Hi folks. My name is Terry, aka "Jammer" and I am a single 45 year old unemployed dreamer in the foothills of Kentucky. I love the mountains here and find the countryside to be very inspirational for the creative juices. For most of my life I have been a dreamer and have gone from job to job, and even at this age it seems I may never find the right lady. Anyway, my dreams have mostly been music related, yet as far as I have got has been free MP3 solo instrumentals and internet radio airplay of my best work. It was always my intentions to be able to support myself in the music industry by this time, but after all of these years I have concluded perhaps God has other plans for me. I am NOT a very good speller, nor is my grammar so good. It is my hope that creativity and lots of proof reading might help me write my first book. I have always love to write and have been a regular forum poster for over 12 years. I realize that posting things online, writing blogs etc. is not the same thing as writing a book, but I can not lose this feeling that I have a story to tell. I feel as if I have a book in my head, and currently I have the time to do it. I only hope that I am not making a mistake with this notion of attempting to become a writer of fiction. I'm sure some others can relate to the feeling of looking back on one's life and longing to be given a new chance at life to get it right the first time around. I learned some hard lessons in my attempts at trying to write and produce original alternative genre solo instrumentals on my favorite musical instrument- the banjo. So I want to turn my failures around and put my story down the way I had dreamed of. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to maybe becoming a regular reader of the forums here. I have much to learn and I am eager to write. I am only getting started at this stage, but I have got things moving. I got to a point in my writing that I realize it might be a good idea to learn some badly needed skills that I lack. I hope the good members here can be understanding and helpful. I sure could use some advise on creative writing. Lastly, I wish to write a GOOD book, one that I can get published and make a profit from. Thanks, ' my best to the Admin, mods and all the members here. Terry
Hello Terry, Welcome to the Writing Forums. 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 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!
Terry, welcome to the WF. You really have come to the right place to hone your writing skills. I've only been here for two weeks and I already feel I can write a little better. (A little)
Thank You Thanks to you all for being so nice. Cogito, I will do my best to heed your advise as well. I'm am afraid I already have got off to a bad start here due to a major misunderstanding in one of my first thread posts here. Already I am realizing how easy it is to give the wrong impression due to poorly chosen words. I hope I can avoid such mistakes in the future and I apologize to all that seemed to of been taken by my thread about using old radio shows for inspiration for plot development. As a simple song writer I know all too well the fear of somebody else stealing my own ideas and works of music. Unfortunately my choice of words in my post at issue were bad and already it seems some mistook one of my first posts to imply it was a good idea to write down word for word the dialog of old radio shows to be used as one's own work. I am very sorry for giving such a terrible first impression. I apologize for not being more sensitive in my wording in the thread and hope the good members will not judge me on what was entirely my fault for choosing the wrong words to express what I meant to be taken as an idea for inspiration for plot development, not plagiarism! My best to everyone. I look forward to going forward here by being more sensitive to the authors here and chosen my words more wisely. Thank you for your understanding and warm welcomes. Terry
No harm. It was, as you say, a matter of wording. The clarification was as much for other people who read the thread as for you.
Afer a Few Weeks Here.. Update: Ok, Please do not take this as a silly post to bump this old intro thread to the top. I sure would not choose THIS thread if I had wanted to bump any!! I thought it would be "cool" to post what I have found out in the WEEK I had on here for any brand new member to read, then maybe Ill bury the post again by replying to some new member threads here. I have found that this really is THE site for learning how to better write a book. Actually it's a great site to learn how to improve writing of almost any type, and that includes non book writings such as lyrics and poems etc. Write almost anything really! I also learned we have some great people here, some seem to stay in the dark a bit, while others like me love to post a lot. What this site is NOT: OK, please nobody flame me to death on this one- I find this may not be the very best site on the business side of marketing and selling books. I guess that's just not the purpose of this site. After I found other sites that deal directly with the boring quickly outdated book sales stats and advise on the business side of marketing and selling books and other types of writing, even sites that do a great deal of work to break down the demographics of what kind of book sales good/bad and where, I believe by taking all of this information together with all that THIS SITE has to offer any newbie writer should have all we need to move forward, no matter what one wishes to write about, and if making $$ is in one's dreams so be it. The other sites related to the business side of selling written material very well and they compliment the skills offered on this site very well imho. Together this site and the sites about the business of selling books were very interesting to me to read. Each site seems to have it's own expert nich, such as the obvious nich this site has. That's all. I post this in case any brand new member is curious what a member may think of this site after a week. I still believe this is one of the best sites to improve your writing skills at and most members as very understanding and respectful. I still need to get my guts up to share some of my writings for others to review however. I am one of the minority that is hesitant to post my writings, not in copyright fear (as in losing my chance of full copyright due to public display) but I happen to be a very emotional man and I sometimes read too much in what others might find wrong. It's something I have been trying to deal with since a little boy. Now I better see what new members we have on board! (c) 2010 - A Jammer Production - All Rights Reserved to do what you wish, but I prefer the context not be dismantled and the post stay in full and I get credit for my own words. [JUST JOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] I just wanted to practice copyrighting, that's all.
