Day 14
In your own space, write a love letter. Write it Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist. Share you love and squee as loud as you want to. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
Dear Fan Friends -
It is rare for me to take the time to tell all of you how much you mean to me, and I am remiss at having done so. Your words, your encouragement, your steadfast support have made my writing better and my days joyful. It's not that you're always telling me sweetness and light, it's that you are willing to say "Job well done" when the story is good and "Job could have been better" when it is not. It is that honesty that I treasure most of all.
So I have to be quite blunt. I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU with whom I communicate with on an almost-daily basis.
I looked at my past before I had joined LJ and the Tolkien fandom and realized how much of a wasteland it had become. Other groups I had belonged to had splintered apart, many rejoining sporadically on Facebook, but others lost in the maelstrom. Although I still had and have friends from my previous artistic endeavors, they had never assisted me in the manner that my friends of the written word have. The honesty and ability to critique simply wasn't there, or wasn't exercised.
I value each and every one of you because you are not afraid to tell me that a piece I have written is a bunch of fluff or crap. And even better, you are often moved to tell me how you think it could be improved, and that's the most valuable thing of all. Do I always take your advise? No. But I always learn from it and try and take those lessons into the next story or event. Sometimes I have to bring a critique into my fingers from my brain, or look up other examples to really understand the concept I am being taught, and that can take a few days. But please be assured that I read the commentary carefully and try to learn from each and every comment, positive or negative.
So this is an odd sort of love letter, yet from the heart nonetheless. If you see yourself reflected in my words, know that you are cherished whether or not we are still in touch.
- Erulisse (one L)