My Introduction (My first blog here)

By Fife · Nov 11, 2012 · ·
  1. In the seventeen days I've been a member at writingforums.org, observing and judging (we all judge) the community has been interesting. I am beginning to see whom the regulars are. The handles of which writers stand behind become characters as their personalities paint their personalities. It's like the first day of class at a new school or the first day of work. This guy reminds of Joe from my other school. This gal reminds me of Alice from the last job I worked at. And this process seems to be at play no matter which community I go to. It is mildly exciting and it is fun.

    I am finding that there is a diverse set of people here, unlike some writer's post I have been on. There are some who seem to be just beginning the craft. They may struggle with grammar, etc. There are some who may be a bit more experienced, but still struggle with effective methods for drawing in the reader, and there are yet others who write gracefully and are inspiring to me. I think I probably fall somewhere between the spectrum of the first- and second-mentioned classes I've defined.

    I would like to explain who I am so that there is a little context behind the name--with the caveat that we all hide behind our handle in some shape or form (such is the nature of the Internet). I am in my 30's. I am married. My ethnicity is called Hmong. I find that very few people are aware of what that is. The Hmong are are tribal group from Southeast Asia. Many of them found their way to first-world countries after the American Vietnam War (well, the CIA-led secret war in Laos). I suppose allowing refuge was compensation for helping their American allies. Anyway, I was born here. I feel I am as American as pie.

    In my recent years, I served the US Army for several years--spent just shy of 3 years in Baghdad. I eventually served as a geopolitical analyst, where I learned a writing tradecraft for my department. The time I have spent reading about various countries and their policies has sort of made me cynical about life. On top of that, my wife assures me I struggle with PTSD from my tours. I know I need to try to not let that affect my writing so much. I am going back to school because, unfortunately, I never took it seriously when I was younger. Now, I am very appreciative of the opportunity to finish my degree.

    In my earlier years, I used to love recreating stories--which I've learned is popularly known as "fan fiction". It started when I was in first or second grade. My parents had a typewriter. I was so captivated by the idea of putting neat fonts onto a bright piece of paper. I took some of my Nintendo game stories and recreated them: soldiers would go on special missions; my friends would end up in a Super Mario-esque world; etc.--nothing too extravagant.

    One important aspect of me is that I am/was an addict to World of Warcraft. I can snicker about that as I say it. I've recently tried to put that behind me. In my life, I have put away cigarettes (cold turkey), so I am confident I can put this away. Nobody understands an addition unless they have been addicted before--so in some case, it's not really a trivial matter. I hope that fiction writing (again, as an adult) can fill in this void.

    If you've gotten this far in this blog, thank you for reading. I hope to get to know you during my time here at writingforums.org.



    TL

Comments

  1. Fife
    For some reason, I always get this site confused with another site. LOL. I have tried like 4-5 different sites and it's always one word transposed or another. LOL. So far, this is the best place for providing constructive feedback though.
  2. Trilby
    Well said and welcome to the forums this site is 'Tops'.
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