Newsletter Issue #1

Hello and Welcome to my newsletter. I thought if I introduced myself first, that it would be polite and probably easier for you to understand why i'm using this newsletter.

I'm a 16 year old girl who lives in Britain. Since a young age I used to love writing - especially poetry. My spelling and grammar weren't of a high standard when I was younger. I was far behind everyone else in the class. It's only when I left my secondary school in year 8 (Approx 12/13 years of age) due to bullying issues that I begun to read. It was an extreme comfort to me and as well as a comfort it also served purpose in improving my spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Although there is only 6 people in my class, I am still of a high standard. I took my mocks recently and was one mark off an A. I know I could do better as I can feel that I could... Just practise makes perfect, after all.

I've always had a slightly disturbed life. You will find this out with the poetry, stories and prose that I will post in later issues. However, I use this to inspire me not to destroy me. This is something not many people can do, so i've got to be proud of myself for that. Here are some questions i'm sure that you would like answered, so I will do so for you:

Do you have any disabilities/mental issues?Yes I do. The reason why i'm at the school I am in at the moment is because i'm visually impaired. My visual difficulty is called Optic Nerve Hypoplasia which is the undeveloped optic nerve. Or should I say, optic nerves. These are the string like parts at the back of the eye that control distance and accuracy in your visual field. I do have them, but they don't work all that well or I don't have enough of them. I also suffer occasionally with bouts of depression (but you can probably gather from my poetry/stories this). I also have issues that nobody really can address (disturbed mind) and I have some OCD tendencies.

Do you write from experience, knowledge or interest?A bit of all of them really. But I like writing from my own experience. It tends to mean more to the reader when the writer knows what they're talking about, plus it gets ride of negative or positive vibes i'm holding within myself whilst writing the piece. I do like writing however about things that either

• Facinate me
• Scare me
• Anger me
• Humour me

This means plenty of things of course!!!

What genres do you like to write in?I love to write poetry about lots of different things. I do not believe that poetry has genres... I would more call them 'themes'. Something that an idea starts at. For example, if I took love for example, I could think "Hm, I don't want to write the basic love poem. I want to write about a taboo love, that eventually turns out beautiful." This is just from one topic... Love. With writing stories however, I can list my favourite genres to write in. I will only write in certain genres and no others. These are the genres I will write in:

• Adventure/Action
• Crime
• Erotica
• General Fiction
• Horror
• Non Fiction
• Romance
• Thriller/Other Fear enduced genres
• True Stories (in my own worse/with a twist)

I tend to go for dark stuff, as one can see. This is just the way I write. If you wish me to write you a story/poem about something in particular, just let me know.

How do I contact you to ask a question or to request a story/poem?It's easy!!! You can either post in here (which is the long way, but maybe the safest way) or you can email me on spikiesvamp2005@hotmail.com. I will return messages A.S.A.P. I'm at school during the week so if you don't get a reply straight away it's because i'm at school. So please be patient.

What ratings are your poetry/stories?Well, they tend to vary. Some of my poems, for example, are about nature... This is basically a topic anyone can read about. Another topic based for children is my poem called 'Santa's Came and Gone'. This is a sweet little poem about a little girl talking about wanting Santa to come back. It's also got a comical twist at the end. However, not all of my pieces are advisable to be read by those under 16. In this newsletter, I will mention the genre and the rating. If you are under 16 I am trusting you to not read the stuff for the over 16s. At the end of the day, your only disturbing yourselves and only you to blame. I hold no blame for what you view, it is your choice if you read.

Can I submit some of my work?Indeed, you can. Just use the same process as above to contact me and I will have it posted within 2 weeks. Easy as that! All you have to do is incluide the following information:

• Your first and last name
• Your email address
• What inspired you to write this piece (optional)
• Do you want to be known by your name. If not, what do you want to be known as (i.e Annonymous, KittyKatKlan etc).
• Any other details you would like the newsletter to know.

Do I have to enter stories/poems or can I enter something else?Poems and stories are the main aim of this newsletter. However, other forms of writing are accepted. These are as follows:

• Advice
• Articles on books/films/music
• Book Reviews
• Columns
• Essays
• Health/ Beauty / Diet
• Humour
• Money Matters
• Reviews (Music, TV etc)
• Sex Related Issues
• Writing tips/advice
• Young Writers Writing (For those 12 and under)

I am proud to accept all these forms of writing! I am easy going with most forms and am interested in the public viewpoint.

Newsletter Guidelines

1. Agreeing to being part of this mailing list means that you agree that you will not take ANY copright of those who post their works on this site. I am not responsible for your behaviour but I can certainly put a complaint in. Respect peoples rights to claim there work.
2. Violence/Sexual Nature/Cursing is allowed. I will allow writes to say, 'Drugs are good'. But if you say it as yourself, out of the poem/story I WILL knock you out of this group. Do not influence people into bad behaviour. If written in an advice column/article with such as, "Drugs are good. Try them." I will knock you off automatically. This is not what advice is about.
3. Do feel free to express your past in this newsletter. You can tell us how you got off drugs, or how you were abused... It helps to share things with the rest of the world. But please don't give out last names of the abusers/dealers. Such as, "It's terrible. John Korner from Newport was so cruel to me." They may be criminals, but you have no right to stop their privacy.
4. You have the right to remain anonymous if you so wish.
5. To stay in this newletter group I wish you not to put down any other authors writing. If I see that you do, I will take you off the mailing list. Active criticism is OK and if the author does not want to complain, you will stay on. So be warned this will not be tolerated.
6. Although sexual talk is allow, even rape or graphical situations, pornography is NOT allowed to be shown. This will be deleted and you will be off the mailing list for 3 months. If this happens again, a fine may be taken.
7. This is for fun for all authors... So don't come in here to brag how many ??2000 contests you won... that's not what we're here for.
8. HAVE FUN!!! This is an open place for people to get to know eachother.

If you have any worries or concerns, just email me on spikiesvamp2005@hotmail.com and if you would love to get to know more about me personally, check out my homepage at http://ximonlymex.tripod.com/. It's pretty cool.

This first newsletter is coming to a close, i'm afraid. But any questions you wish me to answer in the next issue should be sent to me. I am finally going to give you an example of one of my poems. This poem is called anger. I hope that you like it.

Anger

The overwhelming desire to kill another rushing through your brain
Redemption, temptation all over again.
Need of revenge, hate of a friend
Need to degrade, need to defend
Your violence inside builds
You are killing inside like you want to kill
You hate them, they hate you
Violence takes over you.
A knife, a gun, anything'll do
To persue your torture, to kill you...
Never again, you'll not feel that pain
You've felt it to many times
You hate the world for what it put you through
now it's your time to shine
A gun, a knife, a hammer,
an axe, a kettle a spammer
Anything that can cause harm you will use
You'll do to them what they done to you
Anger.
That's what it is, running through your vains.
Your hate your angst your need to torture
Furthermore controls you.
You are angry and you will do what you have to do
to lose the feeling of being helpless, lose the feeling of being mocked
You are not the one who done wrong... They done it to you!

Thank you for checking this out! All the best,

Stefanie