What people have said about The Writers' Croft

Reading other people's thoughts on my writing was becoming probably the highest point in my week. I can't express how important all your thoughts and feelings and responses have become to me...and how much they've helped me on many levels - not just writing. Definitely, knowing that there are intelligent, mature, caring, respectful people out there reading what I'm writing is a major encouragement to me to keep writing. ::::::::group hug to everyone::::::::::

The Croft experience has affected me deeply on many levels. Firstly, I think that you, Peter, are an amazingly caring, respectful, spiritual individual. The Croft could not be so wonderful without such a wonderful person leading it. I think you attract equally wonderful people around you and this intensifies the experience. There is so much creative, positive, caring energy here! I can't help but see it grow and grow like a bright and shining little star at the heart of The Writer's Croft.
I needed something anonymous so I could feel safe expressing myself. I've got a lot of painful things I need to write out. I don't think I would feel safe allowing people who know me to read what I need to write. There is intimacy and caring here, but also I can retreat to a safe distance for a period of time when I need to. This helps me greatly
as a writer.

How has the croft changed me, as a writer, or in other ways? Hmmm. Well, I write for a living, but I write mostly boring stuff that I'm not very interested in. Over the years, that has acted to take away from the time that I write personally. I've always been an avid writer and reader, but the Croft has brought back a sense of personal (as opposed to professional) writing for an audience. In the Croft, I know who is reading my stuff, and I know that they're not sharing it with their friends and neighbours. If I was writing for a wider audience, I would certainly change names and places to protect the innocent, but here, I don't. Also, because of the anonymous feeling of the croft (weirdly anon, but not anon!), I feel free to write about whatever, and I don't feel "exposed" in a way that I would if, say, I knew my mother was reading it, in which case, there's a lot of stuff that I wrote here, that I wouldn't have written!!!

I loved reading your thoughts about writing each week. I looked forward to Monday when the new instructions for the warmup would be posted, along with some interesting ideas about writing. I loved reading the warmups of others, as we both started in the same place with your instructions, but ended with completely different results. I did not respond to warm-ups very often, but I read all of them and appreciated them.

I've come to feel a lot more at ease, both with the act of writing and with revealing myself "on paper". I still don't feel that I am a writer in the sense that I have to write every day (for me the crucial marker), nor do I have the gift I would love to have been blessed with, that of the ability to tell stories, to write fiction. The writing has stirred up the artistic urge in me however, which is what I most wanted from the Croft. I am more eager and, I think, able, to return to the three-dimensional, visual art forms, than I had been in a long time; the past three years of school had left me feeling drained and creatively limp. My imagination has been stimulated and I'm ready to pick up tools again and make art!

I have been overwhelmed by the unexpected. I have learned to become a relatively efficient essay writer for business purposed and have enjoyed the exercise of this skill. What I was not prepared for is the response of so many true writers, some better than myself, who were touched by what I wrote from time to time. Some have urged me to take this on as a vocation. I am speechless and frightened by this prospect. I will need time and the support of the Croft to sort all this out.

I felt truly seen and heard by most of those who gave me feedback, which did my burgeoning writer self great encouragement, and I would also have liked more feedback about my writing style, successes, lapses, etc., as well as that I received addressing the content of the piece. That said, I'm grateful that people were as kind and gentle and supportive as they were.

It's been a fantastic ride,

I enjoyed participating immensely.
I found the software easy to use and stable.
I think what most impressed me was the quality of the writing and responsiveness of the participants. I enjoyed reading reviews of all the work. I think it helped me think deeper into the minds of those who were kind enough to offer their critique and appreciation of my pieces. I know that I was impressed by all the submissions, and it helped me see different ways of expressing myself. I am sure I share these sentiments with all the writers. I think the preambles to the warm-up exercises were particularly effective in putting me in a place of creativity, and although we could not exactly see the facial expressions of the other reviewers, I felt that by reading the work submitted, that I got an insight into the minds of the other participants.

The program itself was beautifully set up. The orientation period was quick. There was nothing at all complicated about it; nothing that impeded full and rewarding participation.
As for the writing community I love it. The timing is fine for me. Sometimes I didn't make it in the week; but mostly I did and I don't see that as an issue. I own that timing thing; not the board. This kind of communication suits me tremedously. It allows me to connect at the level I want to connect at. Small talk is virtually non-existent and that's OK by me; I just like to cut to the chase. I also like the depth of online communication.

I found your feedback helpful and constructive and reassuring.

I found the program to be very easy to use. It's very straight forward. I also felt that help was available if I needed it because I could pm you and ask you if I needed help or did not understand something.

I really really really appreciated your feedback, as I always learned something from it and tried to remember it for the next time that I was writing a piece.

I feel a great sense of community with those in my group, as I had to trust them enough for them to read my work, and respect them enough to read their work without judging

I enjoyed the insights….I think it sort of acted as a introduction to the warmup for the week. It gave me some direction as to how I should approach the warmup. The warm-ups themselves were a lot of fun, I think. I liked how it was just ten straight minutes of writing, not having to think about grammar or punctuation or if its polished or not. IT really helps to stimulate the creative mind

Yes, the program was very easy to use. It took up the amount of time that was anticipated. Everything about the site was very straight forward.

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