Sorry Folks, I am not young vibrant and filled with new ideas. I am old, bent, wrinkled and grey with absolutely no street cred whatsoever. At the moment I am still alive, I've pinched myself to check. My hobby in retirement is a horse whose name is DiDi. She keeps discarding me and on each occasion I fall to the ground in a very inelegant way. Her predecessor was Joe, a black heavyweight cob. He dumped me too. I have written numerous short stories about both of them. My original idea was to learn how to put a book together which maybe a publisher might one day buy and distribute. I have already given up the dream of selling such a book but I have retained the idea of creating it. Joe lives on in my head and he refuses to go on to fresh pastures in the sky until I produce the book. He nags. The anecdotes I write about these two equines are fundamentally factual but I must confess that the facts are nearly always embellished with fiction. It has been a long time, almost 56 years, since I studied grammar. You guys are going to tear me apart. Be gentle with an Old Man.
Hello Barry, Welcome to the Writing Forums. It appears you do have a few years on me. Don't worry, grammar hasn't changed THAT much over the years. 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!
welcome, barry!... you may not have any years on a 71-year-old, but it's always nice to have company here, in the 'elder' range... let me know if i can be of any help to you in getting that book finished/polished and in print... love and hugs, maia
