Wanna Be Writer

by prettybluebirds

After decades of farming, age and health issues forced my husband and me to throw in the proverbial towel. In 2015, I became the sole caretaker for my husband as cancer slowly did its dirty work inside his body. It's not fun watching a loved one die in bits and pieces, but sometimes life throws someone a curve ball, and all we can do is be there for them.

My husband slept most of the day, so I had tons of time to kill. One can only clean the house so many times, and I read books until even that became tiresome. I wasn't much of a tech person, but I finally resorted to using the computer my husband's son had given me. Quite frankly, I was a bit scared of the thing, but sheer boredom drove me to try it.

I learned to surf the web. Surf? Some of the tech words seemed weird. Anyhow, I was surfing the web one day when I came across a website called FanStory. I checked it out and discovered it was a writing club where people could join and submit stories. It sounded interesting, so I paid my fees and read some stories.

A few days after I signed up, I noticed an intriguing contest. I decided to go for it and started writing, and writing, and writing. How hard can it be? That was my primary thought. I mean, writing is just a bunch of words thrown together, right? My first story was seven thousand words long and filled with grammatical errors and misspelled words. It only received a couple of reviews, but one said the story was excellent, so with a puffed-up head, I blundered along writing more stories.

I continued in that manner, even writing a couple of poems until some serious reviewers pointed out all the mistakes in my writing. Really? Well, maybe they were right. I bought several books on grammar, and more recently, I took an online proofreading course. I soon discovered there were more rules to writing than I ever realized. Much has changed in the decades since I graduated. Besides, 1964 was a long, long time ago, and I had mostly forgotten what grammar I learned way back then. Cows don't care if one's grammar is good or bad, and I spent most of my time with them for many years. My only writing consisted of keeping records on the herds.

Margaret Snowdon and Mastery (Bob) were two of the serious reviewers who pointed me in the right direction. They didn't hesitate to tell me if my writing was dreadful and gave great suggestions for improving my work. There were many good reviewers, some not so good, but these two stood out. I haven't seen Bob or Margaret on FanStory for quite some time, but they were both superb writers and left us with marvelous stories.

I haven't been on FanStory much lately, but when I do return, I can count on Begin Again (Carol) to read my stories and give great comments. Rachel Allen can be brutally honest, but she is one of my favorite reviewers because of that trait. I pay attention when she speaks. Wendy G. is my go-to animal person. Her dog stories touch my heart. There are several FanStory members who have been supportive, and I appreciate the input I receive from every one of them. It's the reviewers that make FanStory unique, and I give them credit for the kick in the butt to improve my atrocious grammar. I needed it.

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How FanStory improved my writing

Wanna Be Writer

by prettybluebirds

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