Hello, and good to be here. Just found this site the other day when I was poking around and trying to see if there was anything out there besides Reddit for discussing writing and everything that goes into it. Some brief backstory: I've done a lot of writing, but mainly stuffy academic type works, and after my PhD thesis, I feel like I've had just about enough of that for a lifetime. In 2020 when I found myself with a bit of time on my hands, I sat down and started to flesh out a plotline I had in my head, then a month and 80k words later, I realised that maybe I could finish a project after all. Then I started a second in the series, and now I'm working on books 4 & 5. Mind you, they're all still sitting on my hard drive while I obsessively re-read and tweak things, but I might have to stick a pin in them at some point. I'm unsure where I want to go with them, and I might solicit some rejection letters at some point, but hopefully I'll have some sort of idea one day. I'm going with a pen-name, just so things don't bleed over into my real life. Somehow I found myself writing romance thrillers, which would be oh-so-embarrassing for the family to find out, but I've also tossed around the idea of stripping them back into just thrillers. Time will tell. I look forward to helping out here with critiques, and I'll probably do some of those until I get over the mental block that's keeping me from sharing anything, plus I'd like to build up some good will in the community first. It looks like a chill place, which is a rarity on the internet these days (or ever), so cheers in advance.
Wonderful, welcome to the site! Don't worry about sharing - no one will be mean or judgemental to you here (if they are, the mods will quickly sort that out). I understand though that sometimes harsh critique can be difficult to take, but we've all been there. Personally, I like it when people are harsh - as long as they can *explain* why they are, because that helps me improve. I'd prefer someone to tell me they didn't like my story because my main character lacks personality (and I got that a *lot* when I was starting) than to have them just say "it sucked", or a bland compliment "nice story". Hopefully, you'll feel comfortable enough to share soon!
