An Online Writer's Community

Was pleasantly surprised to find in my inbox an unsolicited invitation to join a women writer's web ring. When I used the proffered link, I found myself at a writer's community home page where the link for the web ring was found on the side bar. I soon learned that I had to join the community before I could join the webring. I was briefly disappointed, as I was sure that I had just been duped by spam to come to a site offering something for sale.

But just moments later I was reassured because registration for Today's-Woman.net is free and most of the resources of the community are also free to registered users. Registration must be to help ensure users are 18 and over so that discussion can be conducted on a mature level. And by that they don't mean X-rated either. They announce with a SafeSurf button there is adult material on the site but elsewhere they insist that pornography, profanity and incivility are not permitted. All forums are moderated to enforce site standards of conduct.

There are monthly contests for poetry and short stories. There are book reviews. And articles written by members to aid and advise them on a number of things, not the least of which relate to writing, editing and publishing. There are discussion threads, member blog hosting, member profiles w/pics, games forums where members compete for scores against other members. Commenting on other member's writings is not only encouraged it is considered a duty. I was unable to access most of these forums, as my membership must be confirmed first. I gleaned the info off the menus, the faq, the staff's page and the homepage. I am so thrilled to have found this site and hope it lives up to its bright promise.

It was founded by Rosemarie DesRochers a writer from Ontario, Canada,
author of, She is like the wind, a collection of poetry. Her husband Shawn is the webmaster. The original concept of a women's community has expanded to include men as well. Rose admits the name no longer reflects the reality.

On the face of it--literally the surface which is all I've seen so far--it appears to be a vital, growing, indispensable resource for writers who have had enough of the lonely artist's hermit life and wish to give as much as receive encouragement and communion with others who share their passion and dedication to their art. I can't wait to get involved.

I have only one problem. Rose DesRochers has beat me to the very dream I had for Joywrite when I first conceived it in 1998. But that is really more of a blessing than a problem since I do not have the resources to make it happen, not the least of which are the exceptional tech talents and web savvy of Shawn DesRochers, who also has his own techie business, Invision-Graphics.

One of the moderators is Jayel Gibson author of the fantasy series, Ancient Mirrors Chronicles.

Any writer attracted to this concept should surf on over and consider signing up.

Update: I cross posted this over at Blogcritics where I announced that I would be blogging here about my adventures at Today's-Woman.net. Well the first adventure is apparently a snag in the automatic registration. I didn't realize that I was supposed to get an almost immediate confirmation email which contains a link for activating my account. I haven't recieved it yet and according to their faq I now need to email their admin.