I have several thoughts about that:

So what do you want, quality or quantity?

Maybe people feel intimidated, thinking people might judge their writing, not answer the question.

Is there something wrong with odd?

If people benefit in some way, does it matter that this forum isnÂt cluttered with chat?

IÂve contributed to several threads in the past month where someone has written that they have benefited or learned something to my mind that makes if valuable just as it is.
C.L.

I am an obsessive/compulsive person and cannot stand it when the writers forum is quiet but that is just me. On the other hand, and I won't give a specific name, but the chattiest person that used to visit this forum drove me crazy. Maybe there are not as many practicing writers visiting here as compared to anybody and everybody in the other forums. So our numbers are smaller and that makes for fewer posts but I suppose it is like clfo says: we are exchanging quantity for quality.

Quite definitely.

(Who knows, some non-writers who have been posting here might eventually become writers.)

My explanation? Writer's cramp!

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to wriggle out of it.

hee hee. always with the jokes!

Well me, I don't think that quality and quantity are mutually exclusive. I also think it is possible to have an exchange of ideas without that being a clutter of chat.
Of the two I would take quality over quantity but I don't see either in silence.

Silence? What silence? I thought this forum had been pretty active lately -- and I, as a writer rather than spectator, have learned things.

Yes lately it has been very good. But when it was bad it was horrid.

Well -- I guess it's up to us to make sure it continues to be good. Right?

My previous post was just a play on words:
There once was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
and when she was good
she was very good
but when she was bad she was horrid

And when she was really, really bad, she sprinkled weed seeds all over the neighbors' gardens.

I have seen a marked change in the forum and I like it.

Paul

Eddie...that was attached to a Vargas pin-up.

Writers are often intraverts and so most lurk around, read what they see on the forums, do some silent bashing of the poster, and then go toss some ice in a glass.

Me, I prefer the verbal bashing, at least there is some honesty in it. I don't know any writers who I respect that don't have a voice: a writer without a voice is a lurker or could that be parasite?

I've been looking at the link for this forum since I joined GW and I have to tell you I felt intimidated to come in here. This is the first time I have found a group of writers out in the open. Easy prey...LOL. Seriously, I didn't want to come in here being the ametuer (sp?) and find out that I might not have what it takes to be a writer.

I've written and written for years and years and haven't had the courage to submit anything except a poem (which was published by some ripoff anthology out to make money). I've written a novel, several nonfiction pieces and my major drawback isn't that I don't think my writing is good enough, it's that I am learning disabled and I never can remember or retain all of those grammer rules.

I've started college three times just to take the English Comp courses. I fail in grammar on the entrance exams and have to take the pre Comp classes, get a 4.0 average and then loose it all before the next class starts.

I don't have the money to hire someone to correct my work so what in the world does one do in my situation?

How's that for not lurking?

Steph

Some of us ACJ actually have momentum in what we do, and we do often write. Perhaps you need an outlet for your expression. Make a website and then you can do all the writing in the world you want....someone may actually even read it and write you back that they thought your work had meaning in their life. My inbox is swamped with letters ranging from help me, look at my list, and bless you.

Give yourself a focus and throw yourself in that direction. The words will pour out when they're right, and that way you won't be so frustrated anymore.

An awful lot of assumption there Trudi.
When someone wrote in to the gardenweb four or five years ago asking why dogwood was so called I offered what I knew on the subject. My motivation was, if I thought about it at all, one of sharing. That questioner is now older and wiser and feels that she is in a position to offer me advice however with a different motivation.
It is not from a position of inadaquecy that I seek to relate with other writers or from a lack of direction either.
I want to share my experience with others not in a way that says "Hey look at me, I made it" nor as you seem to be suggesting as an expression of weakness. I have no problem with a flow of words and I never saw these forums as an opportunity for self promotion, I do accept however that I am alone in this which is what I find frustrating. If writing is not for communicating then what is it for?

I like your style of communication Tony. It is honest but not chilly, without wax, rare and individualistic.

Standing alone is sometimes required to realize you are not.

sabi

Give yourself a focus and throw yourself in that direction. The words will pour out when they're right, and that way you won't be so frustrated anymore.

I find this analysis somewhat problematic. While there is little doubt that some place pen in hand during these time frames, the results are usually satisfactory only to the author. An emotional fix may have been acquired but quality communication (That is the goal, is it not?) is absent. When the words "pour out," it is a red flag to me that serious editing will be required before allowing my prose to be read by others. Placing words on paper in this suggested manner may be therapeutic but at best tends to be excessively wordy, poorly constructed babble.

Admittedly, we all have a tendency to engage in this practice from time to time. However, as life progresses, I continue to learn the value of the old saw: "Some of my most valuable possessions are words I have never spoken [written]."

The writing that I most appreciate is well thought out and concise.

IronBelly

IB:
Just a quick note before I hit the road: You're right. Most great writing is deceptively simple. Great writers use words incisively to convey their message. (Yes, great writers have something to convey and are able to convey their message with style.)

Back to the sagebrush, junipers, and snow. . . .

I once attempted "great' writing and it took almost half my life to get the first sentence down, I am still not happy with it!
I don't think aiming for the Booker prize in everything we write is very healthy but I don't subscribe to "poorly constructed babble" either. Believing that they have something to communicate is probably the hot, emotional side of a writers work and then attempting to communicate this in an efficient manner is the skill and fear of rejection is most likely the paranoid aspect.

Honest communication involves risk.
Brevity is good but it can be rote.
Careful pennings may be meaningful.
All better with a spontaneous voice.

sabi

It is not from a position of inadaquecy that I seek to relate with other writers or from a lack of direction either. Are you the one who is assuming that others see you as one of inadequacy? I don't think anyone said that or meant that. Edit? We all edit. And sometimes a lot. But if you don't get the words written down you have nothing to edit.

Today, btw, I am reading "How Plants Get Their Names", by LH Bailey, 1933. It is not about common names but about the development of the binomial botanical nomenclature system. I remember being curious about dogweeds several years back.....my cat gets very frisky when she chews on the bark. I don't remember if I asked about the history of the name, if I did and you told me I thank you.

Steph, are you using Microsoft Word with spell checking and grammar checking? That can clean up some of the obvious errors and give you some confidence. Publishers don't require perfection (that's what copy editors are for) but you might still need to spend some on a collaborator or editor or tutor. You may find a retired teacher or editor who would not be more expensive than one of those classes you've been taking.

One of my work associates is terribly dyslexic but has a wonderful way of expressing himself in writing. It's a joy to do the mop up!

Thanks Johnp!

Yes, I have MSW and I used to think it did a great job since I had nothing to compare it to. I started a newsletter years ago and wrote for about 8 months. Had a pretty good subscription base for it without advertising.

I got up the courage to take a copy in where I worked and all I got were people telling me how horrible the grammar was. I was so embarassed! These people all worked on the Orlando Sentinel.

So, evidently, MSW does some basic grammar checking but not good enough to pass muster. I am glad to hear that "Publishers don't require perfection". The first novel I wrote, I think, is too far outside of the box for any Inspirational Romance publisher to touch. I am working on another book that leans more to thriller. How I hate trying to figure out what genre this stuff is supposed to go into.

Anyway, I love medicinal herbs and the neat things about plants that people don't know about now days, unless they are gardenweb fanatics, and I like to include this type of information in the storyline. I don't know if that qualifies me as a garden writer or not.

Steph

So.....y' all write garden books?

Not all of us.

I haven't written a garden book yet but have published a children's book. Mostly I write newsletter articles and an occasional magazine article and I am starting to write more on my blog which is mostly garden-related.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eddie's Blog

Eddie, I really enjoyed your Blog---laughed a lot.

Thank you live oak lady. My webmaster moved my blog around but it's still there. Did you read the one where I said I'm in Trouble? One of my better ones is archived and titled "She Loves Me She.." I think it is poignant. Search for 1-18-2004 to find it and tell me what you think.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bittersweet Gardens

I'm self-publishing a book called, "Insects, Pests and Diseases of the African Violet Family." When it has all been sold, (!!!) I'll write some confession stories or some short, short stories. How's that?

Nancy

I just can't think of anything to write. I write a garden column for a small local paper and don't consider myself an expert. I can never think of something appropriate for this forum. Here is a thought though. What about everyone revealing what their most recent subject was that was published.

I'll go first. Last week I wrote about my adventure with an exotic fruit called a durian. It is a curious fruit from Borneo and Malaysia. It is usually shipped frozen because of the short shelf life. It has a vicious spiny covering and is the size of a pineapple and larger. I say they keep it frozen so you can't smell it and reject it. It smells like gas, onion and something sweet. It looks like a yellow custardy, internal organ or some sort. I found it at an Asian market and it cost $3 plus. If you search the net, you find a few interesting thoughts about them from other people, including both negative and positive opinions. Anyone ever tried one or even heard of it. Sharon in OK

I tried one once Sharon, well I tried it on the dog first, she will eat anything, or so I thought. Perhaps it was the smell. It looked like I imagine a spleen to look like, having never seen one. Whatever it looked like when you added that to the smell it was not something you would immediately think of eating. The dog left it, left it under the old pear tree down by English river, in the morning it was gone. Rumour has it that one of those alligators from Borneo that are washed down the toilet found its way into the river and was swimming by when it noticed the durian. It seems that these are part of its favoured diet. I have not been down near the old pear tree since.

I LOVE durian. In some ways durians are like truffles: to some people they smell good, to some they stink. I especially love durian ice cream.

But I can only bring one home when my wife is out of town. She can't stand the aroma.

Too much writer's block. At times I get fired up and things radiate off at the seed of light. Germination takes place and there it is. But alot of the time I'm just soggy fungus and decomposing leaf mold.

Good conversation; unusual but subtle ideas; interesting, supportive relationships and lust or love help spark me off.

Springcherry