SO LONG and MANY THANKS

It's been an exciting ride, but like all good things it has come to an end for me. There are two reasons why, the first and most important is that I can fly now and it's time for me to leave the nest. Six years ago when I found TNBW I didn't even own a computer. All I owned was a vague desire to write, to tell a story and to connect with someone out there. I have accomplished that goal thanks to TNBW. I still can't spell for crap, but I have Spell Check so I slide by in that department.

What I do have is a natural ability to tell a story. What I have learned through TNBW is how to perfect that ability and for that I am very grateful. After six years and one hundred and seven short stories published by more than twelve E-Magazines on the net, Miranda Magazine, Green Silk Journal, Bewildering Stories, Feather Tale, The Long Short Story, Boston Literary Magazine, Fictionville, King's River Life Magazine, etc.,  Two Novellas, a book of short stories and a book of poems all  published on Amazon, now it's just a matter of doing.

I will also add something important here. I have been very lucky in finding publishers who saw brilliance in my writing, not perfection, far from it, but a talent that spoke to them, made them remember me and publish me. I have learned the hard way that one story does not fit all publishers. You have  to find the right publisher for the right story. In the beginning when I received a rejection on a story, I thought it was dead. Then one day I decided to submit a story for a second time and believe it or not it was accepted immediately and over forty more have been published by that editor over the years. Lesson learned, keep dancing until you find the right partner.

As I mentioned in the beginning, there is a second reason that I am signing off. To be quite honest, I don't fit with the new Next Big Writer site. I'm not a computer whiz, truth be told I'm not very bright in that department and I dearly miss the uncluttered simplicity of the old site, without the added  bells and whistles. I understood it and used the hell out of it, writing and posting almost three hundred stories. I learned from  other writers without wondering what 'groups, or contacts, or book shelves, were.

I met talented people who made me laugh, cry and occasionally hold my nose with their writing.  But most importantly I LEARNED. The system works. 

Good luck to everyone and thank you for your help.  I've got a novel in here somewhere, I think it's time I wrote it. God bless you all.     

                                      Ron Van Sweringen      RLVS