Hello, new person here!

Allareone

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Hello! I'm obviously new and in all honesty not a big fan of introductions. Don't take offense, I'm just really bad at them. Lol. Anywho, I used to write a heck ton back in high school and college (of course, 20 pg papers) but ever since I've left I stopped. I really wanna get back into it, I feel like it can really help me with my depression (situational, not clinical) but since it's been YEARS what skill I had is all rusted over! Blegh. So if some of you guys wouldn't mind helping, I would love some advice and feedback to help break off this rust and get my skills back up to par! I'm 27 and I still write like I'm in high school, I know there's nothing wrong with that but after years of analyzing Austen and Lovecraft.... So yeah, I want to level up my writing skill tree and maybe publish a book, if not cool, so long as I can write again.

Oh yeah, I am a part-time gamer (in other words I game when I'm not exhausted from work) and a full time Transformers and My Little Pony fan. So heads up for random references that you may or may not get. I apologize in advance.
 

Ruuzart

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Welcome to the forum, this is a very good place to meet people.
Everyone needs to start somewhere, at least you already have some experience writing behind you. Just pick up a pen and paper and start writing.
There are many resources on this site for you to read, it is very good place.
 

regdog

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welcome.gif



Love your user name. Welcome from another Transformers fan. In all likelihood, I'll get the references, as you can tell from my avatar.




Take some time and read the Newbie Guide and the Stickies found
at the top of Forum pages. They are your best guide to learning about
Absolute Write.


Stop by the Weekend Progress Report each week to brag about your weekly writing accomplishments.
Awesome smilies and awards are given each week.




Please read the FAQ about posting photos.




In fact we have lots of brilliant FAQs check them out.




Members who want to start a thread in Share Your Work to have work critiqued need
50 posts. Don’t make a mad dash to reach your 50 posts. That is frowned upon and can lead to your posts being deleted.
Take some time to greet fellow newbies, critique other members’ works, or join a discussion.




Announcements, Events and Self Promotion is for active members only. All obvious spam will be deleted on sight!
Here’s how to Promote With Aplomb.
 

Daffyjkl

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Welcome. There is lot's of great information and feedback on this website.
 

weekendwarrior

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Welcome! I think you'll find lots of great advice on this site for how to get back into writing. The best advice I heard (not directly, obviously) was from Ira Glass of This American life. I've quoted it in full below cause it helps me work through stuff whenever I get doubts:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Hope this helps!
 

E. Steve

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Welcome, Allereone :banana: Glad you are here. Weekendwarrior's advice is perfect for all of us who aspire to put words on paper. Write on!
 

Allareone

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regdog, I love your avatar! That was the first thing I noticed scrolling down, just all "doo dee doo check stuff out....SIDESWIPE!" that made my morning. I have to say, my favorite bot is Jazz, I just love how he calls everyone and everything "baby" in most Transformers continuities. Now with that fangirl moment over.... Thanks for all the advice! I'll check out the newbie tips.

Also big thanks to everyone's advice! Weekendwarrior, that quote hit it exactly on the head. I'm doing my best to manage my expectations while keeping my inspiration up and find the time and energy to write either before or after work. It kinda feels like juggling scraplets or parasprites... I just figured I would work off the rust by writing small scenes from the bigger story that I want to tackle one day, along with some me only fanfiction. Hopefully it'll work out decently...
 

regdog

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My favorite 'Bots are Prowl and the Lambo Twins. Favorite 'Cons are Barricade and the Elite Trine. I may or may not be leading my niece down the Transformers path. I regret nothing.
 

MySummerJob

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Welcome to the forums, I hope you enjoy it here =)

As for the rust part, I think a useful idea would be to do the "stream of consciousness" exercise. Where you could set a time-limit and just write whatever story idea that comes to mind, completely unfiltered. Would be both freeing, and fun to do. You might be surprised by what comes out ;)

You might of heard of it though, but just in case, I thought I would mention it.
 

KnavesAndKnots

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Welcome! There's usually really good advice here, so I'm sure you've come to the right place. I've also come back to writing after a break. It's a bit of a weird one... I did a writing degree, and it totally put me off writing. And reading, too. Anything word related I would just overanalyse into oblivion. When I started writing again, I had an alright skill level, but no joy for it. For me, learning to write again has been about finding the joy, and not so much the skill. But AW has helped me with both :)
 
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weekendwarrior

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I'm doing my best to manage my expectations while keeping my inspiration up and find the time and energy to write either before or after work. It kinda feels like juggling scraplets or parasprites...

This is a big problem for me too. Right now I'm entirely limited to weekends (hence the name) but I figure, it's a marathon not a race and I'm in a fortunate position to be able to do it at all (and my job's not bad either). Just keep plugging away!
 

Allareone

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There is nothing wrong with the Transformers path! XD Then again this is coming from a girl who got the original Autobot insignia tattooed on her upper arm! I even asked my artist to add "All Are One", yep. I swear I didn't get it just because I seriously love the show though, it's more of a permanent reminder. But yeah, nothing wrong with leading her down that path, so long as you're not teaching "Peace through tyranny."
 

Allareone

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This is a big problem for me too. Right now I'm entirely limited to weekends (hence the name) but I figure, it's a marathon not a race and I'm in a fortunate position to be able to do it at all (and my job's not bad either). Just keep plugging away!

I wish I had weekends! I work for the post office, so I end up working every slagging Saturday and Sunday, with a day or two off in the middle of the week. It also doesn't help that my new postmaster is a grade A word-I-probably-shouldn't-say-on-this-forum, it's hard to have any energy other than annoyance and anger after dealing with him, so my days off usually resort to me vegging out and decompressing. Sorry, I don't mean to whine and complain, it's just one of the many obstacles mounting up. I just gotta punch my way through it I guess.
 

Lillian_Blaire

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Hi, Allareone. You'll find plenty of writers are fellow fans of MLP and Transformers. You're in good company. :welcome: