Hey all,
It’s good to be back here. I think it’s nice to post when I feel moved to do so. My intention with this blog was to always just post about my writing and journey to publishing. I’ve never been great at Journaling, but I never really talked about my writing community and how I got eyes on my work before my agent and editor ever did. Seems like a fine time to start now.
Years ago, back in my dorm room, my sister came across this site called Scribophile. She was looking for a place to workshop her writing and had been looking into it for a while. She joined and shortly after I joined after seeing that it was helping her.
So what is Scribophile? Well, good friends, Scribophile is a writing community that allows you to post work based off of a karma system. And the way in which you get karma is to critique others work.
Now you might be thinking that’s not for me. I don’t have time for that. I couldn’t possibly critique another writer’s hard work. Honestly, though it takes a while to adjust to, it’s a great system. By switching your lense from your work to help someone’s else’s you become a better writer yourself. And it’s fair. You scratch someone’s back, they scratch yours.
But the best part for me is the friends I’ve made. Scribophile is a vast place so to speak, but once you connect with your locals, the people who stick with your work and build that relationship, the site becomes so much more useful. I even thanked my closest friends in Turning‘s acknowledgements. I really could not have wrote Turning without Scribophile. In fact my first drafts were workshopped on there.
For me it was helpful to comb through each chapter, and within that chapter critiques and comments left by multiple people. It allowed me to cross reference changes in my other documents. I could message and join specialized groups for practically any subject regarding Turning I wrote about. Several of my earlier sensitivity readers came from a group for people with a range of disabilities.
Whether you’re trying to become traditionally published, self published, or simply just want to share your writing and make it better, Scribophile has a place for you. It’s not all business. There are also writing contests with various themes and prizes. Some cash prizes, some great karma prizes. The comtaderie is great. In my early days I enjoyed the contests to get my juices flowing etc. It can be nice to step away from the novel, short story or poem you’re working on.
Did I mention Scribophile isn’t just for novelist or short story writers? Well, it’s not. Pretty much every type of writing is represented on scribophile. I think it’s nice to interact with writers who aren’t necessarily in the same boat. You learn a lot and there’s ton of non-related writing to chat about too.
As I’m reflecting on my six years of being apart of Scribophile, it makes me smile. I can go back to all the writing I’ve ever posted, and reflect on where I was as a writer back then. I just wanted to write, and learn more about my voice and style. I’ve learned so much about not only critiquing my own work, but how to successfully and kindly go about doing the same for someone else. Friends were made. Stories have been published. It doesn’t get much better than that.
See ya,
Joy
Joy Writing 