NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

Thanks, guys, for the welcome!

Hi, Akasha--belated welcome!

Welcome aboard, Akasha!

Hi, my working name is @gethinmorgan, and I'm just starting the quest for publication.

I've been writing on and off since I was ten. I sat down at seventeen and wrote a whole novel, got to the last chapter and realised I didn't know why the bad guy was being a bad guy(!) After that, I gave up for a while. Maybe a bit of life experience was needed!

After ten long years of trying, I now find myself with the time and patience, a properly working PC, and internet connection. If ever there was the time for a little bit of success, now's the time to start.

I'm a single father of three precocious children, a student of English and Writing, and I think I cat 'turn a phrase till it twinkles in the light' (not mine - Clive James) I'm doing the social networking bit (but not here, I promise). More than anything I'm just looking for a place where people will read my stuff and tell me where I'm going wrong.

Welcome, gethinmorgan!

Wales, huh? I have family there. =)

Bore da, gethinmorgan! Stewart ydw i.

(Unfortunately, that's all the Cymraeg I know--and I had to remember how to do sentence two properly, and am still not sure I got it right.)

Anyway, welcome. I love Wales, though I've never been. Looking forward to seeing some of your writing (in print or in critique exchange!)

Welcome, @gethinmorgan!

Welcome, @gethinmorgan!

Wait, the @ was part of it? Blast.

Thanks all. Ydw, rhwy'n rhugl, ond dw'i ddim yn ysgrifeny yn rhy dda! Trans. Yes, I'm fluent in Welsh, but I don't think that sentance would stand up to GoogleTranslate!

Yes, I'm afraid that the @ is part of the name ... though I'm not sure if i would have it on the cover of a book. Can you tell, I've followed a few too many blogs about indie marketing?

Ydw, rhwy'n rhugl, ond dw'i ddim yn ysgrifeny yn rhy dda! Trans. Yes, I'm fluent in Welsh, but I don't think that sentance would stand up to GoogleTranslate!

"Yes, I'm fluent, but I do not ysgrifeny too good!"

write? Yes, I'm fluent, but I don't write it so well? (grif - cognate with 'graph' - to write?)

Hmm... apparently medieval welsh really is quite different from modern welsh. I sort of can maybe parse a little of that. Maybe.

Hmm... apparently medieval welsh really is quite different from modern welsh. I sort of can maybe parse a little of that. Maybe.

Yes indeed--same with M.E.

SIÞEN þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye,
Þe borȝ brittened and brent to brondeȝ and askez,
Þe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wroȝt
Watz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erthe:
Hit watz Ennias þe athel, and his highe kynde,
Þat siþen depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicome
Welneȝe of al þe wele in þe west iles.

('course, I purposefully picked a difficult, non-standard dialect from a relatively early period of M.E. Chaucer's much easier. )

Ouch! That's harder to read!

Oh dear.... going to have to side step all that Welsh to say WELCOME! Took a couple of trips to Wales while I was at school in London. I remember talking to a local-- he told a story about his toddler twin nephews. He said they were upset and inconsolable the one morning and when the mother asked what was wrong the boys cried, "What is that!!" pointing to the sun. Apparently they'd never seen it before.

I think this was the local's way of telling me I was not in CA anymore. Can't wait to read your stories!

I remember talking to a local-- he told a story about his toddler twin nephews. He said they were upset and inconsolable the one morning and when the mother asked what was wrong the boys cried, "What is that!!" pointing to the sun. Apparently they'd never seen it before.

I think this was the local's way of telling me I was not in CA anymore. Can't wait to read your stories!

Back in the worst of the CA drought years, we had a similar scenario with 5 yr olds who had never seen rain.

I remember talking to a local-- he told a story about his toddler twin nephews. He said they were upset and inconsolable the one morning and when the mother asked what was wrong the boys cried, "What is that!!" pointing to the sun. Apparently they'd never seen it before.

I think this was the local's way of telling me I was not in CA anymore. Can't wait to read your stories!

Back in the worst of the CA drought years, we had a similar scenario with 5 yr olds who had never seen rain.

I was a country girl who grew up in the mountains. Snow was a a part of my life I never questioned. My husband and I realized how much our children are city kids when we took some friends from Houston up to Mt. Shasta for a hike. There was a small patch of snow, maybe 3'x3' our kids and our friends' kids (from Texas) rolled around in that patch like dogs in week old garbage. We all just stared in shock, realizing it was my 2.5 year olds first experience with snow. They tried to make snow balls, snow men, snow angels in that little patch...it was very sad. I vowed to bring them back in the winter (it was August). When my first child got to play in snow for the first time (on a snow shoe hike with friends) he cried...I never thought I'd raise city kids, but it's happening!!

So instead of being able to pull a calf they will play water polo. I have no idea how to play water polo, so I'm going to have to figure it out. It's all ok with me now.

Hmm... apparently medieval welsh really is quite different from modern welsh. I sort of can maybe parse a little of that. Maybe.

Yes indeed--same with M.E.

SIÞEN þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye,
Þe borȝ brittened and brent to brondeȝ and askez,
Þe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wroȝt
Watz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erthe:
Hit watz Ennias þe athel, and his highe kynde,
Þat siþen depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicome
Welneȝe of al þe wele in þe west iles.

('course, I purposefully picked a difficult, non-standard dialect from a relatively early period of M.E. Chaucer's much easier. )

Middle English! Took a course in college. =) That was fun!

Yeah, you definitely picked an example that is still really close to Anglo-saxon. Many of those words are straight out of the OE. (Why yes, I *do* know two useless, old languages. <-- medieval studies degree for teh win). I also studied Latin, but I consider that useful since it showed me how language worked. And since I've gotten to use my Irish in real life situations, I maintain it was worth learning. English and Spanish are definitely the most useful languages I've studied though.

But Anglo-saxon will always be my favorite.

And since I've gotten to use my Irish in real life situations, I maintain it was worth learning.

I didn't realize you're one of the people I have to worry might pronounce my name correctly!

And since I've gotten to use my Irish in real life situations, I maintain it was worth learning.

I didn't realize you're one of the people I have to worry might pronounce my name correctly!

It's possible. No idea how my accent/pronunciation has fared these long years without much practice.

Btw, my husband was laughing at me because I totally geeked out that someone had posted the beginning of Gawain and the Green Knight in the original language. I memorized the first few lines of that many, many years ago, so seeing it again made my day. (I'm really baller at parties with my Beowulf or Battle of Maldon recitations, let me tell you. Thank god I gave up drinking years ago, or I'd have stolen all the ladies AND all their men. )

Hello my name is Roger Laird. I just submitted my first story to WOTF this quarter. My uncle has submitting stories to WOTF for a long time and has even reached the Silver Honorable Mentions level multiple times. I just self published my first novel Legacy: A Father's Tale. It is available in all the major Ereader stores and is currently in the review process with createspace so I can start selling in print copies. The first two chapters are available for free on my website rogerlairdwriting.com. I also have three free ebooks available for download on all the major ereaders. They are Poetry by Roger Laird, Of Love and Vengeance, an original play, and Zombie High, a different kind of zombie story. WOTF is the first writing competition I have entered, but I recently entered my novel in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition.

Welcome, Roger! Good luck with the contest and with your self-publishing endeavors!

Hi Roger! Welcome aboard!

I was wondering when you would finally sign on Rodger. Welcome aboard.

Did you spell my name wrong again on purpose again Tom? Thanks for the welcomes everyone. Best.

Just making sure you know its me. Some habits are hard to break.

Welcome Roger! So cool to have family members on the board together!

Wouldnt it be awesome if we both made publication together?

Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm new to the contest this quarter, and I'm excited to finish the story I'm writing so I can submit it! I've been interested in writing since I was a kid, but I only recently got serious about it. The past year or so I've been doing a lot of “practice” writing, trying to figure out the best way to get the stories in my head out in a manner that would make sense to others. I think I'm getting there, but sometimes I'm chicken about submissions. My goal for this year is to submit something somewhere every month (and finish my novel)!