Ebensburg octogenarian pens Chapter 4 of 'Your Story'

Kelly Urban, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Dec. 17—EBENSBURG, Pa. — Charlie Moyer believes The Tribune-Democrat's "Your Story" is an opportunity to show off his creative side.

"I get caught up in it, and you really have nothing to lose," the Ebensburg resident said. "It catches your eye, and I enjoy doing it. You can write whatever you want for the story to get people to read it."

Moyer is a regular contributor to the competition and has had a few chapters picked as winners in recent years.

"I'm very pleased and happy to be chosen," he said. "I'm 80 years old, so it's a pretty good feeling to accomplish something like this and be selected."

With one chapter left, he said, his objective was to start to bring the story to its conclusion.

"I think all the writers are on the same track," Moyer said.

"We realize what's going on, and it's Christmas, so you want a happy ending and you want Jenny to get home for Christmas. You're not sure how we're going to swing it, but there has to be a happy ending where they live happily ever after. The last writer has to wrap it all up nicely, but the story is narrowed down now."

He said he's looking forward to seeing what the final author does for Chapter 5.

"I have some ideas, but I want to see how that person gets to that happy conclusion that's nice," Moyer said.

He said he typically gives himself a few days to work on a chapter, but a busy schedule only allowed him one day to get his thoughts together for Chapter 4.

"I wrote the chapter in two or three hours at the most," Moyer said. "Once I got started, the ideas just kept rolling around in my head. I tweaked it a little bit and changed a couple sentences around before I sent it in."

He said that giving newspaper readers a chance to participate in "Your Story" is a great idea.

"It stirs your interest, and it's something fun to see what we can do," Moyer said. "We're not professional writers, but we like to dabble in this. Even if you're not picked, you can put your thoughts down on paper and submit it, so it's a good opportunity."