Writing at Helium

Believe it or not, I have become a writer! I have always enjoyed communicating stories and found myself actually telling stories to people every chance I got. I always thought about writing, but was sort of shy about it because I struggle with the mechanics of writing. In College, I had to write in freshman English class. I found I loved the opportunity to express my creative side in telling a story, but I really struggled with the mechanics. My English teacher LOVED my writing and would always choose my stories to read to the class, BUT she would give me a split grade. I would get an A for creativity and content but an F for punctuation, grammar and spelling.

My teacher ended up giving me a D in freshman English, but I was required to make at least a C in that class to fill the requirement. I ended up having to take the class again the next semester. Same teacher new semester and this time she pulled me aside and said if you want to pass this class, I will help you any way I can to pull up the weak parts of your writing. She told me I had the creative parts mastered and that was really the hard part that could not be taught. She recognized I could not grasp some concepts of writing easily because I learn differently than most people. She broke down some basic sentences and showed me how to apply those in the correct situations. I took those few basic types of sentences and transformed my writing to the point I could get a C in the class and move on.

From time to time after that I would write certain things like sermons, experiences, funny stories, or wisdom I had gained and have someone else edit for me. I was always happy to share my thoughts but bothered by the fact the editing process sort of took away my ownership of the piece. When I got involved in beekeeping, I started writing my experiences and found my passion for beekeeping melded with my passion for sharing my more profound thoughts and experiences. I began writing on a yahoo list and people began responding with encouragement and the feedback was very positive. A few valued friends encouraged me to write more and to continue to pursue my writing because they really enjoyed reading what I wrote. It was flattering and encouraging, but my weak side kept reminding me of my weakness in writing mechanics.

Quite by accident, while snooping around on the Internet, I found a place called Helium. Helium is a writers workshop and I decided to write a piece on beekeeping. That piece rated very well against other articles on that topic. Before long, I was reading other writer's work as part of the requirement that I also rate articles. I saw some great writing and some terrible work that made me realize mine is not so bad after all. Feedback I received helped me to begin real improvement in my writing and before long I had written over 100 pieces. The neat part is your articles are actually found when people do Google searches and the more your article is read the more you are rewarded in payment. Yes, Helium actually pays you for your work based on a formula including how high your article is rated, how frequently the topic is searched, and how often your article is read. There are some alternate ways to get paid more for individual piece if it is selected for special publication. Don't get me wrong, I am not getting rich here, but I am earning a little payment while having an avenue of expression and means to improve my writing skills and confidence.

I was proud that Dr. Tarpy at NCSU had actually read one of my Helium articles, after doing a Google search on a topic, and he gave me some unexpected positive feedback. I later found that search he did brought my article up number one in the search and explained why I made more money for awhile after that article was written. I thank the people that encouraged me to expand my writing experience and encourage you to check out helium. Just contact me and I will be glad to send you an invitation link so you can begin to enjoy the experience with me.

Next, I plan on pursuing my interest in the verbal part of story telling while I continue to write a book of my life experiences and philosophies for my children so they will know who I really am and why I am that person. Helium has some of those pieces of the book while I continue to write.