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HorseWriters Update
February 21, 2012 10:20:02 PM
Some of you in the past may have stumbled across my work on HorseWriters and been a bit interested. If you have checked back for any of my work since April 13th, 2011 you will find that it can no longer be found on WOS.

I have many many reasons for having decided to do this, but the main one is this. I have no desire to see any piece of work I have written claimed by someone else or re-distributed without my expressed permission. A few days back I was looking through the Terms and Condition for WOS and stumbled across this:

V. Use Of Received Materials

By mailing, faxing, emailing, uploading, or in any other way transmitting original works to whiteoakstables.net, You grant whiteoakstables.net an unlimited royalty-free world-wide licensee to use, print, adapt, modify, create derived materials from, and distribute the original and derivative works. By submitting materials you acknowledge moral-rights and all other recognized rights worldwide.

This essentially means that anything posted on WOS is now outside of my control. that it could be altered, printed off, and handed out to people without my ever knowing it.

I literally put hours of work into most of the serious pieces of prose and poetry that I craft. The idea that just because I choose to post it online for some feedback and the chance that it could be taken infuriates me, and I will not condone it. Therefore I will never again post any of my work onto WOS where there is the chance that it could be used without my knowledge.

I also see little point of posting serious work on a website where no one hows to accurately critique a real piece of writing. I am not talking about spelling/grammar here, I mean content, plot, character, setting, tone, ect. ect. Grammar and spelling is something I can work through on my own, when I give my work to people I want a truly honest opinion about the overall decency of the piece itself.

You may think I am arrogant for this. That I believe myself to better than others by refusing to allow my work to viewed on the slim chance it could be stolen. I do not care. Writing is one of the greatest passions of my life, and at the risk of sounding conceited:

I am a talented writer. I know how to craft a plot that keeps a person engaged from beginning to end, whether it be a novel, a poem, or a short story. I know how to mold a character in a fashion of realism that brings their personality to the forefront. My characters are people you would expect to see walking down the street or sitting next to you on a public bus, whether they are in a fantasy setting, or a realistic one. I am capable of creating a scene using all five senses to an extent that the reader can actually believe themselves to be there if they have any imagination at all. Yes, I have talent, I know what I am doing. And I will not see that taken from me.

It took me a long time to believe in myself to the point that I can now say 'Yes, I do write better than some published authors. Yes, I am actually a better writer than the majority of people who bother to post their work online' Conceited? Not at all. It is a fact, not just a personal opinion. I have met dozens of people who have led me believe that my writing has meaning. And it is not just a meaning to myself, but anyone who enjoys the art and craft of writing.

I hope to write someday for those people who look towards books as a way of closing out the world for a little while each day and losing themselves somewhere else entirely. The worlds that other authors have crafted had a profound influence in my life, and that is my goal for the future. I do not care if I become rich or famous because of what I write. My goal is to influence a younger generation so that they can see the world through new eyes and find the chance to believe in themselves.

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