We wanted to put together a reference guide of what you should expect on your day as an author of the3six5.
*****This comes up later in the guidelines again, but we want to make sure everyone is crystal clear on this. In the actual post, please don't need to reference this project, or the fact that others will be reading it, or the deadlines. Pretend you're just writing a diary entry where you are reflecting on what is around you, not the actual task at hand (which is writing the post).*****
When you e-mail us
1) Please think of three to five potential non-birthday dates (dates that aren't your birthday) on which you'd like to write. When you e-mail us, include those dates. (NOTE: Due to the volume of requests, we may not be able to give you any of your dates; in that case we'll e-mail you with some suggestions.)
2) Be sure to tell us about yourself and your unique point of view on life. A blank -- or near-blank -- email probably won't be responded to promptly, if at all!
3) With the exception of individuals who may put themselves or others at risk by revealing their identity, all authors must use their real name for their posts. This is a collection of non-fiction writing and we believe that proper attribution is necessary.
Timing
1) You are writing about the specific day you've been assigned. Try to stay relevant to your experience that day and don't overlap days unless something really extraordinary is taking place in the world over a span of days.
2) Write your post at the end of that day and send it to the3six5editors@gmail.com by 7pm Central Time at the LATEST. (Of course, the earlier, the better -- this will cut down on a lot of the late-night back and forth.) Now we realize that this is a world wide event so if the time doesn't make sense for you, let us know. So as not to make you write at odd hours of the night, we're asking you write at the end of your day. Because we don't have control over the space time continuum, this also means some days will have a bit of an overlap. (Ex: Person A in Chicago has May 20th and Person B in China has May 21st.) Obviously, there's nothing we can do about that but hopefully since this phenomena will only happen when jumping from across the globe, the reflections will be very different.
NOTE: On your day, please keep an open line of communication with us. Even though we are asking for delivery of your post by 7PM, please try to respond to our emails promptly so we know that you are available. As you can imagine, posting everyday means we're overly sensitive to timing. If you don't mind, cater to our micromanagement and keep us assured of your participation. If you don't respond promptly, we may give your day to someone else.
3) We will post your piece up either later that night, or early the next day so that the latest anyone will have to wait to hear your thoughts is 24 hours (pending no major crises are taking place for Daniel, Len or anyone else involved in the project.)
4) When you see your post the next day, feel free to promote it in any way you want. Daniel and Len will be promoting the project on their own, but we'll take any of the help we can get. If you want to repost your work on your own blog, website, etc please feel comfortable doing so. All we ask is that you wait until it goes up live on the3six5.com first.
Parameters
1) 350 words 365 words maximum. This will be less space than you think, so be careful in how you use it.
2) Please include a visual; it needs to be something YOU created (e.g. a photo, drawing, audio, video, etc.), and something we can repurpose; don't just grab any picture you find on Flickr or Google Images. (Make sure you check Creative Commons licenses on it, for instance.)
3) Keep it RELATIVELY clean. This can be defined as many things, but if we feel the average person would take great offense to what you write, we're reserving the right to not publish. We know we're working with an extraordinary group of smart and opinionated people, but we want to make sure that this diary of the year is acceptable to as many people as possible. (So let's say PG-13)
4) Keep self-promotion to a minimum. We're talking about how feelings and lives so obviously we're not asking you to hide your own projects and work but please keep these types of mentions relevant to your story. This project has the potential to reach many people and we don't want someone taking advantage of this podium to promote themselves. Please refrain from mentioning specific names of your websites, blogs, Twitter, etc as we will not include them. Everyone who is an author will be listed in our directory and we're happy to link out to wherever you wish.
Content
1) Start your piece off with a 140-character bio of who you are. You can share anything you wish here. We know that not everyone is defined by location, job, family, etc so use this to frame up quickly WHO is telling the story. This 140-character bio does not cut into your 350 word 365-word post.
2) In terms of the body of your post, we don't want to give you much guidance other than us asking for two things. First, include a timely piece of information in your post that helps the reader get a sense of what day it is. Put yourself in the place of a reader who is about to read 365 entries in a diary. They are going to want some general feeling of going in a chronological order. The second thing we ask is to make your post relatable to many people. We're a large and varied group of people from different countries and backgrounds.
When we say relatable, we don't mean you need to write something that others will agree with, we just mean that your writing includes something that people can understand. If your hobby is collecting zalguts (just made that word up) that may be interesting for the 4 other people who do that, but not everyone else in the world (which is what you should assume your potential audience is). Feel free to talk about the unique things in your life, but explain them concisely and spend more time talking about why it matters to you that day.
When we say relatable, we don't mean you need to write something that others will agree with, we just mean that your writing includes something that people can understand. If your hobby is collecting zalguts (just made that word up) that may be interesting for the 4 other people who do that, but not everyone else in the world (which is what you should assume your potential audience is). Feel free to talk about the unique things in your life, but explain them concisely and spend more time talking about why it matters to you that day.
3) Be personal. Obviously don't share what you're not comfortable with, but also take some risks. This project is part history book in the making, and part diary. If someone wanted to get a diary of 2010 based on facts they could just save CNN's homepage everyday for 365 days. We want you to talk about current events, but the important part is that you explain how they make YOU feel. On this note, you absolutely must use your real name with the post. No acronyms, initials or pseudonyms will be used with this project.
IMPORTANT
4) Again, in the actual post, please don't reference this project, or the fact that others will be reading it, or the deadlines. Pretend you're just writing a diary entry where you are reflecting on what is around you, not the actual task at hand (which is writing the post).
Other Housekeeping
1) After you hit "Send," assume that your post is going up as is. Managing this project will be extremely time consuming and we cannot add editing to our list of items to manage, but we reserve the right to edit copy for readability, flow, grammar, spelling and any other potential issues we find with your copy.
2) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let us know as soon as possible if you have a conflict. If one person makes a mistake and doesn't write their piece on time it's going to be unfair to the rest of the participants. We're not naive enough to think it won't happen, but for the sake of not letting down your fellow authors, do everything you can to ensure you remember to send in your piece by 7 PM Central Standard Time. (Of course, the earlier, the better.)
3) There are 364 other authors helping with this project. On occasion, stop by the3six5.com to see what your peers are writing about and if possible even leave a comment. Each day will provoke thoughts in many of us authors/fans that would be worthy of sharing with each other in this forum.
4) YOU MUST BE 18+ TO BE AN AUTHOR. We're absolutely honored that so many of our younger friends have shown interest in this project but due to current and future implications of the3six5, we must insist that everyone is of legal age. (In your note to us, however, if you convince us why we should let you in, we might.)
5) Thank you so much.
Legal
By submitting, posting (via email to the3six5@gmail.com, or other email addresses owned by Daniel Honigman or Len Kendall or displaying content intended for the3six5 project, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed). Read more here.
