One of the most challenging thing about writing is that it can be lonely. The Internet has helped with that some and you can find dozens of blogs, mailing lists and discussion boards for children's writers. But only one place offers something special for Institute students -- people who understand your questions about the course, your first steps into submitting your writing for publication, and your place in the company of writers: The Writer's Retreat. Now, if you're not totally web savvy, posting on a discussion board might seem a little tricky, so let's walk through the process on the Writer's Retreat.

REGISTRATION

When you first visit the discussion board, you'll quickly see that the board invites you to "log in" or "register." If you've never joined us before, you'll need to register.

Clicking on "register" will take you to a page where you'll choose a username and password. You'll be asked to give an email address, but you can make the address private if you prefer. If you click on the "Hide Email Address from the Public?" option, it will still show the address to YOU when you log in, but it won't show it to anyone else. After you fill in all the little boxes, don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the page to accept the user agreement. It's necessary to register. After you register, the screen will go back to the board home, but now it will welcome you at the top

VISITING THREADS

Now look at all the different places you can visit. All the forums that haven't visited since the last time a new post was made will have an orange "light" on the button. If there are no new posts then the whole button will look like pewter. The first place you'll probably want to visit is "Glad to Meet You" under "Front Porch Chatting." This will let you get to know the people on the board and introduce yourself for a friendly welcome. So, how do you introduce yourself? Let's walk through that.

Go ahead and click on the words "Glad to Meet You." Here you can see dozens of people have introduced themselves either in the WELCOME TO THE WRITER'S RETREAT thread or in their very own thread. Why not post your own introduction? First look for the long dark blue bar across the top of the thread list. See it? On the right end of it, you'll see "MARK AS READ" "NOTIFY" and "NEW TOPIC." Let's make a topic to introduce you -- go ahead and click "New Topic."

This will bring up a posting page. You'll get this same basic page anytime you post either a new thread or a response to a post. Just give your post a subject, and them type your message in the box. Add a cute smilie picture if you want. And then click on "Post." It's that easy, and now everyone can see your first remark and start posting notes back to you.

As you read the threads, you'll sometimes want to respond to something someone has said. This requires a slightly different action. Let's try it. Go back to the home page of the board ("home" is always available on the blue bar right below the cute Writer's Retreat graphic.) Once you're back on the home page, scroll down until you see "This Biz We're In." Do you see the "Magazine Swap" section -- click on that. Then click on "Researching Magazines." After reading the thread, you might want to ask a question related to it -- how do you do that? Look at the blue bar at the top of all the messages on the page. See the word "Reply" -- just click that and it will bring up the posting box again. When you make your post, it will appear neatly at the end of the list of messages.

WHAT IS ALL THIS STUFF?

We have a number of sections to this discussion board. Each offers a slightly different benefit

• Front Porch Chatting -- this is the warm chatty part of the board. You can introduce yourself, chatter a bit on your favorite subjects, share good news, share bad news, share recipes -- it's the sharing spot.
• Student Talk -- this one is especially for Institute students. If you have something specific to the course that you want to ask, there are always experienced students around who can help with an answer. And student services might check in from time to time. Plus, you can always count on the web editor to pontificate a bit if you need help. So this is a great student discussion spot.

• This Biz We're In -- this is where we have industry professionals come and answer questions once a month. It's also a great spot for questions about the writing life, to swap magazines, to share info about networking or market opportunities -- there's a ton of good stuff here.

ANY SPECIAL OPTIONS HERE?

PRIVATE MESSAGES

There are some things you might sometimes need to know. For example, posting isn't the only way to respond to someone. For example, suppose you need to give someone your mailing address so they can send you a magazine, but you don't want to give your address to the whole Internet (I don't blame you) -- you can respond to a person privately. Let's look at that.

On the left side of each post, you'll see the poster's name (and maybe a picture, more on that later). Under that you'll find some tiny icons. If there is an icon of a letter in an envelope, that means you can email that person and send your private message that way. If there is not email icon, but you see the icon that looks like a green scroll, you can click that to send them a private message in the discussion board itself. Only that person will get the message and you can share things you might not share publically -- like contact information or maybe a manuscript swap.

AVATAR -- WANT A CUTE PICTURE?

Have you wondered how people get cute picture up on each of their posts. You can make an avatar for your posts. First, you'll have to have some kind of digital picture on your computer. It shouldn't be too large because the board can't make avatars from huge pictures. If you know your picture is gigantic and don't know how to make it smaller, you can email it to me and I'll fix it for you. So, if you have a picture, lets move on to making it your avatar.

On the long blue bar under the cute Writer's Retreat picture, you'll see a number of words:

• home (clicking this takes you to the board home page -- you're starting point.)
• help (clicking this takes you to a basic tutorial with pictures -- not as much fun as this one, but handy.)
• search (lets you search the whole board, though that option is always at the top of the page, but some software likes to be redundant.
• profie (this is where you let the board know about you -- it's also where you put in the avatar)
• my messages (this is where you view any private messages sent to you)
• members (this shows you the member list and any info members choose to share.)
• log out (this logs you out of the board -- don't do that, you love it here.)

Now you have some info about you. And among the info is picture choices. Click on "I Will Upload My Own Picture." Then click the "browse" button and navigate to where you keep pictures on your computer. Find the picture you like, click on it, then click the "open" button.

Check to see if there is any other profile info you want to add on that page, then click "Change Profile." If you're picture wasn't too big, you'll now see it on the top of the page and it will appear on all posts you make. If this doesn't happen, the picture was too big and you'll need to either make it smaller or get your friendly webeditor to make it smaller for you.