Noticing Newbies

Welcome Charlotte Wilde ! And welcome, too, ABNegative !

I joined in September and at first could only stand being on-line here for about 10 minutes before I was overwhelmed and had to walk away. There's just so much stuff going on and so many things to look and or read or figure out. It took me about 2 weeks to start to feel like i understood a little of what's going on and how to do thing. I am still learning things, too, but I feel much for comfortable navigating and I can easily do the things I want to do.

Everyone here has been supportive and helpful from day one, so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Networking takes time, like it does anywhere, but it happens. One of the best ways I've found to network is to review other people's work. At first I wasn't sure how to write up a review (and I spent time reading reviews written by others - if you click on the link on the left side of your page that says Reviewers, it'll take you directly to the most recent reviews. You can search by name or item number for specific reviews, but what I did was just page down and read skim them, reading the ones that seems to be more like the style I wanted to write reviews in. Then I took the plunge. It took me a few reviews to figure out what I wanted to focus on and how I wanted to write it, but everyone responded positively to my reviews, so I kept writing them. I now have a few people I trade reciprocal reviews with - I'm working on a novel and they are also working on novels, so we trade chapter reviews and have agreed to stick with each other through the whole book.

Posting in forums and participating in contests are also other ways to network, so poke around and see what interests you. One of the things I'm still learning is how to type direct links to specific pages - I know there's a page that list contests and one that lists forums. Angels in my Ear - Can you post these (and show me how to find them and link to them) please?

Welcome again! So glad you found your way here!
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1UppyEar