NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

Welcome aboard, CNHolmberg! Boy, we have a lot of new people recently. To quote my favorite star in the new Trek: I like this ship, it's exciting!

Boy, we have a lot of new people recently.

Welcome, new people!

A walk-in is a new age concept of a person whose original soul has departed his or her body and has been replaced with a new soul, either temporarily or permanently.

...

A similar "walk-in" concept, and variations thereof, was used by H.P. Lovecraft in several of his short stories. A good example of this can be found in the short story "Through the Gates of the Silver Key." In this story a man returns to earth in the body of an alien being.
Other Lovecraftian tales portray a more conventional walk-in idea in which an alien being comes to earth and takes over the consciousness of a human.
These tales are notable because the time frame in which they were written predates the above examples by many years. Lovecraft published his short stories in the early 1900s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk-in

Welcome, CNHolmberg! Glad to have you with us!

Hi Friends.

New to the board--I have my second WotF entry in Q4 right now. Heard these boards are really helpful, so I'm excited to get started with them!

As for other writing... I work as a technical writer, and I'm in the midst of revising a novel right now. Super exciting, I know. 😉

Ah, Ms. Holmeberg. A pleasure to see you here at the WOTF forum.

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, depending on where you live. My name is James D. Swinney, I am fourteen years old, and I love writing. Since I started writing a story earlier in the year, I have decided to enter this contest. I'd like your opinions, though. Do you think a fourteen year old even stands a chance of winning?

Welcome, James!

The contest has no lower limit on age, so you've got as much chance as any other writer. Remember, though, that no one wins the gold with the first story they ever wrote. The trick is to keep writing and to keep improving your craft (and even the most successful writers are still working on that). So don't get discouraged, enter every quarter, and you might well be on your way to being the youngest winner ever!

Welcome!

What's great about writing (and especially about this contest) is that it's all about skill. And anyone with a good grasp on language from 10 to 110 can have a shot if they're good.

And what's even better about writing is what Kyle said. It's something you can constantly improve on. You've definitely got an advantage over all those people who didn't decide to take up writing until they turned 30, because you'll have that many more years to develop your skills.

And, again, don't get discouraged if you get a rejection. All of us here on the boards have rejections, it's just part of writing and submitting. Rejections happen to everyone. The best thing to do after a rejection is to submit the story elsewhere, and write another one! (We both mentioned this because a lot of people do get discouraged when they're rejected for the first time. They stop submitting, and some even stop writing, which is a shame. We don't want that to happen to anyone!)

Welcome, James!

And yes, you're starting at a great age. I submitted my first story to Asimov's at your age. I got a rejection, and I gave up for 8 years. Then I got another rejection, and I gave up for 25 years.

Do not do what I did! I was an idiot. I didn't understand that the only way to succeed is to keep trying.

No one knows your age when the judges read your story. One of the Honorable Mention winners in Q2 was a senior in high school at the time.

Hi all,
After an exhausting five week wait for the Q3 results, I find myself in 4th place. Just off the medal stand, but genuinely clapping for the winners.

I sent Meghan a congrats through FB, and have since learned what you all already knew, which is that she's a great gal.

I tweeted my congrats to Jacob, and I'll just go ahead and say a hearty congo rats to William, here, should he stop by again and read my noob post.

My story is being held for possible inclusion, so there's a slim chance I'll get to meet some of you in person in April, but if not, there's always next year.

Folks have told me I've done it once, I can do it again, so I'll keep writing based on their faith, if not my own.

Personal thanks to Brad for his well timed e-mails after the results were published. And for working so diligently on this forum. I've been floating around for a while, just decided to land today.

Welcome aboard, Dustin! Glad you've jumped in.

Welcome to the forum, Dustin, and congratulations on a very good showing.

Glad to see you here, Dustin. And if your Finalist does get included in Vol. 28, it's the best of both worlds: you get the workshop, the publication money, the gala event, the trophy, *AND* you get to be like John Arkwright and keep submitting until you win -- and go back for more.

Hello. Thanks, Brad and WOTF in general, for providing a forum (literally) for everyone to get together. Writing can be lonely, and this really helps.

Patrick S. McGinnity
Mt. Pleasant/Beaver Island, Michigan

2008 Q1 - R
2011 Q4 - ?

Welcome, Patrick! Good to hear from another Michigan writer!

Thanks Martin. We have to give the Australians some kind of competition--it seems like every year there are three or four in the winners circle (I know, I know--it's a nation, even a whole continent, and we're just another state, but still). We have to represent the Mitten (holding up hand in idiotic made-up salute).

Patrick S. McGinnity
Mt. Pleasant/Beaver Island, Michigan

2008 Q1 - R
2011 Q4 - ?

Welcome! Glad to have new faces around, as always. Caught your post in the Q4 thread, Patrick. Glad to know you find our collective babbling informative and helpful . And thanks for the books recommendations there, too.

I do find it somewhat amusing that someone who lists his location (part time) as Beaver Island would complain about loneliness. You're practically in The Shining territory there!

Welcome, Patrick.
I'm the other new face.

I couldn't help but notice you recently changed your signature. =(

Welcome to the forum, Patrick!

Thanks, Kyle. Nice to be here.

I do find it somewhat amusing that someone who lists his location (part time) as Beaver Island would complain about loneliness. You're practically in The Shining territory there!

Yeah, I do dig my solitude. My wife doesn't let me hang around writers much though, even on the mainland, so this is fun. I only get paid for my main job 9 months out of the year, so I drive a forklift and work as a deckhand on the ferry during the summer.

And yes, Dustin, I just learned I'm out. Oh well. I have a strong suspicion that the story leaned too far toward horror for the contest. The saddest part is that it has been a while since I submitted anything anywhere, so even a rejection is (almost) exciting.

That's not sad, that's good! Too many writers let rejections get them down.

I would like to welcome both of you new folks, Patrick and Dustin ... without somehow making a quip about Beaver Island.

And now I've wiki'd the fascinating history associated with Beaver Island, and I'm like ... that's some story! I guess there's no place too out-of-the-way that, if people ever lived there, there isn't some aspect of the human story worth telling! Every small town has as many secrets as the human souls who lived there, etc ...

Anyway ... welcome to you both!

Thanks Soulmirror. I assume you're referring to the whole Mormon-splinter-group-leader-sets-up-kingdom-on-a-remote-island-in-Lake-Michigan-has-a-miniature-war-with-Irish-immigrants-and-ends-up-getting-shot-down-by-two-of-his-followers-after-which-the-Irish-fishermen-return-in-the-dead-of-night-and-chase-the-Mormons-off-the-island story? Yeah. it isn't what you'de expect, hearing the name "Beaver Island," but it is interesting.

Hello all,

As per a pointer for delurkers in the Q4 thread, I figured I'd post something here. I'm a writer from California, and Q4 was my third time entering. My first two entries (Q2 and Q3) each netted an R, still waiting on the third, but I'm determined to keep entering. Hopefully, someday, I'll net something else. I'm about halfway through my story for Q1.

I find these boards both addictive and supportive. Or is it that I've just an addictive personality? Hmm...

Welcome, Greenroom, and good luck this quarter!

Welcome, greenroom! Glad to see somebody else carrying the Golden State banner around here.

Welcome aboard, greenroom!

As I recently said in regards to exercise... The trick to having an addictive personality is choosing the right addictions!

(Actually, I said "obsessive" and "obsessions", if you want to nitpick. Nitpicking is one of my obsessions...)

Welcome!

So nice to see so many de-lurking. If there are any more of you out there, come join us! Not everyone bites (only E. Caiman Sands, but she's a gator, so we overlook it).

Welcome!

So nice to see so many de-lurking. If there are any more of you out there, come join us! Not everyone bites (only E. Caiman Sands, but she's a gator, so we overlook it).

Well, and me, but only with consenting adults.

Hello everyone! I'm new here. Have lurked for a little bit though. You know what I like about this place? The Smilies. I totally can't wait to use this one:

Ok, sweet. I've used it now - I'll see you all later.