My Frontliners Essay

I joined the Frontliners shortly after I became a member of WdC. Members were always talking in the forum and helping one another with their writing. We would often review each other’s pieces and I got a lot of really valuable feedback from other Frontliners.

One of the things I really used to like about our group was the novel review forum. Writing novels is my first choice when it comes to fiction. I enjoy short stories, too, but even many of those are just a glimpse at a novel I hope to write some day. So, for me, the interaction within that group within a group was awesome.

I also enjoyed the Works of the Month contest were we could all showcase short stories we’d written recently. I also like the virtual parties that Frontliners have had in the past. They were a great way to celebrate holidays together and to just get to know one another better.

What I would like to see from the Frontliners as a group would be, in general more participation. I would like to see the Novel Review forum come back, obviously. I’d also like to see members reviewing each other. Perhaps we could have a forum where we could post things we’d written recently and have members review them.

I’d also like to see some part of the group focus on the business of publishing and self-promotion – maybe even a bit, at some point, about freelance writing and that end of the business.

As for what I can bring to the group, I think that everyone has a lot to offer. I’ve been writing for almost as long as I can remember, and I’ve been an avid reader since I was a small child. That being said, I have a lot to add in the way of reviewing. I also assistant teach at New Horizons here on the site and I’ve taken many of the classes there. So, more than just bringing my own personal opinions to my reviews, I can also bring a lot of knowledge from those and other classes. Sometimes I might even come up with a good idea or two as far as activities for the group and ways to help each other out and get involved. I am also involved with a few other groups and such outside of WdC and can bring those ideas to the Frontliners as well such as off-site writing contests, information about certain markets and even some things about getting freelance writing jobs, if the group agrees at some point that it might want to branch out into that as well.

Overall I’m really excited about the future of The Frontliners. I don’t think we need to be the biggest group on the site to make the biggest changes in our members or to improve their writing the most. Instead I think we need to be a group (of any size) of dedicated individuals who are striving toward honing their craft and looking to be published.