A big thank you to tonyh and wingnut for their input into this evenings chat session.

tonyh entered the room.
Laurie: Hi tony, will be with you shortly
tonyh: Evening Laurie.  I look almost every day at new arena postings and comment on many of them, but there is always a possibility that posting stuff on there might jeopardise future submission prospects for that piece, or is that  a pointless concern?
Laurie: Submissions to the arena run for 10 days after which they disappear from the site
tonyh: I had forgotten about that.  Thanks.  The problem seems to be that many members do not seem either to contribute or comment on arena postings.  With a membership in the upper hundreds, we could surely exopect more interest being shown across the board but it just doesn't happen.  How do we change those statistics?
Wingnut entered the room.
tonyh: Hi Wingnut.
Wingnut: Hello to you both
Laurie: Hi there
Wingnut: Man Flu is taking a hold on me at the moment, I understand it's the worst type.Ha Ha
Laurie: I think most people feel shy about commenting especially if they feel the author has done so much that anything they might say is worthless, I think that is where the problem lies
Laurie > Wingnut: I published a poem about that
Wingnut: Really, is it on the site?
Wingnut > tonyh: I found your comments very useful last week, Thanks.
Laurie > Wingnut: it was, but then i put it into an anthology of my poems and self published via lulu
tonyh: Perhaps there needs to be a new stating of intent on the site.  No matter how many pieces an author had had published, they will always appreciate comment from readers because it can help them to improve thier writing. Maybe that point is not made strongly enough.  An arena posting that attracts no comment at all is as dispiriting as one that gets slammed, or at least can seem so.
Laurie: It is already mentioned in the 'About arena' tab tony, but it gets forgotten, I think word of mouth may be a better way to go
Wingnut > tonyh: I think I would appreciate any type of comment, as I know that I have a long way to go at the moment and any type of comment would be a positive, for me anyway.
tonyh: Flads I could help Wingnut. I find it difficult sometimes with writelink because I have trouble shaking the old ethos by which I worked a few years ago.  Basixally I churned stuff out like mad and was submitting up to thirty pieces a month. I am trying to take motre time and care but it is far from easy.

Wingnut > Laurie: There is so much content on the site that it is difficult to know where to go for best, or maybe thats just me.
Laurie > tonyh: I can appreciate that it may seem that way, but what may also help is if we start to add a note at the top of our submissions stating that all comments are welcome etc. we may encourage others to do the same and it should snowball
Laurie: What do you both think
tonyh: Why do you feel that you have a long way to go, Wingnut? Are you as yet unpublished, because you are new to the writing life?
Laurie > Wingnut: That's why I started this group, we've all done the site tour, and we know the information is there somewhere, but don't necessarily have the time to search for it. By leaving these types of questions on the group forum, we'll build a short list of FAQ's
tonyh: I have actually added that very comment several times now and I expect it helped, but many who become members never seem especially active in the various activities.  We that do are a realeatively small hard core, but we need to expand.
Wingnut > tonyh: Yes, you have it in one. I used to write in my younger days and know that I have more time I am getting back into it. One of my challenges at the moment is defining a genre to work in.
Wingnut > Laurie: I don't have a problem with stating that comments are welcome, I just didn't know that it was permissible to add to a piece of work.
Laurie > tonyh: Don't forget that we have alot of reader members amongst our numbers, I'll have to check but I think they can vote but not leave comments, but don't quote me, I check with the moderators and post it on the group forum
Wingnut > Laurie: I am slightly confused as to what work can be put in the arena.
Laurie > Wingnut: in what way
tonyh: Maybe you need totry your hand at different things for a while to find what you are most comfortable with Wingnut. When I started, some tears ago now, all I wanted was to see my name in print, so I tried my hand at every challenge I could think of. Even today I write a little of everything because I like to vary things for myself.
Wingnut > Laurie: Is there a set formula or can you submit anything that you want a comment on?
Laurie > Wingnut: In addition to the Challenge arena, there are five other arenas. ranginge from Poetry, Fiction, Book fiction chapters, book non fiction chapters and articles
Laurie: short stories, flash fiction would go in the fiction arena, whilst anything of a chapter length would go in the book chapters etc
Wingnut > Laurie: One of the reasons I joined Writelink was that I hoped to be able to submit work and develop through the comments received, and hopefully improve enough to become published. I thought I read somewhere on the site that you could only submit 'works in progress'

tonyh: Do you write much poetry Laurie?  I believe that there is an ever increasing market for it these days, and there are certainly enough competitions on offer.  I ask because it seems to me that it's important for everyone to try different disciplines, even if they don't take to them as well as to others.
Laurie: by default, if you put something on the arena, it is a work in progress so I don't see a problem.
Wingnut > Laurie: That's cleared things up for me on that topic, thanks
Laurie > tonyh: I write all sorts but if the poetry muse says, write poetry, then I have to go with the flow
Laurie > Wingnut: It is also handy to include a word count in your introduction especially with longer pieces
tonyh: There don't seem to be too many takers for our chat this evening.  Never mind. I must admit that poems do not feature high on my own list of prorities.  the word count question is important as well.  It can be very hard to stick to an upper limit when writing any piece, but it is always a good discipline to do it.
Laurie: If you have a piece that is for a competition or for a specific publication I'd be tempted to give that a mention too
Wingnut: I've noticed from the comments Re the previous challenges that some of the entries were discarded as they overstepped the permitted word count
Laurie > tonyh: I know that here are a few that can only do afternoons, and one or two have a time difference to work around, but the transcript will be posted to the forum for all to read as they wish
Laurie > Wingnut: The word count is related to that specific challenge
Laurie: If the rules state a line count of 20 for a poem, then anything over that requirement is discarded,
Wingnut > Laurie: So why go over the permitted amount. Surely the competition is tough enough
tonyh: Laurie. I would be as happy with afternoon chats as with evening ones, on the whole, but I suppose you have to consider every person wishing to take part. I do find these chats useful and enjoyable.
Laurie > Wingnut: Not everyone reads the rules.... I've done it myself in the early days, got so carried away with the poem and posted. thankfully there was a nice member who sent me an e-mail to warn me of my transgression so i was able to repost
Laurie > tonyh: I think there is a lot of useful information coming out tonight
Wingnut: With regards to Poetry, I have a problem with it if it doesn't rhyme.
Laurie > Wingnut: so did i to begin with, but I've tried to expand my repertoire since joining the site, mostly from reading other peoples poems and the comments they recieve

tonyh: Me too. It can be quite surprising how much info gets imparted in a small discussion group.  Like you Wingnut, I am old fashioned enough to believe that poems SHOULD rhyme, though afficionados will tell us that we are just fossils.
Wingnut: I just enjoy writing and whatever will be ,will be, A fossilized Poet, I think I may have a go at submitting something with that theme.
Laurie: One thing to remember with posting to the general arenas is that you should only post ONE submission per arena genre at a time, the submission stays visible on the site for 10 days and the it is removed, only then can you submit another piece to the same arena. You can also remove the submission yourself if you wish
Wingnut > Laurie: I did that the first time I entered a challenge, as I thought I had done something wrong when I saw my identity was the only one visible
Laurie > Wingnut: If you were to submit something to the arena and after a few comments decided to make the suggested changes, you can do so but mention that it is a revised/edited version. that way you will be able to get comments on the changes you have made
tonyh: That's the way! Think outside the box if you want to write something memorable. Any topic you choose can be given a new lease of life if you just approach it in a different way.  Like telling stories to kids really. If you keep it interesting you have the reader hooked.
Laurie: You can not edit an arena challenge entry, but you can submit to the challenges as many times as you wish. If you want to replce your original submmision with a revised one you can and the delete the one you don't want to be judged
Wingnut > tonyh: That was a brilliant statement to make,thanks
Laurie > Wingnut: Is this session what you expected
Wingnut: Yes, I really appreciate both of you taking the time to encourage people like myself.
tonyh: I don't have anything in arena at the moment.  Been too busy researchinmg material for new articles and then writing them.  I did once belong to a local writers circle, but I never found the other members to be anything but enthusiastic amateurs, more interested in the scocial aspects of the meetings than in the writing itself.  That used to get my goat so I stopped attending. You do need interaction with other writers but you need to know that they are equally serious for it to be worthwhile.
Laurie: Hey I'm in the same boat as you,tony is the one with the most writing history, I only started about 2 years ago
Wingnut > Laurie: Well credit where it's due I say, do you mean you only started writing seriously 2 years ago.
Laurie > tonyh: I skirted around afew writing sites before I jioned this one, and I have to say it was the approachability of it's members that persuaded me in the end. As a novice writer I quite like the banter, plus I retain information better if it's imparted injest.

tonyh: Hey Guys! Writing history is one thing.  If I had carried on back in 2005, at the pace I was going then I would be selling stuff hand over fist now, but I took a break from it all for several years so now I feel like I too am back at the beginning.  Success doesn't make you overly confident, believe me but it helps.
Laurie > Wingnut: Yes, sorry! lol.
Wingnut: I also saw that the site would enable me to keep focused on my writing.
Laurie > tonyh: I meant to highlight your knowledge base as a positive aspect that we can all draw on
tonyh: To be honest Laurie, I first joined writelink several yeares ago, when I was still busy writing all the time.  I knew Sue from when she started up but let my membership lapse as my writing interest faded.  Glad to be back now though.  Any of you are quite welcome to quiz me.  If I can help I will.
Wingnut > tonyh: You may regret imparting that information to me Tony
Laurie > tonyh: We'll appreciate the offer, and I'm sure
Laurie: i'll be doing so soon enough
Laurie: Do either of you have any other questions about posting etc
Wingnut > Laurie: These sessions are so worthwhile, I hope you can work around everone time delays etc and that they continue.
Laurie: I am aiming to run alternate afternoon/evening sessions or hold an adhoc afternoon session and see who turns up. Did you notice the event notification on the home page?
Wingnut: I did ,yes. It's time for me to suffer a hot toddy, sometimes a cold can be quite enjoyable, thanks again to you both, goodnight.
Wingnut left the room.
Laurie: Goodnight
tonyh: I'm ready to call it a night too Laurie.  It has been a good session. I look forward to the next one. Bye for now.
Laurie: Ok tony, Unless you can think of anything else.I think this is a good place to call it a night
Laurie: bye
tonyh left the room.