Usually folks wait until New Years Eve to look back upon the previous year, but for me Thanksgiving is the spur for reflection. And why is that? Because one year ago I joined Literotica, and one year ago I submitted my first story. And I decided to take a second and look back at my Year In Lit.
I posted a couple stories right after I joined and was thrilled to see them in "print". And thrilled to see that people were reading them, and voting on them, and sending me e-mails about how much they liked them.
I remember coming home the night before Thanksgiving, typically a huge drinking night and one in which I happily participated, and then checking my e-mail to find 8 messages waiting. I sent a mass e-mail back thanking each person for their note, and then I woke up at 4AM in a panic because I was afraid that I hadn't "BCC"'d each mailer, meaning they would all see each other's addresses. Folks might not want other people to know they visit a porn (sorry, erotica!) site. But my fears were unfounded--even in my drunken state I'd done the prudent thing.
That was last November. Now it's, uh, this November. I'm very hard on myself about my work habits, I don't think I write as much as I should. But then I looked at what I actually posted this year, and I was amazed. I posted 24 stories this year. These stories totalled 114,323 words. That's the equivelent of two 225-page novels. That surprised me. You do a little bit of work every day, just keep plugging and chugging away, and it adds up.
What stunned me even more was the number of people who read my stories. I guess Lit started keeping track in March of times each story was read (I think that's it), and in that time my stories were read nearly 180,000 times. That's just incredible. It almost defies belief. What a wonderful place for writers with dirty minds to find readers with forbidden itches they need to scratch.
Those 180,000 readers voted on my stories 3889 times. They sent me over 350 e-mails, 95% of which were from folks who liked my stories and stroked my ego into a contented purr. I got emails from readers in Greece, Mexico, Australia, and Yugoslavia. Many of my stories are about older women seducing younger men, and I got three messages from ladies who sent pictures asking if I wanted to make my stories come true. The pictures, alas, were obviously lifted from adult sites, but it's the thought that counts.
About the only nasty e-mails I got came after I started moderating the Story Discussion Circle, a bright idea me and Weird Harold came up with and is now operating under the able oversight of Mickie. I guess everyone gets trolls eventually, and I ended up in some very entertaining pissing matches with a couple of thumbdick assholes.
I got too busy to keep up with posting there consistently, one of the regrets I have from the year past. Another is taking nearly a year to post the 6 chapters of a series I did, I kept getting e-mails from loyal readers asking "Hey Jerkoff, where's the next one?". But all in all, it's been a great year, and I'd like to thank Laurel and Manu for coming up with this great idea and then (the hard part) make it better and better every day.
If you're a frustrated writer, if you're staring at a blank page right now and it seems like you'll never get the words on the paper, take heart. If a lazy slob like me can do this much work in a year, so can you. From the tiny acorn does the mighty oak spring. Take a deep breath. Take your time. Get to work.
I posted a couple stories right after I joined and was thrilled to see them in "print". And thrilled to see that people were reading them, and voting on them, and sending me e-mails about how much they liked them.
I remember coming home the night before Thanksgiving, typically a huge drinking night and one in which I happily participated, and then checking my e-mail to find 8 messages waiting. I sent a mass e-mail back thanking each person for their note, and then I woke up at 4AM in a panic because I was afraid that I hadn't "BCC"'d each mailer, meaning they would all see each other's addresses. Folks might not want other people to know they visit a porn (sorry, erotica!) site. But my fears were unfounded--even in my drunken state I'd done the prudent thing.
That was last November. Now it's, uh, this November. I'm very hard on myself about my work habits, I don't think I write as much as I should. But then I looked at what I actually posted this year, and I was amazed. I posted 24 stories this year. These stories totalled 114,323 words. That's the equivelent of two 225-page novels. That surprised me. You do a little bit of work every day, just keep plugging and chugging away, and it adds up.
What stunned me even more was the number of people who read my stories. I guess Lit started keeping track in March of times each story was read (I think that's it), and in that time my stories were read nearly 180,000 times. That's just incredible. It almost defies belief. What a wonderful place for writers with dirty minds to find readers with forbidden itches they need to scratch.
Those 180,000 readers voted on my stories 3889 times. They sent me over 350 e-mails, 95% of which were from folks who liked my stories and stroked my ego into a contented purr. I got emails from readers in Greece, Mexico, Australia, and Yugoslavia. Many of my stories are about older women seducing younger men, and I got three messages from ladies who sent pictures asking if I wanted to make my stories come true. The pictures, alas, were obviously lifted from adult sites, but it's the thought that counts.
About the only nasty e-mails I got came after I started moderating the Story Discussion Circle, a bright idea me and Weird Harold came up with and is now operating under the able oversight of Mickie. I guess everyone gets trolls eventually, and I ended up in some very entertaining pissing matches with a couple of thumbdick assholes.
I got too busy to keep up with posting there consistently, one of the regrets I have from the year past. Another is taking nearly a year to post the 6 chapters of a series I did, I kept getting e-mails from loyal readers asking "Hey Jerkoff, where's the next one?". But all in all, it's been a great year, and I'd like to thank Laurel and Manu for coming up with this great idea and then (the hard part) make it better and better every day.
If you're a frustrated writer, if you're staring at a blank page right now and it seems like you'll never get the words on the paper, take heart. If a lazy slob like me can do this much work in a year, so can you. From the tiny acorn does the mighty oak spring. Take a deep breath. Take your time. Get to work.
