Welcome to the third installment of Behind the Scenes. Each month, StormBringer23 and Edges-to-Everything take you past the Admin Area with a member of our team to catch a glimpse of how DailyLitRecognition is run. This month, our interview is with group Founder, SilverInkblot.
Q & A
1. You were involved for a time in the behind-the-scenes operations of the former DailyLitDeviations. How did you become the leader of LitRecognition?
At the time of the DLD shutdown, thetaoofchaos and I had been sharing the leadership role. This is probably why my name came up when it came to choosing someone to run the new group. In Will's (VertigoArt) own words:
"I would really like you to be point on this. I have heard nothing but good about you."
2. LitRecognition has been in operation for not quite three months. Has the group's progress met your expectations so far - and does it seem to you more like it has been six months?
It's odd - in some ways it still feels very new, but at the same time, a lot of what we do is old hat to me as well. When we were discussing things in the beginning, we decided that DLR needed to be different from DLD, but also still familiar. The central job - featuring literature - hasn't changed, so we kept a lot of things like the daily template and basic set-up. The new stuff is largely limited to the weekends. Additionally, a lot of the initial team from DLD are here as well, so it's almost like we added to the new group instead of starting from scratch.
I can't honestly recall what my expectations were, but I am very satisfied with how DLR is progressing. We have a great team and they're all kind of fantastic.
3. Are the Suggestion Admins receiving a good number of literature suggestions?
Depends on the admin; some people get regular suggestions, but for the most part, it's something of a struggle. There's not really any way to encourage suggestions - it has to come from the community. Someone has to love something enough to believe it deserves more recognition than it's getting, and send it our way. We can't make you love something, and we can't make you show it to us. DLR is very much run on a love of literature.
4. The group is introducing new activities! 
Please tell us about them.
Please tell us about them.Well, I'm keeping things a little hush-hush for now. At the end of this month, we have a special feature planned for a specific type of literature, one of my personal favorites, and suggestions were sent in from all the admins that wanted to participate. We'll be doing these features for unique types of literature a few times throughout the year and I'd like to make it a recurring tradition.
The other event coming up is a contest, and I'm very excited about this one. The idea was formed in chat, and I don't think it's something anyone has ever done before. It is a writing contest, but also a very community-minded contest. Participants will not be writing a story or poem, and that's the only hint I'm giving you 
5. In what area is LitRecognition most in need of growth?
Hmm. I think one of the things we'd like to do is have a better relationship with the CV team - I know some see DLR as a competition to DD's, but I've never seen it that way at all. DLR features four or five deviations five days a week - DD's feature one to three every day. Since we get a larger volume of lit. to feature, our standards are lower, while still being a hub of great writing. I like to think of a DLR award as a sort of stepping stone to even greater recognition.
I also think that DLR is more approachable than the CV team is in some ways - not through any fault of their own of course. For a lot of deviants, especially new people, interacting with a CV is something they find intimidating. I know I felt that way before I got very involved in the lit. community, and receiving my first DLD, working with DLD, and now, leading DLR, have all been stepping stones in my confidence. Two or three years ago, I wouldn't have believed it had someone told me I'd be this open online. And it all sources back to that first bit of recognition.
6. Is group participation growing steadily? What can Members and Watchers do to promote the group within the dA literature community, and help the group to expand its reach?
The best thing members can possibly do is send us suggestions. DLR is a group project in which the entire community is the group - we don't work without it. The more people who suggest, the more voices we have contributing different styles, different genres, new authors, things we've never heard of. If it's good, we want to feature it.
7. You accept suggestions, as a "Swing Admin" - which means you do so primarily when another Admin needs time off. You state a preference for prose suggestions over poetry. As someone who writes quite a lot of poetry, why do you prefer prose suggestions?
Because we don't get as many prose suggestions 
I honestly don't know why it's so much harder to find good prose, but it's a real pain, as the Prose Admins can attest.
I honestly don't know why it's so much harder to find good prose, but it's a real pain, as the Prose Admins can attest.8. You received a number of DLDs before taking charge at LitRecognition. What is your favorite part of being involved in thegiving end now, based on your experiences as a recipient of the honor?
I mentioned it earlier, but my first DLD was a real confidence-booster. I hope receiving a DLR gives that same feeling to every deviant. If you feel like you're moving in the right direction, it's a lot easier to keep going, and that means more good lit. for my reading list
9. You are quite busy with other activities around dA. What are your secrets for finding a balance, and getting everything accomplished?
I'd say the best way to get balanced is to keep on top of your inbox. I've heard plenty of horror stories from deviants with hundreds or thousands of messages waiting for them - I can't do that. I have to answer everything, and I do it quickly. Nothing in my inbox is allowed to pile up; it's amazing how much free time you have when that stuff is clear. Comments are answered; group messages are checked; deviations I want to read go into a folder, not a waiting pile I have to see every time I log in; doing that really takes the pressure off.
Basically, it's easy to throw your hands in the air and give up when you have 638 messages, but when it's only 25? No big deal. If you can keep that number down, or at least organized, you can manage your time pretty easily.
10. Your other dA activities include creating Lit Tags and bookmarks - actual printed bookmarks! How did you become involved with making these items for others?
I don't remember how or why I started making bookmarks, but I started to give them away when I started to have lots of them lying around. After several recommendations, I decided to begin selling them. I find it a very relaxing hobby and I've always enjoyed creating things. I've always wanted to be more crafty than I am. They aren't at all difficult to make, and I can crank them out pretty quickly at this point. I've recently branched out into making cards and magnets as well.
As for lit. tags, I made my own when I noticed several other deviants using the one I had. DrippingWords noticed and like it, and asked if I could make her one. I did so, and kept making them. It's very easy, and, again, kinda relaxing. Sometimes it's nice to do something creative that isn't writing.
11. You are the Founder of TheTitlePage. Tell us about this unique group, and how it helps to bring the literature community together in its own way!
The group is really just a repository for title poems - it's not a community togetherness place 
But if other title poets need inspiration, or help finding a good title, they'll find what they need there. It's very difficult to write a good title poem, so the group isn't especially active - it's a form you try when you feel like taking on something new, or want to feel challenged.
But if other title poets need inspiration, or help finding a good title, they'll find what they need there. It's very difficult to write a good title poem, so the group isn't especially active - it's a form you try when you feel like taking on something new, or want to feel challenged.12. Your deviant ID mentions several obsessions; “bones, space, autumn, hands, the sea, age, brevity, black holes, temperature, apocalyptic scenarios, trains…” Pick the one you are most passionate about, and tell us more?
That list was intended to be of things that keep popping up in my writing I like them all, but for different reasons. How about a space train made of bones that travels through black holes?
I like them all, but for different reasons. How about a space train made of bones that travels through black holes? Seriously though, I guess if I had to pick one of those things, it would either be space or age. Space because space is cool and there are lots of things for me to write about in interesting ways. Age because... I'm not sure why to be honest. It's one of those themes I keep coming back to, like I'm trying to figure something out.
13. Highlighted on your Profile, “SilverInkblot’s Silver Box” contains ten examples of your work that you say we should read. What is it about these works that make them special to you?
I tried to get a good variety of my abilities into that box. Three of them are early pieces that I'm still fond of; one is a recent piece of poetry; one is a title poem; one is prose poetry; and the last four are about a professor friend of mine. Of those, the pieces about the professor are the most special to me because, for the most part, they're pretty unfiltered descriptions of my own life and friendship with him. I've learned a lot about approaching nonfiction by writing about him, and a lot about myself as well.
If I had to pick a single piece, it would be either Stories of Feelings with No Names, or Old Souls. The first because I think it's some of the best writing I've ever laid down. I love prose poetry and working in second person, even though I don't do either very often. I worked and worked on that piece, and when I finished it, I didn't write anything at all for seven or eight months. It just shut me down that hard.
Old Souls meanwhile, is one of my professor pieces, and probably the most honest I've ever gotten in my writing. I was even imitating said professor's style when I wrote it, and for him, poetry is an attempt to get at a truth. Plus, I think it has a killer finishing line. I remember searching for an ending on that poem and when I found that, I knew I had it.
Prepared by StormBringer23 and Edges-to-Everything
Prepared by StormBringer23 and Edges-to-Everything
Skin by SimplySilent
i like the poems, the journals, the profile page, the bookmarks. i'm glad i'm one of her watchers.