Welcome to the site, Joy.

Sorry your mentor is no longer with us, but you'll find lots of great help and advice here.

Best of luck to you.
Madison

Thanx Madison and Tirz. I have been reading up a storm. Lots of talented people here. I justhope i can get this site at work.. (firewall)

Joy

Welcome Joy! 

So looking forward to knowing you better!

Cate

Welcome!

I'm looking forward to reding your work.

Erotic fiction?  I would love to have your thoughts on Shadyia: Dark Desires. 

I am not sure what you mean by "second guessing myself."  I am guessing  that you keep re-writing and re-writing the same few chapters over and over, trying to make them perfect.  If so, welcome to the club!  We all do that.  We want perfection to flow from our finger tips like maple syrup on a Spring day in Vermont.  We want our fellow writer wannabes to oooohhhhh and ahhhhhhhhh as if they are watching fireworks on the the Fourth.

This is probably the single reason few people actually finish their first book. 

A few things:

1.  You are not an editor.  There are these people who are paid to do that job.  They are called editors. 

2.  Writing is damn hard work.  Anyone who tells you different is selling you ocean-front property in Wyoming.  Get used to it.

3. As Louis L’Amour said,  "If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow." 

4. The project you are working on now may be your masterpiece, or it may be an exercise that leads to your masterpiece.  Both are equally important, just as the top of a long ladder is just as important as the bottom. 

5.  Use a lot of metaphors when trying to get your ideas across.  Readers like that.

You may have noticed that (some) people put a link to their book in their signatures.  You may wish to do the same.

Under "Forum Profile" you will see a "Personality" clicky.  In that, you will see "Compose your signature."  You need to write an html code, like this:  [ url=http://incert the web link for your book here[/url ]

(Keep in mind, I had to add a space between "[" and "url" at the beginning and "/url" and "]" at the end, or the silly thing would think I am typing a link.  You need no space there.)

To add color, you can do [ color=blue/red/yellow/green/etc] and end with [ /color]   Again, no space after the "["

maxkeanu wrote:

Welcome writer and happy port configurations on your firewall.

http://www.redferret.net/?p=8519

http://souptonuts.sourceforge.net/sshtips.htm

Remember to make config backups and be on good terms with sysadmin as he'll have a log of your connects. - måx

I think I am gonna try out the redferret site. It seems to look the most user friendly. LOL Thanks for the help.

Joy

Linda that would be fabulous! .. I don't have a full novel yet.. just pieces parts..but I have hope!