Story of a Young Writer – My heart always comes back here
Photo credit: Alvimann from morguefile.com
I sigh as I log out of all my accounts and close Google Chrome. I decide to shut down the laptop and get a good night’s rest. But something keeps me from doing so. I scratch my chin and click on the web browser once again before typing in the URL for a website that I hadn’t visited in a long time. No, not in a very, very long time…
***
I had first started writing when I was around five years old. Tiny one page stories, three line poems, a book full of jokes. These were the results of my small fingers combined with my enthusiasm. My family was overjoyed with my interest in reading and writing.
I would always get inspired after reading a good book or novel and try to write one of my own. But of course, since I was a little girl, the stories always came to a halt after two or three chapters. I just didn’t know how to continue the book!
Then, one fine day, my mother suggested that instead of trying to write a huge novel, I should focus on short stories. A few pages full of good work, written with complete concentration turned out to be far better than exaggerated and over-complicated chapters filled with unnecessary sentences that only helped the paragraph seem longer.
I was thrilled and longed for others to see my work. My family always encouraged me to continue writing, but nobody outside of my relatives and close family friends knew how I could pen my thoughts down onto paper.
My father told me he would try and search for a good publisher, or something of the sort, to please my young mind and make me happy. But of course, at that time, my writing was way too immature and childish to be printed on paper and sold in bookstores!
It was when I was twelve years old and had almost given up on the thought of people reading my stories that I received the best news of my life. My mother’s close friend had noticed how I had stopped writing and wasn’t really interested and excited anymore. So she did a bit of exploring along with my mother and found that there were online sites where I could publish my stories!
I was extremely excited and immediately sat down with them and went through the list of websites. One of them caught my eye.
It was this very website where you are reading this very sentence right now. Yourstoryclub. I registered and became a member. I still remember how I had screamed with delight that day. I submitted a few old stories of mine and a fair few people read them. Encouraged by this, I started writing again and submitted my latest works, which were far more mature than the old ones and much to my delight, one of them got selected as Editor’s Choice! I was in the seventh heaven of delight and over the moon.
I was probably way too happy. After I got the Editor’s Choice, I quickly signed up for a few more online spots where I could read and write stories. I was getting a lot of recognition and I was thrilled. I started spending more and more time on those sites.
Unknowingly, I had completely abandoned Yourstoryclub. Days passed and I had completely forgotten about it. I was engaged with the other sites.
But something was wrong. While sending writing into the other sites, I didn’t really feel as good as before. Something was missing. The usual feeling of happiness I used to experience while getting a story published wasn’t there anymore.
I wondered what was wrong. Was I bored? Did I not like writing anymore? What was going on?
Of course, I still liked writing! I will always love reading and providing others with things to read. So, what had happened? Why didn’t I feel excited anymore? What cause me to lose my enthusiasm?
I slowly realized the answer. Ever since I had signed up into a million different places at once, I had lost that friendly feeling that always accompanied me whenever I logged into Yourstoryclub. When I was on this site, I used to have a familiar feeling whenever I came. A sense of home. A feeling that I belonged. This website had become a really good friend of mine. But the other ones were just too overwhelming and I felt like I wasn’t ready for them.
I was then that I realized the importance of taking one step at a time and not getting too ahead of myself. I need to focus on one thing and not forget about it if I find another.
Yourstoryclub has always had a very special place in my heart. And it always will.
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