Hi everyone! Just thought I'd pop in here and introduce myself before I hound you all for advice and tips My name is James and I am 33 years old. I live with my wife and English Springer Spaniel near Leeds, West Yorkshire and I am a 3rd line broadband engineer. I've never been much of a reader; mainly fiction books when I do read (currently reading Ancestor by Scott Sigler). I've decided I am going to try to write a book. Not a fictional book, but instead an autobiography / self healing book based on my own experiences in life. Up until around 2 years ago, I never really knew how I had an addiction until I almost lost everything. Now I want to write a frank account of how I was able to trace back to where it started and how it developed throughout my life, so other people can see the signs and hopefully help them get through it and cut it out of their lives completely. The trouble is, I have no idea how to write one. Setting chapters, how it should flow... should I write the first part about my life, then a second part is all about analysing what I did? Should I write it as an autobiography and have 'break out boxes' where I can nip in and write my thoughts on things? I've only written 1300 words so far. Thanks everyone and I hope I don't bug you too much James
I think writing an autobiography is a magnificent idea. Writing can be healing for writers or even for someone who's never written anything in their life. I hope everything goes well for you. I'm very positive that you will get a lot of great advice & helpful tips here. I know I have. Happy writing, & good luck!
Welcome to Writing Forums, James! 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 requirments. 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. If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself and Cogito) 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
Thanks everyone So far I am enjoying writing this book - so much to put in, and I am thinking of new things all the time. James
