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I just want to make sure, because I'm a special kind of crazy.  All I had to do was publish the three chapters, then go to contest and click enter, correct?  It says I'm in, I just want to make sure that no lights of confetti go off.  If it did, I totally missed them.

Are we entering it the same way that we do the best start contest?  Is it something we have published and we will be able to submit through the publishing area?  Or are we to put it here on the forum?

I like the idea of a trial or practice run.  Perhaps it will ease people into the group as it goes from a conceptual idea to a real in practice method.  It shows not only the members of the group but prospective members what to expect and what is expected of them.  Good suggestion John.  I vote we try this.

Why thank you Memphis and Mikira!  Adapting to change is essential in every aspect of life.  I live by one of the unofficial Marine Corps mottos, Semper Gumby or Always Flexible.

If knowing too much is a detriment than I shall remain fantastically ignorant.  I appreciate your statement on this as it is one of the major self-conscious aspects of my personality.  I hope to learn more on structuring and the like.  I look forward to more from the group.

I read everything in the group yesterday.  Needless to say i was excited.  I have already given a reply on how I see that the group is structured as of now.  I was hoping to get things defined for the group as it has mostly been discussion so far.  Sometimes it takes one person to just give a synopsis of whats been discussed to put things into perspective for everyone.  I also stated that I would put what I messaged you in this thread to provide an example of what people should be open about.  So here it is.

"Good afternoon Memphis,

My online name is Huey, I gained this name while in the Marine Corps. I am twenty-nine years old, a husband of four years, and a father of two. If you have any inclination toward numbers and timelines you'll know that I served during the war and am a product of the onset of major domestic terrorism.

I was in high school during 9/11 and thought that I would be drafted shortly after I graduated. What did that matter either way since I would volunteer eventually. I tell you all this so that you will understand me slightly while you consider my application into "Writers Afar."

I would like to give a quick overview of my life experiences. I've lived on the street and I've been to five star restaurants and resorts. I bought my home when I was twenty-three and single and I lost my home when I was married and had a child. I've people out of my life who were toxic whether they were family, acquiantences or best friends. I've become a Marine, I've been a real estate agent, an armed guard in a armored truck, an EMT, a firefighter while in the service, I've been blown up, I've not been able to move or feel my limbs, I've jumped off boats into the water, and I've fallen off trucks. Yet I am still here and I've done these things to the best or worst of my ability depending on your perspective.

I am a self educated man as my experience in public school was that if I kept my mouth shut I would receive passing grades. I am an overly charismatic man who found things coming to him far too easily to need to work on education. This was my downfall. I coasted through studying things on my own and ignored the structure and wonders of real education. This didn't start for me until I joined the Service. I studied on my own, I delved into topics that fascinated me. I found that taking charge of my own education empowered everything that I was.

There was a downfall though, I lack the structure of traditionally educated people. I am not refined in grammar and syntax. I am not well versed in the classics nor can I quote the greats of literature or philosophy and the like. I am however a fireball of instensity. My wife tells me that I must be the only Husband who wins more arguments than the Wife. I have been told that I'm more persistant than a mule. I am ready to give the group a differing perspective from my life experiences and my alternate education. I hope to hear from you soon. I am more than willing to copy this to the group or if you'd like to I am giving you my full permission. My life, experiences and opinions are open to the world. Thank you for the time it took you to read my rant.

Best Regards,

HueytheHuey"

It seems I may be the young buck of the group at twenty-nine.  Hello everyone.  I am Huey and I've been reading for a long time.  My heart is is fantasy, mostly in medievalesque fantasy.  At the moment my favorite author is Brandon Sanderson.  His views on world creation is amazing.  I'm almost finished his Mistborn trilogy which is a story based on the concept of the Hero failing to save the day and what would happen afterward.  Other favorites of mine are Robert Jordan (I've completed the Wheel of Time series twice over and have the pleasure to own them all), and R.A. Salvatore (I've read something like twenty of his Drizzt Do'Urden books.)

I've read Steven King, the Stand being my favorite, and of course have been pelted with his movies since I could remember as my father was an avid fan of the visual aspects of King's work.  His book On Writing changed my perspective of being a writer.  His insights and tips were wonderful for an aimless writer like myself.  My father was also an avid fan of Anne Rice and her vampire and witch chronicles.  I found myself stealing those from his bookshelf when I was under ten years old.  Don't worry though, it didn't spoil my innocence, I also watched exorcist by the time I was six.  My father found it hilarious how high I jumped when she walked down the stairs backward like a crab.  He related my reaction to that of Sylvester the Cat gripping himself to the ceiling.

I've also found myself a fan of the Harry Potter series.  I wasn't exactly the age group that she was aiming at but I found myself caught up in the series due to a girlfriend throwing the books at me when I was in high school.  I found myself hooked and pleading for the next books to come out.  I finished the series while serving as a Marine.  I remember reading the book openly while surrounded by a group of chest hair pulling Marines grunting about which celebrity they would like to...date.  Naturally I pitched my opinions in on the matter but I kept on reading.  I was shortly after given one of many nicknames, the walking dictionary.  I read even the Twilight series....this was from a recommendation by a fellow Marine who was my reading companion.  Needless to say, I thereafter referred to him as a teenage girl and never too a suggestion from him on what to read again as the series was AWFUL.  Though I had to finish it just to see if it would get better and to see what he found so amazing about it.

I also grew up reading comic books.  I find that comic books are an unappreciated form of literature as it grasps people who wouldn't normally read.  Take for instance, the movie Major League.  There is a scene where the jock catcher of the team is reading a comic book version of Moby Dick.  He is doing this because of a woman who had asked him to read the book.  It isn't exactly the most intelligent version of the book but it makes people relate to the story.  I find that in common comic books the author and artist work in tandem, much like an illustrator for a novel and the author, to tackle social issues, moral questions or dilemma, and immense characterization all for a dollar a piece.

Once I read the Twilight series I had too see what else was out there.  At that point I had only read King, Rice and my fantasy novels.  So I started to read Nicholas Sparks which I borrowed from a different girlfriend (not at the same time).  I found his novels endearing.  There was an aspect of me that I hadn't searched yet, the romantic, that loved what was happening.  I reached for their story and found that I could relate to minor things in my life.  It was wonderful.  So I started searching elsewhere, reading minor novels and short stories.  I found things on the internet, in the book store (which I spent most of my paycheck while I was serving, well that and the bar to be honest), and in people's bookshelves.  This was where I discovered a book of short stories by John Updike.  I loved it though I still have yet to finish.  So long story short, it all lead me to read whatever I could get my hands on.

Writing wise, I come from an abnormal writing environment.  I was the fifth person on both sides of my family line to graduate high school and the first to attend any measure of university.  I started writing online at the age of ten when windows '95 came out and we bought a used personal computer.  We used the then standard dial up and I found roleplaying websites and chat rooms.  I created characters based on who I wanted to be and of course said that I was twenty even though it was pretty obvious I was a baby.  I scoured the internet created characters, writing with people and making storylines go crazy.

I remember that I played a head of a family who was a rolling stone (after one of my favorite songs by the Temptations, "Papa was a rolling stone").  He would come and go as he pleased while messing up the lives of his family through his selfish ways.  Years later I realized that I was using this as a sort of therapy for my early life.  My father was present but absent in effort and heart.  So I made this an extreme and played the character in order to try to relate to him.  I find that writing helps me to relate to others as well as myself.  It also allows me to expel the thoughts and ideas that I have in my head.

To close, I would like to say that I thank you all for accepting me into your group.  It means a lot to me.  I would also like to say that I am working on a story that is very dear to my heart and that I've been conceptualizing for the past seven years in my head.  I hope to submit that here and get help on refining it and processing a direction for it.  If anyone has any questions for me I'm an open book, I'll respond openly here or in private, whatever anyone likes.  I also have a love affair with commas and run on sentences while I speak.

HueytheHuey