under pressure, and I think this definitely broke my writers block. I also learned that my fellow M&M's are one competitive bunch!
and I learned that Abby (as I mentioned to Mel on FB) is a diabolical genius.

Do you still like cats?

Lol. Love them