My Journal #2

I'm Blue

I opened my email the other day to find Congratulations you are now a moderator. What can I say to that?  For the last two days I've been posting how wonderful it is to have been nominated and chosen. 
I've been a member of this site for 11 years now. When I look at what has transpired in my life over those years it's been amazing. I've accomplished and been involved in more events, chosen for jobs I'd never have imagined and now a Moderator on this site.
I'm sure you're just smiling and saying, "That's nice."
"If you could be sitting in this seat writing this you'd be saying all kinds of things like, "This never happens to me!" ,"How ever did someone pick me for this job?" ,"Who thought I could even do it?"

All my life up until the last 11 years I've been in a rut. You know 'a grave with and opening at each end.' Yep. My low self esteem and inability to be picked on a team let alone be chosen last changed.  Not long after I moved to Portland, OR I was asked to join the choir. Then asked, out of nowhere to lead the drama for our cantatas. ME. I have done them twice a year for 8 years then we scaled back to one and skipped this year. 
I was asked the first year I moved here to take over the Memorial Day Picnic Food/kitchen duties. That was a huge chore. FINDING and assigning volunteers for clean up of the kitchen after sitting empty all winter and spring. Posting lists for food sign-up and then getting volunteers to pick up the donated food and arranging it in the huge cooler by type. We then had more people needed to prep food and serve it.
After 6 years of that the restaurant was remodeled and set up for buffet style. I took the opportunity to hand it over to someone else. Someone younger.
I still cook breakfast every morning during our camp meeting for 14 days. Then work 8 hours during the week.  We make about 15-10 thousand (yes thousand!) meals in those two weeks three times a day.  Good home cooked meals.

During these 11 years on Wdc. I've been fortunate to have matured as an author and writer. I've been published and hoping to have another book ready to be published.
In the beginning it was recommended to me to take a reviewing class. I did and it helped me. I read all the reviews of my work to see what helped me grow as a reader and passed that same information on to others.  I'm please that people ask me to review their work. I don't sugar coat. I don't tell people their story is good if it needs work. I will tell them if they have a great plot idea. I will tell them if they want it to be great, what they will need to work on to make it great.  I may not like the subject matter, but that doesn't make it a bad plot.

Now I've been chose to be a moderator. I'm still not not totally sure what it all involves, but I'm up for the challenge. It will probably mean more time on Wdc but that's not a bad thing.  I'm still working on two books; one to get republished under my own name and one that needs a lot of work.

I'm signing in to share my news in hopes it encourages you to keep on writing, learning to make your stories better and to help others along the way.