# Hello internet people



## H. Giggles (Jun 15, 2013)

I 'm Matt. I'm not a writer by trade, but I have loved books since I was very young, beginning with _The Magic School Bus_. Clive Cussler ismy favorite author: I grew up on the Dirk Pitt novels. Michael Crichton comes in second, mostly because of_ Jurassic Par_k. My third favorite would be Vince Flynn. My dad sent me _Tra__nsfe__r of Power_ while I was deployed in Afghanistan, and I ended up spending almost all my free time reading it; by the time I got back to the states I had finished _The Third Option _and _Separation of Power_.   Also, George R. R. Martin: after watching the television adaptation of _A Song of Ice and Fire, _I decided to give the books a try. Wow. I started _A Game of Thrones_ in February of this year and finished _A Dance with Dragons _in May. Seriously, I burned through whole days with those books: they were that hard to put down. I’m blessed with a wild imagination, and since elementary school I’ve had no shortage of ideas for stories. I even tried writing some of them, but I never stayed focused long enough to finish a particular story(possibly due to my ADHD). However, somewhere around the time I turned 21, I discovered that I _really_ love to write almost any time I have more than a few drinks. While the alcohol seems to prolong my attention span, most times I wake up the next day, read the previous night’s writing and think, “What a lame story. Screw that.”  Well this time it was different. About two months ago, really drunk late on a Friday night, I went for a walk through my neighborhood, and a totally new, awesome idea popped into my head. So as usual, when I got back home I poured myself another drink and just started typing.  What was unusual was that when I sobered up the next day, this story was still awesome. In fact I became so attached to it that I decided I’m going to follow through. I’ve been going at it since then. Now that it’s actually going somewhere, I figured I should get some feedback on it. Unfortunately, very few of my friends are much for reading and only one has any writing experience. So I decided to search the all-encompassing internet for knowledge, advice and hopefully some constructive criticism from _actual_ writers. That’s why I’m here.  *p.s.* If you actually took the time to read through my whole obscenely long introduction, please let me know. I have questions and stuff.


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## Ariel (Jun 15, 2013)

Welcome to the forums, Matt.  I have Game of Thrones on my Nook waiting to be read.  I also love Michael Crichton.  Usually all it takes is sticking to it.  I have a few ideas myself that I need to start fleshing out.  If I took my own advice and just wrote it I'd be fine. 

as far as questions, once you have ten posts you can create a thread in writing discussion or, alternatively you can pm a member of staff.  We're easy to find--we're color coded.  (Yellow and dark green are regular members--took me a while to realize that).


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## H. Giggles (Jun 15, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome.  Be careful with those Game of Thrones books.  I tried reading the first one in bed one night; seems like five minutes later it was 3 am and I barely made it to work on time.  Also, is there a thread somewhere with tips or advice for beginning writers?  I've never taken writing seriously before or had any professional instruction, so


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## John_O (Jun 15, 2013)

Welcome Matt


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## jayelle_cochran (Jun 15, 2013)

Welcome to the forums Matt!

I have ADD and I totally understand how hard it can be to focus when writing.  I've found that I'm able to write so long as I don't pressure myself and allow myself to do other stuff too.  For instance, when I'm on a roll I can be at the computer for hours, but most of the time I need to get up and do something else for a bit before returning to the computer. 

After you've written 10 posts on here, you'll be able to post in the critique area.  It helps if you also critique the writing of other members because then they'll be more likely to help you in return.

Also, for your questions there are a lot of various sections to post them in.  I find that Writing Discussion has a lot of great posts about writing, techniques, processes, styles, show vs tell, etc.  There is also a section on hints and tips and grammar/punctuation where you can find a lot of information as well.  Also, any of the staff here would be more than willing to help if you have a question and don't know where to post it or whatnot.    

*hugs*
Jayelle


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## Folcro (Jun 15, 2013)

Hello Matt, I'm Matt. I also used to love those school bus books. I can only imagine how much material you have waiting to be shared, given your experience and prolific reading. Any questions you have, as has been mentioned, you can post once you've made your quota or send me a message. I'm sure I have much to learn from you.


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## Trilby (Jun 15, 2013)

Hi there Matt, welcome to the forums!


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