Greetings, fellow writers. I'm new to this forum, but certainly not new to writing. I've been at it since I was a child and had always planned to write full time. My problem is discipline. I'm hoping that by being involved in a community with like-minded individuals it will help me become a better writer and keep me motivated. I look forward to meeting everyone. Thanks for having me
Welcome to Writing Forums, NellaFantasia! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
I have a lot of issues with discipline, too. I'm very lazy... about everything. I don't think I've edited a chapter of my friend's novel in a year now. I don't think I've worked (substantially) on my own novel in longer than that. I got kicked out of a writing course because I hadn't sent in my assignment for so long! I hadn't considered this forum as possibly being a motivator and I thank you for bringing up that idea. I'd just been hoping for feedback. But maybe, just maybe, if I get involved enough with this community, I'll find some of my long lost motivation. Have you ever heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? I was competing with a friend in that and had no problem pumping out a massive word count (100k+). I can write, even prolifically. It's just that elusive motivation that trips me up... I hope you find what you're looking for (and then some).
Thank you for the welcome everyone. Thanks! I actually have heard of NaNoWriMo. I've participated in it since '06. While it certainly gets me excited for writing, even then it's always a toss up on whether or not I'm going to get anything accomplished. For instance, this last November I wrote 50k. The year before that? I wrote 3k...A horrible, horrible failure. And there wasn't anything different (in fact, I was busier this last November than I was the November before). It was just lack of determination, I suppose. I hope you find your motivation as well. I don't know about you, but whenever I talk about writing or see other people talking about it, it always gets me excited for it. Maybe it'll be the same for you. And I will be looking out for your writing here.
This last November was only my third NaNoWriMo. I've beaten it each year, though (especially with this last year) it's generally due to the fact that I'm competing with a friend of mine. She is insanely prolific with her writing and I try to beat her at least during NaNo. I think I've succeeded each time. I may not have produced anything worthwhile but I at least wrote. I had the motivation. Now I just need to find a way to have it outside of a single month each year! I've never really been in a situation where I'm around other people talking about writing. Well, I suppose I have. Usually my stupid brain just translates that as a highlight of my failure to produce and it becomes a negative experience. I have chemical issues that I really need to work on. Maybe this place can help me correct it at least to some degree.
I have a writer friend as well, but she's as bad as I. We both started a new story last summer with the intention to write at least 500 words a day and to push whoever didn't feel like doing it. It worked for a month or so, then we both decided to take up procrastination (okay, I think I was the first one who did) and somehow we didn't talk about it again until NaNo. I'd love to have someone who's more prolific, as you say, as I think I need that shove to keep me going. Otherwise it feels like the blind leading the blind. Well, if you ever feel like talking one-on-one to someone about writing instead of a mass of people, feel free to message me. I love talking about it, or answering questions, or what have you.
Welcome to Writing Forums, NellaFantasia! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
