I’m just coming to the end of my free one month trial on Writewords so before making the big commitment to joining I thought I’d scribble down my thoughts in the hope they may be of interest to other ‘newbies’!

First off, if you’re the kind of person who’s looking at those “Why not be a writer?” adverts, then this really could be the best website for you.

It's a catholic kind of website but it's very strong in women’s fiction where there’s a whole range of writers from Women’s Weekly story writers all the way up to mid-brow commercial literary fiction - there’s something for almost everybody.

Saying that, one of the big posters on the website is really into Sci-Fi, so pretty much all of literature is well represented.

Initially, when I looked at the Free Trial public forums I thought the website was really quiet but I asked a couple of questions and soon found out that all the juicy stuff takes place in The Lounge.

Unfortunately, you can’t go there until you pay to join up.

But if you want to get the real flavour of the site during your trial the best thing to do is just ask and the more controversial the question the better.
The members really like a sparky chat and if you check out a few of the recent threads you’ll get a proper sense of the members and the site vibe:

http://www.writewords.org.uk/forum/108_414428.asp

http://www.writewords.org.uk/forum/65_416546.asp

As in real life some people can be more sensitive than others so while it pays to be spunky - be kind and try not to say anything you wouldn’t say to your elderly aunt.

Some of the members are much more active than others and I found Emma Darwin (published writer) contributes loads and in fact, has lots of answers to any writing questions you can think of on her own website so, if you can’t see it here - go there!

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/

Terry Edge has got lots to say on Sci-Fi and all sorts of genre fiction and it’s well worth checking out his posts.

Steerpike’s Sister (Leila Rasheed) is another member who gave lots of feedback, so if you want a taster - click on her posts too.

All in all, although these three guys were probably top posters this last month, I should think there are at least ten if not maybe even a dozen or more regular posters on the website - scan down the list of public threads to see the most active.

It’s hard to find fault with the site but if I was nit-picking I would say I was slightly disappointed on the level of feedback to the work I posted on the Introduce your Work forum:

http://www.writewords.org.uk/forum/45_417048.asp

Going by the number of hits, lots of people are clicking through and reading it, but just not giving feedback. But hey, for me personally, that’s not a deal breaker.

But if you’re looking for feedback on your work - then maybe it’s something to think about.

So, that’s how I’ve found the site - why not check it out for yourself?

Well I hope I haven’t left anything out but if I have then, if I know these guys at all, there’ll be a whole bunch of ’em along in a minute to put it right.