Hi!
I'm Phro Metal (I don't care too much for my real name, so I use my pen name as much as I can). I'm from Colorado, though I live in Tokyo now. (I don't really like anime or manga though.)
I love writing. I started writing very young and then pretty much gave up completely after high school. The last few years have given me a tiny bit of free time that I've filled up with getting back into writing (as opposed to drinking more whiskey.)
I mostly enjoy science fiction, though I studied classical Japanese literature and I like most anything with great characters.
I try to write at least one story a week, which gets posted on my website (it's really just a blog, but website sounds better) www.phrometal.com. It would not hurt my feelings if you took a look at it, but we're all busy, so no hard feeling either way.
It's nearly 1:30 am here, so I'm starting to get wonky. I'll bid you all good night and I look forward to talking/interacting with you more!!!
OH!!! A QUESTION!!! How far back would it be reasonable to go when reviewing submissions? A week? A month? I'm still trying to get the hang of it (obviously), so I kind of want to add comments on works that other have already reviewed. Is it weird to look at stories that were posted a month ago? Thank you.
(Oh, and my favorite authors are: Douglas Adams, Warren Ellis, Murasaki Shikibu, Murakami Haruki, and William Gibson [though, really, I've only read Neuromancer so far, yikes!]. Feel free to tell me what other authors I should be reading.)
Welcome and thanks again for reviewing my work in the workshop. Glad I could be your first review. It was the first piece I've sent to the workshop, so yeah. No one forgets their first. But don't worry, it won't get weird. Maybe I'll call you sometime?
It got weird, didn't it?
Sorry, I get wonky much earlier in the evening than you do apparently. Wish I could be of more assistance on your question, but I'm relatively new myself and hardly an authority on etiquette.
So yeah. Welcome.
HAH! I'll have to ask someone to remind me of my phone number before I can give it to you. So, it got weird, but in the good kind of way. No need to call the cops or pull out the pepper spray.
Thanks for the welcome!
Welcome, Phro! I don't think there's a general rule. I've had people looking to cut their teeth on a specific genre review pieces that were months on months old. It's a little disappointing if you have a new story in the Workshop that you're looking for feedback on, but if you find someone without a standing submission who looks like a fun read, try them out.
I go more indepth on workshop ettiquete in the Indepth Introduction thread, so if you want a general primer, check it out.
I've never read anything by your favorite authors, but my current love is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His short story "The Handomest Drowned Man in the World" is one of my favorites.
Thanks for the info, Courtney! I did check out the thread, but I didn't see anything about old stories. I may have missed it though.
I'll check out Marquez.
If you like humor, and even if you don't like sci-fi, I highly, highly recommend anything by Douglas Adams.
Also, this WAR thing looks fun...but I can't figure out where to even begin. Can anyone point in vaguely the right direction?
Hey Phro, this frenetic feeling will calm down over time. Being the kid in the candy store for the first time will cause a sugar high that needs a couple of weeks to come down from. I liked your site and read one of your stories. You have a nice curriculum vitae in that. WAR is a massive undertaking that lost me at the beginning because I couldn't keep up. That coupled with the pain of some very close decisions for voting left me mentally exhausted. I think it is an ongoing competition which is elimination match based so I don't know, because I am not following it, that there is an entry point now that it is in to round two. There are some daily prompt threads and a 100 point club. A few of the WAR stories hit the workshop for further improvement which is something to look forward to. So, welcome - good to have you here.
First, thank you a million times for taking a look at my site! I am humbled!
Also, thanks for the explanation of WAR. It looks fun, but I think I'll wait for WAR3 to try to get involved.
You're totally right about being like a kid in a candy store. Reviewing is in particula. It's fun reading others' stories, and I really want to add my voice and help others. Though it's also intimidating, since some of the stories I've read have already been pretty damn good.
Also, thank you very much for your review yesterday. It really helped a lot!! Some of the best feedback I've ever gotten! I'll try to return the favor soon!
Hey there! Welcome.
Older stories. I would say a rule of thumb might be to not go back more than a month or two.
Have fun, hope you enjoy it here!
Hey Phro,
Nice to see another sci-fi nerd on the site! I'm currently writing content for one of my client's sci-fi websites, so I feel like I sleep, dream, eat sci-fi these days.
Are you going to get in on the Teleport Us Challenge?
Averydoll, thank you very much for the advice. Anything more than a month DOES seem like it'd be a bit much. Thanks for the welcome. So far, browsing the forum, it seems like everyone is great people!
Mess_Jess, what is your job and can I fight you for it? (Juuuuuuust kidding.)
I plan on getting in on the Teleport Us challenge, but I haven't taken a good look at it yet. I think I'll do that now!
Haha! I freelance. It pays rather poorly, so I wouldn't recommend it unless, like me, you saved up a shit-ton from your previous well paying job. But I guess I do it for the love, not the money.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
I'm getting married this year, so I think freelancing is off the table for...well, forever. (But the dream still lives!)
Good luck with your freelancing though! Where can we find links to your stuffs? On your profile page?
Congratulations! So am I. Must be the year for it, eh? When's your date?
Not yet. Organisation, I have none. Ha. I am aiming to get my blog set up in the next couple of weeks. Right now I just rely on LinkedIn and Freelancer.com for work, and previous colleagues.
CONGRATULATIONS!! To you as well.
We're doing the ceremony in August, which is the hottest, most miserably humid time of year in Tokyo, but....oh, well. Easier to get time off.
Well, if you're getting work, you're doing something right! Be sure to share your site when it's up.
Welcome to the LitReactor, FroMetal! Mmm FroYo.
Just kidding, FroYo is for communists.
Welcome.
Down with froyo! Up with ice cream!
Thank you, Dwayne!
