Today, after two years of thinking about it {procrastinating}, and after having put a request in five days ago {with great reluctance}, a place where I, as an aspiring author, called home for six years {my account} has disappeared into the ether. It was the first free online site I was a member of {and the first of three}, and now it's over.I have to say, I'm a little sad. I've had that account since August 2007, and I've posted most of the stories you see here, there, where readers and well-meaning critics helped hone my skills. A few even helped me polish up my stories where it was seriously needed. They've been invaluable to me and I'll never forget them.
Alas, in the past two years, those sites have become less and less attractive to me as an author. Many fellow authors and friends I've made over the years had seen the light long before me, and they have all left years ago.
I was much slower. I wanted to stay on. I wanted to keep trying. But alas, I came to the same conclusion as they; it was time to fold, it was time to move on. That fact that I discovered that my stories were being hijacked by another free online site in another country and published without my permission was kind of the last push I needed to call it quits on free online sites. I wasn't even given credit for them. I'll need to check if they've taken them down per my request.
Anyway...
It has been a wonderful trip, but I'm moving on. I hope those who have been with me all this time, will move on with me on this blog, my author web site, twitter, facebook, and on my YouTube channel, or at least understand why I made this decision. Thank you for making these past years so incredibly fun and enlightening..
Sometimes you outgrow your old home. Now you can interact with people and communities that foster and encourage your growth. Don't think of it as a goodbye but a new beginning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chin up, No Labels. And you're right, of course. Nothing stays the same. We all evolve.
ReplyDeleteI just get a little nostalgic, remembering all those late nights and wee hours in the morning when I laughed and cried while writing, trying to get those stories on those sites as quickly as I could because I was swept up by the enthusiasm of the readers who kept e-mailing me, asking me to please post the next segment. Or how I couldn't wait to rush to my e-mail inbox to see what they thought of the segment I'd posted.
I miss them. They've moved on and I guess I felt it's time I move on, too.
you are invited to follow my blog
ReplyDeleteBest of luck for your professional career as an erotica author.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read your stories when you were member on that site but in the thread Which is the best incest story that you have read? Your name was recommended by another very good author in that genre. If you don't mind please give me name of members whose work you liked but they left that site before you?
Thanks