Greetings from Arizona!

[chrisg]

Hello, my name is Chris Goglin and I'm so excited to become a new member at Faithwriters.com
I've published a few things in the past, but due to family and work issues, I let my writing slide a bit. Now, I am an empty nester and have a little more time. I just submitted my first challenge article, and am eager to get involved. I live near Sedona, where the red rocks are amazing, and I have five children (all grown) and 5 grandchildren, and a wonderful husband of 45 years.

[mikeedwards]

Hi Chris, Welcome to FaithWriters. Bea and I lived in Prescott for 10 years. We are very familiar with Sedona. Beautiful area for sure. We are happy you are a member. Check things out and get involved in the Challenge and other opportunities. There are a lot of great people on the site at all levels or writing. Lots of help available. God Bless, Mike & Bea Edwards

[chrisg]

Thank you Mike and Bea for replying to my post. Yes, Prescott is a very pretty town too....we travel "over the mountain" quite often to shop, and enjoy the many restaurants. They have a new Cracker Barrel there now...and we love it!

[chrisg]

Nice to meet you Jerseygirl.....Scottsdale is not too far...and a very classy town! Thanks for all the encouragement, kids tend to teach you a lot about God...my five were the reason I started writing..so many humorous stories! Keep in touch, I'd love to read your articles.

[Shann]

Hi Chris welcome to FW! This is an awesome site filled with all kinds of people. That's one of the things that drew me here was that there is such a diversity We have talented teens all the way to great grandparents. There are sci-fi writers and my favorite is children's stories. There are also devotions, Biblical fiction, historic fiction, testimonials and just about everything in between.

There are also authors who have been published several times over and those who have only written in their journals.

I'm so glad you entered the challenge already. I have learned so much from the challenge. I've learned to tighten up my sentences. I can be a tad chatty at times and have add to cut words out until they made a huge pile on the cutting room floor.

The feedback in those little gold boxes have been divine. many people leave wonderful comments, but for me I cherish the ones who offer constructive criticism. It may sting a bit at first, but once I assure myself that the person is coming from a place of love, I'm almost always better off for their comments, even when I don't agree.

Once someone mentioned I started every paragraph with a name or pronoun. I remember thinking that must be an exaggeration! As it turned out, I had started almost every sentence that way!

I find I have learned a lot by commenting on other stories too. It helps to know what I like or what doesn't work for me. I used to worry about being too inexperienced to leave feedback but then I thought I may only have been writing seriously for a short time but I've been reading for over 40 some years!

Again welcome. Don't hesitate to ask any questions or to jump into any discussions or to leave feedback on any story. I look forward to reading your work and hope you're thinking of a story for accent. Oh once the judges have read all of the stories, you can TOSS a brick which means leave a link for your story to get more feedback. You have to wait for the all clear. It can vary from Saturday to Tuesday. Here is a link that will give you more info viewforum.php?f=56

Have fun and