How I became a writer was as easy as a, b, c. When I decided I wanted to write, I went on-line and surfed 'writing website' on the Internet. I stumbled upon a writing site with an interesting name - Helium.com. Instructions were simple: read, write, rate. Being home alone while my son was in school, Helium.com presented itself as a wonderful companion. Nothing could be as entertaining as something online. Nothing beat the interactive website that Helium.com was.
I learnt much about writing through reading and modeling what established writers wrote, through my distance learning materials, and through Helium.com. I must say that the distance learning was the theoretical dry stuff that was important and helium.com was the practicum fun of it. Moreover, what could be more profitable than to be paid for working a hobby? It was something any novice writer could dream of and act on quickly.
Develop a critical mind. Rating at Helium.com helped me establish this skill which is very important to a writer. A writer needs to discern between good and poor writing. Rating at Helium.com does just that. Two articles written to the same title are placed side by side. Select how much better one article is than the other and click on the button just below it. Rating scores and stars are given to you. If your rating score is bad, you probably do not know how to select the better article in terms of content and language.
How did rating articles at Helium.com make me a writer, or a better one? Reading other people's articles helped hone my mind to recognize good and bad articles. The rating process also helped me learn about good and bad content as well as writing styles. I also learnt how a knowledge-based article can surpass any other mindlessly written one, and learnt to think better than I used to. A trade off to the time spent rating than on writing made me a better thinker, hence a better speaker, and ironically in the end, a better writer.
From the time I wrote my first articles till now, I have developed different styles of writing based on how my mind has matured. The leapfrog process at Helium.com enables me to replace a poorly written article with another better one. When I look at the articles I first wrote some years back, I cringe at them for I recognize the bad writer that I was. Not that I am far better now. But the rating, writing and leapfrog processes at Helium.com are educational in themselves, resulting in my ability to write better in the long run. I can not write with an empty mind.
Besides writing at Helium.com, I am also working towards a diploma in writing. I had a few weeks before joining Helium.com signed up on a long distance writing course. Long Ridge Writers Group provides me the mentor I need to hone my writing skills. Although my writing with her is as much as I have the time to do my course reading and writing assignments, she is more a buddy-mentor than an assessor. Besides her, I also have many writer-friends at Helium.com who offer me valuable feedback and advice to hone my writing ability.
If you are thinking of becoming a writer, think no further. Just click here and embark on a wonderful hobby-career. You have to love writing so much and endure temporary set-backs before you break into print that will give you fame and wealth.