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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
Prompt: Tell us why Writing.com is still a good writing community after 22 years. Give us your thoughts on the site and what it means to you to be a part of this community. ~ "Blog Week Birthday Bastion 2024"  In 2013, I wrote "Invalid Item" . Like this blog entry, that document was written to celebrate the site's birthday and to share what made Writing.com such a great site. Here are the thirteen reasons I came up with: Reviews Friends and the WDC community spirit Groups Diversity The E-XGC rating system Privacy options Blogs and books Membership levels The Storymaster The Storymistress Continual improvements Preferred and Moderator statuses ContestsLet me see if I can come up with another nine to make 22 for their 22nd birthday. Merit badges and awardicons Newsletters An in-built email system Notifications Favorites and fans Personal and community newsfeeds Portfolios and folders Writing ML Reactions ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Stories.com I joined this site on 16th May 2001, back when it was called Stories.com. I joined because I enjoyed writing, I'd always thought I was good at writing, and I wanted to write a romance novel. I was nearly eight months pregnant with my son when I first joined Writing.com and he's now 21. Isn't that crazy? I don't remember an awful lot from the Stories.com days. Click here to see my old 2001 portfolio I was a registered member then. Oh, I just realised by reading my old 2001 bio that I was 21 then. So I was 21 when I joined Stories.com and here we are, 21 years later.  I just love how the ad at the bottom of the page is for fax machines.  God I feel old!You can see that I had a blog back then. I started my Livejournal blog in 2001 too, so yeah, I've been blogging for 21 years. Blogging has been a part of my Stories.com/Writing.com journey from the beginning. I've always enjoyed the more informal interaction of commenting versus the more formal reviews. That's partly why I now post poems and short fiction in my blog instead of creating new items for them in my portfolio. I prefer casual comments that can become a back and forth rather than formal reviews. I know, not everyone sees reviews as 'formal'. I don't know why I persist in seeing them that way. It's a hurdle that prevents me from reviewing very often.  But I am also aware that by posting my stories and poems into my blog rather than into my portfolio, they are lost after a certain period of time. Who trawls back through book items looking for great poems and stories? Even if the book ONLY contains poems and/or stories, people don't do that, so why do that when it's a blog? So yeah, I do limit the feedback I get in that regard, which is ironic, right?Where was I? The one thing I remember about Stories.com is how much I enjoyed the community. I still have my Livejournal with the posts I made back in 2001 and 2002, and I see comments like 'This person on Stories.com said this, which gave me warm fuzzies' or 'Check out this amazing poem/story I found'. Plus, I was encouraged to try new things. I was involved in both a prayer forum AND a tarot reading forum back then. 2002 was a year of drama for us. My husband was made redundant and we had to move in with his parents. We didn't get our own place for a further 18 months, and life was pretty tough. There were five adults and a baby in a very small 3 bedroom house and tensions were often high. I only got internet access when I went to an internet cafe, and I just couldn't afford to do that very often. And when I finally managed to get a job, I couldn't access the site from my work computer. I was absent from this site for long enough that my portfolio and username were deleted in a site clean-out.  But when my children were a little bit older and I had a little time for myself again (Jayden was 9 and Caitie was 5), I wanted to start writing again. Of course, I turned to Stories.com and discovered that it had been renamed to the more inclusive Writing.com. That was on the 21st July 2010. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Writing.com I changed a lot between 2001 and 2010. I'd become a wife and a parent, I'd struggled with poverty, I'd started a career, and I'd matured from a very naïve 21 year old to a slightly more mature 30 year old. I've written so many times about all the people who have influenced me over my years at Writing.com. I feel like I do it at least once a year in response to a prompt like this, but I also did it recently in response to a newsfeed question and in response to a "Welcome To My Reality Forum" prompt. But as a very wise Charlie ~  once said to me, it's never a bad thing to tell someone how much they meant to you, how much you appreciate them, how much they've helped you (I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember his exact words). So here we go again. For the oldbies, I apologise for the repetition.  I credit Gaby  with helping me to open up on Writing.com and move past the 'good girl' persona I used to have on here. I was a good girl in 2001, but by 2010, I was starting to move past that in real life, and Gaby helped me be my true self on Writing.com. Although she wasn't the first nice person I met on Writing.com, she was the first true friend I had on here, the first friend I could be my honest self with. Rhonda  and Fran 🌈🧜♀️  were also people I felt an amazing, honest connection with. I'm so sad that they've all left the site now. But Gaby was the first to leave and Rhonda helped me to understand that there would always be someone here who would step into the breach left behind by a friend. I still miss Gaby, but life goes on. These days I have Schnujo's Giving Away GPs  and Jayne  in particular, and Osirantinous  when our schedules align. It's nuts that Os and I are rarely on at the same time when we're literally the only two in the same time zone. I have so many people who I admire and appreciate on this site, and if you truly want to know if I think you're extra special, then check out if I've fanned you or not , but these people are the ones who have saved my sanity by giving me an honest outlet. They're the reason I've survived the last twelve years and I'm still here. I want to credit Rhymer Reisen and buddhangela’s gone  with helping me move into yet another stage of 'Elle'. I've changed a lot even just in the last couple of years, learning so much about myself. I have discovered that I'm neurodivergent and demisexual and more. The neurodivergent thing has helped me SOOOOO much with understanding why I do the things I do. I love that we are continually evolving as people and we can learn about ourselves and that people accept the new version of us with open arms.  I am totally blown away by Rhymer and Angie, and ever so grateful that they've embraced me as a friend, and I can't wait to see what the years ahead hold for all of us.And as well and growing and changing and making amazing friendships, I have learned SO much from this site in the last twelve years. It's insane how much I've learned. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Poetry Earlier this week, after reading a free verse poem I wrote for "The Daily Poem" , Jayne actually sent me an email commenting on how good I was at writing. That email made my day. Do you think she'd believe that when I joined Writing.com I had no idea what a free verse poem was? In fact, as recently as 2014, I posted "Note: TODAY'S MERIT BADGE CHALLENGE
Hmm, I&..." which asks 'What exactly is free form poetry' and I note in the comments, after someone questions whether I mean free verse, that I'd never even heard of free verse poetry.  Seriously. And now I have not only written free verse poetry, but I've won contests with them and I've also judged free verse poetry contests.  Just quickly, my poetry journey went like this: Hannah ♫♥♫ and Amalie Cantor - We Got This! educated me as part of "The Rockin' Reviewers" and in particular taught me how to better utilise figurative language Mandy taught me more of the basics and encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone by writing prose poetry and form poetry Ren the Klutz! and Fyn  challenged me to look to my everyday life for inspiration. This had a lasting impact on my poetry Cinn  became my mentor and gave me real constructive criticism, with an emphasis on criticism. She taught me to not be afraid of free verse poetry, that every aspect of a poem was up for negotiation, that I should read my poems aloud and that I should read published poetryAnd through a lot of that, I had constant encouragement from Fi , Marci Missing Everyone , LostGhost: Seeking & Learning , Charlie ~ , Fivesixer  and eyestar~* . They not only encouraged me, they challenged me and believed in me.  Of course, I learned a lot by reading other people's poems (yes, yes, I admit it, Cinn!). There are poets on this site that have influenced me if only by writing amazing poetry that has inspired me upon reading it. If I tried to list them all, I would certainly miss someone, and yet, I don't know about you, but I get such a buzz out of being mentioned in someone's post like this, so let's do this. I was and continue to be in awe of the poetry written by Charlie ~ , Fivesixer , Cinn , Brian K Compton , Emily  , Beholden  , Ned and Kåre เลียม Enga  . And Fyn is an ongoing inspiration to me, especially through her newsletters. I can be walking through the park or along the footpath and Fyn will come to mind, reminding me to look for the poetry in the everyday moments. All of these poets have influenced my own poetry. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Fiction I mentioned that I originally joined this site because I wanted to write a romance novel. I still haven't done that. In truth though, I had very little experience writing fiction. Aside from some pre-technology versions of interactive stories (where we used to pass the pad of paper or typewriter to the next person to continue the story), I have only one or two short stories from before I joined. And yet, I had lofty goals. How naïve I was! In the past 12 years, I have written: One novella. It is a children's fantasy novella starring my children, my nephew and my godchildren as the main characters. Giving my children and nephew a (self-)printed copy of the book for Christmas one year was something I was incredibly proud of. 11 queer short stories. A horror story, which is kind of a shocker because I never thought I'd write horror. I loathe horror movies with a passion. And yet, somehow 🌑 Darleen - QoD got me writing dark stories and poems. How did she do that?  13 other short stories.I must thank the following people for their help in improving my fiction writing: Hannah ♫♥♫ and the "Invalid Item" which taught me some of the basics of short story writing. The late Katzendragonz and the fantastic lessons she taught at the New Horizon Academy. She was probably the biggest influence on my fiction writing. Purple Catching Up  for the lessons she taught me at "House of Sensual Prose " . Brandiwyn🎶  for her encouragement and the "October Novel Prep Challenge" , without which I never would have written my novella. Jeannie🌺  for her motivating and encouraging reviews, which helped me to believe in myself and encouraged me to complete the novella. Osirantinous for her inspiration, motivation and encouragement. So many of my stories were inspired by Os. ahlewis32 , Dawn Embers  and 🌑 Darleen - QoD for encouraging, inspiring and motivating me to step out of my comfort zone. I can also give credit to 🌑 Darleen - QoD for "Invalid Item" which won me a Quill. That story resulted from a challenge Darleen set me to write a prose poem. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Blogging I'm going to cover this in a separate post. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Non-fiction I don't think I wrote any non-fiction before I came to Writing.com. Just the blog. And yet now I have written and self-published (just for family) a family cookbook and a family history book. I've also put together family history 'books' (but not printed) for two other people that have been gratefully received. And I'm just over halfway through writing my autobiography. I'm really proud of all those things, and it's all thanks to people on this site. Angels in my Ear and sybarrios were the biggest inspirations in regards to my non-fiction writing, and their encouragement and challenges really pushed me to achieve what I've managed so far. It's amazing actually how life comes along and fills in the gaps for you. Aundria and Sophie have both left the site, but instead of languishing in their absence (while I miss them both), I now have buddhangela’s gone encouraging and challenging me. It's amazing how you can always find who and what you need on this site if you look hard enough (or if it just leaps out in front of you as it is wont to do). It was thanks to Angie that I wrote "A is for...." which has been nominated for a Quill. Do you know how long it has been since a piece of my writing has been nominated for a Quill? I can't wait to see where Angie helps me take my non-fiction writing next. No pressure, Angie! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** So what does it mean to me to be part of this community? I don't even know how to sum up all of that  . It is thanks to this community that I have written poems and stories that I'm really proud of, it is thanks to this community that I've written a novella for my children, it is thanks to this community that I have written up my family history and started writing my autobiography, it is thanks to this community that I have amazing friendships that I treasure, it is thanks to this community that I receive letters, cards, postcards and even parcels from all around the world... I don't know where or who I would be without this community. Well, maybe I do. I'd be that person I was before I rejoined in 2010. I don't want to be that person. I'm way more interesting now. And I have now left a legacy for my family that will outlive me, and that's something I truly cherish. But mostly, I appreciate the friends I've made. One day I hope to win the lottery and visit ALL OF YOU!And I have just now realised that I could have answered the prompt with just that last paragraph. Apparently WDC has NOT taught me how to respond to prompts succinctly. |
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