When I was a kid, I didn’t belong anywhere. I was quiet. I wasn’t necessarily shy, but I was not the first kid you thought of when you considered the social butterflies. Honestly, I’m not sure I belonged to a subset of school kids, unless you count the AP kids in HS.
Then I grew up, I suppose. HS was over. Friends I had drifted away, going about their own lives and finding new friends of their own. For a long time, I felt untouchable, as though I belonged nowhere, and thus could be morose and uncommunicative.
The internet offered me a way out. I met several people along the way who helped me navigate it. One of whom I still consider my closest friend. We’ve known of each other for almost 20 years. She has introduced me to a number of people I consider friends. Some have come in; others have gone out, but mostly they pass in and out of life like the traditional ships in the night.
Like lots of people, I got the email from Grant Faulkner of Nanowrimo regarding belonging and that’s the spark for this post. Nanowrimo, first introduced to me by one friend who knew I wrote, has become the basis of quite a few friendships of mine. It was the basis of my writing career, forcing me to do something I had never done before, write longform fiction. (Previously I roleplayed online in text based rpgs and wrote the occasional fanfiction, but didn’t really write more than that.) She saw a spark in me that I could do more. So then came the challenge. I won back in 2005 with my first novel-length work, a trunk novel which will never see the light of day. That’s okay though because truthfully it never has to. I’ve written better things since then. Maybe someday I’ll go back to it and make it better, but for now it has served its purpose.
The internet is also how I met my author-family, the group of authors who have helped me glow, grow, and become better at my craft. I first encountered some of them on a website called MagicalWords.net. I was a newbie, a wanna-be, a baby writer. I looked up to those who wrote there because they were established. Practically like gods to me on my quest to rise in status. I didn’t post often, but I read voraciously. Then I started meeting them and realized not only were they great writers, they were good people. Someone, I forget who now, asked me to apply to go to ConCarolinas, a mid-size convention in Charlotte. I applied and got accepted as a guest, first time ever. Then I met many of the folks from MagicalWords. I fangirled as quietly as possible. It was a great time. I’ve since been to ConCarolinas twice as a guest. I’ve gone to DragonCon once as a guest. I’ve written short fiction, novellas, and novels. I’ve done a lot and they have cheered me on every step of the way.
I look forward to the new people I meet both in-person and on the internet and realize that without the ability to reach out, I wouldn’t be where I am. Thank goodness for the internet.