Our Creative Writing group has achieved wonders under Briony's inspirational guidance, and most weeks we each manage to produce and share some enjoyable and often uplifting work, often surprising ourselves with what appears on the blank white pages after the initial feeling of panic.
It struck me though that there is a whole load of writing we could be doing that isn't really relevant to the group or this blog. We each have some area of expertise, experience, opinion or even gossip which we could write up for our own satisfaction and to share to a wider audience. Anything from coping with panic attacks through favourite recipes to digging ancestors out of the 1841 Census!
A website and directory to do just this has been launched at Qassia. (Yes, there really isn't a U after the Q!). The idea is to build up a new type of searchable directory with bits and pieces of information (or 'Intel') provided by real people, like us. They accept that some of it may be 'bad' intel (not accurate) but there is a feedback option for other readers to comment on this so the post can be improved. Unlike Wikipedia, only the original author can modify the original Intel.
As you can see from my page, I have gone public with who I am, but that isn't necessary. I chose to do it as part of a recovery plan to come out from my chair in the corner, but if it causes problems in the future I can retire behind a pseudonym and change the photo!
One of the nice things about Qassia, once it takes off properly, is that it will generate some income from advertising, and writers will get a proportion of that depending on how often their articles are read. It's not likely to be a significant income for most of us, but the principle is good! It is also designed to give quality links to writers' websites, again based on how popular their contributions are.
I thought I might start with a piece about Cardiff as a fun venue...
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