Discussion

Historically

There sure have been a lot of writers who have luckily been married to spouses who not only supported them, but who were the perfect first reader, best critic of their words, guided their careers.

Or writers that found that one perfect editor, the one who recognized their latent talent, took them under their wing, nurtured them; became their first reader, best critic of their words, guided their career.

So many. Sometimes, it feels like all of them; every writer of note, search their bios and see what you find.

So what happens to the other writers who have no one? No spouse or editor or other person who can help.

A Group of Writers

The best solution would two or three—maybe four (but no more)—like-minded writers finding each other to work together.

In my perfect world, they would share similar goals and outlooks on writing, but still have enough differences to keep each other honest. All the members would be producing words at around the same frequency, a rhythm of exchange could be found that had quick returns with copious commentary, yet allowed each to make reasonable progress through their own work.

Oh, and everyone would get along and there’d be no bickering or hurt feelings. Ever.

Yes, this is a dream—and not one shared by every writer, to boot. But the thing is, there’s still a lot of good writers can provide to one another. That’s why groups are so common, both in-person and in various forms on the web. Or sites that have some sort of system where points are earned by reading and critiquing so that works can be submitted for others to read and critique.

Every group, every site, every system has strengths and weaknesses. My goal with this site is to help what ever writers ask try to find the best place for them. Maybe it will be with an existing group or site, or maybe two or three with form their own group and share and help each other for a while. And as writers grow and change, they can move around from site to site, group to group, or wherever they need to go.

Expectations

I have no expectations.

If one or two writers ever find this site and I help them a bit, I’ll be happy.

If nothing else, I’m learning a little HTML and some CSS; very little, but more than I knew before.