A Whole New World...

I remember the first time I decided to be brave and make a comment. I was terrified.

I’d been lurking for quite a while. I watched the various discussions in the forum and couldn’t imagine actually jumping into a conversation.

I chose not to jump into the deep end to begin but to touch my toe into the water.

As if it were yesterday, I still remember the terror of the first time I hit post. My hands were sweating, and my breathing and heart rate were fast. A part of me laughs. It was online. No one really knew who I was or anything about me, except Ladyhawk. I’d even gone so far to protect myself by putting my location as Bag End.

What were they going to do?

I was in.

The wait was horrible, waiting for someone to respond to my comment on someone else’s post.

At first, every time I would post I would agonize over someone answering me. I was only commenting on posts by others. Some where musings. Some were fanfiction. There was also the Prancing Pony where a lot of silliness went on.

I read some amazing fanfiction (fans writing stories using characters from the original work).

Then came the day I created my own post. I no longer remember what it was about. It might have been the fan fiction I’d started. I don’t know. I identified with Frodo on many levels, and started exploring the story Through Frodo’s Eyes, or how I saw it. It was eye opening. It was fun unearthing my old creative writing skills. The next thing I knew, I had a little following of readers waiting for the next installment.

The story needed a home of its own, for me. I didn’t think anyone else considered it worth saving. I also didn’t believe it was worth saving alone, so I asked a couple of other fanfiction writers if I could include them on my website. They agreed. I was flattered. I had an outlet for all my emotional outpourings. I was safe within this little world I’d created.