# Hi All



## Ace (Aug 17, 2018)

Good evening everyone!  A bit about myself is in order, I suppose.  New to here, but not new to writing.  I've been writing stories and things since I was oh 14 or 15 or somewhere in that area.  By day I'm a high school principal, by night I claim to be a writer...  Working on what will hopefully be my first published novel.  After a decade and a half of half witted attempts, I've decided to follow my own advice to my students and make time for my dreams.  Mostly fiction/fantasy writer.  Look forward to meeting everyone and being a part of the community.


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## sigmadog (Aug 17, 2018)

Welcome! Another "NightWriter" here as well. 

Graphic design/illustration is how I keep the dogs in biscuits, but I like a good story and hope to create a few of my own before I croak.


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## Anita M Shaw (Aug 18, 2018)

Hello and welcome! If you write, you're a writer! Many here have day jobs or things they have to do during the day, so finding time in the evening to write is what we do. My schedule is a little more flexible since I am retired. However I often am called upon to run errands for others, so then I'm here at the laptop at 1:37 am writing in some form or other.

Tons of fantasy writers here. They're joining by the millions! Okay, by the tens, but hey, feels like millions!!! Check out our fantasy section, let your voice be heard there and once you've racked up your 30 valid posts, you're free to post stuff for critique. Should you not want to wait that long, you chose to donate a small sum and become a Friend of WF. You're then free to post your stuff right off. It's what I did.

Looking forward to seeing you about!


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## Ace (Aug 18, 2018)

Thanks for the warm welcomes!  During the summer, my sleep cycle gets all sorts of out of wack.  It usually takes about a week or so once school actually resumes to get back into the routine.


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## bdcharles (Aug 19, 2018)

... double post ...


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## bdcharles (Aug 19, 2018)

Hi, and welcome to WF. High school principal, eh? That sounds challenging. Seems like you know your stuff though :smile:  so please also do drop by our monthly fiction comp, Literary Maneuvers. You can submit writing prompts, judge, enter, a bit of everything.


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## JustRob (Aug 19, 2018)

Hi Ace and welcome. I'm just wondering how nobody else ever chose that name. 

As explained, you do need to earn your keep or pay for it even here. Our budding writers need willing victims readers and I've no doubt that marking essays is right up your street, so indulge us with your perceptiveness. Personally I believe that a writer only guides the reader's mind towards the story (showing rather than telling, I understand they call it) and therefore a reader needs to be perceptive to see what was really in the writer's mind, or alternatively to improvise their own fantasy as a variation on that theme if they prefer. (I delight in doing that.) Anyway, the bottom line (in my signature below, that is) is that we need good readers as much as writers.


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## Ace (Aug 20, 2018)

bdcharles said:


> Hi, and welcome to WF. High school principal, eh? That sounds challenging. Seems like you know your stuff though :smile: so please also do drop by our monthly fiction comp, Literary Maneuvers. You can submit writing prompts, judge, enter, a bit of everything.



It is quite the challenge!  Everyday is a new adventure and a new opportunity to grow and experience something new.  



JustRob said:


> Hi Ace and welcome. I'm just wondering how nobody else ever chose that name.
> 
> As explained, you do need to earn your keep or pay for it even here. Our budding writers need willing victims readers and I've no doubt that marking essays is right up your street, so indulge us with your perceptiveness. Personally I believe that a writer only guides the reader's mind towards the story (showing rather than telling, I understand they call it) and therefore a reader needs to be perceptive to see what was really in the writer's mind, or alternatively to improvise their own fantasy as a variation on that theme if they prefer. (I delight in doing that.) Anyway, the bottom line (in my signature below, that is) is that we need good readers as much as writers.



I haven't really graded essays in quite some time!  I was a science teacher before becoming a principal, and I rather preferred to set _things_ - read not students, definitely not students - on fire to grading papers.


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## TuesdayEve (Aug 20, 2018)

Hello Ace, 
I see others have given some good advice for the start 
of your journey so I’ll just say, welcome.


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## Ace (Aug 20, 2018)

TuesdayEve said:


> Hello Ace,
> I see others have given some good advice for the start
> of your journey so I’ll just say, welcome.


Hi and thank you!  I had sat at my desk to work on my novel a bit, now I've gotten terribly sleepy!


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## JustRob (Aug 21, 2018)

Ace said:


> I haven't really graded essays in quite some time!  I was a science teacher before becoming a principal, and I rather preferred to set _things_ - read not students, definitely not students - on fire to grading papers.



Aha, funny you should say that, (said I reaching up to a bookshelf conveniently just above my computer) I have here the book _A Fire to be Kindled_ by Gordon Van Praagh, a former head of the science department at my old school. He took the book's title from a quotation from Plutarch, "A child's mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled," and the subtitle is "The global influence of Christ's Hospital on science education", most of which influence was actually down to his own notable efforts.

In like manner we attempt to kindle the occasional fire of enthusiasm for writing here.


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## Vida Paradox (Aug 23, 2018)

Hi Ace!!!

Welcome! I'm new here too!

Here's a food of thought:

_"Okay, tell me, what do you see?"

"Bookshelves?"

"No, you are looking at hundreds of different fragments of soul from great authors all across the land stacked neatly together inside a huge shelf. They are alive, brimming with fantastic stories, adventures, and worlds filled with magic and awe. They are all windows to a writer's love and passions, their hidden subconscious thoughts, their hidden desire to break the limit of this reality and create wonderful magical world unlike any other!!!"_

By the way, I really like your name. Ace. It's like the equivalent of calling yourself The Master, but in a less Super Villain way... 

I really meant no offense on that one, I honestly think your name is cool.


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## Ace (Aug 23, 2018)

To be perfectly honest with you, it comes from my gambling days.  Full house, aces over threes.


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## Vida Paradox (Aug 24, 2018)

._.

Wow, I certainly did not expect that one...

This forum is awesome. You're awesome. Life is awesome.

Seriously though, people do really have some stories to tell. And here I thought that real life is boring.

You've opened my eyes dear sir!


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## JustRob (Aug 24, 2018)

Ace said:


> To be perfectly honest with you, it comes from my gambling days.  Full house, aces over threes.



Aren't all writers gamblers, often playing long odds?


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## Ace (Aug 24, 2018)

JustRob said:


> Aren't all writers gamblers, often playing long odds?


Isn't life just a big game of poker?


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## Ralph Rotten (Aug 25, 2018)

Ace said:


> To be perfectly honest with you, it comes from my gambling days.  Full house, aces over threes.




Better'n aces & 8s.


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## PaleWriter (Aug 29, 2018)

You're in the right place. I think.
Principal, huh?
Science teacher, huh?

Experiences in those two convergent paths in your life could foster Fiction/Fantasy stories.
Seems like you've got the opportunity of a life time with ready made story templates.

Sounds beastly to me!
Best of luck finding keyboard time.
Looking forward to critiquing the Teach!


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