What got you writing online?

[Leanne]

For me, writing poetry online has been something beyond life-changing. I don't even remember what spurred me to submit a poem to Poetry.com a million years ago (ok, it was 2003) and I certainly didn't fall for their "your poem has been selected for publication in our anthology, now buy the book" scam... but I did join up to their sister site, the workshop poets.com (affectionately referred to as "the blue screen of death"). There, amidst all the arse-kissers, bible bashers and just plain tossers, I met several incredible people and learned more about poetry than any of my uni professors could ever have dreamed.

I remain in contact with many of those people today (one of them I even imported from Scotland and haven't been able to get rid of him for seven years); they're friends, mentors, confidantes and sources of inspiration. I've collected a few more from various other workshops over the years. I love the intense interaction the internet allows without the need for physical proximity -- despite all the bad press, relationships over the internet can be incredibly honest and fulfilling. That's a large part of why I like it here at the Pig Pen so much -- interaction is encouraged (some might say demanded ) and there are members here who are genuinely interested in poetry in all its incarnations.

That's a little bit of my story -- what about yours?