Learning How to Swim Again
Hello All You Beautiful People!
I'm not real sure if this is the correct place to post this, but after browsing the forums for hours and being unable to find a better place, I'm taking my chances.
I got my start in role play and in fact in the realm of online networking (with people!) on a message board based cooperative writing role play forum connected to a sprite-based MMORPG called Ultima Online. The game itself didn't really do much for me except tickle my exploration funny bone, but the cooperative writing really lit the fire in my veins! I discovered that I not only had a desire to to set scenes and tell stories with others and even had a flair for it, but I had MUSES! My characters had their own voices, emotions and actions that often took my breath away and left me reeling! To this day I look back over things I wrote and scarcely remember writing them, as if I was not the mind behind the keys (oh yes, I kept them!). As time went on and the years flew by, I discovered that new muses would introduce themselves and demand to be made into characters. Sadly, many of them had no outlet as I raised children, held jobs, refocused my priorities, dealt with near crippling health issues, and fought to hold a failing marriage together. I have continued to play tabletop rpg's over the years and spent time in various PC MMO's, but nothing has inspired me as much as pouring forth all that creativity into the written word and watching it eddy, splash, ebb and flow with the creativity of others.
And now for the hard part, at the end of June my marriage ended and I discovered I put so much into my family and my husband that I found myself without very many friends and without a support network. Disabled and unemployed to boot, I'm looking at a great deal of time alone and depressed. So the first two thoughts I had (beyond how am I going to live and how can I make sure to see my babies every day?) were I need to throw myself into something creatively and I need to make some friends online (I'm not good at social media).
So I find myself here. Anxious about learning how to swim again. Worried because this is not the type of pool I'm used to, and hoping I'll remember the strokes. That said, is there anywhere that some of you chat? In or Out of Character? I know not all of you are into being social beyond the games, but I'm a bit anxious and I find it much easier to climb in when I can identify that at least a few people aren't decoys for the zombie sharks.