After 26 years of living, I have finally discovered my niche - writing. What was once a skill I used to escape from the world, has now become a way for me to join the world.

Throughout my life, I have always shyed away from sharing my writing with others. To me, it was a personal outlet used to curb my emotions. I never imagined others could be inspired through my poetry and depiction of reality. A few years ago, while I was enduring a particularly difficult time in my life, I decided to set up a blog to help me cope. This blog gave a new breath to my online persona and opened a new life path for me.

My interest in technology alllowed me to meet some of the most interesting people, and with that, I gained a following on the internet. Those newfound friends helped me see the worth in my writing, and soon, I was writing for XDA-Developers - a tech forum with over 4.5 million users.

Unfortunately, I could not dedicate nearly enough time to writing for XDA as I liked, so I resigned after less than a year. Eventually, my time allowed me to pick up writing for a start-up tech site, Install or Not (ION).

Bewteen XDA and ION, I had a portfolio of writing selections available to pursue a professional writing career. Today, I am a reporter for the Chester Progressive newspaper in Plumas County.

Writing for the newspaper has given me a better understanding of what it means to be part of a community - and not just an online comminty. I have the privlage of being part of something bigger, and all because I reached outside my box and let go of my fears of not being good enough.