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About This Author
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Why DO I Love Writing.Com? Why DO I Love Writing.Com?
by Marilyn Mackenzie
 
Note: When I wrote this, the name of this site was Stories.com, so singing "We love you Stories" made sense.
Sing along with Kenzie! "We love you Stories. Oh yes we do. We don’t love any site as much as you. When we’re not visiting, we’re blue. Oh Stories, we love you." Okay, so I’m aging myself. The first time I sang that tune was back when the Beatles first came to the U.S. I love Writing.Com much more than I loved the Beatles.
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach..." Okay, so Elizabeth Barrett Browning beat me to this one.
Why do I love you, Writing.Com? Perhaps it helps that I’ve had experience with other writer’s sites.
I used to write as a child, perched upon the branches of our back yard cherry tree. I wrote again in high school and college and had a few poems published. I wrote as a young married woman with an abusive spouse. Being able to write stories and poems allowed me to escape the world I was in and exchange it for a better world.
Fast forward many years, and I was feeling like a prisoner again. My 16 year old son first had mono, then was diagnosed with depression, and his doctors told me I couldn’t leave him alone. I couldn’t work and he wasn’t much company since he slept 18 hours a day. God reminded me how much I used to enjoy writing, and how it helped me escape in the past.
I first discovered a writer’s site called Themestream. After a few months, the site’s owners announced that it would close. There were others after that, and I don’t even recall all their names. TheVines, WrittenByMe. There were more, but their names escape me.
Almost a year ago, I discovered Writing.Com. I was truly impressed with the site, although I didn’t like the pop-up advertising. But since the writer’s sites I’d joined before had been closed due to lack of funds, I certainly understood the need for advertising.
I wasn’t thrilled when it was announced that I’d have to delete some of my writings or pay for a membership. My first reaction was to find another free site. I did, but the other writers there were not thrilled with the fact that I brought God into my writings.
It was then that I returned to Writing.Com with the determination to discover ways to upgrade my membership without dipping into my pocket. And I’ve truly been blessed by anonymous donations of upgrades.
Each time I log into Writing.Com I’m still amazed, still filled with wonder. I have a small web site of my own and maintaining it is not an easy task. The Writing.Com world is a vast one, with individual portfolios that include stories, poems, interactive stories, madlibs, surveys, and so much more. Creating and maintaining a site such as this cannot be an easy task either. What wonderful site owners and managers we have in the StoryMaster and StoryMistress. If we showered them with thanks each and every day, it wouldn’t be enough. They have dedicated themselves, not only to seeing that this site is up and running every time we care to log on, but to seeing each of us succeed at becoming better writers.
We can choose to create plain text pieces here, or masterpieces of artwork and photos, or a combination of both. We can send messages instantly to our new and old friends, asking advice or just saying hello.
With a click of the finger, we know who else is online. With another click, we can read anything our heart desires – from essays to documentaries, fiction or non-fiction or poems. We have the ability to discover new friends and save them as our favorites and to save favorite pages as well, so we won’t have to search the vast pages to find them again.
Gathered at Writing.Com are writers who have written for many years and others who are cutting their teeth here with us. There are teens, twenty-somethings, middle aged writers and the rocking chair gang. There are people of all faiths, people from around the globe. There are people who agree with what I write and those who disagree. But in spite of our differences, the writers here at Writing.Com are a loving, kind and respectful community. Most can view a new submission and offer praise or criticism about the structure of the piece, without concern about whether they agree or disagree with the writer. What a fine bunch of folks we are!
There are many places one can go to learn to be a better writer. One can attend college classes or writer’s workshops. Some, though, believe as I do – that practicing writing helps most of all. And having a supportive group of people around who will offer support, praise and constructive criticism is priceless.
My favorite writers here are the ones who reached out a helping hand to me when I was struggling to understand how to traverse Writing.Com. Among them are:
Ms Kimmie  
ElaineElaine 
x-centrick
waterbaby
rickysgranny
katherine76
frostpe
COUNTRYMOM-JUST REMEMBER ME 
Incurable Romantic
Shadow
Stallion
bcah
scribe1
jwagon
I know I’ve probably forgotten some, and I also know that my writer friends here will forgive me for doing so. That’s another reason I love Writing.Com. Our writers are so understanding.
It’s hard to explain my addiction to Writing.Com. It’s evident that our founders the StoryMaster and StoryMistress care deeply about the site and about the writers and readers. That caring attitude is infectious, and perhaps that’s what I love most of all. Old or young, rich or poor, we are a community that cares about each member. We rejoice at our members’ successes and mourn their losses with them. We laugh and cry together.
Why DO I love Writing.Com? Because we are a family. Sing along with Kenzie! "We are family..."
(As I started to submit this to a contest I realized I was singing softly..."Once I had a secret love, that lived within the heart of me..."
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© Copyright 2002 Kenzie (kenzie at Writing.Com).
All rights reserved.
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