Hi! Not a writer yet, but I'd love to at least play one on TV...

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

Hi,

I'm a Christian whose been struggling to make progress on the same fantasy novel for years, with just five chapters to show for it so far. Hoping to get some inspiration and encouragement here, and maybe some feedback and motivation too. I honestly don't know if I'm a wannabe who needs to be happy with amateur/hobby status or a writer who needs a kick in the rear to start pursuing it more seriously. Either way, this seems like it might be a great group to get to know.

Thanks! I look forward to chatting with you!

 

ShoobiKenoobi

[Alley 7,090]

Welcome, it's nice to meet you! 

 

12 minutes ago, ShoobiKenoobi said:

don't know if I'm a wannabe

😄 A writer is a writer, whether we do it professionally, or for ourselves. If you are called to be a professional or not is a conversation between you and God. Either way, we are happy to help and cheer you on! 🙂 

[Sarah Daffy 3,636]

Hi!

[Rebecca 859]

Welcome, ShoobiKenoobi! 🙂 It's great to have you here!

[lynnmosher 6,604]

Welcome to our writing family, ShoobiKenoobi. Henceforth known as SK!  Glad you joined us. You'll find plenty of help, support, and encouragement around here, so roam around and make yourself at home. Blessings on your writing!

[Jared Williams 679]

Welcome! we have all levels of seriousness and fun here! Looking forward to possibly reading some of your work! 

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

Thanks, all, for the welcome!

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

20 minutes ago, Jared Williams said:

Welcome! we have all levels of seriousness and fun here! Looking forward to possibly reading some of your work! 

 

Speaking of that, what is the appropriate way to share, say, Chapter One of a lengthy work with this forum? I thought it might be the Reading Room, but that seems to be much shorter snippets, and not excerpts from something larger...

[HK1 1,373]

Hi! Nice to meet you  

[Claire Tucker 1,958]

Hi Shoobi, it's great to meet you

 

7 hours ago, ShoobiKenoobi said:

Speaking of that, what is the appropriate way to share, say, Chapter One of a lengthy work with this forum?

That would be the Critique and Feedback section. To access, you do need to have posted a minimum of 10 posts. Once you've done that, you're all in! There are a few things to bare in mind, such as leaving feedback for others, but those are listed in the Critique section. 

 

I look forward to seeing what you have so far! 

[SpecFictionGuy 97]

Welcome to you!

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

8 hours ago, Claire Tucker said:

Hi Shoobi, it's great to meet you

 

 

That would be the Critique and Feedback section. To access, you do need to have posted a minimum of 10 posts. Once you've done that, you're all in! There are a few things to bare in mind, such as leaving feedback for others, but those are listed in the Critique section. 

 

I look forward to seeing what you have so far! 

Thanks for the reply. Exactly what I wanted to know!

[lynnmosher 6,604]

Oops! I fall down and go boom!  Sorry I overlooked that, SK. And thank you, Claire!

[Claire Tucker 1,958]

46 minutes ago, lynnmosher said:

And thank you, Claire!

My pleasure, Lynn! 

[Chuck Kralik 562]

Hi there. I hope it's okay if I call you SK. Welcome to ChristianWriters. Blessings on your writing!

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

4 hours ago, Chuck Kralik said:

Hi there. I hope it's okay if I call you SK. Welcome to ChristianWriters. Blessings on your writing!

Of course SK is totally fine 😉. I’ve already enjoyed touring the site and seeing what everybody is talking about. Seems like a really well-run and helpful site!

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

On 4/3/2020 at 3:45 PM, Alley said:

Welcome, it's nice to meet you! 

 

😄 A writer is a writer, whether we do it professionally, or for ourselves. If you are called to be a professional or not is a conversation between you and God. Either way, we are happy to help and cheer you on! 🙂 

Thanks! Yeah, the problem for me over the years is that it’s a passion, feels a little bit like maybe a calling, but also feels like hard work that takes away from family and other things on top of a pretty demanding job. So as a “hobby” it’s sometimes hard to justify and/or find the motivation. Not to sound mercenary, but if I don’t have a chance of getting people outside my immediate family to read it, and maybe even supplement the family income,  then my maybe-too-pragmatic mind pushes it to the back-burner. 😕

[JasmineH 18]

On the hobby vs profession piece I agree that only God can answer that. BUT on the stuck piece I just took a webinar (Chandler Bolt's free self-publishing webinar) that discussed mind mapping. I already have my rough draft but if you haven't tried it before it may help get your creative juices flowing again for your book. If English class was as long ago for you as it was for me then a refresher on a mind map may be helpful lol. Place your main idea for your book in the center of a piece of paper and then just pen to paper with everything you can think of related to that idea. If it works for you he suggests doing the same thing for the central idea of each chapter and then producing an outline from that. God bless

Edited April 4 by JasmineH
typos

[ShoobiKenoobi 14]

2 minutes ago, JasmineH said:

On the hobby vs profession piece I agree that only God can answer that. BUT on the stuck piece I just took a webinar (Chandler Bolt's free self-publishing webinar) that discussed mind mapping. I already have my rough draft but if you haven't tried it before it may help get your creative juices flowing again for your book. If English class was as long ago for you as it was for me then a refresher on a mind map may be helpful lol. Place your main idea for your book in the center of a piece of paper and then just pen to paper with everything you can think of related to that idea. If it works for you he suggests doing the same thing for the central idea of each chapter and then producing an outline from that. God bless

Thanks for the suggestion! I might check that out. (I like free 😊)

[suspensewriter 4,233]

Yes, welcome!

[jonjovi 1,255]

Hi ShoobiKenoobi, welcome to Christianwriters! It is great to meet you, and have you here!

[Bob Leone 1,758]

Welcome aboard!