Let me start this thing off with a little bit about myself. My name is Adam. I'm a full-time firefighter/EMT, and writing is a form of therapy for me.

I first began to write on theprose.com last September. I think I was looking for writing contests, and I stumbled across the website on google. The first monthly challenge I entered was about Jeffrey Epstein landing at the airport, knowing the FBI would arrest him upon departing the plane. What started as a normal story quickly progressed into a tale about Epstein's assistant performing a spell that allowed a demon to possess the body of the pedophile as mentioned above, ultimately being the reason he winds up hanging himself. I went way off the rails and went wherever the story led me. When I finished, I proofread it and thought, "Well, this is fucking weird. Maybe someone will like it."

As it turns out, a few people liked it, and it even got an honorable mention in a monthly email. It was an exhilarating feeling, having my work spotlighted, and it's what really sucked me into theprose. Unfortunately, I let the same thing that anchored me to this website also go to my head. I thought if I got an honorable mention on my very first try, then I must be damn good. Looking back now, I feel pretty damn foolish.

My story didn't get picked because it was some of the best writing ever. It was decent, and maybe that played a factor, but ultimately, it was picked because it was weird. It was spotlighted because it was strange and different.

That first contest gave me a high that I spent months chasing. I went to other websites looking for it and couldn't figure out why no one chose my work as the best. Then one day, it finally dawned on me. I'm just not that good. I'd like to think I'm a good writer, but I'm nowhere close to the best. I can think of a handful of prosers off the top of my head who are better than me in all categories—grammar, vocabulary, story structure, all of it. I didn't see that at first, but I do now.

Yes, most of us want to believe our work is better than everyone else's. Feelings like that are only natural when you put your heart and soul down for other people to analyze and critique.

Yes, most of us would love to be discovered by a large publishing agency and make millions of dollars doing this full-time. That became my plan after that first contest. I would write the best short stories ever and win every contest I entered, then publishing agencies would have to notice me, right? I despise the term "lol," but I do literally laugh out loud thinking about what a fucking imbecile I am sometimes. One thing about me, though? I learn from my mistakes.

After swallowing the pill, that was my basic-bitch plan to "write really good stuff," I went back to the drawing board. Was I going to quit writing just because I wasn't winning or getting the most likes? Hell no. So I asked my self "Ok, then. What do you want to get out of this?" It took close to nine months, but I finally figured out what I intend to get out of theprose.com. I just want to get better.

Am I the next big thing? In all likelihood, no. The chances of me getting discovered online and subsequently making J.K. Rowling money are dreadfully low. But maybe one day I'll get good enough for someone to publish my work. Perhaps I'll get to a point where I'm skilled enough to do this full-time, and I'll be able to retire from the fire service early. But as of this moment, as of this entry that I'm currently typing, I'm nowhere fucking close to that, and there's only one way I know of to mitigate that issue. Write.

theprose.com is a forge for me. A place to hone my craft, a whetstone to sharpen my storytelling abilities. If I treat it as such from here on, I think I'll become the writer I wish to be. I've already seen a marked improvement from my first entry, and if I keep going, I bet I'll look back on this entry and cringe at some of the things I typed. In the interim, I believe it's not on just me, but all of us, to make this site a better experience. That's why I made this my first challenge ever on prose. Because I want to toss a few suggestions out there, but more importantly, I want to hear your suggestions and ideas.

First I'll tell you what I plan to do personally. It's this right here, what I am doing now—reaching out to the community, talking, and conceivably, starting a dialogue. I also plan to be better about reading other people's work without any expected reciprocation. If you read my work, I will return the courtesy, but we all fall into the habit of stroking one another's egos. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. We, as amateur writers, should encourage and praise one another's work, but we shouldn't limit the experience to just that.

No, I'm not suggesting that you wipe your ass with someone's entry, but I am suggesting that we help each other get better. If that's not something you're interested in, then don't sweat it. If you don't take critiquing well, then it's your prerogative to ignore this specific suggestion. I personally encourage all of you to give me your honest thoughts and opinions because that's what originally drew me here. I came here searching for honesty, so don't be afraid to give it to me in the comment section of my entries.

One of the bigger suggestions I have is for us to be more participative in special events that are put on. The prime example would be in September when we all received an email about a twitch stream featuring one of the prose's creators, Jeff Stewart. I thought it sounded interesting, and I so happened to have the time that evening, so I created a twitch account and participated in the interview via chat.

If you're not into video games, I don't expect you to know what twitch or a twitch stream is, so don't feel bad that you missed it. There wound up being only 5-6 of us that logged on, and half of that number participated in the chat. It was a great opportunity for an amateur writer like me because Stewart knew about the in's and out's of publishing houses and self-publishing before and after the Kindle direct publishing boom.

So looking back, part of me is glad there were so few of us because it allowed me to ask a shit load of questions. The other part of me wishes there was a wider audience to ask questions that I didn't think of at the time. In the future, I hope prose offers more interviews with Stewart or other self-published Indie authors. Not simply because it's a chance to pick an author's brain, but because it's a great opportunity to meet one another outside our comment sections.

If you need help making a twitch account or more information on the site, please message me about it. I can assure you it's just as safe as any other website you're using, and the process is relatively streamlined. You can also keep your anonymity on the website chat if that's your concern. But ultimately, why would the site's admins go through the trouble of planning another interview like that if they thought they'd get the same turnout? Let's all fix that issue together.

The way I see it, theprose.com's continued success is partly on us. We were given a garden, and we need to be the ones that tend to it. To see it truly succeed, prose writers need to become better about sharing things on other forms of social media. Spread the word, recruit writers, recruit readers. If you're scared to share your writing with those that know you personally, then take me, for example. I work in public safety with a bunch of alpha male personalities, and I still share my work on Facebook. If anyone thinks it's weird, then they can get bent; I didn't write it for them.

At the end of the day, these are merely opinions, and you as a writer are entitled to write and participate on theprose.com in any way you see fit. If you do have ideas, suggestions, or opinions on how you believe we can make it better, please follow up with an entry or even a comment.

I love Prose however I abuse it regularly because I, my friends, am a Troll.

When I see a post that triggers something in me (as the kids say old "TW" here often ends up standing for "trigger warning") I comment furiously. To be fair, I've probably built up my comment skills on this site nearly as well as my writing skills - however, I doubt that was the initial intent of the creators of Prose.

(@EstherFlowers1 I'm sorry my friend, I know this is our favorite playground but I think we might be the "baddies", as they say? LOL)

So! Given that I feel the Prime Directive of Prose is to allow for self expression - unbound by social norms or expectations - perhaps there should be a way to indicate whether you desire 1) technical feedback on your work to encourage you to write better but not challenge your ideals 2) intellectual / philsophical debate of your ideals because you're open to being questioned at this point in your life.

Then - big big caveat here - regardless of whether you're providing #1 or #2 keep it kind. Nobody likes a mean Troll (well, I mean, nobody likes Trolls period unless they're on your side but mean Trolls especially are just evil). My own fellow Trolls and I used to implement this magical thing we called "Coffee Break!" where we signaled our comments were getting too heated and we all needed to step away for a spell. Very powerful things, coffee breaks.

It's also helpful to pull more Trolls into a fight sometimes because then we distract each other - so maybe just having a backup listing of professional Troll wrestlers ready on hand to leap into your comments when you tag them for assistance could help solve the issue as well? We might have to sort our Trolls here into wrestling stereotypes though - @EstherFlowers1 I vote you to be my heel ROFL (I'm joking love - you know I'm the heel)

I've noticed a LOT of the Challenges on Prose are sort of triggers in disguise, luring us to write by the siren call of those things we so desperately wish to express (our opinions!).

Then when a Troll hits up your post and you're unhappy with having your opinions challenged you can simply note somewhere "Hey - technical feedback only, I ain't looking for a fight."

And then bad Trolls like me will laugh to ourselves and think, "Aw, kiddo - but that's half the fun!!!" :-)