NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

@alixinitalix welcome

@rw-span welcome

@patricia-a If your writing is anything like your singing, you will be awesome!

@rw-span Thank you, that's very kind! 😊

@rw-span Hello there and welcome to the forum!

I created this account way back in 2020 but always forgot to post. Let's fix that. I'm Eli, I've been learning a lot just by lurking around here, but I'm wanting to step up my writing. Nice to meet all of you. 

Posted by: @errantjones

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I'm Eli, I've been learning a lot just by lurking around here, but I'm wanting to step up my writing. Nice to meet all of you. 

Welcome

@errantjones 

Welcome, Eli! Sounds like you already know the ropes, so thanks for coming out of the shadows! There's lots of help here if we can *see* you. Enjoy upping your game and best of success on your writing!

@errantjones Happy to have you on board!

Hello, my name is Richard Michael Breen. (I go by my middle name ). I hope to go by the pen name of R. Michael. B ( someday ) LOL.  I'm very new to this whole writing thing. I have been writing for a while but have never shared it with anyone until the last year or so. I put in a very short story (around 2900 words) for Q3, and, like others, I am waiting with bated breath on the Q3 results. I just put in a more robust entry ( just north of 16000 words ) for Q4. I hope to hear good things or, well, anything on either story.  Good luck to all in Q3 and Q4.

Happy writing. Happy reading.

R. Michael B.

Welcome, R. Michael B! Sorry, I almost deleted your message. (Your first couple of messages must be approved.) We’ve had a lot of spam recently, so the delete button is a reflex.

@rmichaelb 

Welcome Mike, 

The good news is that with pen names that's the one thing with writing you pretty much get free choice over! 

Just to give you an idea of when to expect results q3 results came out sept 24th last year, and q4 nov 10 (or thereabouts)

good luck!

@gideonpsmith  ... thanks for that. We will see what comes of them. Sharing writing is hard, but it's the only way to get better, I suppose. Writing for an audience of one gets a bit lonely.

@martin-l-shoemaker, no worries. I try to delete myself sometimes. Lack of faith in my skills, I suppose. LOL

@rmichaelb on the topic of sharing - hopefully you either have a critique group where you are or take advantage of swaps here. Its hard to read crit sometimes but it is the best way to grow, and the people here generally try to be kind and even if you do have another writing group, are the people generally who know this specific competiion and its market expectations the best 

@rmichaelb welcome. 

Good evening, (or morning, or afternoon (whatever the case may be.))
Glad to meet you all!

My name is Daniel. Due to a certain cartoon from Nickelodeon, I'm writing under the pen name of P.D. Fenton.
I used to write in Highschool and College in the early 00s; even got a speculative piece published in the college art magazine. Then it sort of dried up for a couple decades.
I have enjoyed writing as a serious hobby for the last two years. My wife and I have two little girls under the age of 4, and I find that speculative short fiction is the perfect outlet for this period of my life.
I submitted a story for 2023-Q4, and got a rejection; I reworked and resubmitted and got an HM for the revised story in 2024-Q1.

I've got baited fingers and crossed breath for my Q2 AND Q3 submissions!

Good luck to all!

@p-d-fenton Welcome Daniel! Congratulations on the HM, no mean feat given the number of entries each quarter.  

Posted by: @p-d-fenton

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My wife and I have two little girls under the age of 4, and I find that speculative short fiction is the perfect outlet for this period of my life.

I'm in the same place as you! Writing shorts is a great creative outlet and, given time constraints and general exhaustion with two munchkins, I find more feasible than longer form. Though I have set myself a goal to write a novel this year...July and nothing but ideas.

And also welcome to @rmichaelb this forum is a great place to swap stories and there's a story critique exchange thread, check it out  

Welcome to the forum Daniel, aka P.D. Fenton. Congratulations on the HM.

@rmichaelb 

Welcome to the forum, Mike. You’ve taken a great step by sending your story in to the contest. You will get a response—everyone does here. Whatever it may be when the judging is finally done, view this as a marathon, keep building up your writing muscles, and you’ll do great!

Do check out the informative posts, and don’t forget to take the WotF Online Workshop—the best in the biz teach that, and it’s free!

Welcome aboard!😊

@p-d-fenton Welcome Daniel. Congrats on the HM.

@p-d-fenton Welcome! Happy to see that additional work improved your piece to HM! Hard work already paying off!

@p-d-fenton 

Welcome to the forum, Daniel!

Best of success on those entries. Keep entering. Most leveled up over time until they got their win. Use those certificates to keep taking your writing temperature. May it be HOT!😄

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

Hello, everyone. My name is Shane Bzdok (pronounced Biz-dock). I am a late-in-life fiction writer who turned 50 last October. I have spent the last 26 years putting a lot of heart and soul into my job as a visual designer and creative director. Designing is still my 9 to 5, but I have enjoyed writing since I can remember.

In 2022, I committed to diverting some of that heart and soul into writing speculative fiction. At the time, I figured I would go big and so I dove head first into writing a novel, which I was in no way prepared to do. I made it to 77,000+ words, some of which I am still proud of, but a vast majority will need to be scrapped.

After a year-and-a-half of floundering, I opted to set the novel aside and focus on becoming a better writer. I shifted to writing shorter pieces, pieces I could finish that had a beginning, middle, and end.

My hard work was rewarded with a miracle of sorts. I submitted my first WOTF piece to Q1 2024 and received an Honorable Mention. I can't possibly describe how that felt at that moment, though I'm sure many of you know. Even more amazing is that this very week, I received notice that my Q2 submission earned a SILVER Honorable Mention. I am still processing.

From my time as a writer, the process seems to be made up of extensive periods of, "I'm no good at this. My work is dumb," punctuated by brief moments of, "HOLY @#$! Okay, maybe I have what it takes." But awards aside, writing has been an incredibly fulfilling outlet for me and I would most certainly be doing it even if I was the only one to ever read my work.

I have found the writing community at large to be a truly remarkable bunch. Insanely creative, sometimes eccentric or quirky (in all the right ways), and always supportive. I am excited to be here and look forward to getting to know some of you better.

@shane-bzdok Welcome. Congrats on the HM.  

I'm 53 and our writing life seems similar, although I went down the computer programming path.

The rollercoaster of writing achievements has its exciting and depressing times. Glad you are here and writing.

If you ever need another set of eyes on a story, PM me.  I'm always up for a story exchange too.

@errantjones Welcome! Nice to meet you too!

@rmichaelb Welcome! Nice to meet you! Good luck on your entries!

@p-d-fenton Nice to meet you, welcome!

Congrats on the HM you got! Best of luck with your current entries!

@shane-bzdok Welcome! Nice to meet you! That's great with your HM and SHM, big congratulations! Good luck with your coming entries! 

Hello! I’m Heidi. I’m coming back to writing after a 15 year break for school / career / kids. I have been learning a ton from you all over the last week after discovering this forum. You all seem awesome!