P & Q & Time Goes By

In her reply to her Birthday post, Jane said; "Today I turned 30, which means I’ve been on PnQ for nearly half of my life. I joined around age 16."

It actually gave me goosebumps! I'm also now 27 and I 1st joined this site in 2006 and came back again in 2007 ..almost 12 years! It's really a very weird feeling. I was a teenager and so was Jane and so were many others who have been here for the past decade. A decade! I remember the site was much more active with clubs and activities that although it's not dead now, but I feel like it's somewhat abandoned if I compare it to the past. However, we stick around!

How did you join P and Q ? Since how long? What keeps you around ? For me, someone who used to suck at commitments in the past, there is some magic that attached me to this place and everything related to it, I could be on an abroad trip and still think about P & Q !

Tell us your story!

I was 16 or 17 when i found the site my sophomore year. I turned 29 last month. I haven't been active in all that time but semi recent events brought me back to writing, and ultimately back to the site that I had loved so much back in those days.

I'm a bit of a newbie both to writing poetry and to P&Q. I was always too busy with my career to think about writing poetry but due to ill health I found myself spending more and more time in bed. I started regularly writing a charity newsletter to keep my brain active and in one of the editions I needed to fill a space so wrote a poem. It went down very well so wrote a second.

I realised I liked writing poetry so searched the net, looked at several sites then discovered P&Q in February 2016. For me initially it seemed to have a better quality of poems and seemed much easier to navigate than the other sites. Once joined I found it to be much more than that. A community bursting to the seams with creativity and really great people.

I was immediately made to feel welcome and quickly became part of the community. Since then it has become an integral part of my life, reading, commenting, writing as much as I am able. Reading so many different styles of poetry each week I have become passionate about styles of poetry I'd never even heard of prior to joining. P&Q is definitely a community that makes newbies feel welcome and encourages the growth of poetic skills. I for one have been inspired to push my boundaries and write more regularly especially with the competitions. This is a remarkable and unique place where you always feel like your have returned home. Milly x

I joined the site when I was 14, a freshman in high school. Back then I was really big on Shakespearean sonnets and rhyme schemes. So naturally I fell in love with Ben Pickard and his writing. (I think Jane has also been a favorite of mine since day one as well!) The site disappeared for a year or two and during that time I fell off the earth myself. I always came back to writing though no matter what I went through or how much I lost hope. Words were always my thing. Two years ago I went through the most brutally beautiful and eyeopening breakup to date; with my best friend of 8 or 9 years. I was so lost in emotion and depression I didn't know what to do. And so, like many times before, I started writing again. But this time I found me. My own style of transposing empty thoughts onto a blank space. The truest expression of me and who I am. I just turned 27 last month. 13 years I've dedicated to this site. And yes it might pale in comparison to what it used to be, but the people are still amazing and beautiful. Ive never met any one of you and yet I feel closer to you than most people in my life. In fact, Ive been friends with some of you for longer than the past decade i spent disowned by my family. So in a way, the P & Q community is my family <3

This is my second account, I have been lurking about this site for about 6 years on this account. My previous account also says 6 years, which probably is the date I deleted it. (long story- lots of poems lost forever)

My first time round I was extremely active, but I think the site was as a whole.
I found a read/request post where I offered to crit 24 poems if you read and comment my 12.
(Where did I get that spare time from?)

I first came across Pnq when I was looking for somewhere to post a few poems, I tried a few sites and Pnq was the most welcoming and most active at that time.
When I first joined the forums were a scary place, somewhere where you easily start an argument. I think the site has mellowed and so have a lot of the longer term members, (I know I certainly have when reading back some of my older forum posts.)

PnQ is a unique site, the owner has ditched us all, yet we all keep it going. It is outdated, it looks crap, you can't do much on it. But it is a special place.
It is like we are all members of a video shop that is still trying to make it today hiring out VHS tapes, when everybody else is streaming. Yet us band of mules are still rallying around each other, hiring these VHS's keeping this monument afloat.
Hopefully for many years to come.

I think your analogy is perfectly fitting<3

Darren, I always thought vinyl sounded better than mp3 anyway; there's a more human quality to it somehow...
Not quite the VHS reference but you know what I mean.

I joined when I was 15. You, Rania, were the first member to talk to me, I guess. :)
I haven't been writing or posting on here lately, but I still check in every day because PnQ is an unerasable part of my life.
I owe everything I know about poetry or English to members of PnQ. Jane, Larry, abby, Rania, Abed, Rabea... so many names to count. They all helped me stay strong through really difficult times, and I won't ever forget that. Shit, I teared up just typing that. Love you all, PnQers.

A decade feels like a long time, but in many ways it has flown by. I joined in 2008, but have been writing poems for quite some time before that. Soon after joining it dawned on me I had lots to learn. People were friendly and keen to help the newbie I was. I felt like a small fish in a big pool. The choice of clubs were vast and there really was something for every taste.
What's happened? Edit* It is as simple as this: the site has not been built and adapted * by someone who really values it's members. What we have left is core members who keep the Pnq heart smoldering. I feel like I'm part of an ever decreasing family. I love our family no matter what. Thank you all for being you and there for one another.
*raises a sparkling glass*
"Here's to another decade"

What a fabulous post...
Well seems I am 30 myself in February (aaaahhhhhh) I too have been here half of my life infact over half of it as I joined back when I was going through a traumatic bullying experience -in and out of high school- and needed a place to write down what I felt back then my shoddy work, I kind of got into a bad relationship with a guy much older than me of which I now know was trying to groom me because he knew I was vulnerable with being bullied etc anyways after some online research I found this place and I read a few pieces, one of which made me well up because it was from someone who has since left who was going through the exact same thing with bullying as I was and getting speaking to her made me stick around. I've lost a few profiles along the way and lots of work but that's a small sacrifice I was willing to take because I'm still here... I did leave for a few years some years ago because of a relationship I was in where I was controlled and he monitored everything I did so I feared I couldn't come here or he'd take that from me too but then when I found courage to leave him, I found myself brave enough to come back even though I was on the brink and since I've had a blip where I left to travel then came back and I'm very glad I did. Personally for me this site saved my life on 2 occasions so I have a tie with it of there makes sense plus the majority of people here are friendly and I've made some lovely friendships with wonderful people too :)

*raises coffee mug* close but no cigar Mr D haha

No-one knows me here anymore, but I once ruled these ancient halls. Or, rather, they ruled me.

I will always love this place. I formed and cemented and changed and destroyed many thoughts and beliefs and relationships here.

I always enjoyed the poetry of the discussion boards more than those actually submitted as poems. But, oh, how civilised it all seems now.

12 years. I'll keep logging back in.

Since 2003.so many forgotten accounts or closed ones.

I love all of you so much. My family even knows how much PnQ means to me. They'll occasionally ask "how's PnQ doing?" lol.

My best friend who lived just down the street actually introduced me to this site when I was 12 years old. At that time, we were just teenagers who loved Twilight and writing poems about nature and secret loves. For quite a few years, I would have these fun challenges or prompts, mostly writing fictional poems. To be honest, I didn't really realize how much PnQ meant to me until I started being honest in my poetry. Talking about my struggle with depression and mental health. The first poem where I was truly honest with myself was written for my college poetry class and I read aloud in front of my classmates. It was a metaphor but also signified my battle with suicidal thoughts. Poetry became my release and way to actually cope with my emotions, instead of just bottling them up. To this day, I can't write a poem without being 100% honest and having it be based on something that's affected me. Seeing other poets write of their heartbreak, loss, grief, joys... well, it's humbling and a beautiful thing that we can all go through this journey together and help lift each other up.

2004 for me <3

14 years for me.... I adore this old site..

I love all of you, adore each and every member I read and talk to.

Abby I have never chatted with you but I am a huge fan of your poetry, I love reading every poem you post. I remember when you bounced all around the message boards and you made me giggle out loud MANY TIMES... just wanted to share that with you. So many of you were kids and messaging me with advice and wow... a all grown up... I have met only 2 members from this site and one member (Angie) we see each other as much as we can, I just met her for lunch in April when I went to ks for my daughters surgery.

I have so many friends on here that support me and have helped me a great deal. I have enjoyed watching people grow in their talent of writing and I have had members challenge me to new writing styles.

I cant express how much I love this site and how I truly would be lost without it and when I have left a few times... I always new I would come back.. because in my heart this is the best place to post my poetry and to enjoy what I love doing, to write.

2007 for me I think or 2006. So 11 years or so for me. I have left this site so many times due to health issues, but as andrea stated, this was and is a second home to me, no matter how many times I have left I always come back, because this site has become a part of me. I have learned so much poetry here and i always love seeing people form their own style of poetry. I owe so much to this site poetry wise. I have learned how to comment on here as well. So I will always be grateful for this site and the people I have met.

Long time. I guess 12 years. I found while searching for love quotes. Later on I started them writing too. Then after 5 years few members said that I should write poems too. That's how I become a poet. Clubs were the best part of the site back those days. I talked with so many members but Karla was the only one I interacted the most (by the way today's her birthday too.)

Then I quit for a break. This is the second inning and I feel that pnq members are becoming more and more generous at welcoming new and old members. Brenda, em, Mel,ben, micheal... and all the other beautiful members. Thank you so much for your time and showering so much love.

Much love for pnq family.

So, who were you before ya---na?

I was going through a midlife crisis, yet so many things were new to me. I had just self published a book and becoming a well known author was one of my many fantasies. Some young poet asked me come into the forums on the topic "who here believes in god" and the rest is history

Michael :) you are really missed. At least this thread caught your attention and we heard from you!

Thank you Sunshine :)

Yes Michael, I have missed you!

I joined in 2008 just to put my poetry somewhere online. I never came to the forums until 2011 when a sparkling young lady told me to join a poetry contest (thanks Sunshine).

I have been active in other online communities, most notably a Gaelic reconstruction site, but never felt as vested as here. I know much has been said about the heyday of PnQ, but I feel that focusing on the past risks the loss of the present experience.

Although I wonder if anything can top Abby’s amazing club-contest. Or the forms contest Hellon & I ran. Or Baby Rainbow’s prompt contests: so many they nearly became institutionalized.

This thread needs to be pinned IMO.. I didn't expect so much sentiments and so many years! I love that with all our differences, we still agreed on the charm of P & Q.

<3

Although I wonder if anything can top Abby’s amazing club-contest. Or the forms contest Hellon & I ran. Or Baby Rainbow’s prompt contests: so many they nearly became institutionalized.

^^^

haha..they were the days Larry...very unforgettable moments for me and a lot of other members..moments I still cherish :)

A Gaelic reconstruction site? What is that all about I must ask.

Clannada.org was a site started by people who became friends over time. I helped write some timeline articles. (http://www.clannada.org/time_61ce.html).

Many in the org were so immersed in the culture that they sought to live strictly according to Brehon laws & 12th century practices. I just could not get that committed. We did camp a lot as a group.

Many in the org were so immersed in the culture that they sought to live strictly according to Brehon laws & 12th century practices.

^^^

I'm not sure how that could have worked in today's society...did it? Interesting nonetheless...thank you for sharing.

Special mention should go to Colm for his inter club contest. A brilliant contest run more recently.

I vaguely remember that one...not sure if I participated, probably wasn't a club member then but I know we were sometimes allowed to band together as a non-members club....anyway...hats off to all members who have taken on these contests over the years...we all appreciate the time and effort it takes to make it a success...

On 18th of Oct, it was my first pnq birthday. I enjoyed every bit of the time.

I am happy that I got the chance to become a part of pnq community where emotions turn into poems and people into friends.

Love you all!
Naaz

Love hearing from everyone and yes, Baby Rainbow's (Saffie) challenges and prompts were the best. She had PAGES of them!