Hello! My name is T. D. Fuhringer (my friends call me Teddy) and I'm a new member. I spent my twenties learning the craft of writing, even attended a creative writing course in college, but gave up due to family pressure and issues with my religion. I left my religion recently and my family no longer has a say in what I do. So I'm re-visiting writing. Getting started again is very hard, like working out after a major injury and a long period of inactivity. But I'm doing it. I enjoy writing prose and my favorite forms are novels and screenplays. I very much look forward to many positive discussions here with all of you. I'm particularly interested in the Science Fiction Short Story Contest being hosted here. Perhaps entering would be a good exercise for me. Thank you and best of luck to all! Teddy.
Welcome! And wow. You gave up your religion to write? That's dedication right there. Out of curiosity, may I ask which religion that was and what about it prevented you from writing?
I was one of Jehovahs Witnesses. I didn't give up my religion to write. I left my religion because I didn't believe it anymore. Ironically it was actually reading The Bible that led me to realize what I'd been taught from infancy wasn't true. But creative careers aren't compatible with the activities of Jehovahs Witnesses so I stopped writing. Now I'm back. Thanks for the friendly welcome!
Ohh, I see. That is very interesting. I admire you for being so resilient and brave. I noticed up there you mentioned having a hard time coming back; if you need any help with anything, please let me know.
Thanks J.C. Sometimes I just need like-minded people to share thoughts with. My family doesn't associate with me and my close friends, loyal and good people though they are, have no idea what it's like having a creative mind. They just don't get it sometimes. I wrote a piece of music recently and someone said, "Why would you waste your time doing that?". The answer? "The music was in me. I had to get it out."
No problem. I can definitely understand how you feel. My parents are the same way; they don't understand creativity at all and pretty much think it's a waste of time because they don't see how it can be profitable. My husband and best friend have tried to read my writing but I don't think they appreciate books all that much. They're supportive and understanding but they definitely don't get it. As for my brother and other friends, I don't even bother asking them because most of them have never even read a book (outside of school) in their entire lives. *Sigh*
I recently met someone who has never read a book. Not even in school. I didn't know that such a thing existed.
Oh my gosh, me either. Then again, one of my friends told me she couldn't imagine life without TV so... Not even textbooks?!
I mean, I'd imagine that he read snippets for information, but not the whole thing. Maybe the same goes for the novels he was assigned, but maybe he just Cliff's Notes'd it. Not entirely sure, just that he told me that he's never read a book.
Either way, it absolutely blows my mind how some people have never read a book at all. I remember in HS we had to read To Kill A Mockingbird and so many of my classmates just copied off of each other because they thought reading the book would be too hard.
Welcome to Writing Forums, Teddy! 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
