Hello, A photographer for more than twenty years and making a respectful living at it, I am trying a new adventure, writing. My name is Ronald. English was my worst subject in most of my school years, as an aspiring writer, my past efforts have haunted me. Now, wishing the attention were spent more on my English academics, writing is a challenge because more time is spent learning what should have been learned years ago, grammar. Aside from joining this forum, my time is spent reading books on writing while trying to create several short stories and maybe a novel. Any help is greatly appreciated. This is my first writing forum and not too sure what to expect. I hope to learn and develop better writing skills so that one day my work will be published. My writing varies. One day I wrote a short story about an incident that happened to me while driving home from a business trip and a few weeks later wrote a story about a provocative event between a couple and a waitress they met while dining. Hats off to all of you that have been published. Ronald
Well I am very pleased to welcome you to WF.org then. I am sure that here you will find exactly what you are looking for and if there is something that you can't find here then let us all know and we will work together to help you find it. Don't worry too much about what to expect, everyone here is really friendly and extremely helpful. So just hollar if you need any help at all and one of the members will be sure to answer your call. I look forward to seeing you around the board and if you would like a review of anything then simply PM one of us reviewers and we will be more than happy to help you out. Well have fun and relax. See you around the board. Torana
Writing is a challenge you say; you'd be right! Though hopefully we can help each other out. You've come to the right place. I look forward to watching you blossom.
Hello Ronald, and welcome to the Writing Forums. The day that writing is not challenging is the day to stop doing it. Having said that, I don't think you'll find too much of a challenge in terms of sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, at least from what I see in your introduction. I recommend picking up a writers' handbook or two - I like Strunk and White's The Elements of Style and The Little, Brown Handbook, and The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers. All three are invaluable references, and the more you use them starting out, the less you will need them moving ahead. Take a look around the site, and get acquainted with the features and with the people who comprise the site. Community Interaction is always a good starting point for both generally meeting people and finding fun challenges to test and build upon your writing skills. As in photography, you'll find your own style; lighting, placement of elements to compose a scene, and utilizing highlights and shadows to best advantage. There are guidelines, but few absolute rights or wrongs. Continual improvement is the goal. but it's also valuable to be wildly experimental sometimes. I hope you find what you are looking for, as well as some unexpected treasures. And, because writing takes plenty of effort, be sure to have fun!
Gannon, Thanks for the advice. Before posting, I will be careful and selective when making postings of stories or paragraph ideas for novels. I wanted to thank you before I would have made such an error, as maybe loosing money for first-rights on an piece. Thank you
