Good morning, friends and followers. Today I’m going to provide something different from my usual fare. I’m going to tell you about my other website, my “home away from home” if you like, writing.com. I’m not sure how to classify this post. It’s certainly a promotion of writing.com, but it’s also a promotion of my own work there, and an invitation to become a regular visitor for reasons that will soon become apparent.

Writing.com is, first and foremost, a welcoming home for authors of every level. There are over a million members, most of whom, granted, are largely inactive, but even with “only” the several hundred thousand remaining, there is still plenty to read. Some of the members mark their creations “for members only,” but there are still plenty of us who use the “free access; allow anyone” setting. If you were to join the site, and there is a Free level, you would then gain access to everything that isn’t marked “private; my eyes only.”

And why should you look into writing.com for your reading? A number of reasons. First, everything on the site is free to read. Some people post for exposure, as I do, some for the free critiques that are a major part of the site, and some are looking to polish their wares prior to publication. There is a large contingent of hobbyists of every stripe, including me, who write for various personal reasons, and here’s the point of that: These authors are not writing under the watchful eye of a publisher intent on recreating the Last Big Thing. They are out there beyond the edges of the map, exploring and colonizing territory that the Big Five will be crowing about discovering ten years from now. A free membership in writing.com opens all of these worlds up to you.

What sort of worlds? All of them, every genre under the sun, from Action to Young Adult; every format, from short stories and poetry to full-size novels, from fantastic voyages to essays on health, science, politics, philosophy, and all points beyond. It’s a reader’s paradise, and a Free membership opens it all up to you.

If you’re a writer, there are several levels of paid membership, from the Basic at $30.00 per year to the Preferred at $260.00. There’s a level for everyone. And what do you get as a writer? Safety. Posting on writing.com provides a time-stamped proof of copyright, something that they will never infringe upon. When you post, you grant them a non-exclusive license to display your work. Non-exclusive means that you can share it wherever else you wish, and you automatically rescind your permission by taking down your item. It gains you visibility. Every single day, my portfolio is viewed from a dozen to over a score of visitors. I’ve even cracked 60 or 70 on rare occasions. That sort of numbers are more than I see in a year on Amazon. Finally, it offers stability. Writing.com is, this month, celebrating their 25^th year of continuous operation under the same creator and administration. I invite you to name another social media site that’s been active for 25 years. I’ll wait.

So I’m going to end with an invitation to visit my portfolio. The link is below. I’m in the process of posting basically everything I’ve ever written that has any redeeming qualities at all, including my experimental pieces that never quite left the launch pad. I like to think it’s an interesting journey to take. So drop by and take it when the mood strikes you. And once you’re in there, use the tabs to poke around and see what else is on offer. I promise you, if you like to read at all, you’ll find something to your liking there. Here’s your red pill. Enjoy the ride!

http://Writing.Com/authors/holttaylor