  Noticing Newbies
This week: Meet Your Senior Mods: Part 1 Edited by: JACE  
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Hi, I'm JACE .
Welcome to this issue of the Noticing Newbies newsletter. Join me as I take you into some nooks and crannies of Writing.Com that you may not have found time to check out yet.
Don't forget to toss me a note about what you liked or didn't like in my column, or about a topic you'd like to see discussed. This newsletter is about and for you. And for you seasoned members, I hope you'll find something you can take from my ramblings. 
Your Noticing Newbies Newsletter full-time Editors:
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Meet Your Senior Volunteers: Part 1
Along with the The StoryMaster  and The StoryMistress  , who own and operate Writing.Com, the task of helping the manage this complex site and its vast membership
| Sitewide statistics (see Writng.Com Tools) place active membership at more than half a million with almost 10,000 members logging in daily. |
 's thoughts about the site. Limiting the focus of these issues is IN NO WAY intended to lessen the tremendous impact that the Moderators have on the day to day operations of Writing.Com. They are truly the backbone of this site.
To this end, I've asked long time members Joy  and SophyBells  a few questions. Their answers are below.
1. What were your first thoughts when you signed up for Stories.Com
| The site now known as Writing.Com originally started its journey as Stories.Com. |
JOY: In June 2001, an acquaintance sent me a link to Stories.com, what Writing.com was called then. I was looking for people to read my writing and tell me what they thought of it. Before the internet era, it was very difficult to find such people. As most of us know, family and friends, as nice or critical as they may be, do not quite fill the shoes of objective readers. Before Stories.com, I ended up having to pay for a reading, and the results weren't half as good as what I have received in this site.
SOPHY: Like most newbies, my first thoughts were probably something like, "Will I ever figure all this out?!" After poking around a bit, and asking a few questions of other members, I posted my first piece the same day I joined, and immediately got positive feedback, which was very appreciated. In fact, three days later the item I posted won a contest I hadn't even entered!  And I got a pretty blue awardicon. Talk about positive reinforcement!! I was hooked.
2. Did you ever realize your original dream? That is, why you signed up in the first place?
SOPHY: I joined because a friend and I wanted to work on a writing project together, and we were looking for a place to do that. We googled writing sites, and Stories.Com came up on the top of the list, so we both joined together. While our original plan did not end up coming to fruition, and I became more involved in the site than he did, I ended up getting much more from the site than I ever imagined possible. So while my original goals were not met, my actual experience was beyond anything I could have imagined or hoped for.
3. Describe the site when you first joined in three or four sentences.
SOPHY: People were so friendly and helpful, I felt welcomed from the very beginning. The name was different then (Stories.Com) but The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress were the same excellent site creators and leaders they are now. The community I found here helped me become a better writer, and offered the opportunity for me to give input and encouragement to other writers.
JOY: As Sophy said, the friendship was wonderful, and I saw them as angels the mods--no kidding. Since Stories.com was a less than a year old, and groups, forums, or the Noticing Newbies newsletter didn't exist then to help newbies. I had to be a bit pushier than I like to be. Still, imagine my surprise, when the very first poem I wrote after registering was highlighted immediately in the Authors Newsletter. I have never deleted that poem.
4. What made you stay a member of WDC for all these years?
SOPHY: Not long after I joined the site, I found out my father had terminal cancer. While I had done a lot of different types of writing over the years, I had not written poetry in a very long time. When I was younger, poetry helped me sort through and deal with difficult times, and so it was natural for me to return to it to help me deal with my emotions surrounding my father's diagnosis. Sharing my feelings through poetry not only helped me with my grieving, but also resulted in a lot of support from site members, many of whom are still wonderful friends. Those poems remain in my portfolio as a testament to my father, and to the sacred experience of being with him when he was dying. They became a journal of sorts about what I went through. Looking back on them 12 years later, especially when someone random reviews one of them, is very meaningful for me.
JOY: Everything. The friendships, the writing, the community spirit, The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress , and the understanding and the appropriate control with which they run this site. I also like the different approaches of our writers to an idea, a prompt, or a contest.
5. What is your favorite feature on WDC?
JOY: Reviewing and reviewers. I love to witness how we all try to do our best for each other.
SOPHY: I love a lot of things about WDC, but I love the new Community News Feed, and the opportunity to comment and/or like other member's posts. It's like Facebook, only much better! 
6. Which one group, forum or item would you recommend to a Newbie? Why?
JOY: "Noticing Newbies" . Posting here is the first step that lets a newbie enter the community officially, so to speak.
SOPHY: Hands down, no question about it--"The Writer's Cramp" A daily contest that awards 10,000 GPs to the person who writes the best poem or story in response to a prompt in 24 hours or less, what could be better!?! I started entering the Cramp (our nickname for the contest) within a week of my joining WDC (it was started by another member a couple of months before I joined), and I found the daily prompts were a great way to get started writing again. I won a few days, which encouraged me greatly in terms of my writing, and about six months later I was asked if I wanted to be a weekly judge. When the member who had the Cramp in their port could no longer host it, it was transferred to me seven years ago. The rest, as they say, is history; I've been running it ever since. I am so grateful for my judges, without whom the Cramp could not exist because I certainly cannot judge every day. They allow for a variety of tastes when judging, as well as unique prompts coming from several different people. If not for the Cramp, I would not have gotten involved with the site as quickly, or with as much commitment - I  the Writer's Cramp!
7. What advice would you give to a person who has just joined WDC?
JOY: Check out "Get Started With Your Account" and "Writing.Com 101" . Also, make sure you carefully read the entire forum page of any group, contest, or activity you wish to enter or ask a favor from.
SOPHY: Jump right in and don't be shy! Post in forums, review items, enter contests. Don't let it overwhelm you--it can be confusing at first, but there are so many people here who are happy to help you.
Like Joy said, make sure you check "Writing.Com 101" . It can answer most of your questions, and has great explanations for how to get involved, how to create your first item, and just about everything you need to know about the site. The videos are awesome, and if you still need help, you can post questions in site forums or email members. There are lots of folks around who will help you find your way, and there are NO dumb questions.
8. Do you have any final comments?
JOY: Each newbie is a new light, a new star, in the vast cosmos of Writing.com. What a newbie brings to this community, in terms of ideas, action, and responsibility, is very important to all the members. So I hope, all newbies understand and feel their value to the rest of us.
SOPHY: Just a public thank you, again, to The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress for creating such a wonderful site and community, and for continuing to add new features and improvements all the time. Just in the past year they have added so much to the site, and made it even more amazing and fun to be part of.
And thank you, JACE for asking me to share answers to these questions. It was fun to look back and think about my experiences on WDC.
It was indeed my pleasure to chat with these two fine ladies. I hope my readers will take a moment to thank them for their insights and continued support. |
Check out these Newbies (I've selected folks who have filled out their Biography or something in their Bio-Block). Take a moment to review something in their Port ... or just say hi.
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Noticing Newbies: April 02, 2014 Issue [#6239]
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