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| Outside of wdc, I am a genealogist. I have helped the local history society solve two mysteries. I have also helped photograph abandoned cemeteries because some of the elderly members are not physically able to do it. My information, including my family tree, is available online. Yesterday, I received a Facebook message from a person wanting to meet up. He did not mention how he found me, or what family mystery he needed help with. My old email is posted on my genealogy account. Sometimes, people will find me on local history Facebook groups. But, they always mention that they found me that way. Something about this man's request sounded odd. I asked him again what he needed help with, and he never responded. I have a friend who is well known in my small town. I sent him this man's conversation. He immediately responded saying that this man is a troublemaker, and to block him immediately. I did just that. I wish I could say that this is the first time this has happened. Last year, a man found me on a genealogy website. Instead of emailing me, he paid $10 to access my phone number and address from a public records website. He texted me randomly. It was creepy. I take genealogy seriously, because I'm really good at it. But, stalking me online and pretending to be a client because you saw my photo online and want to go out on a date disguised as a "meeting" is creepy. Be careful out there. |
| Warning - This post deals with death. Many years ago, I found my grandmother's 1950 high school yearbook. I was flipping through the pages and came across her class. About 90% of the people in her graduating class had passed away. Underneath their pictures, she had written the date that they had passed. Honestly, it creeped me out. Today, I found myself doing the same thing. I just learned via Facebook that a high school friend passed away in her sleep on Saturday. We were friends our junior and senior year in high school. I have not talked to this girl since then. We have been friends on Facebook for years, but I never sent her a message. Times like these you think about all the things you could have said, but never did. |
| My story was chosen as one of the winners of the contest. I am in shock and disbelief. https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2341222-Whispers-from-Planos-Past... |
| I graduate from college on July 28th!! I took all of my recommended English classes, plus an elective Creative Writing class, British and English literature. They really helped a lot in my writing. |
| Keep the faith for those last two months. Congrats to you! Many years ago (the 70's) I went through four years of college expecting to graduate, only to discover I had not taken the required freshman English course. I was quickly enrolled in a summer Creative Writing course, which really changed my life. I can't imagine living without joy that writing has given to me. |
| I just thought of an interesting idea for a short story. I recently was given an 1896 photo of my Miller ancestors. My third great grandparents are in the front of the group, and my second great grandfather and his nine siblings are surrounding their parents. I know they had a hard life on the farm. I wonder what their lives would be like if they were a modern family? My great great grandfather would be sixteen in 2024. That would mean his parents would have grown up in the early '90s. How would they have interacted with modern technology like social media? In their day the only communication was to write letters. My third great grandfather was a blacksmith. Would he be an engineer in 2024? The family lived in a two story farmhouse. What kind of house would they have in 2024? All of my ancestors never finished school past the tenth grade. Would they have college degrees if they lived in modern times? I can't wait to start writing this short story. It seems interesting. |
| I'm very thankful for the kind and helpful reviews regarding the query letter I posted a few days ago. I will take everyone's advice and make improvements. I wish to thank my editor who's been with me since 2018. To the man who point blank told me the query letter was terrible, and my book will never be published, then promoted your own self-published books for "real inspiration," seek help with your manners. If I'm reading a story that I can't get into I simply move on. I don't criticize the author, tell them they'll never be published, and then link my portfolio telling them to read my stories to see what a good writer is. |
WHOA! That's pretty terrible! I'm so sorry that happened to you!  Even if I thought that about someone's writing (and I do about some folks on here lol), I definitely wouldn't TELL them that!   Plus, I could be wrong.  And an great editor can do wonders with a mediocre book and a motivated writer.  Just so you know, since you blocked them, they'll not see this bit of the note to them.  Good luck! Exciting times!  |
| Is there a market for LGBT historical/ supernatural fiction? I stopped uploading my story to this site. I've been working on it in Google docs. |
While I can't say for sure, I can say that the more niche you get, the smaller your potential audience. I'm guessing there are people who don't like to read historical fiction. I know there are people who don't like to read LGBT or supernatural fiction. But with diligent marketing, you can sell just about anything. It's just that some things are harder to sell than others. Finding the audience will probably be the hardest part. But also, since it's so niche, if it's well-written, those who love all those genres will probably be thrilled to see them combined.  Good luck! |
| Nineteen years ago, a bored Katrina Miller sat in her library aide class at Van Alstyne High School and created a WDC account (Back then it was Stories.com). Over the years, I've met, and lost contact with many great people from this site. I took a break, but came back. Thanks to the awesome feedback, I'm currently writing my third book, and looking for an agent. |
| I took about a three year absence to research the town of Sherman, Texas for my newest book, Skeletons in the Attic. Only a handful of people know about this story. I'm really excited to be sharing this story on WDC. As you read it, the story will twist and turn. It's not going to end like you think it will. |
I've added a new item to my portfolio:
|
| The local newspaper printed an article I wrote. I'm so excited! http://vanalstyneleader.com/sections/news/author-uncovers-truth-decades-old-fami... |
un: 
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I'd love it.
Woohoo!
Very exciting!!!
If you're interested in how to post a link to an item -- story, contest (like the one above), interactive, whatever, from a computer (you can from your phone, too but it's slightly more complicated so I won't share because IDK if you even care lol), you can just click the 7 digit item number twice. The first time just copies the number (in case you want to write your own code since there's a BUNCH of different codes you can do with it) and the second time will actually copy it with the basic item linking code. You can copy it from a link link you see above. Or if you are on the item's page, it's below the title and author and above the description. SM (StoryMaster, the site owner) has made it so that double clicking it automatically copies it for us. That creates an item link like this.
{item:2341222} which shows up as "Whispers from Plano's Past and Future"
That's great for conversation, but if you want to make a big announcement like because you're one of the winners, you want a big link! Well it's called a big item link. lol You literally just take that item link you just copied and put a B in front of the word 'item' so it's now a 'bitem' (big item) and looks like this.
{bitem:2341222} which shows up as the big item link below.
Try double clicking on just the item number to see if you can get the code to copy without clicking on your name or on the link. Once you've done it, you can now paste it anywhere you want/need and you've got a link to that contest -- looking like a pro!
You can do that, then do that with your item so you can say, "I entered {item:#######} into {item:#######} and it was one of the winners. Check it out!" Then people can click to read your winning entry! Though I do recommend slipping that B in there for the {bitem:#######} links. You'll have to fiddle a tiny bit more with the post since bitem links are on their own line, but it's fine. lol Totally worth it to get more readers, right?
FYI, you can also edit this post, if you care, and you can change it to actually create the links, but I won't traumatize you, just in case you don't want to create a link to show off your story. lol But if you do care, post and I or someone else will explain how to edit a post.
I hope that little tutorial helps.