Prose is a supportive, inspiring community for emerging writers, and it has been good to me.

I'll confess that I laughed the first time I spotted the phrase "emerging writers" on a publication's submissions page: what a pleasant euphemism for us unpublished nobodies! I thought. That italicized thought reflects the view I once held of my writing, more closely than I care to admit. It's an aggressive form of self-deprecation, a defense mechanism of equal parts arrogance, shame, and denied vulnerability. If I say I am not a real writer and declare that I suck, the unexamined reasoning went, then rejection will hurt less. Writers face more than their share of rejection.

But not on Prose. We're all here to do what we do for the love of words, stories, poems. Prose is a place where we can read and be read - I know I'm not the only one here who never had a real audience until Prose. This is a place where one need not apologize for writing, where we can cast aside the self-deprecation and share our writing without fear of a condescending and skeptical "oh, how nice." Writing feels solitary, but in truth we're all packed into a very large boat, and Prose gives us the chance to paddle together awhile.

The company is good; some marvelous writers post here. I've read chapbooks by a couple of stellar young poets who have said Prose helped a lot as they started out. Connecting with them and other writers whose work I admire, with whom I can commiserate about rejections, and who have encouraged me made a world of difference to my writing. For the first time in my life, I kept at it. I've gotten better. The support of Prosers fortified me sufficiently to go out and get rejected - and eventually accepted... two stories and two poems now. I'm especially proud of the one I posted the link to last week: "River Walk, Upstate Town." I'm used to rereading old pieces and seeing the flaws, but when I read that one, it's actually still kinda pretty.

I'm still sending pieces out. I'm still getting rejected. I'm also still writing on Prose. If I haven't told you this recently, or if you're newish here, I really appreciate your reading my work. I'll try to read yours, too, as a good Proser should. It's a pleasure to emerge with you.

There is this intimacy that happens for writers, this magic that takes place between our innermost thoughts and the assemblance of words into prose.

When we hold that magic inside the words take up meaningless space, they wither and then they die. If we are unable to fill that void, we are left in a state of longing and despair.

Writing on Prose fills that void. There are no rejection letters here on prose, just like minded individuals of all ages, most often anonymous, happy to share their creativity and camaraderie.

For us, I believe prose is more than a hobby or entertainment. It is an opportunity to get to know our true selves, while we get to know one another in a safe place.

Let's call us one big happy family and leave off the word dysfunctional.

We've got enough of that on the flip side.

Prose, there’s nowhere else like it on the internet. Sure, writing sites are a plenty but never have I come across a community like prose. When I first joined you had pulled me from a strange place and wrapped me in a blanket of words, words that were ever so sweet; I marveled at you, how talented all of you were and still are.

Unique voices can be heard all over, voices that ordinarly would have overwhelmed me, I should have felt lost in a crowd on my first visit, that sense of confusion of a new space, and yet I didn’t, yes, navigation took a minute, but never once was I lost or lonely on prose. I still remember how excited I had been, first by the rush of sharing my voice, of meeting someone’s challenge and then happiness, as I read the entries of others. Prosers, I have experienced worlds through your prose.

What is prose for me? prose is a town of prosers, a supportive, welcoming and beautiful town. Sure it has it’s bumps in the road, but there’s more positive here than negative and I’ll admit, for the last 2 years I haven’t been a very active member, coming and going months at a time. But I think it’ll be a long while yet before I stop returning.

Thank you for welcoming me back every time.

I don’t know if I’m good. The writing I produce, a quiet look into the heavily medicated mind: when you’re addicted to Xanax, the chalkboard welcomes nails screeching down it.

Likewise, I want to stir the internal demons, lean over the pottery wheel and bring them home to mom.

Prose was a gateway. I am a writer, addicted to feelings. My dad asked me, when are you done with a poem? I said: when it kicks me in the stomach. Hard.

I thought recently: what can I contribute to the writing world? I was applying to a writers conference. As whiskey sloshed onto my keyboard, I pulled together some pieces I’ve written for Prose. I pressed submit.

I guess all I can keep doing is keep going. But for me? Prose raised the curtains, turned my imagination into words, into typing, into my story.

White girl, wino woes. That’s what I’m doing here.

But maybe that’s my story, and maybe that’s my medicine.

dear prosers, prosettas, prosenicks, and prose-persons, i have been writing on this site for more than three years, and enjoyed the community of excellent, talented, creative, rightous, and most of all patient and tolerant artists, with regards to my feeble attempts at human communication. this site and the wonderful people in it, has helped me through some very hard times, but also some very joyous ones. i just wanted to say how grateful i am for everything.

as for the site itself- i have had a lot of problems with this site. the worst being that i lost some texts, and had others completely slurred , and repeated. it is mostly because i am writing from abroad and on a cellphone. ironically, even writing this post, i got half of it lost, and had to start again. but cest la websité, right?

honestly, i think the staff on prose are doing a grear job. it is not easy doing all the computery-keyboardy stuff that they have to do, and i am sure they are doing tneir best, with limited time and resources. i do not know how this new beta site is going to work, but hope it will be for the best.

in closing, i wish you all a happy, fulfilling experience here, as i had, may your cellphones always be charged, and your fingers always precise, with those tiny keyboards.

long live the raven! and all who sail in it.

I actually found out about Prose after I joined my previous school’s writing club (I moved countries in the middle of the pandemic, hence me not being active at the end of 2020) but I don’t think I would’ve continued writing anything about my own ideas, my own worlds in my own words if it weren’t for Prose and its community. I may not ‘talk’ to many people often but from the few interactions I had, I recieved (and tried to give back) support for wishes/dreams that we all share to some extent. I’ve also seen this in comments under posts (by both myself and other Prosers) asking for advice/help with almost everything. This community really is unlike anything I've seen (not that I've seen much lol) and maybe because it's made up of writers/readers. Another one of the best things of this platform is that you get to read and write, which gave me the headspace I needed to do both (and of course the design of the platform also looks wayyyy better than Google Docs lol).

Some suggestions for the platform/community would be to promote the use of Portals more. Yeah I'm also hypocrite because I don't use them much either but I will try to use them more. I only found out about the Support portal recently as it has been brought to my attention through @Danceinsilence's post about the beta Prose (beta.theprose.com). I especially think that the publishing portal could and should be a huge help for those who have questions about publishing if more users were made aware of it.

I disclose to el Prose,

to propose highs and lows,

so suppose how it grows,

to expose all our woes,

not to doze, never slows,

not depose nor dispose, for no foes,

Yes, it shows, on the nose,

my PROSe zac/ my PROZac,

rows and rows … of The Prose ...