January '24 FWSG

    Hi! No, I'm not yet quite ready to return to normal posting schedule; I still have a lot to figure out about what I want for this blog. But in case there's anybody out there who needs a place to complain about their work in process (WIP), or simply has something to say about writing or life in general, welcome to the Frustrated Writer Support Group (FWSG)!

    These will be airing about every 6 blog posts, so there will always be a FWSG post on my homepage. I didn't want anyone to have to go digging through my blog posts to find it in the future!

    I started one of these on Brandon Sanderson's fan website (here's a link), and the folks over there seem to like it a lot, but because most commenting on that thread is a site-membership type of thing (it's completely free of charge, but you still have to sign up), I'm putting it on my blog, too, so that it's more accessible to people who don't necessarily care for Sanderson's books.

    The way this works is pretty simple, and based on the Open Mic system on Patricia C. Wrede's blog. You have something to say, you put it in the comments. If enough people comment, then we get a little community of people offering nuggets of potentially-unhelpful writing advice to one another, and we all get to learn a bit more about one another's styles of operation.

    However, I do have a few things you may want to keep in mind:

    1. All comments, especially ones of disagreement, should be written in a polite and kind manner. I'm trying to create a community of individuals who support each other and raise one another up, rather than dragging each other down.

    2. Comments containing toxicity or excessive cursing are subject to moderation. (When it comes to the cursing, I'll generally let 'damn' and 'hell' slide if you really need to express yourself that way; higher degrees of swearing may receive either a friendly warning or full moderation, depending on the words used.) This blog is intended to be positive, uplifting, and family-friendly, and toxicity and cuss-words counteract that goal.

    3. While I will most likely see and moderate the comments specified in #2 on my own, I would still find it extremely helpful if y'all would be willing to report such comments to me via the contact form in the left sidebar. I check my email more frequently than I check my blog.

    4. If I am the one indulging in toxic behavior, report that to me, too. I occasionally (er... frequently) get my ire up and fail to temper myself before I say something stupid, and while I'm generally better when writing than when speaking due to my inability to edit what I say aloud after the fact, I still slip up sometimes. That's what got me onto the Blogging Break of January 2024 to begin with. So, yes, please report me to me if I break my own rules!

    5. This list of guidelines will be copy-pasted into all future FWSG posts so that new commenters can get a sense for our standards.

    If you're here, you write, and you feel like it, go forth and comment!

    ...And even if you don't write, you're still welcome to speak up. Always good to get some different perspectives on things, since we writers so often develop tunnel-vision in regards to our writing.