Hi, I am hoping this forum is the right place. I need to find my motivation, I need to find my words, I need to find my courage, I need to find my path. I am hoping I can find those things here. I have been tossing around (in my head) a couple of writing ideas for a few years now. One being a memoir, the other more of a social fiction. Some say I am to young to have a memoir, but if you can imagine Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone" meets Jeanette Walls' "Glass Castles", it makes sense and should be doable. Now to just do it. I am going to dive in to all of the projects, reading/writing assignments I can and see what happens. And just a warning......I will probably be asking many, many questions. Thanks again for being here, CC
A quick test for whether you are in the right place, do you want to a) learn to make dragons out of folded paper ? b) pick up chicks (or guys) for casual no commitment hook ups ? c) write and talk about writing ? if you answered a) you probably wanted talk origami, but i'm afraid its folded , you answered b) you probably wanted talk lecherous old bastards, which is at the end of the hall, turn left... while if you answered c) yes you are in the right place, welcome...
I've personally learned a lot here since I joined, mostly through specific and pointed questions, but also from critiquing other work, oddly enough. Pretty great community I think, and plenty of knowledgeable people to help and add their thoughts. My writing has already improved in just a few weeks. My only piece of advice is to take criticism and absorb it, no matter how harsh it may seem at the time. Not that anyone is technically harsh, more like just blunt and straightforward. Some people sugar coat their critique too, but I prefer it straight.
Welcome, @rccampbell! Take a look at our New Member Quick Start to get a quick introduction to what the forum has to offer. As regards writing programs, there is not a single program that is better than all others. It's all up to personal preference. To get an idea of what different programs have to offer, I advise you take a look at the Software sub-forum. The 'Is there a "best writing program"?' thread in particular is very informative, and we also have separate threads for Scrivener and other applications. (Also, don't fall in the "Word is best because it is the industry standard" trap. Pretty much every word processor that exists can export documents in Word format (.docx), so you should choose the word processor that works best for your particular writing style/process.) Enjoy
Also a newbie here! Super excited to see people with similar motivations for joining as I have. I look forward to hearing more about your projects and all being well I hope we can learn a a lot from eachother as writers!
