(Easier on the eyes: spacing between paragraphs. [Sometimes my laptop causes DOUBLE spacing of paragraphs when I paste from Word into a reply box. I wanted to avoid that, so "saved" without the spaces... hoping that spaces would appear. Am I making sense?])
I haven’t been a big fan of people using Q&As to write “could you look at my work and comment?” My position was ‘Q&As is Q&As and “shared works” is “shared works”! Two separate concepts.’
BUT it has now occurred to me that I spend too much of my logged-on time in Q&As and not enough in “shared works”. I wouldn’t even have read Melissa Taylor’s poems if Wilhelmina hadn’t recommended them to me… and she only found out about them from seeing Melinda’s Q&A. I will try to amend this imbalance in future.
Today, I decided to look at the “shared works” of people I admire here on Q&As. Senior users who give good advice to newcomers. And it’s strange (is it strange?) that they haven’t posted any. Out of 6 of the most active contributors to Q&As, only 3 have “shared works”.
I’m reminded of the saying “Those that can, do: those that can’t, teach.” I don’t actually believe this, but I’d like to urge senior users to share their work with the rest of us.
To break the ice, I’ve just shared a poem. Although I consider myself as much a poet as a short-story writer (and my poetry output over the years is MUCH greater), this is the first time that I share a poem with you. (Bashful blushes…)
https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/profile/jimmy-hollis-i-dickson/work/57c6b9f9387140d8218b4569
And ADMIN: Can you PLEASE add “children’s stories” and “poetry” to the genre drop-down options list?!!! It’s striking that you publish a separate Yearbook for W&As of children’s books, yet don’t offer this option in “shared works” genres!
For those of you who wonder, the “Practical / how to” genre that I opted for for my children’s story “A children's story of escalating violence” is sarcastic, fuelled by frustration at the lack of a suitable option. There are actually 2 stories in there and a link to another with illustrations. (From back in the days when we were only allowed to share ONE work.,)
I think you have hit the nail on the head, I tend to go to shared works when someone posts a request for anyone to take a look. I think the times I have posted my work I have asked for comments here and always got great feedback that helped me improve. However, one area where improvement is needed most is grammar and punctuation. That I fear will never improve so it is left to some editing by my first wife. Well my only wife but that term seems to keep her on her toes!!!
I suppose I might be in the category of 'senior user'? Though I'm not around often to answer questions, I do try to chime in where I think I can help. I know you, Lorraine and Adrian always give lots of helpful advice, and I always enjoy reading your responses.
I know when I first joined the site, about two years ago, I shared a few pieces. The first couple had a few comments, then the last pieces I shared had no feedback at all, which is why I stopped. I also run my own blog now, so tend to post writing on there.
However, I do think the Shared Works section is a useful forum, especially for those not used to sharing their work with others. There seems to be a pretty nice group of people on the site, so it's a fairly safe environment.
I do wonder whether people also don't share because of the grey area regarding whether their work is then considered to be 'published.' This would disqualify it from being entered into most competitions. It would be great, actually, if that point could be clarified - then perhaps more people would be inclined to share.
I'm also not a fan of using the Q&A section to ask people to look at shared works - I don't believe that it's what this section is for. But - like you, I don't really spend much time in Shared Works, so perhaps it's the only way to get people across to visit.
Anyway, I think this is a great question - I'll be interested to see the other answers :)