So what's your story?

[Damage718]

I joined the old forum in 2019, I believe. It was before I released my first book, a collection of short stories, and I was just looking for some helpful input and suggestions, which I gratefully received. Mostly I was looking for a good community and place of camaraderie with and for fellow writers, which I found. As a FT copywriter in the marketing world, I work with many good creatives but the fiction world is obviously a whole other animal, so a place like this is a welcome necessity.

I have published three books since 2020 (one nonfic) and am about finished with the first draft of my fourth.

 

[Counterpoint]

I joined WritingForums on March 31st of last year. I read the forums almost daily but only posted seventeen times. One of my posts caught the attention of a user named Xoic, and we had a wonderfully engaging series of exchanges about journaling, autobiography, freewriting, and creative thinking. I hope he is well.

I’m a lead software engineer at a midsize financial services company who writes solely as a hobby. Until recently, I only wrote technical articles and short stories. One of my short stories defied containment. It refused to remain a small window into a half-formed world and a fragment of possibility. Now, I’m working on my first novel. I’m just shy of 18K words in and anticipate it will land right around 70K words. I hadn’t planned for this journey. I wasn’t prepared for how it would consume me — how it would upend my assumptions, test my discipline, and redefine who I am as a writer. Yet, I’m enjoying every minute of it.

I’m also working on a memoir when I feel the need for a change of pace; however, I don’t expect it to be complete for several years.

 

[GrahamLewis]

I joined in 2017 after entering retirement with a vow to finally do some of that serious writing I had allegedly been putting off all those years of professional, e.g. legal and PR stuff. Haven't yet got much of that done -- nothing published anyway -- but found that old site a welcoming and addictive place, and at least I did a lot of blog posting and other stuff there. Even won a few awards. And found a community of people I enjoyed in the broadest sense, e.g. found inspiring, enjoyable, and occasionally annoying. Sort of a microcosm of life. Thanks to Moose and Homer and all for saving the best of the site. Looking forward to it.

 

[PiP]

I joined .org on July 7th, 2013. During that time, I only posted 885 messages and received 1,256 likes, as I was an active member of .com for a while. I am pleased to see Homer and Moose try to save Dorgland, and I hope the new forum goes from strength to strength. I've written and successfully published three collab novels.
At the moment I am taking a break from writing further books.

 

[JLT]

My job history sounds like something like a smorgasbord... health educator, health inspector, hang gliding instructor, hang glider repairman, sail loft foreman (for several hang glider manufacturers), maker of replicas of medieval tents....not to mention a slew of more temporary jobs (short order cook, apprentice electrician, and such).

My published writing has mostly been non-fiction, but I've had a long-time interest in poetry and song-writing which I hope will continue to be contributed to writing fora like this. And I'm a voracious reader of book on the history and usage of the English language, which helps to quell my editorial urges or at least come to terms with them.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Just another .orger who is trying to write some books. I used the 'old' forums more as a rhetoric sandbox than a fiction writing one, which meant I had to be anonymous with respect to any future published material. This stripped slate is a chance to be more professional or whatever.

I've written one novel, and I'll do it again damn it. Down the road will be hunting for beta read swaps, and eventually self publishing a batch of 4-5 books over a year or so.

I'm overjoyed to see all the familiar faces from the old site. Bittersweet: it makes me miss the old inactive members even more.

-NtT

-Stu

 

[Catrin Lewis]

I joined .org on 28 January 2014. I just blew over two hours clicking back through all 4,500+ of my posts trying to find my New Member's intro, to see what I said about myself and my impetus for joining. But they don't take me back earlier than 2/2/14, to a thread on character names, where I say it's my first post. Maybe it was. If I had said anything in the New Members' thread, it would have been totally cringeworthy.

That's been 11 years. In a perfect world, I would have published five or six novels by now, plus a poetry collection or two. Alas, I have but one novel out, and another set to go as soon as I get the cover done.

That said, I learned so such from the members at .org, some of whom hadn't come around much anymore, if at all. I'm glad for what they taught me in their time. So much help with research, plotting, basic writing technique (You know I'd never heard of Close Third until @ChickenFreak mentioned it after my first Workshop entry?) . . . What I have produced is much better for my experience at .org.

I've just come off a big in-person writers' conference and I'm gearing myself up to start the third book in my romantic suspense series. I'm still working out the plot, and I hope nobody here minds if I'm back asking a lot of theoretical questions and bouncing scenarios off you guys.

And just for the fun of it, I'm trying a new avatar, a Welsh stove in a Welsh cottage to go with my Welsh pen name.

Here's to the new site!

 

[Dante Dases]

I'm something of an old-timer on the old site. You're reaching all the way back to 2009 when I signed up, a fresh-faced second year university student with delusions of grandeur, who mostly spent the old site procrastinating in the lounge and occasionally modding (a memorable 2012).

Life has taken me from aspiring barrister (who actually has defended murder) to established teacher in one of the largest secondary schools in the country, on the fringes of SLT and the governing body. In that time, I have successfully finished 5 novels, upwards of 30 short stories, and contributed to academic discourse in the realms of law, history, and education. Yet the novel I have been writing all along (now on its 456,295th draft) still remains unwritten, to await the day when two small children are no longer so small, when pedagogic responsibility doesn't lean so heavy.

My days of being a regular contributor are long gone - hours in the day unaccounted for are few, and I like to spend my time outside when I get the opportunity far more than the vampire-like youngster I once was - but I still hope to bring a little wisdom from what has been a long-term hobby. Even when I'm exhausted, uninspired and struggling to find words to string into a coherent sentence, I hope to have something to offer. Even if it's just a recommendation for a good book.

 

[deweyfisher]

I was active here about two years ago but dropped off for whatever reason, I revisited the old site to find there was a new one! Good to be back though :]

 

[Mish]

My turn. I joined the WritingForums back in 2019 because I was starting to write a Cyberpunk novel and needed some inspiration and feedback.

Fast forward to 2025 and I still haven't finished the before mentioned novel. I put it on hold in favor of another novel, which I have now progressed much more than the original. (so I guess it's some progress) I'm aiming to finish it by the end of this year.

Back to 2019. Apart from using the usual forum resources I started entering Flash and poetry competitions. (Winning some, losing some) I admit they made me more confident in my writing and I'm very grateful for being introduced to this community.

 

[Barnie]

I joined the original forums back in 2014 as a 16 year old studying animal management. I had a story I'd been writing since I was 11 and I wanted to make it 'grown up and proper'. I finished it eventually in 2020, but I have no plans to publish it, its my heart story though, I listened to everyone on the OG forum and agonised over it but eventually I decided I'd write it for my 11 year old self, with all the silly quirks, but with a touch more of that 'grown-up'-ness.
One of my favourite memories was rushing back from cleaning out some goats when I was just finishing my second year at college, just before I turned 18. We were at a really tense moment in a superhero roleplaying game and everyone else was feeling the buzz and writing so much, I didn't want to be left behind! It is to this day the only text-based roleplaying game I've seen from start to finish and it was glorious. I played a guy who was blessed by pidgeons and could partially transform into one and to honour that game I have a little clay pidgeon called Danny (the name of the character) who sits by my desk.
A very silly memory because I was an anxious thing is I got into an argument about what a catheter was with a mod, I said they can refer to more than just urine catheters, and include canulas used for blood and the mod called me daft and disagreed. I was convinced I would wake up banned the next day for daring to disagree with a proper 'grown-up'... I was not. I was just 17 and anxious. I also think I was probably wrong XD

I am writing completly different things now, and my writing voice has developed to a place I like, even if not many other people agree. The OG forum pushed me to write and write, even if I hate it, because at the end of the day, practice makes perfect (or there abouts).

 

[Kallisto]

I came out as a fine product of the public school system. Which means I was functionally illiterate (could only read basic phrases like "Hello, my name is..." and "I want peanut butter.")

I got into writing with pressure from a teacher who stated that, while I had a lot of syntax and grammatical errors, I did have an imagination for storytelling. So, I started writing. And from writing, I learned to read better.

I like the art more than I am serious about being professional or anything.

 

[Clutch]

I have no aspirations of becoming a professional writer. I just like to write, always have, so it's just a hobby like fishing or building model railroads. My background is (was) music...guitar mainly. I use to write & record music although nothing you've heard...just a hobby. I put it away several years ago and haven't looked back (much).

I've mostly completed one novel and doubt I'll pick it back up to finish it so I got into short & flash fiction instead. Then I stopped writing because an old friend died and the experience was a bit too close to the heart and I've been afraid to write anything ever since. For the longest time I could feel that story struggling to get out and I've been avoiding it...maybe enough time has passed now.

I haven't written anything in a couple years and I'm hoping this new site will provide some renewed interest and inspiration.

 

[TrevorD]

So, yeah.

I'm the sad, sorry lop who (used to, not anymore) works the graveyard shift at our local hospital placing labor epidurals in pregnant women. In a nutshell, it's a thankless endeavor that involves inserting huge needles into the spines of people who are terrified, exhausted, and in excruciating pain. For whatever reason, these patients tend to procrastinate, so instead of requesting pain control at say 11PM, when they're early in the labor process, they put it off until they're hysterical, say 8-10 cm cervical dilation, anywhere from 4-6 AM. If you've ever placed one of these things in the daytime, rest assured they're 3 times harder between 4-6 AM when you're exhausted and the mom you're trying to work with has lost all semblance of control. Yes, there is a phenomenon called "needle phobia" and everyone suffers from it, especially me. Placements can be complicated, of course, from things such as scoliosis, morbid obesity, cultural challenges (Hmong-speaking husband doesn't understand what's happening, etc.), these types of things. Occasionally, the challenges stack, such that our morbidly obese, Hmong-speaking woman with scoliosis in room 8 has an intense needle phobia, etc. Anyways, due to the emotions, the stress, and exhaustion, etc., my mere presence in the room, at times, can convert a normally completely reasonable and rational adult female into a blithering hysterical 2-year old, which can be psychologically challenging to me when i do several of these things per night. So, after particularly rough encounters, I go back to my call room and murder someone in the vampire novel i've been writing for the past 15 years and can't seem to finish.

So, yeah.

 

[GlitterRain]

Wow, it’s been a while.

I was going through my spam folder earlier today when I saw a message that the old site was shutting down. I went to see if it had indeed shut down since the message had been there for several weeks already, and I even though I haven’t been around for a few - (sigh), several years - I was sad to see that everything was gone.

I joined in, I think, 2017 (as GlitterRain7, I just had to drop the number this time around). I was a high schooler trying to write my first book, and the old forum helped me inch closer and closer to the finish line.

I finished the first draft of that book in 2018, the year I graduated high school. Then I went off to college, got stuck in what seemed like perpetual editing of that book, and I think my time on the old forum was numbered by the time I transferred to University.

I feel like the last time I posted anything on the old site may have been 2019 or 2020. And yes, I was still stuck editing like I didn’t know how to call it quits.

I graduated college a year earlier than the rest of my class due to taking basically full semesters of summer classes. Right before that, I had a dream of a character that I had made a few months prior who wasn’t part of any stories or anything, and he bullied me via this dream into giving him a book. And just like that, the spell of editing the first book - wheels on ice - had been broken.

But just because I was out of college didn’t mean I would get a chance to come back to the forum. I moved out, got my first job, and got married all within the time span of like two months that fall. And then ended up on night shift (still am). But I was still writing that book that turned into a trilogy.

I found that email just in time. The last book of that trilogy will be finished probably tomorrow (my time) at this point. I’m feeling bittersweet about it.

But now that things have calmed down and got better (or are looking close to getting better), I hope I can get back to this new site and start posting again. I did log in to the old site for the last time I guess a couple months ago or maybe late last year, but it just didn’t feel like it was quite the right time for me to go back, and I noticed that it seemed like not much was being posted anymore.

As for what I write - my first book is a young adult novel, but I’ve since aged up the characters for what is hopefully the last major revision of the book, so it might be new adult (to the extent that exists). My trilogy is much the same.

 

[Killer300]

I think I was on the old forum for at least a decade, if not longer. I have writing there that goes back to when I was in highschool, maybe even earlier, and yet, didn't end up trying to save virtually any of it, as it was mostly excerpts that didn't amount to much. I know the main appeal of the old forum was the rule that you had to critique two stories to post one, as it solved the problem of there being a bunch of writing posted, but not nearly enough feedback for it. And, to this day, that's really how I approach this forum: A source for feedback. For trying to sharpen up writing, or see if an idea works before committing to it further.