So, I am kind of a mess of a human being—mostly I don't mind, really. I wear my depression and anxiety on my sleeve, because if talking about my shit helps normalize it for someone else so they can get help, then I've changed the world for good. I still try to keep bits and bobs of my online identity separate, though, 'cuz really, the bit of me that leaves encouraging notes on vaguely salacious fan-art on tumblr, or reads and comments on not-vaguely-at-all salacious fanfic isn't a bit of me I like to wave in front of my boss, or people I have to be a Professional Human in front of, usually. Online Identities are HARD!
But, really, I'm (almost) forty, I'm rapidly approaching a total "fuck it" attitude in life, and really, if you have tracked me down that far, then meh. Judge as ye will, I suppose. I have a block button and know how to use it.
I'm not a hugely skilled writer, myself, I don't even really dabble the way I do with art, now and then—proportions are almost as hard as online identities! but in this anxiety-muddled world where focusing on a novel-sized story is fucking impossible, the little bits of stories and worlds that people write and post are just the right kind of brain candy, so I have been reading a lot, and I found myself wanting to give back a bit to the communities of writers who have been feeding me little bits of comfort-food in story form.
I found my first opportunity a while ago, when I clicked on a story with an interesting premise that was just starting to get going, and noted it could use some copy-editing, and touch-ups. This has happened before, but the etiquette of offering help without being rude mostly escapes me. In this case, though, people before me had been surprisingly rude in the comments, already, so I kind of felt I couldn't do any worse, and offered to help do some editing and idea-bouncing. That was four months ago, give or take, and the author written a full-sized novels worth of fiction that I've edited! Seventy eight thousand words, last time I checked! We hit the dialog in the image above, today, in google docs, and I have to admit, I'm kind of unimpressed with the concept that there's a hard cap on the number of comments, even if they've been resolved.
I adopted a second writer just these last couple weeks, off of twitter, a friend of a friend, and It's a whole different experience. They both have different skills and weaknesses, different ways of communication, different writing levels, and goals. But with each one, I'm really enjoying helping an artist create. I feel like it's feeding into the same kind of endorphins I get from a good RPG session, being creative together in ways I'm just not capable of being, alone.
All of which today, I had a good afternoon fixing em-dashes and ellipses, today! Also, four-month ago me wouldn't have been able to tell you which dash was an em-dash, how to spell or type them, or how they are used. Now I can do all those things! Thanks, people who write up grammar rules on websites!!
