Give me an assignment.

[saxikath]

So here's the thing: I don't really write anymore. Other than a short combiflat, I haven't written a puzzle in ages. Nor do I get to write much at my job just at the moment; we're in a planning stage, so I do lots of charts and lists and things, but not much writing. And I haven't written anything creative in forever.

I seem to be incapable of motivating myself to do this. Apparently I can only produce things on deadline.

So I'm asking you, my LJ readers, for an assignment and a deadline. Here are the rules:

1. Assign me a writing project. [ETA: Or puzzle construction project.] Give me a deadline. (State the deadline in a number of days or weeks or whatever, rather than a specific day, since it'll be a day or two before I start, as you'll see.)
2. I'll pick one assignment and start on it, and report when I finish. I'll share the product unless the assignor doesn't want me to. (And if you want to assign me something you'd actually pay me for and use, that's fine too. :) )
3. When I finish, I'll pick another assignment and start that. And so on.

Some guidelines:

• Make the deadline not too generous, but reasonable. Remember that I have a full-time job and three rehearsals a week. I'm not looking for NaNoWriMo-level here. :)
  
• I suck at fiction. I am therefore more likely to accept an assignment that involves nonfiction, puzzles, or possibly poetry.
  
• I don't mind doing research.
  


Have at it!

Comments

Anthropology? Archeology? I dunno even know what field my question is in.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I was just thinking of a question when I got up this morning!!!

I have a bunch of assumptions of how pre-historic humans lived that I use to illuminate my model of current human behavior. But I'm pretty sure most of my assumptions are mostly made up, or at least third-hand remembering. I don't think I've ever read a book ON that subject.

I would love a 5-10 page article on how humans lived 20,000 years ago. (I picked this number arbitrarily; if a different pre-historic time period would be better to research that's fine.) It could either be in a semi-fictional form (made up people going through their lives) or more like a textbook chapter; I'd just like to be able to read it and know that the model was based on the current best data available. A bibliography would be a serious bonus; footnotes not necessary.
I understand that almost everything will be guesses; I just want some sense of how good the experts think those guesses are.

Here are some specific questions I would love to have answered, although that's also optional if the data isn't available.

- What form was the society? I'm guessing "tribe", but what does that mean? How many people were in a standard society?
- How standard was a standard society? Were they mostly the same all over the world, or were there huge differences?
- Where were these societies around the world?
- How much were those societies like the current arboriginal societies?
- How old were the "elders" in the society? How old were the child-bearers?
- What was the male/female ratio?
- What was the diet like?
- What were the common medical ailments?
- How constant was this society? Had it been that way for tens of thousands of years?
- How frequent were interactions with other tribes?
- Bonus: did they have pets yet?

I'll pay in trips to the airport (or any other favors that you would like), and would be happy to have you share it. For that matter Iwould want to share it with other people. You would retain the rights to sell it/add it to your portfolio/whatever.

The one thing I don't know is what a reasonable deadline for this project would be. My totally WAG is three weeks, but that only sounds reasonable if you get really into it, or just do a cursory job. Shall we negotiate the deadline a bit? (I'm also flexible about the length; if you get really into it and want to go into more depth I would accept more than ten pages.)

The audience you'd be writing for is ME, so you can write at as advanced a level as you like (I can always look things up), although I should warn you I know surprisingly little about history; I just bluff well.

A two page summary of current cutting edge treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

(Because I assume the point of this project is for you to have lots of choices).

I'm sure that I can get a non-sciency blurb from various MS support societies, but I would like my blurb to contain a fair amount of science. One week deadline.

- A brief overview of what MS is. (Less brief than "immune system attacks nervous system".)
- What the current standard treatment is as a result of what studies and what the outcomes are.
- What stuff is just coming out of experimental stage.
- What is down the pipeline so I recognize it when I hear about it in the future.

(My new roommate has MS, and she knows lots of stuff, but I figure that getting me & Rob up to speed would not be bad in any way. I'm mostly looking for something I can hang new information on to as I start paying attention to MS developments in the news. )

Again, I would want to share and you would retain rights.

Re: A two page summary of current cutting edge treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

[magickcat.livejournal.com]

This sounds very interesting to me.
MS runs rampant on both sides of my family, but I don't know nearly as much about it as I would like to.

Is there a scientific basis for the legislation of extended car seat/booster usage?

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

(Apparently the thing I want even more than a sysadmin is a science writer. Who knew?)
One page, two days.

There's a lot of desire for kids to be in car seats for a long time. I've also heard that there isn't much science to back that up.

- What studies show that backseated restrained toddlers/preschoolers are less safe than backseated car-seated ones?

- How much is the effectiveness of a carseat reduced by its exposure to force/ age/ill-fit/poor installation? (If getting thrown around does make the car seat less safe, what's up with checking them as luggage on airplanes?)

[cnoocy]

How about a puzzle on a party-appropriate theme, suitable for inclusion in a set of "Solve a puzzle, take a shot" puzzles, due in the next 2.5 weeks?

[cnoocy]

I know it's not exactly what you're looking for, but the synchronicity was too much to resist. Feel free to IM me if you want more info.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Have you considered writing an article about your trip to the Galapagos?

[kelkyag]

I second this suggestion! Either a travelogue, or a series of short articles on the various interesting animals you saw there. Perhaps one week per article?

ETA: Animals and/or plants, but most of the cool photos you posted that caught my eye were of animals. :)

I think I mentioned this before...

[cycon.livejournal.com]

My uncle loves doing crossword puzzles. Please create one for him, to the best of your abilities. Topics of particular interest to him include:

Opera
Sci-Fi — particularly Star Trek (all generations), Stargate: SG-1, 1950s SF magazines
Germanic History & Mythology
Birds & Birdwatching
Psychology & Psychiatry

Deadline: May 31

Modest remuneration provided.

[dharklady.livejournal.com]

A set of children rhymes or poems. Prefferably based on a fantasy world like...oh...maybe...ToV? :D

Deadline: as soon as possible. Maybe 2 weeks from start?
Payment: You might just get to see them all dolled up ingame for the 1st event if you can get them done relatively soon so we can give them to our bookmaker...who could ask for better payment? :D hehe now if only Ta'ima could read...

[willtruncheon.livejournal.com]

Speaking as the ToV bookmaker, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write something!

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Unless you did the What A Mystery Is Art submission for your team (I didn't see all of them), why not give that a shot? Here are the guidelines. I challenge you to get... oh, forty points, with a deadline of four days.