I'm so glad we had the opportunity to meet and address your concerns. I felt mortified by your experience and hope that others who went through the same thing come forward and speak with us. It's fantastic to have you on board finally! I hope we can also become part of your tribe.

This post title popped out at me and I really identify with it.

I generally have a decent conversation on the Block with individuals until it gets a bit busy. Then it gets difficult... and I still feel intimidated by the group! Haha!

It's funny how you can look right at something and not see it. When I finally understood the impact such austerity was having and spoke up, there was instant pushback. That's when I realized how entrenched the thinking had become. GMuxx and I put on our admin coats to deal with it, and let's just say that was not well received. 

We will always take a hard stand on quality writing. We'll always consider work published on the blockchain to be "published" in a most official sense. We will never tell someone their work is ready for public consumption when it's not. To do otherwise would be doing them a disservice. But that doesn't mean we don't want inexperienced and struggling writers among us. That's why the Block exists. We all faced the same learning curve. Writing is hard. It isn't a jumble of thoughts that leap from the brain to the page. This is particularly true with commercial writing, or any form or writing we expect payment for. But TWB is here to help. When that help becomes unobtainable for those reaching out for it, then we're no better than the mainstream publishing industry we're trying to reshape.

I will admit that I found the place intimidating. :) And it didn't help that I was a brand new Discord user! 

My first week on Steemit, TWB was recommended to me and so I downloaded Discord and joined, and I didn't even know how to leave the welcome room... finally realised there were other rooms listed on the side, and even though they had a padlock on them I could apparently click into them. And by that time I felt it was too late to say "hello!" and the chatter I saw in there did nothing to put me at ease. I lurked for a bit, feeling more and more intimidated each time I saw people talking, and then stopped lurking altogether.

Group chats make me feel awkward at the best of times, but all of that... it was hard.

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to know that I wasn't the only one getting those vibes! And that they've since been addressed.

I mean jeez Stacie, get your crap together lmao! Glad you got to meet Muxx, he's good people.

Good for you!!! Looking forward to seeing your novel published :)

LOL, as I shared the other night on discord, I started researching my main novel in 1994, and still don't have my first draft completed.  

Too much research really is a thing. ;-)

I've done proofreading and editing at a small publishing company in Florida, and part of my issue is editing (often meaning second-guessing) while I write . . . not exactly the formula for great productivity.

But what I have found at TWB is a group of great people, who are funny as hell while being serious about the work of writing, and I'm hoping that this will be the impetus I need to actually get my work on paper, and to finally finish the first draft that's been in my head for twenty years plus. ;-)

And, if I can help you, please reach out.  Because I, more than most, know for a fact that actually getting past your own inner critic is far harder than any critics you'll face in real life.  

Looking forward to reading your writing as you progress. ;-)

Love this and love the pals @thewritersblock! Hope everything is going well it was so nice to meet you guys in TO! Come back soon :)