Saturday, June 10, 2017

A Note About Membership

Kelly is an Admin of this group. As we accept members, if you want a brief author bio put up on the Members page you can include the bio with the application (there is a small space allotted for a brief bio on the form, but if you want a more detailed bio on the page and a hyperlink to connect it directly to your own webpage, then Kelly can do that.

Members will be able to post on the blog once approved to do so. To post on the blog you will need a Google account. If you do not have one and do not want to get one, you can send what you want posted to Sue or Kelly and we'll put it on the blog for you.

I'll be working on an Information/Guidelines Article- this is an informal group, but because we will have members of all ages there will have to be certain restrictions as to what can be posted here (as in no erotica, graphic sex, derogatory, hateful, or potentially offensive subject matter/content-you can find other sites to post on if that's what you're writing/sharing.) You can post provocative, thought provoking subject matter, pushing the envelope and outside the box writing, but if a member finds a post insulting, disrespectful, upsetting, or offensive then they can request that it be removed without notifying the author of the post. A simple post of "such and such a post was removed for unallowable content" will be put up in its stead and I am not going to explain to you why-suffice it to say, if it has offended someone then it's going to disappear. That goes for anything I post as well because the rules apply to everyone..

Now, here is the most IMPORTANT thing- if you're going to get ticked off about having a post deleted and you retaliate by giving anyone connected to this group grief about it by any means whatsoever, be it another blog post, contacting a member by email or via their website, posting negative stuff on facebook or in a Tweet or by any other social media means- basically by any means whatsoever- then you will immediately be removed from membership and banned from the group because I will absolutely not tolerate any form of bullying or harassment from anyone in the group. If you can't live with this, then please don't apply for membership, you don't belong in this group.

This is a group for authors and writers who share a passion for the written word- not for those who commit slander, libel, spew hatred or intolerance. This is not a political group.

Creativity, a certain eccentricity, a dedication to the craft of writing, curiosity about writing, self publishing, acquiring an agent, submitting queries and manuscripts, polishing your work, offering gentle critiques are all allowed. Respectful debating is allowed, Sharing insights, information, tips, advice on writing and related topics is welcome. Writers/authors are a different breed of people. It's difficult for non-writers to understand that writing is an internal process. You can stand and watch an artist paint a canvas, a sculptor chisel out a form from a solid block of marble or wood. It's difficult to lean over an author's shoulder as they type on their keyboard, or write longhand on paper and see what's taking shape. It's art with words. The viewer is called a reader. A reader has to involve themselves with the art by reading the words, by following the story, by falling into the story and reading it to the end. Only then do they see the whole work. For the author- it's the creation of a place, a cast of characters who become very real to the writer, and a story through which the characters move and experience things both good and bad in the place that has been created.  Unless you're a beta reader, you can't see what the author/writer is producing until you read the finished book. Authors/writers have to have faith that they are producing a work of art that readers will enjoy.
50,00 brushstrokes, 50,000 chisel blows, 50,000 words...we all work at our art no matter what creative avenue we follow.

I happen to be an author/writer.



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