Sharing your first item

Hi Sally.  Welcome to WDC (writing dot com) Let's hurry and create your first item so that you will become a "registered author". Here are some step by step instructions for sharing that new story you wrote.  I'm going to write it in "our" language so it will be easy to understand.  WDC is great with instruction for each section but I will try to explain it in "our" terms.  Read this first and then come back here to go step by step: "Creating New Items"   Hope this helps.........

First thing you do is go to the top of the page and you will see the following line.
"Getting Started"          "Reading"              "Writing"                "Reviewing"

Place your mouse over "Writing" until you see a hand, then click.  You will be taken to a page that shows different items that you can create.  For this example, click "Static Item" (bulletin, story, article).  Static items are the most common item type on WDC. It's in blue and will take you to the following screen to create your item:

Section 1:  Basic Item Information
Provide some basic information about this item.
Item Title:  Name your story
Folder:  Decide where to store it
Item Type: Static Item: Do not leave this as "other".  Pick one!

Brief Description: Enter a brief description of this Item. This will be used when listing the Item in public listings, your portfolio and many other places on Writing.Com. It may not be longer than 90 characters; this length is short because of the small areas where it is displayed.

Select the Intro Rating for the information above. This rating applies to only the information in Section 1 (this section) of this form. Correct and accurate content ratings for your items is required and incorrect ratings may be changed by site Moderators or Staff.
Rating: Read this before deciding on your rating..... "Content Rating System (CRS)" 

Are you still with me?  Now is the time to save.  Go to the bottom of this screen and hit "save and edit".  Go pee, get a cup of coffee or a margarita and hurry back. 

Section 2:  Content and Access Control Settings Do *not* leave your content rating as "-------" as this will cause your item to not be displayed in public listings. If there is any question, go to the higher rating. Leave all other blanks with the default for now.  I’ll show you more as you become comfortable with the site. Move to Section 3

Section 3:  Genres and Keywords Select Genres: Please choose from one (1) to three (3) genres for your item.  Pick three that are close to describing what you are writing.  This helps in searches for items of your type.

Section 4:  Item Body
Enter the main body of this item below
This is where you post your item.  I always create my item first in a word processor and then copy/paste.  Whatever works for you is fine

This is where I normally save the item so that I don’t loose any of my work.  Sections 5, 6, and 7 should be left as default.  Section 8 describes copyright information.

This article is only meant to get your first item in your portfolio so that you can receive feedback from those who review your work.  As you become more familiar with the site, you will want to go through each section and read the links associated with that section.  You may also edit your item at anytime from your port.

I tried not to overwhelm you with too many details.  I know that your blonde personality will only let you retain a little information at a time.    You know I’m kidding.  I hope this helps.


Author's Note
Written for "Tourn-a-Rounds" 
Round 2