Wednesday 18 April 2012

The dangers lurking in writing sites

Someone should have warned me not to click on the link to writing.com.  It was an innocent enough email reminding me that I haven't logged in for a long time and that my membership might be terminated. I am ashamed to say I have been a member since 2006.  Being a member isn't the embarressing thing though, it was discovering that I have been a member for 6 years and never utilised this wonderful site.

Now I have the opposite problem.  Having rediscovered it, I can't seem to make myself log off, or at least not for any length of time.  I have spent hours over the past few days clicking on this and clicking on that and yet I have barely touched the surface.  Most things register in the 'I must come back and look into that' section of my brain however the list is growing so extensive I doubt my poor brain will be able to keep up.

This is not a bad thing I have decided.  I feel I have found somewhere comfortable for me to spend time with other writers.  I know they have forums, I just have to work out how to access them.  Since I am still in the explore the website phase I am in no real hurry.  There is so much to see and do.  It is hard to classify myself as a newbie when I have been a member for six years so I did consider cancelling my membership and rejoining but I thought better of it.  This way I have a reminder about how often I have put writing on hold.  2006, wow that is a long time ago.  I would have happily kidded myself that I joined a year or two ago.

I can't go back and change anything so there is no point on dwelling on the situation.  What I can do is keep moving forward. It is so much easier to live in the land of regret because it doesn't ask anything of us but there is no reward unless excuses can be seen as some form of pay off. 

Excuses belong in the bin, right beside regrets, never to be recycled. 

I hope I can remember that long enough to complete the projects I am working on.  I can say they have been progressing steadily and I am happy with the structure that has emerged so that is something. 

Never before did I think I would enter a writing competition so that is something as well.  My entry wasn't my best work; it was mainly constructed between the hours of 2am and 4, but I am happy enough with the end result.  My thought process was simple, write and enter it before I have a chance to change my mind and that is what I have done. 

For the first time a piece of my writing has left the safety of my computer for outside consumption.  What a strange and exciting feeling.  I guess this blog is writing of a sort but this is free, straight from the brain to the page with no planning, nothing more in mind than to sit down and free write.  That probably isn't the recipe for a successful blog but it gets my fingers moving across the keyboard and I find that comforting.  It also serves the purpose of calling me to the computer which is where at least part of my writing work is done so that can't be a bad thing. 

My motivation levels continue to grow and I intend to feed them any way I can!

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