Oh, not off of this blog, not anytime soon. But what about the time?
When I started 5MinuteFiction sixty-nine weeks ago, 1:30 pm Eastern for the contest and 3:00 for posting the finalists worked really well with my schedule. Now? Not so much. The start time isn’t as big of an issue as the ending time. But I don’t really want to stretch the waiting for the finalists out longer than it is now. Sorta defeats the purpose, right? And I have to give the judge a reasonable amount of time to judge in.
When I chose 1:30, it was an attempt to hit a workable time for as many time zones as possible. How does that work out for you? Would an hour earlier still work for our West coast participants? I know we used to have several in England, though I haven’t seen many of them lately. Anyone over there with an opinion to throw into the mix?
What do you think about a move to a 12:30 pm Eastern start time for 5MinuteFiction?
It would work for me about as well as 1:30, which is to say I should be able to make 3-4 weeks out of every 5 at that time.
That would work out better for me. 1:30 pm was okay too, though.
i’ll almost never be able to do it earlier. at 1:30 i was setting an alarm clock. moving it later would work for me.
Any time between 10:15 and 6:30pm (Eastern) works for me!
I used to participate during my lunch hour, but now anything before 3:00 PM Eastern is too early for me.
I haven’t been able to participate for a while because I have a class from 12:30 – 1:30 Eastern. Would you consider changing the format so people can post during a window of time (perhaps have a word count limit instead of a time limit, or something like that)?
I could probably survive the move. It might even be better for me in the long run. But it would be a little harder. (9:30a versus 10:30a my (pacific) time). I’d have to do it just before going to work. 🙂
I’d love to participate – I live in London – but by the time the email reminder lands in my inbox, the competition has begun, been fought, and closed. More to do with the machinations of email delay than the start time, I fear. And, apologies, but as a Brit, I have simply no concept of ‘Eastern time-zone’ et al. The UK is within one time zone, but we are a pipsqueak in comparable size.
Thanks for all the feedback!
getthegirladrink,
The email my blog sends out if you’ve signed up for the email service, is set to a specific time each day, no matter what day it is or what the post’s about. For me it comes to my inbox about 30 min to an hour after the contest.
However, your time zone, GMT, runs 5 hours ahead of mine, give or take the change from daylight savings time (summer time, I believe, for you?) and standard time, which changes at a different point in the year for me vs. you. (November for us, I think October for you?)
Anyway, all that confusion aside, most of the time, if you add five hours to the start time posted for 5MinuteFiction, it would be the start time for you. I know I have to set a reminder to pop up on my computer to make sure I’m on time, and it’s my contest. 😉
12:30 on Tuesday would be awkward – more awkward than 1:30 is. Having said that, what works for you is more important than what works for me – your contest and all.
OMG!!! If we did it at 12:30, that would solve so many problems. I work a weird schedule now, so that actually works better for me. Could we, please??? I miss five minute fiction.
Actually, later would be better for me. Indeed, the later the better.