Hey there, So I joined back in 2014. I really miss forums. This one is a bit big and quite crowded but I am sure Ill find a nice corner by the fire and some friends to talk to. Back in 2014 I had recently completed the first draft of a story and was looking for beta readers. I was headstrong and obstinate and had trouble editing the damn thing. Now I am an English teacher, freshly graduated with a MA in Education. And, while many people look down their nose at what universities teach you about education, I learned a lot to become a better person, writer, and of course educator. I finally feel like I can revisit the works of my younger self and blast through the insecurities that kept me from polishing up my writing. I write themes of LGBTQ+, neurodivergency, abuse, neglect, differently-abled, and such like. Fantasy is my go to, and YA is my passion. I have several works in progress, and rewrites of older work. A core belief in my writing is that there is no wrong way to go about it. While I will comment difficulties I have in reading a work, I feel any writing (no matter how shitty a first draft it is) is good writing. So please keep up the good work of putting those words on a page! I am here to support you! If you are interested in publishing and you wish for more critical review of your work, just let me know and I'll put my education to work for you. But only if you ask. I am a huge fangirl, mother, wife, sister, and all around artist. Well that's me, guess I'll see you all around. P.S. I am autistic and generally communicate via feeling and concept so some sometimes my spelling sucks, but Ill try to make sure I edit my posts for the most part. T.T I know how to spell, my brain just gets mixed up sometimes.
Lovely to have you back! And in a different set of circumstances as well. You have demonstrated one of my favourite bits of advice - get distance on your writing if you want to edit it well. It's true that it's a lot easier to make changes once you have kinda forgotten what made you write it in the first place. I also like your emphasis on improving work, rather than discarding imperfect work. I totally agree with that. I have never bought into the often voiced notion that 'your first novel is always shit'—meaning you should just walk away and write another one instead. Yeah, a first draft is very likely to be 'shit', but if you stick with it and make it work, it not only won't be shit, but you'll end up with a novel to be proud of. And a very good writing habit installed as well. Anyway, big welcome back. I'm sure your teaching expertise will be a great help to the forum, when it comes to critiques, etc. Go for it. As far as your spelling goes, I certainly didn't see any errors here. Don't worry about it. Spelling is something that's extremely easy to correct.
Glad to hear you're feeling more confident now and revisiting your old work. So many folks chuck it away when they dont like one small aspect of it, when there was a good reason you liked the idea enough to write it in the first place.
