A Better Way to Beat Boredom

"I’m bored."

"You mean you’re bored or you’re just boring?"

"Very funny. I mean I’m bored. There’s nothin’ to do."

"That’s impossible with all the gadgets you’ve got."

"I just can’t get interested in all that old stuff anymore. It’s boring."

"I know a site on the computer that’s got something new every second of the day."

"Really?"

"You like to read, don’t you?"

"Yeah…"

"I’ve been on it over a year now, and I haven’t been bored yet. In fact, I can hardly wait to log on."

"You have to log on? That means money…which I don’t have any of."

"You don’t need any. You can sign up for free, look around, try it out and see how you like it."

"Okay. You got my interest. What’s it about."

"Don’t you keep a journal?"

"How do you know that? You been goin’ through my stuff?"

"Course not. But I’ve seen you off to yourself, writing in a little book. That’s what this site’s about…reading and writing."

"Sounds boring."

"It’s not. There are loads of members, all writing new stuff in all genres all the time. There are all kinds of groups to join. Best of all, there’s games and contests and actual people who look at your stuff and tell you what they think. Sometimes they even give you awards."

"Uh…I don’t think anybody would want to read what I write. I don’t even know if I’d want anybody to read it."

"Well, there are restrictions you can set to keep people from reading it if you want to. But the first time you get feedback on something you wrote, you won’t want to keep it a secret. It’s a feeling like no other. You can even write a story with other people. Believe me, you will make friends. You can have a blog, you can add images to your stories, you can take surveys and polls, just about anything you can think of."

"And it’s free?"

"Sure, the basic membership is free. Lots of people on the site have that and are perfectly satisfied. You can do just about everything with a basic membership. But another good thing is the gift points. Every time you review somebody or win a contest, you get them. Some people give them to read their stories. And they add up. You can even get an upgraded membership with gift points."

"No kidding! Suppose I have trouble doing things…like trouble writing or entering a contest?"

"There’s help for that…a support site. Plus, there are special groups to join for newbies…that’s what they call people like you. There are plenty of new people joining every day. And people, who review your work, will offer suggestions to improve it. And there are classes you can enroll in on the site."

"Okay. You got me interested. What’s the site called?"

"Writing Dot Com."


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