Mibba Helped Me...A Lot.

At the risk of sounding entirely pretentious and whatnot, let me preface this by saying that this blog entry was not designed to boost my self-image or to boast about my own personal skills and make me sound better than I actually am. Because let’s be honest, as a broke second year history major, I don’t have a whole lot going for me, so I’m not exactly the type to put on a narcissistic front anyways. I just want to type this all out just for the sake of saying it, so, take this as you will, I guess.

Mibba has done several beneficial things for me in the time I’ve had an account. I almost came over to Mibba from Quizilla when that whole migration was going down, but I decided against it. I ended up abandoning my Quizilla profile soon after and the few terrible stories I had posted on there (and, just in case someone wishes to ask, no, I will not link you to my Quizilla profile. Six words: scene phase and twilight fan fiction). I was a kid, barely a teenager. I was definitely embarrassing, anyways. Back then I’d only just started writing. I had no idea what I was doing and my stories were like all the rest. Over the years, after I’d abandoned my writing profile on the internet, I kept writing and I didn’t really stop. Eventually I had an entire folder on my parent’s desktop computer filled with my stuff (no worries, they’re technologically inept so they had no idea how to access any of it—all they do is send emails and check the weather), and I began to think, well shit, what the hell am I going to do with all of this junk? Am I going to delete it? I mean, who did I even write it for? I’m the only one seeing any of it. Upon realizing how stupid it was that I had a dozen short stories and ideas rough drafted and saved to the hard drive of my parent’s computer, I decided that it was time to release my nonsense out into the one place that someone may just understand it: the internet. I’ve only really known Quizilla and Mibba as decent creative writing sites, and let’s be honest, Quizilla looks like shit these days and design is important to me in relation to my content. So I made a Mibba profile—it has to be over a year ago now, I think—and slowly started publishing things on it. Now that we’ve gotten the basic history out of the way, let me tell you the things Mibba has done for me since I joined the community.

After I’d had a few stories posted and gotten amazing feedback from people and a decent amount of subscribers for the type of stories I was writing, I gained a bit more confidence in myself. The feedback and the readers themselves were helping me see that maybe I was actually good at this writing thing. Maybe, just maybe, I actually had a little bit of talent in the area. Either that or they were just being nice. Regardless of anyone’s motives, it helped me decide that I wanted to post more and more and more, just to see what would happen. I started posting my Green Day fan fictions and that’s where things really started to take off. I was blown away by the reception of my first story; people actually liked it! The more stories I posted the more feedback I got and the more confidence I gained. Mibba helped me realize that I do have a skill in writing and that what I write can affect people’s emotions and I can weave characters out of words that people fall in love with and can relate to on some level. And to me, that is such a powerful form of magic. So powerful in fact, that I went a bit crazy with it and am now working on six stories at once. And I've realized that with every story I post, the better I get at this whole writing thing. In gaining the wonderful feedback and encouragement and thus continuing to post, I believe I have improved even from the first few stories I published on this site. So thank you, Mibba, for helping me realize what I can do and for creating a raving lunatic. What have you done?

Next, Mibba opened my eyes to the talent of others. There are some stories on here that have really hit me on a personal, emotional, and/or mental level. There are so many amazing, creative, talented people on this site, doing the same thing I am, and I am so pleased to be able to read what they have done and to offer my feedback and encouragement. Writing certainly isn’t for everyone, although some people seem to think it is, but those people who’ve got it, well, they’ve definitely got it. And it shows on this site very well. Also, in relation to that, allow me to take a moment to talk about the people I’ve met on this site. I have met some amazingly imaginative people who can write stunning stories and have hearts of gold. Normally I’m very hesitant when I talk to people, over the internet or in person, but I can honestly say I’ve made a few really good friends from this site that I am extremely thankful for. I won’t say anyone’s name, for you know who you are. I value all of you. This really is a community. It’s all about testing the waters and putting your stuff out there for people to see and welcoming the feedback and relationships that can be forged from that simple click of a mouse. If I ever end up publishing something in the future, which I hope to do, I’ll definitely have this site to thank for my ability to do so. Whether my book flops or flies, it’ll be out there because this site helped me see that I can do something like that in the first place. And I’ll be happy either way.

Well, that was really sentimental and it got a bit weird for a second but it’s over now. I just felt like saying thank you. Now that I’m done being sappy I’ll have to go spray paint a government building or something to regain my punk rock status. Anarchy! Stick it to the man! Fuck the politicians! Ha, I’m just kidding, I’m probably going to go rewatch One Tree Hill for the billionth time and cry…for the billionth time. Love you all.