Noticing Newbies

Note: There are no free gold bars

Hi all. I'm Briar, a semi-eccentric who escaped from Tim Burton's notebook of rejected character sketches and now waits for the haunted tree to bloom the silver rose and make me truly human. Until then, I dance, sew, and study to be a mad scientist.

I was a semi-prolific writer as a teenager but unfortunately, through most of my twenties, I felt too much pressure (interior and exterior) to produce produce produce, and only produce within a narrow accepted realm of writing that I started to fear and dread it, so even though I still claimed to be a writer, I came to hate it and stopped doing it. I've been in a transitional period for the last few years (though I can't think of any years that have ever not been somehow transitional) and am now trying to rediscover my love of writing and my once-upon-a-time talent for it. I have been editing professionally for a number of years and still do edit a bit, so I am happy to review people's work, but please don't expect me to be fast about it as I have a lot on my plate and I'm frequently burned out on editing. Actively reviewing and rating is an important part of these communities, however, and I will make an effort to participate steadily.

Right now I am working on a few Writer's Digest University courses I decided to treat myself to, so I will probably be posting the exercises from those in my portfolio for a while. Hoping to progress to flash stories, and then longer pieces from there. My brain is permanently attuned to the dark, gothic, and horrific--they make me happy--so most of my writing focuses on those ideas. Ghosts, phantoms, broken people, love that can never be, curses, demons, and family secrets, those are lifeblood to me. Somehow, I'm happily married. Don't ask me how, I'm not even sure how it happened.

I appreciate any feedback anyone feels like offering on my little vignettes, and anyone who adores discussing the finer points of Phantom of the Opera has my permanent creepy love and affection.