Hello everyone, I am a lady from the UK, and this is my first post on WF, so hello all! I have only discovered the joys of forum's this year, joining one in Jan - (not writing related), and loved every minute of it. From the info you can learn, and the friends it can bring with people who have the same interests. My next challenge is to become a writer, I work and have kids, so I thought, what better way than to learn at home, alongside other writers. To be quite honest, my english is not the best, I have huge holes in my spelling, grammer and punctuation. I left school at 15, with a low english grade, so have some catching up to do. I believe I have a good imagination, good vocab, and loads of perseverance, which I am hoping will start me on the right path to success. I have had a poem published years ago in my twentys in an antholgy of Poems, which was lovely to see in print, I will be building on this success, wish to try short stories for magazines, along with my other ultimate passion - fantasy fiction novels. Will be looking forward to meeting you all , and picking up tips! JJ
Hello JJ, Welcome to the Writing Forums. I won't lie to you. If you wish to be a writer, you will have to master spelling, punctuation, and grammar. From what I see in your intro post, you may not be as bad in those areas as you think, although there were a couple mistakes. Please read How to Use the Review Room before you post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here. 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 Review Room, 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 Review Room, 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. The Review Room 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 Review Room 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!
Thank you Cogito, I have read and digested the forum rules, all looks good to me, I will behave! Yes, could be a slight drawback , posting on a forum where the average poster , will have very good spelling eagle eyes! (how we love PC's with spellcheck).
Welcome, JJ! It's nice to meet someone else who's traveling the "learn at home" route! Take care, Patty
It's nice to meet you, JJ! I'm new here too, so you can be my rival. Nothing wrong with a little imaginary competition.
