Splashing Down the Rabbit Hole

Life-saving World in 25 sentences

Fall, 2004: I left Maine, driving with a broken wrist, three broken ribs, and a concussion in a car jammed with my pooch, everything I could fit (and then some!) inside, and headed west for Michigan to a) get away from the idiot and b) see my grandkids.

. Over the next few months, I healed, got a new job, and settled into my new home--a rusty old trailer in a trailer park, still feeling somehow 'less' than I should have and envisioning a humongous black X on the roof.

Finally, on March 5th, I got reconnected to the internet/world/anything outside my head and discovered my salvation--the possibilities beyond the dark tunnel I'd been inching towards.

On March 5, 2005 (20 years ago), I found Writing.Com, took a deep breath (for possibly the first time in months!), and dove into the rabbit hole that IS WDC, all in, scared to death and yet . . . and yet, filled with a breathless anticipation of something wonderful (every pun inended) happening.

For years and years, I'd been told, yelled at, and excoriated for even thinking that I was a good writer; I wasn't as worthy as the dirt under the doormat under the dormouse!

First day, after posting a few pieces I'd always loved, I had MAIL(!) in my inbox from folks responding, encouraging, and rewarding my words!

I 'met' people I am still friends (good! friends) with today and started... to believe in me again.

A month later, I was actively having the gumption to write reviews, had won some contests, had turned yellow, and had begun to wend my way around the wondrous labyrinth that is WDC!

Suddenly, I was being told and shown that I was a 'really excellent' writer, that I had 'so much to say', and asked 'why wasn't I writing books,' as I began connecting with (OMG!) mods --you know-- the cool kids on the block!

While (at the time) I had virtually no life outside of WDC, that virtual home I'd discovered opened doorways to me that I never knew existed, and I couldn't believe they were opened to me, and I found that these pathways were the beginnings of trails that helped me regain myself, and helped me realize that I was so much more than the dirt beneath 'someone's' feet.

I hadn't even realized that I was holding my head higher, that I was acting with authority, and that I was becoming confident in myself until I got a promotion at work and was told that 'I was like a new person.'

I became a writing fool-- attacking contests, writing just to write, and getting involved with numerous groups and projects.

I didn't nestle into that ratty old trailer, but I, for sure, settled into WDC, organizing my port--putting up bookshelves, moving furniture around, and planting glorious flowers in my virtual windowboxes!

My world expanded beyond trailer walls when I reconnected with a dear and valued friend, my white knight, even though it was so difficult to trust or open up again, let alone let myself breathe.

Time passed, my world settled as I realized I was treasured and loved on numerous levels and now had two homes; one with my old friend and another at WDC.

Thoughts of gloom and doom had vanished as I grew more into me than ever before, and this, too, reflected in my writing and my 'job-world' as I began a new job as an editor for a small press publisher.

Three years later, I took on the Red Queen, made friends with the dormouse, and triumphed at chess: I turned blue, and nothing and no one could stop me now!

Newsletters followed, and I was offered two: I'm a writer, but there simply are no words exuberant enough to define how that made (and makes) me feel!

Thanks in a HUGE way to WDC, I had the confidence to leap: opening my own small press so I could continue in a bigger way to encourage other writers.

Along with my burgering group of authors, I published several of my own books, a couple of which won awards due (in no small part, I am positive) to the reviews I received, which offered invaluable feedback, literary critiques, and all-around help!

I've been fortunate enough to meet (in real life) many fellow members as they too scampered around this wondrous land, and my life is eminently the richer for it--to the point I cannot imagine my life without them and WDC being a part of it and I cannot ever thank Storymaster and Storymistress enough for all the blood, sweat and pots of tea they put into it!

WDC birthdays continued to pass, site anniversaries as well, with each year bringing the new and the fresh in a world where websites rarely exist five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, let alone TWENTY-FIVE!

The caterpillar never told me how much I would learn here at WDC---but then, I wouldn't have believed him because how could I have even imagined how immense an effect it would have on my life--especially that at one point, it would literally save it!

Looking in the mirror these days, not even the Cheshire Cat has a bigger smile than I because this special, marvelous, magical place continues to grow and spread, and I get to be a tiny part of it!

Finally, for over twenty years, WDC has been a part of my life--every single day, at home, on the road or on vacation--it's the first place I go online in the morning because it is (along with my coffee!) the only way to start my day and I am so thankful for it!