Last June after our first offline showcase in Washington, D.C. (May 19th, 2007) I found this site through
Lee Green's business site. I immediately saw that we could put it to use for the writing community. I also tried another community-creating site, but
Ning beat them all out with it's instant content creators - photos, blogs, videos, forums and groups; and its easy to use interface.
There have been experiments with content (our first chat engine froze the front page) and additions of Talkshoe podcast shows and upcoming anthologies. National Poetry Month proved to be a great success and has resulted in the publication of a member chapbook. I personally think we have the best members of any other competing writers network.
The outreach and helpfulness that you all possess and share with each other is phenomenal. So many of you have stepped up to the plate to host shows, greet newcomers and more. This is the spirit of support and information sharing that will create many great works from writers to come. The potential of this community is enormous. While not as large as many other groups utilizing
Ning, we are a constantly changing and active group. Besides -
928 global members is none too shabby. We will be at 1000 shortly and will send out press releases at that time to 're-introduce' the
BAS.
After eight months with the old green Ning template banner, we thought we'd freshen up the look of the site.