For those of you who pay attention to things like this, the very first post to Startingwritenow happened exactly one year ago tomorrow. Truly a momentous occasion! The world of writing has never been the same.
I remember very well when Sean first mentioned his idea of the site to both myself and Aaron. I remember being excited about the idea, but also a little worried. What the heck could I possibly write about that would be interesting to other fledgling writers like myself? Even more frightening, I had to do it every week.
A daunting task, to say the least. Especially since I had never done anything like it before.
Still, I was intrigued by the concept for the site and I was willing to give it my best shot. Naturally, the site came into being when I was on vacation. It took a bit of scrambling, but I was able to get my posts in every week regardless of where I happened to be (or what I was doing).
In honor of the occasion I thought I would quickly mention the things that have benefited me from my time with Startingwritenow:
- I can write something new every week;
- I can do my writing anywhere;
- Having goals and deadlines really helps to get the writing done;
- Feedback is invaluable;
- Being a part of a writing community only helps you to get better;
- The more you write and read, the better you get (generally).
Nothing there is rocket science, I’m sure you will agree, but sometimes the obvious lessons are the hardest to learn. Put all those learnings together and they have firmly solidified my desire to continue writing and (hopefully) make it my career one day.
They have also helped me in my daily writing. For example, during last year’s Nanowrimo I was traveling for several days. I had made a commitment (and duly set the appropriate goals) to write at least 1,500 words per day. So naturally I took my laptop everywhere I went. On one leg of my travels (4 hours as a passenger), I managed to write 6,000 words towards my novel. Not stellar, by any means, but I was sitting in a van, in the middle of the night (very dark), typing away. I felt pretty proud of that. In fact, it was my best single day writing total for all of Nano.
And I’ve had the benefit of the SWN contributors as sounding boards for some of my projects. Not to mention the feedback of you, our readers.
All of this has made the experience of contributing to SWN a huge success for me. Thank you. I hope you have enjoyed reading the site as much as I’ve enjoyed writing for it.
Now, onward to season 2! 
