# Hello! New Writer



## Omnitech (Mar 11, 2019)

Hello everyone, 

I Suppose I will start with the basics. I am 35 years old, married with a 15 year old daughter and I work as a technician in clinical research. I am an avid reader (when I can) and have always wanted to try my hand at writing. For the last 20 years this has been mostly thinking about story ideas never pulling the trigger to sit down and give writing a try. Last year that changed when I started going to college part time using the GI bill and I was able to write short stories for a two of my assignments. Although writing them was a struggle I realized I enjoyed it very much and it was somewhat of a stress relief. Long story short, I thought I will do some more writing. Forums have been immensely helpful for my other hobbies so I did a fast search and WF seemed like a great community. 

I look forward to reading, learning, and interacting with everyone!


----------



## Amnesiac (Mar 12, 2019)

Hello to a brother veteran. Welcome! Man, the only way to get better at this is to just DO IT!  Write, write, and write more! Submit, let your stuff be critiqued, (you already have the hide of a rhino, from your years in the military), and then re-write and keep going! 

What branch of the military? What was your MOS? I was Army, 87-93, 91A combat medic, then 91B, NCO medic, did a few years with the 82nd, and a few years on Hueys and Blackhawks doing medevac. Panama, Desert Storm, etc. etc.  

Welcome!


----------



## SueC (Mar 12, 2019)

Hey Omni! So glad you found us. It sounds like you will fit right in here. We have a lot of writers - all sort of stories, techniques and skills. What kind of writing do you like the best? Be sure and check out the writing discussion and give your two cents. We are always excited to hear from new folks - and welcome!


----------



## Gumby (Mar 12, 2019)

Welcome to the site! You will find a lot of helpful people here.


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 12, 2019)

Welcome aboard! Cruz around, take a look at what's been posted by others, share your thoughts and reactions. In short, jump in feet first and go. The water's just right.


----------



## Omnitech (Mar 12, 2019)

Amnesiac said:


> Hello to a brother veteran. Welcome! Man, the only way to get better at this is to just DO IT!  Write, write, and write more! Submit, let your stuff be critiqued, (you already have the hide of a rhino, from your years in the military), and then re-write and keep going!
> 
> What branch of the military? What was your MOS? I was Army, 87-93, 91A combat medic, then 91B, NCO medic, did a few years with the 82nd, and a few years on Hueys and Blackhawks doing medevac. Panama, Desert Storm, etc. etc.
> 
> Welcome!



Thanks for the welcome! Always good to come across fellow veterans, although my resume isn't nearly as impressive as yours. I was Air Force 4N1 Surgical technician. Finished my six years, closest thing to a deployment I had was humanitarian missions in Alaska and being stranded on Guam for 3 weeks lol. Now I am GS as a surgical/vet technician for the D.O.D in a training/research facility. I am lucky enough to be able to work with a lot of 68W's (which I believe is the new MOS for 91A), 18D's and 62B's as well as AF PJ's, always a pleasure to work with army medics!



> Hey Omni! So glad you found us. It sounds like you will fit right in here. We have a lot of writers - all sort of stories, techniques and skills. What kind of writing do you like the best? Be sure and check out the writing discussion and give your two cents. We are always excited to hear from new folks - and welcome!



Hello Sue! I am glad I found this forum, so far it is very informative. I was lurking around for a couple weeks before signing up. As for my writing, I have only written two short stories for my English Comp class and unfortunately those were accidentally deleted. I did enjoy writing them so I am going to take the plunge with some short stories here soon. So far I am spending lots of time reading through the forum for tips and advice but I should take the plunge soon. 



> Welcome to the site! You will find a lot of helpful people here.



Thanks Gumby! I already have found many even before I signed up, I am enjoying it so far. 



> Welcome aboard! Cruz around, take a look at what's been posted by others, share your thoughts and reactions. In short, jump in feet first and go. The water's just right.



Cruise control is set, need to work on the jumping in head first haha. I might plan too much.


----------



## Ralph Rotten (Mar 12, 2019)

Omni:
Luv your avatar! But it needs more Charlize Theron in it. 

You were in the air force?  I thought you said you were in the military?
(kidding of course.)

Welcome to the forum Dood!


----------



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 12, 2019)

Don't forget the posting game section, we have a lot of fun in there. The banned thread is the only place where members get to ban the staff. It gets creative. 

I've been here, off and on, for a few years now and still haven't explored the entire site. What I have discovered is a great source of support, encouragement, and camaraderie. There's a great crew here, and that'll keep you coming back.


----------



## gene (Mar 13, 2019)

Hi just joined also and I am looking forward to reading what you have written.


----------



## H.Brown (Mar 13, 2019)

Hello and welcome Omni I hope that you are enjoying wf so far, seems like you have already had 
the welcome wagon rolled out so I will keep it brief, have you had a look at the monthly run Literary Maneuvers challenge? It can be a fun way to try writing short stories based around a prompt, I have found it to be both a fun way to write short pieces of writing and very informative on how I can improve my own writing. I look forward to seeing you around the fiction forums and if you need any help please do not hesitate to ask.


----------



## Amnesiac (Mar 13, 2019)

That's awesome! I graduated college, last September, after an 18-month course to be a surgical tech. I worked at it for three months, but the little hospital at which I was employed was bought out by a larger hospital, and being the low man on the totem pole, I was one of the first that was replaced by the new staff. Meh... No biggie. I still have my associates of science degree, and I'm able to pursue writing full-time, now.

(I forgot that the 91 series MOS were reclassed as 68W. I don't know why, though... Speaking of 18D: I was in the course and hurt my knee in a jump. They gave me the choice to be assigned "according to the needs of the Army," or there was a slot as a flight medic with the 78th Aviation Battalion on Camp Zama, Japan. Obviously, I chose the latter! ;-)

Again, always good to meet a fellow veteran. HOOAH!


----------



## Omnitech (Mar 13, 2019)

Ralph Rotten said:


> Omni:
> Luv your avatar! But it needs more Charlize Theron in it.
> 
> You were in the air force?  I thought you said you were in the military?
> ...



Hell yeah! Wonder Woman has nothing on Furiosa! haha!



> Don't forget the posting game section, we have a lot of fun in there. The banned thread is the only place where members get to ban the staff. It gets creative.
> 
> I've been here, off and on, for a few years now and still haven't explored the entire site. What I have discovered is a great source of support, encouragement, and camaraderie. There's a great crew here, and that'll keep you coming back.



I will definitely check that out, this forum is huge! I am still exploring everything but I hope to get all my projects done early this weekend so I can start really diving into it and do some writing.  



> Hello and welcome Omni I hope that you are enjoying wf so far, seems like you have already had
> the welcome wagon rolled out so I will keep it brief, have you had a look at the monthly run Literary Maneuvers challenge? It can be a fun way to try writing short stories based around a prompt, I have found it to be both a fun way to write short pieces of writing and very informative on how I can improve my own writing. I look forward to seeing you around the fiction forums and if you need any help please do not hesitate to ask. :smile:



That sounds like a fun and helpful challenge. Thinking of what to write about is difficult to me so this might be _write _up my alley haha... sorry that was terrible lol.


----------



## Omnitech (Mar 13, 2019)

Amnesiac said:


> That's awesome! I graduated college, last September, after an 18-month course to be a surgical tech. I worked at it for three months, but the little hospital at which I was employed was bought out by a larger hospital, and being the low man on the totem pole, I was one of the first that was replaced by the new staff. Meh... No biggie. I still have my associates of science degree, and I'm able to pursue writing full-time, now.
> 
> (I forgot that the 91 series MOS were reclassed as 68W. I don't know why, though... Speaking of 18D: I was in the course and hurt my knee in a jump. They gave me the choice to be assigned "according to the needs of the Army," or there was a slot as a flight medic with the 78th Aviation Battalion on Camp Zama, Japan. Obviously, I chose the latter! ;-)
> 
> Again, always good to meet a fellow veteran. HOOAH!




Sorry to hear about the lay off, seems to happy to often in this field unfortunately, especially at the smaller hospitals. Carrying a call pager can be a good way to make some extra dough and hospitals often hire people just for that. I do it every once in a while to keep up my trauma and ortho skills up. 

Lets see... be assigned to any random post at any random MOS or... FLY AROUND THE PACIFIC! You chose wisely lol. Scrubs couldn't be flight medics in the air force so I volunteered as a load team augmentee for large deployments. I got to at least make some quick flights a couple times a year in a C-17 to feel like regular AF lol.


----------



## Amnesiac (Mar 15, 2019)

That's awesome... Worked with some AF para-rescue operators. Good dudes... I got a lot of great training in the 18D course. I wouldn't want to go through it ever again, but it was good. I still ended up working with a lot of SF. I'd either jump with them, work the drop zone as the DZ medic, or if 1st Group was having a training event, my unit was usually pretty good about releasing me to attend.


----------

