My name is Jim. I am in Davenport, Iowa which is close to Peoria, where I think I saw someone is from. I just did a count and I have been rejected by publishers 352 times. My prose suffers from passive language, improper comma usage, and poor plotting and denoument. Just recently I have taken a realistic evaluation and I am improving things. I have a very odd dark humor story BABIES ARE SWEET under my pen name Chris Dean you can see if you Google the ezine Dog Oil Press. I want to thank you for letting me join your community. I also want to offer my experience as an inspiration to all of you, to wit: I've been rejected 352 times and I'm just gettin' started. Never falter, never quit. Thanks.
Ah, 352 rejections. Think of it as a reminder to strive to be your best at all given times. You'll be published before you know it. Welcome to the Writing Forums! Also, use those rejections to your advantage! Learn from your experiences. They're always a good side to a rejection, and every writer gets them
Hello Jim, 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!
