🚀 go-pugleaf

Boy, was I saddened to see this here. I was reading it, realizing that
usenet isn't a place for ads, trying to give the thing a fair shake,
wondering what the hell they were 'selling' then to get to the end and
see the same old reading fee crap.

Made me a little sick to my stomach, actually.

The follow ups were all on target. My vote is for a peer workshop, combined
with any class you can attend that focuses on the fiction you would like to 
write. Don't take a general creative writing course, though, and try to
write genre fiction. I've tried that. It's unpleasant.

Basically, as a beginning writer you need an audience; editors can't help you,
your family and friends can offer only so much in the way of constructive
advice...

What better system could there be than, "you show me yours and I'll show you
mine?" ;-) To be honest, I can't take critique from anyone *but* another
writer. I discard the compliments of non writers, (though I often listen to
their negatives...) Also I've noticed most people have some contempt
for anything in manuscript form. Friends have commented on how much better
my story seems in the magazine, as opposed to the ms they read...

For god's sake, don't pay reading fees. Workshop; by mail if necessary.

The deadlines provided by a regular meeting are galvanizing. The deadline
becomes a collaborator. Without a workshop, it's hard to know if you're really
writing enough. WIth one, you're sure you're not. ;-)

The competition, friendly, the support, the shared experience...can't recommend
it highly enough. It hurts like hell at first; you must have respect and
some belief in each other as writers and critics, too...

I know that some people can do it without this kind of support. I'm not one
of them. Humans, as social animals, need to know that what they do is being
appreciated, to some degree by other humans. The occasional unsigned
rejection slip doesn't fulfill this need.

There ought to be a FAQ on creating/running writers workshops... 

Jay