Since setting up my profile on Lit. I've received a lot of emails asking me why I, for the most part, don't read or respond to comments on my stories. I will attempt to explain. Writing is my livelihood. Its been a few years now but I still remember when I had my first novel published. I was so excited I read every review, be it by a reader on Amazon and the like, or by a reviewer. The journey was, needless to say, a rollercoaster ride. One commenter would wax lyrical and I'd be floating around on air, the next would be scathing and I'd be devastated, doubting my abilities. Over the course of a few months I noticed that often the very thing one person loved was the very same thing someone else loathed. Something else I noticed was that whether I was ecstatic over the review of down in the dumps it interfered with my writing. Both distracted. Even the MEH-I'm-not-moved-one-way-or-the-other reviews were distracting as they too made me feel like a failure. So after that first novel I promised myself to not read comments and reviews anymore. I firmly believe they are of more use to a potential reader or for debate among those that have read the story. For me, I sweat and stress over each and every story. I tweak and rewrite umpteen times (just ask Van1!!!) trying to perfect it so that once the story is posted/published it is the best I could do at the time. Hopefully I learn and get better with each one. At the end of the day, once its posted/published I can't change it anymore so it is more productive to move on and commence the next. I hope that better explains my motivations regarding responding to comments here. I do, however, reply to emails and am happy to answer any questions a reader may have. As far as Lit goes I also sometimes co-author with my partner in life and love, Vandemonium1, under the name SemperAmare. We also have a blog. | 
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