I wanted to introduce myself because I plan on using this forum heavily now that I've found it. My name is Chris, I'm 29 years old, and I live outside of Pittsburgh. I've been writing for most of my life, and that's no joke. I remember sitting on the floor of the multi-purpose room in elementary school listening to a woman named Joanna Hurwitz speak about writing. She wrote specifically for children, of course, and still does. I made contact with her only about a year ago and was very glad to exchange emails with the woman that initially inspired me to write. I remember feeling certain, even at that age (6 or 7) that I wanted to do what she was talking about and it was a very real feeling. It bore no resemblance to the answer that I had hastily responded with when my Kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her I wanted to be a baseball player because I couldn't think of anything else, but I had never been sold on that (shortly into my school years I realized that I'm terrible at any kind of sport). When I thought of writing I got kind of a heady, butterflies-in-the-stomach kind of feeling- the closest thing to love that I could wrap my mind around at that point. And I still love it. The difference is that I feel I've finally matured in many ways and that, finally, my relationship with what I write is not one-sided. I finally have found a way to let go of the control, be ambivalent about the result, and allow the story to tell itself. As a result, I feel more confident in the projects that I've undertaken recently, and I also feel drawn to posting what I have for feedback and reading what others have written. The main project that I'm working on at this point is a book that has been clunking around in my head for quite some time, and it's the reason that I've signed up with this site. I'd love some feedback on it. I think I'm also longing to be apart of a community that understands what it's like; people that don't write don't know what it means to be a writer, and they certainly don't understand the emotional experience that it can often be. So, in any case, that's my introduction. I look forward to meeting everyone here and having the opportunity to share ideas, criticism, and success. Chris
Hi cberie1982, Welcome! What a thoughtful introduction. Your energy and enthusiasm will surely be an asset to this forum. I look forward to reviewing your work. Cheers, Rae
Thanks, Rae! I appreciate that. I'm glad to be here. I hope to be a help and to be helped as well. I look forward to reading your work as well. Chris
Welcome to Writing Forums, Chris! 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 and Cogito) 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
