My anniversary, and a farewell

Serafina1210

Literotica Guru
Joined
Mar 25, 2014
Posts
899
My first Lit story appeared a year ago today, and I'm minded to celebrate. Writing and posting stories here has been more than a pleasure: it has sustained me through a year of crisis and poor health.

Many writers on this site are more successful than I have been, but I've done fairly well. I've posted thirty-four pieces (not counting six I've pulled), and twenty-one of them have those sought-after red H's. I have three pieces on all-time toplists (I would have four if page one of the BDSM toplist weren't broken) and a good many more on twelve-month toplists. My stories have had over half a million views: though other writers have a much bigger readership, I'm happy with mine.

Nevertheless, I've decided to take an extended break from posting stories on Literotica. Let me count the reasons:

1.) Thirty-four stories in a year? What could I have been thinking? That's more than one every week and a half! It seems obsessive. I've got a demanding job and a life to be getting on with.

2.) Like a lot of authors here, I've been plagued by one or more vote trolls, and the problem (for me anyway) seems to be getting worse rather than better. My last two stories were bombed systematically by a person or persons seemingly determined to keep their scores below 4.5. Eventually the one-votes were swept, but not before the stories had cycled off their hubs into obscurity. I've tried to adopt the philosophical attitude that many here have towards this phenomenon, but I've largely failed. Much of the fun is gone--and where there's no fun, what's the point?

3.) Burn-out. My plots (it seems to me) have become predictable, my sex scenes repetitive, my themes trite. I love writing--but it's time to try a different kind of fiction--and maybe find out if anyone out there is willing to pay for it. While a couple of ideas are incubating, I've got a "respectable" (and royalty-paying) translation project on my desk, screaming to be finished.

There are lots of good souls on the AH, and I thank them for their kindness over the past year, though I believe it'll be a good thing for my sanity not to hang out here for a while. I'm grateful to Laurel and Manu, too, for running such a great site and letting me post stories on it.

To end, here's my own selection of my most notable Lit stories:

Best (as storytelling): Olivia and Owen (Incest/Taboo)

Worst (and most vilified by readers): Bad Husband (Loving Wives)

Happiest (and highest rated by readers): Kitten and the Wolf (BDSM)

Funniest (and rhetorically most over-the-top): Amy Says Yes (Fetish)

Filthiest (and theologically most heterodox--read at your own risk): God and the Cum Dump (Fetish)

Most views (and filthy and funny and vilified): Diary of a Faithful Wife (Loving Wives)

Signing off. Bye, everyone! :rose:
 
Diary of a Faithful Wife was one of the first stories I read when I came back to Lit to post my own story, and I thought then it was a great piece of writing, very funny and very nicely done.

Of course, I didn't read the comments, and unlike now I wasn't aware that there was some sort of cabal of oddball commentators in that section who trash stories that don't fit their own sense of marality. So going back to it through your link gave it a completely different aspect, and made it even more enjoyable. Well done, and I hope you enjoy your hiatus.
 
... and just when I arrived! Drat! ;)

Of course its' always good to get a break from time to time, especially if a site starts swallowing your life. I've been catching up on and enjoying your stories and hope you do come back to write more at some time. Take care!
 
I thought the satire of Diary was absolutely hilarious, and the comments constituted their own freak show - a twofer!

Your first and third reasons are great reasons for a break. Your second - well, it's yours, but why give a flying fuck? You already know you're an A student, you can play with your creativity in whatever way you see fit and let the trolls stew in their own pile of dogshit. Top lists don't make a story great; the writing does.

Enjoy your break; hope to see you again in some guise. Best wishes!

My first Lit story appeared a year ago today, and I'm minded to celebrate. Writing and posting stories here has been more than a pleasure: it has sustained me through a year of crisis and poor health.

Many writers on this site are more successful than I have been, but I've done fairly well. I've posted thirty-four pieces (not counting six I've pulled), and twenty-one of them have those sought-after red H's. I have three pieces on all-time toplists (I would have four if page one of the BDSM toplist weren't broken) and a good many more on twelve-month toplists. My stories have had over half a million views: though other writers have a much bigger readership, I'm happy with mine.

Nevertheless, I've decided to take an extended break from posting stories on Literotica. Let me count the reasons:

1.) Thirty-four stories in a year? What could I have been thinking? That's more than one every week and a half! It seems obsessive. I've got a demanding job and a life to be getting on with.

2.) Like a lot of authors here, I've been plagued by one or more vote trolls, and the problem (for me anyway) seems to be getting worse rather than better. My last two stories were bombed systematically by a person or persons seemingly determined to keep their scores below 4.5. Eventually the one-votes were swept, but not before the stories had cycled off their hubs into obscurity. I've tried to adopt the philosophical attitude that many here have towards this phenomenon, but I've largely failed. Much of the fun is gone--and where there's no fun, what's the point?

3.) Burn-out. My plots (it seems to me) have become predictable, my sex scenes repetitive, my themes trite. I love writing--but it's time to try a different kind of fiction--and maybe find out if anyone out there is willing to pay for it. While a couple of ideas are incubating, I've got a "respectable" (and royalty-paying) translation project on my desk, screaming to be finished.

There are lots of good souls on the AH, and I thank them for their kindness over the past year, though I believe it'll be a good thing for my sanity not to hang out here for a while. I'm grateful to Laurel and Manu, too, for running such a great site and letting me post stories on it.

To end, here's my own selection of my most notable Lit stories:

Best (as storytelling): Olivia and Owen (Incest/Taboo)

Worst (and most vilified by readers): Bad Husband (Loving Wives)

Happiest (and highest rated by readers): Kitten and the Wolf (BDSM)

Funniest (and rhetorically most over-the-top): Amy Says Yes (Fetish)

Filthiest (and theologically most heterodox--read at your own risk): God and the Cum Dump (Fetish)

Most views (and filthy and funny and vilified): Diary of a Faithful Wife (Loving Wives)

Signing off. Bye, everyone! :rose:
 
the only advice that I can offer you is the motto of the working press: "Non Illegitemi carborundom."
 
Thanks for contributing your stories here and whenever you get the urge to write and post one in the future, by all means do so.
 
Good luck and don't forget that you can always come back and start again, or just drop a comment on the AH.
 
My first Lit story appeared a year ago today, and I'm minded to celebrate. Writing and posting stories here has been more than a pleasure: it has sustained me through a year of crisis and poor health.

Many writers on this site are more successful than I have been, but I've done fairly well. I've posted thirty-four pieces (not counting six I've pulled), and twenty-one of them have those sought-after red H's. I have three pieces on all-time toplists (I would have four if page one of the BDSM toplist weren't broken) and a good many more on twelve-month toplists. My stories have had over half a million views: though other writers have a much bigger readership, I'm happy with mine.

Nevertheless, I've decided to take an extended break from posting stories on Literotica. Let me count the reasons:

1.) Thirty-four stories in a year? What could I have been thinking? That's more than one every week and a half! It seems obsessive. I've got a demanding job and a life to be getting on with.

2.) Like a lot of authors here, I've been plagued by one or more vote trolls, and the problem (for me anyway) seems to be getting worse rather than better. My last two stories were bombed systematically by a person or persons seemingly determined to keep their scores below 4.5. Eventually the one-votes were swept, but not before the stories had cycled off their hubs into obscurity. I've tried to adopt the philosophical attitude that many here have towards this phenomenon, but I've largely failed. Much of the fun is gone--and where there's no fun, what's the point?

3.) Burn-out. My plots (it seems to me) have become predictable, my sex scenes repetitive, my themes trite. I love writing--but it's time to try a different kind of fiction--and maybe find out if anyone out there is willing to pay for it. While a couple of ideas are incubating, I've got a "respectable" (and royalty-paying) translation project on my desk, screaming to be finished.

There are lots of good souls on the AH, and I thank them for their kindness over the past year, though I believe it'll be a good thing for my sanity not to hang out here for a while. I'm grateful to Laurel and Manu, too, for running such a great site and letting me post stories on it.

To end, here's my own selection of my most notable Lit stories:

Best (as storytelling): Olivia and Owen (Incest/Taboo)

Worst (and most vilified by readers): Bad Husband (Loving Wives)

Happiest (and highest rated by readers): Kitten and the Wolf (BDSM)

Funniest (and rhetorically most over-the-top): Amy Says Yes (Fetish)

Filthiest (and theologically most heterodox--read at your own risk): God and the Cum Dump (Fetish)

Most views (and filthy and funny and vilified): Diary of a Faithful Wife (Loving Wives)

Signing off. Bye, everyone! :rose:

I've been writing since I was 9-years-old. Only back then, not having experienced much of life, I didn't have anything to write about, other than to write poems.

Then, after working at jobs that I hated because they paid well enough for me to support myself, I looked at myself in the mirror. I wasn't happy. I was miserable. I wasn't doing what I loved to do. I had stopped writing to work. Too tired to write, working turned off my creativity.

An easy decision for me to make with the recession putting me out of work in 2007 along with millions of others, I decided to write, just write, even if I didn't earn a dime from writing, at least I'd be happy. The savings that I had and the unemployment that I collected for 102 weeks, the longest in the history of unemployment, allowed me to support myself while writing.

My point is, listen to your heart. If you love to write, whether you're a real pro or a hack like me, continue to do what you love to do. Just write. As long as you're happy, everything else will fall in place.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you. It was a pleasure for me to read some of your stories.
 
Taking a break

All writers need to take a break from time to time to recharge their batteries. Readers for the most part have no idea what it takes to create a story from scratch. Having gone to college, being forced to write one to two papers per course, sometimes more I know what it takes from start to finish to write a paper. With a story the author has to deal with not only plot development but character development. After the author finishes the rough draft comes Proofreading, more Proofreading and more Proofreading. Between Proofreading sessions comes the fine tuning of the story which may have to be done more than once before the author has a finished product. Next the story goes to an editor who takes a red pencil and a critical eye to the story, then back for rewrite, then back to the editor then hopefully it is finally ready for submission. Who would not need a break after going through all this.

Although I have not read any of your stories, I most likely will now as some of them appear to appeal to me. Since you are such a prolific writer plus you appear to put out quality work it would be sad should you give up writing. Take care and please keep writing.
 
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