I could give you my life story, but let's skip to the bit about writing. Last year I was in Japan working as an English instructor. I would teach one to one English conversation to mainly business people and university students. The way this worked was I would submit a schedule of when I wanted to teach and the clients would have their choice from the available instructors. This meant that on a good day I could get to work for ten in the morning and teach non stop until ten at night. Not all days were good though and quite often I would have a few lessons in the morning and then nothing until the evening leaving me with a lot of spare time hanging around waiting. Usually I would chat to another free instructor, eat junk food or surf the web. Around October time I decided that I could be doing something constructive with this free time and decided to give creative writing a go. I wrote for hours on that first day, creating a number of short story's that seemed to pour out of me effortlessly. Writing became my secret passion, and on good days I would write and on others I would stare at blank pages waiting eagerly for the next story to materialize. Sometimes one of the other instructors would pop in to see me and I would hide my note pad from view. Yes, despite the enjoyment I got from writing I was extremely uncomfortable with the thought of anyone actually reading my work. I continued being a secret writer until recently when I got drunk and read a few story's to my girlfriend. The next morning I felt dirty and full of regret that my secret was out. As the hangover passed however, I realized that I was now able to seek feedback on my work and hopefully become a better writer. My worry was that I was not going to get honest feedback from my family and friends. Of course they were going to say they liked my work, and also non of them were writers themselves so how were they going to give me useful advice? That is what brings me here lady's and gentlemen, I look forward to being an active member of this community and look forward to interacting with you all. Thank you for reading, Fran Canning
Hi Fran, Welcome to the site. Writing is obviously a very personal thing to you and it can be hard to show people your work (and even harder to receive critique.) Have a look around the site as a lot of questions you have may have already been asked. Good luck with your writing
Hello Fran, Welcome to the Creative Writing Forums. Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Writing Workshop, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Writing Workshop, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Writing Workshop forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
Welcome to the forums, Fran! We would love too see your vivacious personality expressed on this website. Enjoy your stay!
