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in the "for what it is worth" section, i doubt that anyone that reads the stories pays much attention to what we go through writing them. i appreciate your work, as you have supported mine. Thanks from the toad. P.S. I am averaging about 10,000 hits and about 2 positive e-mails and I have never seen my work reviewed. I like being able to just post a link to one of mine while chatting and i feel that is rewards enough. But i do feel your pain. and thanks for the 10 stories.

To give you a rambling comment about your quest for feedback, I'll just say a few words. It would be interesting if you really knew...but alas, very few authors ever really know how their stuff is read. Mainstream published authors can read their reviews, and they can check their income check to see how the sales are going. For the rest of us, we can look at our "hits" and be thankful the forum we post to at least records them for us to reveiw.

Some of my works generate zero feedback. Sometimes I think the story bombed, and occasionally, very very occasionally, I write something that hits a chord and generates a number of comments and letters. Those I suppose are what keep me writing, as getting the feedback can make you want to write more. But don't expect it. Write because you want to.

Like you, I too am thankful for every single letter, pro and con, and much of my writing has been shaped by the people that have written to tell me what worked, and what didn't. Paolo once wrote to me about my paragraph structure, and the result was a tremendous improvement in what I put out afterwards.

It's easy to get discouraged, and I can sense your frustration at the lack of responses you have received. If it helps, I have written a whole slew of stories (in another archive) around a different theme, and in fact my first writings are located elsewhere and there is no "hit counter" to even gage my work. Worse, the site they reside on is going away Jan 1st, and it occured to me that when it does it will be as if I never wrote them. I wonder if they were read, by anyone, and except for the very few comments and feedback that they generated over the years, perhaps I'll never know. Still, I do not regret them.

In short, be happy that your write, and look at your "hits" and realize that someone must enjoy them or the number wouldn't move upward. Many readers enjoy the quick read, taking the fast jerk if you will and enjoying the fantasy of the moment. But don't fool yourself. After its over then it's a fast mouseclick and they are on to other things. Ah...the joys of the internet.....

-Nathan