Hello, I'm just over 50, male and from Scotland. I used to write fiction with, mostly, fantasy elements as a hobby years (decades?) ago and had a few short stories published on the web. But at some point my fiction writing just sort of drifted away. Although I never really saw a time where I would have said I intentionally stopped. I think it mainly happened when my career accidentally slid into full-time computer applications development. Most of my creativity began being eaten up at work. I then started to write indie and Home-Brew computer games as a hobby for a while, and that took over from fiction writing. I've have a couple of small PC based 'Indi' games published, in now defunct sites, along with a handful of Home-Brew games for the MB Vectrex console on compilation cartridges. I'm currently working on releasing one of these games as a full stand-alone cartridge release. I'm also interested in drawing, painting, poetry and hobby electronics making. Although I wouldn't say I'm all that good at ether. I'm still interested in games programming as a hobby, but as I get older I'd like to finish that Novel I started way back when. I've been spurred on to get the ball rolling again by finding a load of my old resources I've already written for the Novel, along with a lot of unfinished and finished but unpublished short stories I'd written. Probably the newest being around 2013. That would be some of the last stuff I've done. So that's me then
Hey there whippersnapper! Got ya beat by 7 years. I'm also into drawing, painting, dabbled very briefly in electronics (just for one project really, can hardly even call it dabbling) and a smattering of poetry, free verse I suppose. Creativity doesn't like to be constrained, does it? It breaks free—life will find a way. Sorry, sometimes I fall into Goldlbum Mode. Welcome to our little homestead on the digital frontier.
Hi GarryG I’m one of the forum moderators, and I want to welcome you to the forum. You're a young whippersnapper indeed. I'm turning 71 next week, and wondering wha hoppen? I also live in Scotland, just south of Glasgow, although I've 'only' been here for 34 years. At least at the age of 71 I'm no longer eligible for jury duty here. Every silver lining has a cloud. You certainly have done a lot of different things in your life thus far. A job alteration can disrupt your daily routine and daily encounters. The first thing that can suffer is creativity. It's great that you want to get back to a novel which, I presume, has been cooking in your subconscious all this time. You might be more ready to 'go' with it than you realise. If there any kind of inspiration (or cyber boot up the backside) we can offer you, don't hesitate to ask. Anyway, Moderator spiel follows: In order to help you get oriented and get settled, here are a couple of links I strongly recommend that you read at the start, if you haven’t already. They will give you a good idea of how we operate here on the forum: New Member Quick Start Forum Rules You will notice in the New Member Quick Start that in order to post your writing in the Workshop area—the only area of the forum where you are allowed to post your writing and ask for feedback—you will need to do at least two critiques for other people, in exchange for receiving feedback on one of your own. This site is designed around the concept of members helping each other out by ‘paying it forward’—through our two-for-one critique system. So do two critiques, THEN you can post something of your own. This advance 2:1 ratio lasts as long as your membership here—although it is your own responsibility to keep track of your own ratio. The software doesn't keep track of it, beyond your first two critiques. In order to help you get started doing critiques, here is a link to a good article written by one of our former moderators: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/constructive-critiques.20627/ One of the popular areas of our forum is our contest section. There is a monthly contest running for Short Stories, Flash Fiction and Poetry. You can enter these ongoing contests, even as a new member. If you do write some poetry, as you've indicated, this Poetry Contest might be of interest to you. We really encourage you to visit the site, read the current entries, and vote for your favourite when the voting period starts. This means a lot to the people who have written these entries. And it will also give you a good idea of what our members are capable of writing. https://www.writingforums.org/writing-contests/ While the Role Playing Game section is not new, it’s being given a revamp. So if you are interested in playing and writing Role Playing Games—which you certainly seem to be—you might want to visit this section and get in on the fun (or offer advice.) https://www.writingforums.org/threads/resurrecting-the-dead-rpg-section-rebuild.165055/ I hope you have fun getting to know us and let us get to know you, via the posts you make. Please feel free to explore the forum. There is a lot under the hood. This site map might help you find your way around more quickly than the menu bars do, so feel free to use it. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/ If you encounter any difficulties, don’t hesitate to contact me or one of the other moderators, whose names appear in yellow at the bottom of the Community page. We will be glad to help. Again, welcome! Cheers for now, Jan
