Is it okay to say that I - discreetly - wiped a little tear while reading this comment? I guess it is. After all, we're all friends here, and that's not something easy to find, even online, let alone real world. I am actually overwhelmed by how nice the community is here, at GA, and what awesome people I found here, with you in particular on top of the list of the most generous in comments, reactions, and all that.
When I started to get an idea about how much I would love to write, I read Mario Vargas Llosa's Letters to a Young Novelist, and one particular thing he said struck me as true for me (I think I've talked about this thing in the forums here, as well, at some point). And that is that, when you write, you should write like you would for a particular reader. Not an imaginary one, but someone whose opinions matters. And while that was true for me from the first time I wrote something and made it public - and I encountered people who liked my work - nowadays, I find myself more often than not, as I put the tips of my fingers on the keyboard, wondering: How will people on GA react to this? What would my dear godmom say?
I value everyone who takes the time to read my stories, even if they choose to be silent, and never tell me a word. It's nice to look at numbers and see that 1,000 people read the story, or the chapter. That's a huge number today when there are so many distractions and things that demand people's time. But when I read reactions from readers, that really makes my day. That gives me that reward, and also that special, unique feeling, that I'm not alone in caring for these characters, or this storyline, or this plot twist. I think it's about finding yourself in others, even if it's only through an imaginary tale.
So, to finally end this response, your words really mean a lot to me. To tell me that you think of me, as a person, not just as an author, in these terms, is, as young people say these days, everything (or liiiiit, as Carter would certainly hurry to tell me after going through some social media posts and drawing his conclusions).
I love responding to comments. I love all the reactions.
And I'm really grateful for finding this website and the people here.
An amazing 2019 and many after (without number) to you as well,
All the best and the love,
Laura.