I've been a writer of some sort most of my life, and I joined here because I want to hone my skills. I'm a Texan currently living -- or is that serving exile? -- in Southern California. 45 years old, I'm a father, a musician, a Air Force veteran of Desert Storm (in the rear with the gear, no combat for me, thanks). I lived in Iran for four years in my youth, and witnessed the revolution which overthrew the Shah in 1979; this experience is the basis for the only complete book I've written, a coming-of-age story called Semaphores, which is unpublished. My primary means of artistic expression is guitar. I've played guitar for three decades and change, to little commercial success but much personal pleasure. I play mainly rock and blues, with some jazz and classical thrown in to appear educated when appropriate. I also play bass guitar (which is not the same instrument), and a little keys and drums. There's a link in my profile to some old demos I have up on Soundcloud for anyone interested. Writing songs was my first experience with creative writing outside school assignments. I try to write thoughtful lyrics, and always have, so it's good discipline for the craft in general: I must practice extreme economy, and still convey mood, imagery, message, and emotion. I've been writing songs as long as I've been playing, and poetry (as a means of honing my songcraft) through that time as well. I recently sent my book out to a couple of amateur writers I've met online, and they had kind words to say about it, along with urgings to try and publish it -- it has sat idle for ten years -- and so I'm in the process of another rewrite. More than any opinions on my writing, I joined because I want fresh perspective on the craft of writing. Because of this, I won't be posting much initially. I will strive to be a solid contributor here, and I think I have much to offer, but ultimately y'all will be the judge of that.
Welcome to Writing Forums, Thumpalumpacus! 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, Cogito, Lemex and Dante Dases) 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
Welcome, Thumpalumpacus! Interesting story. I was very pleased to see a native Texan spell "y'all" that way, as this once became quite a divisive issue with some friends of mine from TX, who insisted the proper spelling was "ya'll." Mine was considered the spelling of a Northerner, which was fine with me, having no particular desire to claim myself a Southerner. (Never lived in TX -- lived in NC for a couple years. Otherwise, IL, MD, MO, MA, NC, and PA.) Anyway, welcome! Look forward to seeing you on the boards. Liz
Hey, thanks, Liz. Edumacation isn't always our strong suit. That incorrect contraction drives me up the wall when I see it. Thankfully, I've never had anyone argue it with me. I can only imagine how frustrating that might be. Thanks for the welcome.
The argument was all in good fun. Their explanation was that the contracted letter taken out was the "a" in "all" and not the "ou" in "you." The "you" in the ya'll spelling was not in fact, "you" but "ya" as in "see ya later." Despite understanding their point, I never agreed.
welcome to the group, thump! i was much impressed by your edit of a piece in a 'reviewing' section thread... if you write as well as you edit/revise [which i'm guessing you probably do, based on that], your book should have a good chance of making it... if i can be of any help, don't hesitate to drop me a line any time... love and welcoming hugs, maia
Thanks for the warm welcome, Maia, and the kind words are certainly appreciated. I'm pretty self-conscious about my own work. I finished the first draft in 2001, gave it a rewrite, and polished it here and there, but I see its flaws all too clearly, which is why I've been so diffident about trying to see its publication. It's a good basic story, and it has moments where I'm happy with the writing, but it can be better. I'll definitely be putting pieces of it it up here for critique. I've serialized it in a couple of other (non-writers') forums, and the only writer to have opined didn't strike me as particularly insightful. Judging from the critiques I've read here so far, I'm sure to benefit much from the collective skill y'all bring to bear, and hope to offer thoughtful posting as a quid pro quo. I do appreciate the kind welcome.
i'm sorry to hear you 'serialized' it... didn't you know that would limit your ability to get it accepted by a paying publisher? after all, who'd want to pay for something that's out on the internet, available to be read for free?
I didn't know that, no. I'm a mod at one of the places, so I can kill the thread there myself; and the other, I'm sure that I could get the thread sequestered. The "serialization" was into open threads where comments are entertained. I'm not sure if that has any bearing on it, though. A paying publisher reprints books that are available at the library all the time, too. At any rate, I hadn't considered getting any money at all out of it, so I'm not put out.
