I really want to get opinions on my work from other people then friends and family. But I am too scared to post it in fear of it being considered self-published.
Find some people to exchange with via email. I'd be happy to help, and I know Mallory is usually open to it as well. I would not post anything in these forums where there is even a possibility you might want to publish, and even if you don't there's no good reason to lose control over your creative works.
Now I just need to get over my irrational fear of sending my work to someone I don't know personally. Haha.
Sendustravaillusphobia. A common phenomenon. I've seen it destroy people. Slowly. (This is all nonsense.) But I would be willing to help too; I'll just put my email address on my profile so you could find it. Feel free to ignore the offer though, but it would do me great pleasure to read and review it. And I promise I'll be nice.
if you email me i'll be happy to send you feedback from some of the thousands who got over that fear and sent me their work to learn how to improve it... i can also put you in touch with a couple who won't mind being emailed by you, to make sure i'm not just writing my own recommendations... fyi, those who come to me for private help almost all come from this and the other writing sites where i help out on a regular basis... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
I have just browsed your website, my fears have been washed away. I will spend this morning tightening up the first three chapters to the best of my ability, and then shoot them over to you. @Timothy and Steer, I will most likely get your opinions after I get, so to speak, "sent through the wash" I also realize now that my fear is irrational due to I only having three chapters done. So there is nothing to steal, haha. Plus, no one knows how to finish the book, let alone the next six in the series, but me.
Instead of posting the writing you ant to publish, write something specifically for crritique. Apply your best writing habits, and put the sample up for critique. Any critique worth a damn can be extrapolated to improve *all* your writing. For the record, it is against the site rules to post requests for private critique. Members may offer it (preferably NOT posted), but members may not requerst it. JHunter didn't quite violate this rule, but it was a near thing.
