I know this is worth about as much as the paper it's not printed on, but I just finished reading every story in the Winter Anthology.

Yeah, yeah, I know, so what?

Well, I also went to each and every forum and entered a comment about what I liked about the story. I, also, sent a PM to one of the authors with some personal comments that I felt were inappropriate for the forum. (No, it wasn't something nasty. I liked the story and felt the writer could've done a better job. So, I made a few suggestions about improving future stories.)

This isn't about going around saying, "neener neener neener guess what I did?"

This is about being in a community of writers, readers, editors, and those other people who seem to do a very good job of making this thing work. I believe as a member of this community that it is my responsibility not only to write as damn well as I can, but also to read the other authors' work and entering a comment or sending a PM, as appropriate.

Now, I know this is the holiday season and no one is doing diddly squat on their PCs and laptops because there's all this shit going on that's way more interesting than hanging around GA, but all of that is going to be over soon. We'll welcome you back with open arms and we won't yell at you if you don't comment, but we'll love you if you do. That's what being a member of a community is all about.

Okay, I've jumped off the soap box and y'all can get back to doing what you do best.

(Oh, by the by, I find it interesting that it took me almost a year to do my first 100 posts, but only just over a month to do the next 100. This thing can be addicting, but most of you probably know that.)