Hi all, I am lazzycat, a new member here. I am so excited to find this place and eager to make friends with all of you. I am from China and have been in Southern California for about one year. I am an ESL learner now and would like to improve my English writing skills by posting my own writings and reviewing others'. Therefore, please do not hesitate to correct my mistakes made in my writings. This will definitly help me improve my writing skills. Hope we can have fun and make big progress together!
Hello L Cat, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Posting your own work 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. 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 reviewing as a critical 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). 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 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!
Hey Lazzycat! Welcome aboard. Don't worry, there are plenty of people here who will be quick to correct your writings .....but that's what we're all here for....right? Opinions matter too, so even if you can't find anything technically wrong with a piece be sure to tell the contributor how you feel about it. Dive right in!
