Ready for Take-Off at Writing.com!

Welcome to Writing.com, the Disneyland for lovers of all things literary! You've just signed on for the ride of your life, and speaking from experience, I can enthusiastically attest that you're going to love every minute of your time spent here!

I know you view yourself as somewhat "technologically challenged" when it comes to computer skills and navigating the Internet, and understand that the sheer magnitude of the Writing.com site and treasure trove of offered features may seem at first glance a bit daunting, but I promise you that nothing could be further from the truth! Instead, think of Writing.com as a burgeoning cornucopia of activities embracing every literary and creative interest imaginable, including (but certainly not limited to) reading, reviewing, writing, creating and/or viewing graphics and images, and, depending upon your Membership Level, even such lofty endeavors as uploading sounds and music and building your own WDC web pages! Best of all... no other Writing site can hold a candle to WDC's extremely user-friendly, step-by-step guidance regarding how to avail yourself each and every of the innumerable options, activities, and creative outlets your Memberships Level accords. Furthermore, this we are a consummately tight knit Writing Community, brimming with fellow Members who are always ready, willing, and able to help you comfortably navigate through your "Newbie" period and answer any questions you might have along the way. You'll never find yourself "stranded on a high wire without a net" here, and because of that, there exists no height to which you cannot spread your literary wings and soar!

Since we both have a Premium Level Membership, the options available to each of us are identical. Given that, let's start with the basics, now that you've successfully joined our merry little band of literates...

First of all, you will notice that the "briefcase" icon (also referred to as a "case" here) to the right side of your chosen nickname is gray in color. This signifies that you have successfully joined WDC, but have not as yet added any items to your WDC Portfolio. Once you create your first Portfolio item, your briefcase icon will change from gray to black, signifying that you've progressed through the WDC ranks from "Registered Member" to "Registered AUTHOR". In other words, my longtime Friend of the Pen, you are good to go on the WDC launch pad, and ready for blastoff into a brave new literary world!

"COUNTDOWN" FOR ADDING YOUR FIRST PORTFOLIO ITEM:

STEP 1: Running horizontally across the top of your computer screen, you will see a Header Section displaying the Writing.com logo "sign" on its left side and various links throughout the body of the Header. Beneath the WDC logo sign, running from left to right along the bottom of the Header Section, are links for "My Account", "My Blog", "My Portfolio", "My Gift Points, "My Favorites", and "My Feedback". To add your first item, click your mouse on "my Portfolio". (NOTE: All instructions to "click" or "click your mouse" will always mean a LEFT click unless otherwise stipulated.) This will bring up a screen displaying your own personal WDC Portfolio, which, for the moment, is empty of any items. We'll be changing that status very shortly!

STEP 2: Scroll down a bit on the Portfolio screen until you see the "Power Search" box. Directly above that, bearing the title, "Create an Item", are approximately twenty-one alphabetized, bracketed 'Item type' categories to choose from. Each of them is fairly self-explanatory, and we'll delve further into any that you may still have questions about as we go along. Each Item type you see listed may be classified as either "Interactive", where you and/or others participate in a collective literary endeavor, or "Non Interactive", where you are the sole contributor to the piece in question. For now we'll begin with the simplest of the two, which is "Non-Interactive"; specifically, the classification of "Static Item" you'll find included in the list. (A "Static Item" may be any type of literary, stand-alone piece that you have singularly authored, be it poetry or prose.) Click on the bracketed "Static Item" link.

STEP 3: You should now be looking at a new web page entitled, "Writing.Com Portfolio Management". Beneath that heading you'll see the sub-heading, "The Tools Writers Need To Make Their Writing Go", and below that another sub-heading, "Create a Static Item". Following the headings are a total of eight individual Sections, the first of which is entitled, "Section 1 - Basic Information". This is where you will begin "building" an item to be placed in your WDC Portfolio. Don't fret - filling in these Sections is not at all difficult, and you'll soon become very practiced and proficient at it! Those Sections that are not obviously self-explanatory have Drop-down boxes, general instructions, and accompanying links that will explain in greater depth what options are available and/or applicable to the particular piece you're creating. (NOTE: to view the contents of a Drop-down list for any given text box, click on the shaded, downward-pointing arrow box located at the right side of the associated, blank white text box.) Take your time, browse through, and refer back to this information and links as needed, and if you still have a questions, remember that you can always ask another WDC member or a Moderator (those who have BLUE icons to the right side of their nicknames, also known as "Mods" here at WDC) via e-mail or IM. You may also find the answers you're seeking by referring to the "Getting Started" Link located just above the Writing.com logo sign in the Header section that appears on every WDC page or screen. Here is a step-by-step breakdown for completing each Section via typing your responses in the white text boxes immediately following each question or category and/or clicking on the appropriate response listed in any given given Drop-down list:

     SECTION 1 - BASIC ITEM INFORMATION

          A. Item Title: Enter the title you've given your piece, which must consist of at least three, but no more than forty, characters.

          B. Folder: For now, just stick with the already filled in, Default Drop-down Box Option of "My Portfolio". We'll learn when and how to create new folders for your Portfolio later on.

          C. Item Type: Static Item: Click on the shaded, downward-pointing arrow at right end of the white text box, then click on the drop-down listed category that best describes your piece. (Example: "Poetry")

          D. Brief Description: Let the accompanying instructions guide you here. What you write in this text box will appear as a "teaser" type byline to the title of your finished WDC piece, so utilize these ninety or less characters to maximally showcase and entice potential readers to peruse your piece!

          E. Intro Rating: (IMPORTANT: Click on the "Writing.Com Content Rating System (CRS)" link to familiarize yourself with appropriate Rating codes, and how the codes entered affect the way your piece will be listed and/or displayed. It is important to adhere to WDC's guidelines regarding Intro and Content Ratings, because they are flags for other readers who might be youngsters, minors, or persons interested only in pieces of a certain Rating level or below. The Rating code you will be selecting here is for the content of your BRIEF DESCRIPTION only; use the Drop-down box for this selection and click your mouse on the appropriate choice.)

     SECTION 2 - CONTENT AND ACCESS CONTROL SETTINGS

          A. Content Rating: The same guidelines apply here as for above Intro Ratings, only now you are rating the actual body, or content, of your piece as opposed to its Introductory Byline information. Again, utilize the accompanying Drop-down box to select appropriate Rating code.

          B. Access Restrictions:What you select here will determine who can actually access and read the piece you're posting. Options include various levels of privacy ranging from 'For Your Eyes Only" all the way to 'Allow Everyone to Read', all of which are explained in detail in the instructions and "The Access Restrictions F.A.Q." link located just above the Access Restrictions text box. Use the Drop-down Box on the right side of this text box to select the appropriate choice.

          C. PassKey: This option, if you wish to use it, allows only the people you supply with your PassKey number to access to this particular piece. The instructions and "PassKey Documentation" link provided in this section will guide you further in creating a four to eight-numbered passkey code, should you opt for doing so. If you do NOT wish to passkey your item, simply leave the text box blank.

          D. Group Edit Access AND Group Edit Level: As their titles indicate, the responses you choose in these two categories depends entirely upon what WDC Groups, if any, you belong to at the time you create and/or edit any given piece. Since you have not yet joined any Groups, simply leave the default text entry of " No Group Edit Access!" in place in both text boxes. Eventually, after you are invited to join and decide to become a member of one or more WDC Groups, the instructions and "Group Edit Documentation" link provided with this sub-section will guide you in choosing what options you wish to apply from the Drop-down list of selections for each of the two associated text boxes.

     SECTION 3 - GENRES AND KEYWORDS

          A. Select Genres: Use the instructions and Drop-down boxes in this sub-section to guide you in choosing between one and three genres that best apply to the piece you are creating.

          B. Relevant Keywords: Manually type in this text box the 15 to 25 (up to a total of 150 characters) key words or phrases that someone using Google or some other Search Engine might enter in order to locate a piece similar to the one you're creating. Picture yourself performing such a search, and what key words or phrases YOU'D enter into a Search Engine in order to find this particular type of piece. Separate your key words or phrases with commas but NO SPACES in between to get the most benefit from your 150 allowed characters here!

     SECTION 4 - ITEM BODY

          A. Item Body: In this large text box, you will enter the actual body of your piece. (NOTE: if you are composing the piece as you go along, you may wish to use the Access Restriction option of "Keep Private, For My Eyes Only!" in "SECTION 2, CONTENT AND ACCESS CONTROL SETTINGS", and save your work frequently throughout the process of writing the piece so that it will not be lost should your internet service happen to be interrupted while you're working). You can do this by scrolling down toward the bottom of the page and clicking on the button labeled "Save and Edit", located just above the "Power Search" box. You may prefer, as I do, to utilize Writing.com's "My Notebook"feature or your own computer's WORD, Notebook, or other similar program to write your piece out in full, saving your work frequently and then copying and pasting the entire content into the Writing.com "Item Body" text box. To use your WDC NotePad feature, look for the top portion of the left-side, vertical column bordering every WDC page, just beneath the horizontal Header section of the page. Under the title, "Site Navigation", point your mouse at "My Places". This will open a Drop-down, alphabetized list, including "My NotePad". Clicking on "My NotePad" will bring up your WDC NotePad, where you can privately write out your piece at your leisure and then, copy and paste your content when you're ready to upload the piece to your Portfolio. There is no limitation on the length of your piece - the text box will accommodate any amount of text you enter. You can change your font type and font color, add links, add emoticons, and be creative with your presentation in innumerable ways - check out the "WritingML" link included in this section for more information!


     SECTION 5 - EDIT POINTS

          A. Edit Points: By default, you'll find that this option is presently set to "OFF", and before exploring it at ALL, be sure to SAVE YOUR WORK THUS FAR by clicking on "Save and Edit". You can learn about this particular option by clicking on the " -?- " notation following the title, "Edit Points". This a more technical option that you might want to skip for now by simply leaving it on its default setting until you become better acquainted with the process of Rating and Reviewing at Writing.com. Essentially, it entails embedding pre-determined, designated points of reference into specific areas of your piece's content upon which people Reviewing your work can zero in and offer their comments. Leaving this option on "off" will not interfere with Reviewers being able to comment on the your piece in general, and I'd recommend that you leave it off until you feel sufficiently comfortable to experiment with this feature in the future.

     SECTION 6 - ITEM PREFERENCES

           A. Preserve Spacing Preference: If you chose to copy and paste your Item Body from a word processor to Section 4's text box while creating your item, checking this box will keep the spacing of your finished WDC piece precisely as it appeared on your word processor. If you do not check this box, the spacing of your text may look different in WDC format than it did on your word processor.

          B. Rating / Reviewing Preference: Here you can choose from one of three options in the Drop-down list: "Unrestricted", "Rating Requires a Review", or "Comments Only; No Ratings". The instructions and "The Rating / Reviewing Preference" and "Analyzing Your Item Statistics" links included with this sub-section explain what each option entails and will guide you in choosing the option you wish to utilize. To maximize the amount of reviews your piece will receive, always choose the "Unrestricted" option, which means that Reviewers will be able to numerically rate your item without necessarily leaving any commentary or suggestions. If, however, you prefer that Reviewers assign both a rating AND include commentary - or that they leave comments only and NO numerical rating, you may wish to select one of the other two options for this piece. The default option here will always be "Unrestricted".

          C. Auto-Reward Gift Points: This sub-section provides for automatically rewarding people who Review your piece and include commentary amounting to 250 or more characters with their Review. Until you've accumulated or purchased Gift Points (commonly referred to as GPs), which is Writing.com's "currency", I'd recommend that you leave this option on its default setting of zero Gift Points to be rewarded to those who Review your piece. Once you're more "settled in" here at the site, you can always edit your piece and add an Auto-Reward option via utilizing the Edit feature. The instructions and "Auto-Reward Documentation" link included with this sub-section will guide you with that process.

     SECTION 7 - RCS INFO

          A:RCS Notes: This text box is where you can keep any notes you wish regarding future revisions/edits/additions.etc. you may choose to make to your piece. Your comments here are for your eyes only and are NOT viewed by those reading your piece. Click on the " -?- " notation in this sub-section for further information. For now, you can simply leave this text box blank.

     SECTION 8 - COPYRIGHT INFORMATION AND STORE ITEM

          A: This Section's instructions includes links to Writing.com's "Copyright Policy", "User Agreement", and "FAQ's" (Frequently Asked Questions) that will acquaint you fully with vital information, policies, and copyright protections enjoyed by all of us in this marvelous writing community. Below them you'll find three buttons: "Complete Edit", "Save and Edit", and "Save and View". If you click the first of these, your work will be saved and you will be shown a verification screen. If you click "Save and Edit", your piece will be saved and you will be shown an "Edit", which you can utilize to make changes or correct errors in your piece. If you click "Save and View", your piece will be saved and you will be shown the piece as it will actually appear to any reader at WDC. (NOTE: If applicable, before you click ANY of the "Save" buttons, double check Section 2 and make sure that you've changed your "Access Restrictions" choice from "Keep Private/For My Eyes Only" status over to whichever selection you wish to stipulate for your piece.) Then, regardless of which "Save" button you click...

CONGRATULATIONS !!! YOU'VE JUST CREATED YOUR VERY FIRST ITEM AT WRITING.COM !!! (Click on the "My Portfolio" link located in the WDC header section of any WDC page and you'll find your item nestled therein!