Hello

[21stcenturygent]

Hello my name is Joshua Thomas. I am 22 and have been writing as a hobby since I was 16 and have written many many short stories in that time. I have also written a book or two, never published because I always felt you should write a number of manuscripts before someone even attempt to do anything big with it. Right now I am working on something that I think has great potential, but only if I have the tools and the input to do it right.

I currently live in an arctic tundra that most people simply know as South Dakota. I have lived here for about a year and a half and have yet to get used to the cold, considering past states I have lived in were mainly Florida, California, and Nevada.
I have absolutely zero experience on forums, I tried to join a forum back in high school but I never fit in and everyone seemed passive aggressive to me or just plain rude. I am hoping to learn interpersonal skills on forums and also, hopefully, not only gain direction to where I want to go but also how to get there.

So anyways that should sum me up decently. I have bookmarked this page on my toolbar for further help and a reference point with certain obstacles that I may encounter.

Anyways I will look up the rules so I can be on a good foot when I post here and don't irritate any mods but I do have one question that I never understood, if I have a question do I re-post a question even if the search function brings me to a two year old question but I would like further info OR do I comment on a post that comes from years ago to hopefully get information. I have scoured the internet for answers pertaining to other things and I have seen the hostility someone gets when they put their input on an older post but then I see posts where the people are scolded for creating new posts that posts already existed for even though it did not specifically answered their question. I always personally saw it as counter-productive and never understood how people solved their problems that way.

Hopefully I get a warm welcome. I was referred here on yahoo when I was searching for a friendly group of people whose community revolved around writing. Alright any posts are greatly appreciated and thank you. Now I am officially done, I swear.

[rwm4768]

Welcome. I think you'll be treated well around here as long as you follow the small number of rules. If you respect other writers, they'll respect you.

[amandakelley]

Originally Posted by 21stcenturygent

Hello my name is Joshua Thomas. I am 22 and have been writing as a hobby since I was 16 and have written many many short stories in that time. I have also written a book or two, never published because I always felt you should write a number of manuscripts before someone even attempt to do anything big with it. Right now I am working on something that I think has great potential, but only if I have the tools and the input to do it right.

I currently live in an arctic tundra that most people simply know as South Dakota. I have lived here for about a year and a half and have yet to get used to the cold, considering past states I have lived in were mainly Florida, California, and Nevada.
I have absolutely zero experience on forums, I tried to join a forum back in high school but I never fit in and everyone seemed passive aggressive to me or just plain rude. I am hoping to learn interpersonal skills on forums and also, hopefully, not only gain direction to where I want to go but also how to get there.

So anyways that should sum me up decently. I have bookmarked this page on my toolbar for further help and a reference point with certain obstacles that I may encounter.

Anyways I will look up the rules so I can be on a good foot when I post here and don't irritate any mods but I do have one question that I never understood, if I have a question do I re-post a question even if the search function brings me to a two year old question but I would like further info OR do I comment on a post that comes from years ago to hopefully get information. I have scoured the internet for answers pertaining to other things and I have seen the hostility someone gets when they put their input on an older post but then I see posts where the people are scolded for creating new posts that posts already existed for even though it did not specifically answered their question. I always personally saw it as counter-productive and never understood how people solved their problems that way.

Hopefully I get a warm welcome. I was referred here on yahoo when I was searching for a friendly group of people whose community revolved around writing. Alright any posts are greatly appreciated and thank you. Now I am officially done, I swear.

Hi Joshua! Welcome to AW! I've only officially been on here for a couple of days, but so far everyone is amazing. So you should have no problem here.

I live in Florida currently (Have all of my life.) and HATE the heat. I'd love to live somewhere cold and that snows. Also, a place with no damn hurricanes, ha!

And I agree with you on not understand why people get mad when you post a question or something that may have already been posted. 1) Half the time it DOESN'T answer your question, and 2) Sometimes you may not see the thread!

Hope you have a great time here. See you around!

[21stcenturygent]

Originally Posted by amandakelley

I live in Florida currently (Have all of my life.) and HATE the heat. I'd love to live somewhere cold and that snows. Also, a place with no damn hurricanes, ha!

If my mother wasn't currently here, we are pretty much gypsies who travel the states, I would gladly trade you spots. I hate snow and I hate cold, so this place is unbearable for me, It is crazy to see snow and people wearing shorts in the same area. Thank you for the welcome and feel some comfort that I envy the fact you live where I would happily pick up and move to any day. I spent my whole high school career in Lake City, FL. The hurricane warnings and tropical storms, to me, was a walk in the park compared to below zero temperature and the wind chill that rivals Alaska's. My supervisor laughs at the fact I show up to work covered head to two when it is 40 degrees outside, to people here that is like summer weather.

[Finis]

Welcome, this is a good board for not only writing help, but commiserating with other writers, and getting your feet wet with internet-forum etiquette -- everyone here seems pretty friendly. I have not had to don any flame retardant gear yet!

[amandakelley]

Originally Posted by 21stcenturygent

If my mother wasn't currently here, we are pretty much gypsies who travel the states, I would gladly trade you spots. I hate snow and I hate cold, so this place is unbearable for me, It is crazy to see snow and people wearing shorts in the same area. Thank you for the welcome and feel some comfort that I envy the fact you live where I would happily pick up and move to any day. I spent my whole high school career in Lake City, FL. The hurricane warnings and tropical storms, to me, was a walk in the park compared to below zero temperature and the wind chill that rivals Alaska's. My supervisor laughs at the fact I show up to work covered head to two when it is 40 degrees outside, to people here that is like summer weather.

Ah, that's cool you've traveled around! I've only been to a few places: Georgia (I was born there and have family still there.), Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. And, of course, many places in FL.

I'm terrified of hurricanes and bad weather! I'm SO paranoid when hurricane season comes and obsess over the weather and track the storms. It's currently 45 here tonight and I want it to be colder. I'd probably bundle up too a bit because I do get cold pretty fast, but I LOVE it.

[Nekko]

Welcome, welcome!
The FAQs on the top menu bar can be overwhelming and helpful.

I find that most people around the water cooler respond well if you say something like, "Sorry if this has been asked before, but..." Or "Can someone point me to where this has been answered before or help me out..."

Once or twice someone's been a little curt with the 'this question has already been answered and here's the link..." and then they post the link to their brilliant answer at what might be a relevant thread

Most of the time I just post the question and wait to see where the chips fall!

Overall, as long as you are polite, and apologize for mistakes, I've found people by and large to be helpful and patient.

Hope to see you around the threads!

[KellyAssauer]

Hi Joshua!

Welcome to AW!

Don't forget to read about AW basics in the Newbie Guide!

Questions about the forum software can be found in the
FAQ's menu in the handy blue bar at the 'top' of this page.

This common acronym list helps identify our mystifying abbreviations.

Before you ask that Newbie question!!

See if Katiemac has the answer here.
and check out: Sara's 10 Basic Writing Tips!

If you're looking for critiques please read the 50 Post rule.

Posting your writing to the Share Your Work (SYW) area is explained here. This link covers the most common problems posts. found in SYW *Worth reading no matter how long you have been here!*

AW is a community built on the foundations of respecting your fellow writer and helping each other, it's the basic building blocks of how and why AW works.

Welcome to our community! =)


-kelly-

Fun AW social links:
The Office Party
Kelly's Soft Asylum

[regdog]

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.


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. 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!

[Tepelus]

Hello, and welcome!

[Matty C.]

Welcome!

[Rockweaver]

Joshua welcome aboard i am sure that you will do fine

[thehairymob]

[Griffin Hayes]

Welcome to AW!

[jamiehall]

[Neporsche]

Hi and welcome!

[L. Y.]

Welcome to the Water Cooler!

[21stcenturygent]

Alright now that I believe most of the hellos are out of the way I would like to say thank you for all your warm welcomes. From looking through the forums for the last twenty-four hours I have noticed my writing needs more work before I even think about even trying to publish a thing. So many things exist that I never thought of until I came here, and I feel like I should learn now instead of having high expectations of publishment as I try to release a inferior product to my target audience.

To me writing is an art form, an expression of one's self and imagination much like painting. To learn how to craft sentences takes more than knowing what a noun and an adverb is, but its the mastery of English itself to skillfully combine sentences into paragraphs that not only tell a story but tantalize the audience.

I am truly learning a lot just reading through the threads rather than just asking a hundred questions on the forums. I am learning certain ideas that I would not have even thought of asking as I surf the pages, such as what you guys call "filtering." I am truly learning new ideas that would help me build a healthy writing style that is not so factual, which may come from the fact that I enjoy mostly non-fiction books to fiction, and be able to type out fiction much more naturally and complete.

Once again thank you for your hellos. I will be scanning through this forum to answer questions I have never thought to ask and will hope that I can fit into this community well. I will not promise to be a daily poster but I will try to post none the less. I am not a professional at this, but I have imagination that is so wild it may even go as far as to shock some people, if you ever hear me compare things off the record you will see only the tip of the iceberg it gets much broader than that, I have been compared to the Cheshire Cat in more than one occasion in more than one state. So at least I can do is post about ideas that are a bit tamed.

Once again thank you for your welcomes, I truly do appreciate it.