Noticing Newbies 1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com We hope all members of the site will take the time to read, rate, review and welcome our new authors. By introducing ourselves, reviewing items and reaching out, we will not only make them feel at home within our community, we just might make new friends! Your host this week: bianca_b Passionate about writing? Take your passion to new heights - with an online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, available only from top ranked National University. Choose workshops based on your interests. Work with experienced and published faculty. Prepare for a variety of career opportunities. Use a state-of-the art online system: Study where and when you want. Click here to get more information! My oh my! What a strange period this was. Besides the normal things of life we had to deal with the fact that going to school can be stressful. I had to get my son from school twice, while he had a terrible headache. This was caused by the fact that the kids in his class are more fighting than playing. And the teacher was invisible, so you know what happens then. We went with him to the doctor, to be sure that his headaches weren't migraine headaches. In fact I am glad that it wasn't migraine, because I know too well what it means to have migraine. Instead tension headaches needed our attention. So we had to talk to school - for the xxx time (I lost count there) and as result we managed to get him back to school for the mornings. I have to pick him up at luchtime, and when we come home, we'll eat, and then he has to take some rest. We can see improvement; though it goes slowly. This stressy situation is reflecting on my writing. I can start a story, but there are a few unfinished stories that I have to end... I lost track of the story line, while by the time that I can write, I'm so tired that I fall down to sleep. Or - that is the disadvantage of having one computer at the moment... my husband needs to work at the computer - making schedules for his team etc... Work that has to be done; we'll need to pay the bills and feed the kids, just like anyone else. So I picked up the old fashioned pen and paper. My notepad is lying on my desk, and I write down ideas. Not more than ideas, just ideas. Now and then a poem flows out if I am lucky and that is it... Up to all this enjoyment is the fact that there are some lovely viruses going over the world. I lost some drivers this week, so I had to reinstall Windows again. I read that Microsoft has put a reward on the "heads" of the makers... personally I hope they can get the ones who created these viruses and bring them to court. It has delayed some of the things I had to do, and I really hate that, when deadlines are approaching. But they don't care. Good... I received a question... p.i.e asks: Hi There! My name is P.i.e and I LOVE WRITING! I like singing also, but, not as much as writing!How did you start your career of writing? I need help because I want to be a writer with my books also, in the ,and around, the world! Advice? I know it's also spelling, and stuff like that, but, I know how to do all that! I need help on like getting my career started, because if you want something, you have to take it while you can! No matter what! Please help me! P.i.e Well... I hope I can help a tiny little bit... Most important is that you take the time to write. I started writing a long time ago in my native language, and in English since 2000. In my opinion it is important to listen to feedback. People here, who read your work are willing to point out little errors in grammar or punctuation. Take the time to read them; correct them. You'll see that it will improve your work. What could be helpful is to work with writing prompts. In our country they call it "freewriting". You can find daily prompts given in "The Writer's Cramp" by Sophurky They can inspire you to write things you've never written before; and - more important - they can help you find in which direction you would like to go. Now comes the more difficult part: Submit your work to a publisher when you are absolutely sure that it is perfect. The publisher must be so absolutely impressed that he/she would like to print it immediately. Most publishers are very hard in the judgements of the manuscripts they get. For them it is easier to send out a rejection letter, than to read a boring manuscript. I have to be honest... even I have goals set for myself. I am working on getting published in my country as well. Competition is tough; they rather publish a well-established author who writes crap, than a new, unknown author who has written a masterpiece. Your question however is a good one - I'll make your question my editorial for the Noticing newbies newsletter. I truely hope you'll get started and will find your way around here... Warm regards, Bianca My Poetry-selection for this week: (LOL...this is espcially for you carlton607
I also wanted to point your attention in the direction of two new contests - a challenge for writers!
And another contest, especially for newbies!!!
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! %%NL_AD_BOT%% Responses: frodosmom: In answer to your question about editing after I am done or if I edit as I go...I tend to edit as I go. I like to spell correctly first time if I can catch them all. Of course I also edit after I am done just to be sure on my first read through my piece reads well and what I intended to say comes through clearly. This method works for me! This can be a good method. Usually the spell checker underlines directly what I write wrong, so the first edit is definitely done while writing. It might be good though, to edit afterwards, especially with punctuation. I found that - especially when working in different languages - punctuation rules can be confusing...do I have to place a comma or not? Mostly these things are corrected in the edit when you are done writing your piece. In my case it usually works to let someone read it for me; the editor usually points out the problems and make them visible for me. Every author has to find his or her way in this. asankar:I'm not a newbie but I sometimes still feel like one so it's a good thing I subscribe to this newsletter! Thanks for reminding me about the Writer's Cramp! I need to go and try that out again. Sometimes it's easy to forget all the cool contests there are online on writing.com when you have not been logging in regularly! Thanks again! Our pleasure! Have a question or comment for the Editor? http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |