BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Canadian Culture Being a BellaOnline Newbie Editor

Back in December of 2019, I received a note from Lisa that I had been accepted into the BellaOnline editor program. It was exciting as I had really given up on that part of my writing endeavor, and later Lisa explained all the challenges she has had to face and overcome in her work and personal life. Hence the delay. I hope everything in Lisa's life is fine; I'm confident she didn't need this COVID thing to add to her workload.

While working through the assignments, I often got frustrated. There was a tremendous amount about posting and contributing that I didn't understand. Yet, I muddled my way through. Whenever I was able to load and post an article or newsletter was a hallelujah moment. What didn't change throughout the process is that I love learning, and to some degree, struggling desperately, and most of all, writing.

Until I started with BellaOnline I dabbled in poetry, and my big passion, fiction. Writing articles was like Greek-speak to me.

The journey of a writer is long, tedious, frustrating, heartbreaking, depressing, and very solitary. But as a writer, there is no other option than to keep on. The voice residing in our soul won't let us quit. Giving up is never an option despite the rejections that will naturally come when we expose our creations to daylight.

Earlier this year, I had some great news. My novel, The Luck Man--An Act of Malice, was picked up by a New York publisher. I can't wait to see it on Amazon in March of 2021.

Besides having to edit my manuscript a thousand times, and a thousand more, I've also continued writing articles, short stories, and have just this past week set up a Wordpress webpage. Having a website is the next milestone for an author. Thanks to what I learned from BellaOnline, I was able to create a site that I hope will reach an audience. At least someday.

Thanks for reading my articles here, from the visit-count, I gather you all loved my M&M's cookie recipe the most.

Thanks to Mona, Deb, and Angie for commenting and lending me a hand. It is appreciated.

If you could visit me here, https://monikarmartynauthor.wordpress.com, I'd love for you to stop by.

Thanks

Congratulations, Monika! Although I have to admit your level of productivity is making the rest of us look bad :) Are you happy with Wordpress? I'm considering whether I should use Squarespace or Wordpress to host my own site.

WordPress is pretty easy to use. I have a blog but it is a free site. I have a domain name but I didn't use it. I'm a bit green on some things. I have heard of Squarespace.

Thanks for reaching out Angela.

Wordpress or Squarespace? I think I like the look of Squarespace, but they don't have a free program so I went with Wordpress. It's relatively easy to use, but it does take time to get set up, sometimes I find it's a little bit clunky/ and not user-friendly. But it is free. If I decide later to purchase an upgrade I can. As of Monday, I'm starting their course on how to optimize Wordpress, and then I should no more.

What's cool about using Wordpress is that I can use it as a picture hosting site, and then use the pictures on bellaonline.

Have a great day.

https://monikarmartynauthor.wordpress.com/

hi Angie

Glad there is another friendly face on Wordpress. If you want, send me the link to our blog. I'm a pretty pale shade of green myself but it's easy to experiment and play around.
Have a great day!