Okay, I've been reading this thread for the past few days - just glancing at snippets really - and said I was totally going to keep my mouth shut and my opinions to myself... but, well... here I am.
I personally have to say that if it weren't for several of the oldie/icons here, that I might never have posted my first story.
I've "officially" been here since March, although I lurked here since January, and I still very much consider myself to be a "newbie"
. While I lurked, I watched, read, and observed... until I finally thought I might give it a shot.
But I knew there was no way I was going to post anything unbeta'd. I managed to plead my case with one of those people I would consider to be an 'icon' to beta my very first story. I had tried soliciting a beta without any success, and was getting downheartened. I liked this author's fics and thought she was a real sweetheart, so I begged her to read for me... and she did.
*cough*thankyounan*cough*
In the meantime, I also was blessed to pick Sue up as a beta reader (actually she saw my original plea and volunteered - poor thing
). Little did I know at the time just what I had inadvertently stumbled upon. Ahh, the joys of 'dumb luck'.
But anyway, back on subject. My first story was short, but the fdk I received on it - both from oldies and newbies - encouraged me to continue. Then with my next story, which was considerably longer, I actually got unsolicited comments from two of the "oldies" (thank you Labby and Pam) the comments were encouraging... but they also explained how busy they were and that they might not have time to follow the story.
I think that is where a lot of the problem lies - because of RL issues I would say that most of us don't have the kind of time it takes to follow every story that's being posted - even if we want to.
I know I sure don't. I'm beta reading for 4 different people, and I have two muses sitting on my shoulders vying for attention (writing and vidding). Between that and RL stuff going on, I find very little time to read. I try to catch the vignettes, because I know I have time for those, and every so often I start a multi-part story, if it intrigues me. That's nothing against any of the old or new authors out there. It's simply due to a lack of time. I don't look for stories based on whether the author is an oldie or newbie. I look for stories based on what the story is about. One longer story I happen to be following now is (I believe) a new author's first story posted on these boards. I took a chance on it and was hooked.
I do try to leave fdk when I can. If you've written a story (or more than one) and I haven't commented, or have yet to do so, I'm deeply apologetic. One day I'll run out of things to write or create and I'll have oodles of time to get caught up on everyone else's stuff.
But please don't ever stop writing or creating! That's what makes this place so wonderful. The diversity of creative works and the warm, friendly atmosphere.
I, for one, feel so fortunate to call this place "home" for my creative outlet. I couldn't have found a better fandom to have landed in and put down roots in.
Okay, I'm shutting up now...
-- MR
