Salutations, cool cats.

Ragtime · Jun 18, 2017

Hey youse. I'm just a little bit new here. And I just want you all to know,

I have a rainbow in my heart
And a sandwich in my soul.

I have a little bit of a song for youse. It goes a little bit of a something like this.

The Rainbow Song:

Today I fell upon my knees and summoned all my energies
And found that cosmic rainbow in the sky.

So now I clap my hands and pray that rainbow will take me away
To anywhere that I would care to fly.

(Song over)

Yesir, that one's a bit of a doozy.

I must admit, I find myself to be something of a summer soldier. Because when I'm in college, I do schoolwork. That's just a little concern I have about joining these here forums. But since I will have a short commute next semester, I feel that I can probably be more active than I might have been otherwise. And I'm not complaining, either. I know that people have day jobs and activity slows down and whatnot. I'm getting a bit rambly, so I'ma cut it off here.

Stay wonderful.

regdog · Jun 18, 2017

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.

Ragtime · Jun 18, 2017

Hey regdog!

Kind of a tough crowd here. Oh well, if I didn't take my intro seriously, I can't expect others to do so either.

So regdog, it's kind of late asking you this. I consider art to be collaborative at best, and that's obvious here in the SYW parts. But how far does it go? Specifically, if I am critiquing a bit of text, I like to offer a revision for the original artist, instead of just saying what I think is wrong with it. Is that fine?

Mary Mitchell · Jun 18, 2017

Welcome

I read your question to regdog, and since regdog may not revisit here, having already welcomed you, I'll give you my own thoughts. (Take them with a grain of salt.)

There are both styles of critiquing, and they both show up here. One can sometimes feel, "Who am I to criticize if I can't come up with an alternative myself? How is that being helpful?" And alternative suggestions can be helpful. (Of course a complete rewrite would seem presumptuous and be resented, I'm sure.) But the people being critiqued are writers, and presumably have the ability to address issues you raise, even if you don't have a concrete alternative to suggest. It is, after all, a writer's job to be able to do that. If you read through various critiques in the "Show Your Work" forum, you'll see the variety of approaches people take and get a feeling for what you yourself would like to say--and what it's okay not to say, as well.

Enjoy.

E. Steve · Jun 19, 2017

Welcome, Ragtime :banana:

Mary's response is spot on. Lot of latitude for you here. Critiquing goes both ways. I'm sure you have value to add to the community.

As a college student, I think you will find a lot of help here with your papers. You will see your writing improve. I was a college prof for 35 years, and wish many of my students had been part of AW before they submitted papers to me.

iszevthere · Jun 19, 2017

Hi! Thank you for the song; that's sweet of you.

Salutations, cool cats.

Ragtime

Slightly nervous.

regdog

The Scavengers

Ragtime

Slightly nervous.

Mary Mitchell

Go down road, go pub.

E. Steve

iszevthere