New Writer on Triond

Waking up for an earlier-than-usual shit this morning, and being consequently struck in the face by a wave of frustration about my job, prompted me to take 15 minutes to see if the Internet had and consolation to offer. 

As the cursor blinking in Firefox’s self-proclaimed ‘Awesome Bar’, a thought (one of the first of the morning) crawled its way into my mind:  What if I could make some extra money writing?  My fingers flirted with the keyboard before finally querying “How to make moneyw riting[sic]“.  I sifted through a couple of search results and stumbled upon the name of this site, Triond.  I read the author’s comments about the site and quickly coaxed myself into signing up.  

Then I got thrown right into the writing process.  I went from clicking the activation email to staring at a text box asking for the article title in 2 seconds flat.  At the very least I was expecting some suggested readings or assignments like back in highschool.   It was quite the “Shit just got real” moment.  This was more freedom then I’d bargained for.   At a bit of a loss, I started perusing the web, looking for inspiration.  I flooded my browser with new tabs, middle-clicking on any link that looked mildly helpful. I gleaned a few helpful tips from various websites, until the main message hacked it’s way into my drowsy head:  Write what you know.  

I hunted down my tab for Triond.com, and shot gunned my ideas into the description text box as fast as they surfaced (Not organized by priority in my life, mind you):  Martial Arts, Working Retail, Life, Love, Sex, Beater Cars, New Apartments, Moving Out, Video Games, Computers, Friendships, New Author. 

But then it was time to leave for work.  I grudgingly left the comfort of my computer chair and donned the glorious apparel of a fuel center attendant.  Off to make the world a better place.  

With the thought of writing (a passion since high school) vying for my attention the whole drive to work, I snatched at the first sheet of paper I could find, and started scribbling down sentences in my down time (much of this piece was broken up by “$20 on 5?  Have a nice day, sir”).  I decided I wanted to create a piece, or series of pieces detailing my experience of stepping into the world of writing online, something that would help me reflect on my strengths and weaknesses, achievements and mistakes; something I could look back on to see my own growth.  With a little luck, maybe another aspiring writer will find this in his or her tabbing frenzy, and glean some knowledge from it.  

My plan is to share as much as possible in the next article that I write: editorial corrections and comments, my own goals and visions.  With some sort of divine grace I might even have some numbers of views or revenue to share with interested readers.   Most of the information I have thus far about writing online has stemmed from my personal knowledge of writing, a couple How-To websites, and a fairly helpful FAQ.  As I further refine my writing, I hope I can find more helpful sources and provide links and shout outs to those I humbly find merit it.  

I’m very excited to have some sort of an outlet for my writing, with the possibility of even having someone read it! I was delighted to learn about the community on Triond.com, and look forward to establishing myself as a member.  I present this, my first piece, in the hopes it finds and audience, criticism, and as an introduction to readers and writers who can help me better myself and my writing.