New to all of this!

Relax, and write to write not to get cherry picked. People who contribute a lot (in a loving way:-) and get known in the forums tend to get reviewed or at least read. take everything with a pinch of salt, nobody dies here, not even Philip. Be stronger in your own belief in yourself, just keep at it. Golden rules and formula make stilted writing, let your imagination go. Stimulate it by writing your reality if you need to, like the story you posted, but think how could you twist it, make it interesting, develop characters, use language. On saying that keep words, sentences simple to start off with, nothing worse than big words, the story is the thing, do I want to know what's going to happen to this person/situation/what keeps you reading? The short story competitions are good inspiration. Even if the ghost one is over, write a ghost story. Write about your favourite sandwich, anything, just write it out. Don't be afraid to go back and edit, that's all part of the process. Asking for feedback is v. brave, keep doing that but don't get down on yourself if nobody comes back, or it's not what you'd like to hear, just write to write, they are all busy writing themselves. It's not life or death and why should we know any better than you? This site is good for discipline and for setting goals and for inspiration and for some really witty forums, the regular people are all fabulous. Every one different. it's great. I'm not long joined myself but it has made me write a lot... good luck with it and welcome. H

Thanks H. All sounds like good advice to me. I find it all quite exciting really, I've not really delved into the area of writing properly before. Using this site will give me an opportunity to keep a log of my development and see how others tackle problems. Cheers M

hi welcome to our friendly writing community, have fun, keep writing and enjoy the ride.........

Welcome from someone who sometimes checks in and can't write at all but keeps trying!