Where can I get some advice about my writing?

I've been writing for as long as I can remember. I write all sorts of things, poems, songs, my life, you name it.





Recently, a friend ask, ';why don't you write for pay?';


to which I could only reply ';I wouldn't have the first clue, as to how to begin.





I would like to know, is there a place where I can send some of my writings, and have them judged, something like that?Where can I get some advice about my writing?
Zoetrope.com is an online writing community run by Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope studios. It's free. You can post your writing there, have it rated by others and rate theirs. The studio browses the site and, from time to time, signs deals with members for the rights to their stories.Where can I get some advice about my writing?
Why not take a creative writing course at your local community college? You will get lots of feedback and maybe some guidance on how to proceed with your writing goals.





Best wishes and good luck!
Good answer there from Doctor J - you need to plug yourself into a community of writers, to learn from them and help them learn from you. If there's no local college course or group, you can try searching Yahoo! Groups, there are plenty of writing groups there, who can help you and give you critiques, which although not exactly 'judgement' can help you find what you want to do in writing, and even help you approach commercial publishers, magazines and other outlets for your writing.





Good luck!
Writer's Digest magazine has a writing clinic each month where they profile someone's work and critique it. Their website offers a list of ';Vendors and Services'; and there are several links there to places that offer critiquing and also editing services. Also, you might want to look around for local writing groups in your area - look in your newspapers, check your local library, ask writers at the newspapers (many reporters and staff writers are closet novelists), look on the internet, ask writing teachers at colleges or universities.