January 4th, 2009 I published my first blog ever on Open Salon. Hyblaen-Julie, Verbal Remedy and buckeyedoc were the first 3 writers to leave me a comment, all positive.  Sandra Stevens, Karin Rego, latethink, Umbrellakinesis & MB also commented and they are all still here at O.S.

I started out with a dog avatar and didn't change it to my real picture for 6 months.  I worried about stalkers or spammers.

The immediate gratification of the rating system along with the comments is absolutely addicting. A few times I have faltered, once when I got an EP and the editors left it up all weekend and I got 131 comments, a lot of them negative. I almost left. But then I said, no. I will write for one year and at that time I'll decide if I stay or go.

A lot of people have left. When I look at those 131 comments now, most of those people don't write here anymore. It truly is like an ocean tide, ebbing and flowing with writers and commenters, people coming, people going, some staying longer than others.

Writing for Open Salon gave me my Writers Voice back. For this, I am forever grateful.

I love O.S. for the writing opportunity, the ability to sharpen my skills, to articulate my thoughts and to write passionately about what is important to me. I love reading other bloggers and I am an avid commenter as well: I read, I rate, I comment. Because of my personality, I avoided flame wars and vitriolic arguments between bloggers. I have several bloggers who loathe me which I don't take personally because they don't know me at all. And I have a large handful of bloggers here whom I consider virtual mentors, whose writing and ideas I enjoy and follow and discuss at length with them. Thank you to all of you who have helped me in my writing and encouraged me on my subjects. This has been one of the most creative years of my life due to Open Salon and the venue it gives to us all.

I made the commitment to not use the following words in my Titles: Open Salon [today is the first time]; Breast, Penis, Gay, Ass, any variation on cock or cunt in order to sneakily garner lots of viewers. I wanted to see if I could get viewers the old fashioned way. I could.

I received some EP's in the last 12 months. Imagine my surprise! That got my competitive spirit up and running again.

Of course O.S. has its' downside: there's group and self-censorship to garner approval, there is a group-think that sometimes defies the "open" in Open Salon. But if you're strong and articulate, sincere and friendly, you can make your way through that maze. O.S. is a kind of petri dish of the world at large.

I recently had to apologize to a blogging colleague for being cranky & bitter. O.S. keeps me honest. Sometimes on O.S. my hair stands on end and my heart beats fast and you'd never know this is a virtual world of writers and bloggers: it feels so real! [I know, I know. It is.]

You know, people used to rate a lot more a year ago when they liked your piece; now it's like pulling teeth to get readers to rate you. Please gentle readers, rate if you like a post!

So Open Salon, here's to you! You're a mistress and a friend. A muse and a heartbreaker. I love you, I hate you. I keep coming back to you.

Peace out.