Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Not Feb 2019, but I wanted to say hi, soo....

Hey! It's Indigo! 

I doubt anyone remembers me at this point. I joined in July 2014 (ish?) and formally left the CB about a year or two ago, I think, though I'd been very iffy about actually posting/commenting for a while even before that. 

I changed and matured a lot during my time as a CBer. I joined as a ten year old whippersnapper who didn't understand grammar nearly as well as I thought I did, and left changed, I think, for the better. The CB allowed me to meet and befriend people who, although I might not talk to them now as much as I used to, have helped me grow. 

I've heard it said that if you want to get better at writing, what you really need to do is just write, and keep on writing. It was in the positive enviroment of the CB that I found a safe space to write up character after character, to try out different styles, to try making up worlds and plots. And it was the CB that gave me the friends who introduced me to and supported me through Nanowrimo. 

I haven't been writing as much original work as I used to, most of it is fanfiction. For the first time in a couple years, I even skipped November Nanowrimo. However, I am planning on doing Camp, and I was prepping for Camp (and procrasinating on homework haha) I realized that without the communities that have shaped me, I wouldn't have been able to get so far. It's easy to let dreams be just that, and never force them to grow in something more concrete, but through Nanowrimo, I've written more than 150,000 words of original work. (eeee that's actually really incredible when i think about it... and its probably even more since i didn't count Camp.) 

The friends I made in the CB also helped me through some other more personal issues. When I was bullied by school "friends", it was my CB friends who persuaded me to let go of that toxic group, even if it meant I was lonely for a short time. The CB community has taught me to be creative, ambitious, self-confident, and willing to take the unusual route if that's the best way to go. 

Anyway, I know all that is kind of ramble-y. I guess I just wanted to agknowledge how much the CB has shaped me. To all of you CBers currently- keep being creative. (If you're a writer and don't already know about Nanowrimo, check it out. April Camp starts in three days, so I doubt you'd want to go for April Camp, but you could always do June. If you already have a camp and want to send me a message, my username is lucy_blue. I don't generally check it, but I'll be on a lot for April Camp, so I'll probably respond quickly in April at least.) 

Keep supporting your friends, and being supported in return. Keep on dreaming, but don't let those dreams be only dreams. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, everyone! *bows out*