Celebration Time...Come On!!! WOO HOO!

      Before I go any further, I want to take the time to say thank you.  Thank you to the people of Gather; the writers, the poets, the photographers, the artists, the reviewers, the readers, those who comment - everyone...except the losers who post Drive-By 1's (but thank you for the extra points).  I am celebrating my one month anniversary writing on Gather.  Thirty days ago, I posted my very first article and it's been an unbelievable time for me; absolutely awesome!!!

      My best friend, Scott, kept encouraging me to start writing.  He told me I was good at it and I had "talent".  I had written a couple little stories for him in the past which he liked.  I poo-poo'ed him off for quite a long time.  Please, spare me.  I don't have anything worthwhile to say...and even if I could thing of something; nobody cares.  Why would any of those people even want to hear what I think.  I'm nobody.  They don't know me from a bag of beans. 

      He finally broke me down and I thought I'd give it a shot; just to see what happens; which one of us would be right.  What do I have to lose?  (As he sits there now...once again...as always...saying, "I told you so!")  I made my debut writing on Gather in mid-February with a post entitled, "So What If You're Single On Valentine's Day".  There...are you happy?  I guess he was because he put word out to those he knew that his friend was new on Gather and had published an article and requested they take a look if they were so inclined. 

      I didn't pay much attention at first, but curiosity got the best of me.  I went to my homepage a little later on...just to check.  I had several comments and they were all favorable.  Some of those who had left approving words had rated my effort, too.  I had a perfect "10" rating.  What's this little icon up in the top right corner of my page?  Some of the people who had read my story wanted me to join their network.  Scott was the only one I had in mine; he was the only person I knew on Gather.  Okay, these people are just being nice because they knew Scott.  I checked back later in the day and others that didn't know him had visited my site to read my work and were requesting that I join them, too.  I ended up with 41 comments and an overall rating of "9.9".  Was this a fluke?

      Being skeptical like I am, I decided to write another article the next day.  More comments.  People were actually reading what I had to say.  I knew Scott was successful.  Maybe he's got  something here.  The day after that; another post...and another the day after that.  More comments, more good ratings, more people requesting that I join their networks; even groups asking me to join up with them.  Okay, I was hooked.  I found out I was getting points and learned I got even more if I read, commented on and rated other's posts.  I decided, since I was being notified when other people I had joined up with published a new item, that I would concentrate on them and respond.  I even had several create and post poems and stories about me.  What a huge honor!

      Things started growing by leaps and bounds and I began listing my goals; what I wanted to accomplish in my first month...to make Scott proud of me.  I only hoped I hadn't set my sights too high and could at least come close to them.

      Not to brag or blow my own horn, but TOOT TOOT!!!  I managed to meet and beat everything I had set out to accomplish.  I wanted to have 50 people in my network.  Right now, I have 191 of you wonderful people I can call my friends and collegues from 35 states and 14 countries from as far away as the other side of the world to as close as a couple gals living on lakes nerby to me less than one half hour away.  I was hoping to be in 10 groups.  I don't like to intrude where I might not be wanted and I don't go through the lists just signing up for whatever I see.  So far, I've been invited and have joined 71 groups.  I wanted to see if I could get 300 comments.  As of the end of the past day, I have 1,453.  If I pushed hard enough, I was going to try and get the points to qualify for a $10 gift card.  At the moment, I have more than what I need for a $50 card; 3,423...over five times what I was looking for; my largest haul was 355 points in one day.  And this is all in just my first month!

      I discovered the ranking categories about a week into my writing.  I wanted to see if I could break into the Top 100 on one of them at some point.  In the "Most Read" category, I'm currently pulling 5 - 5 - 5.  For the past 11 days, I've consistantly had enough views to be in the daily Top 10 "Most Read" being #5 when I signed in this morning.  For the past 9 days, I've been in the weekly Top 10 "Most Read", also at #5 today.  And for the past 9 days as well, in the monthly Top 10 "Most Read", here, I'm at #5, too with 777 views.  I've also broken into the monthly Top 20 "Most Discussed" category currently ranked at #14 with all those kind comments you people have given to me and my writing.  Again, all of these ratings in my first thirty days here at Gather. 

      I have recieved so many kind words from so many people, I wish I could name you all.  This has been such a rush; an eye-opening experience for me in the past month; far exceeding my wildest expectations.  I do have to thank Scott and all of you for having faith in me.  I hope I've made you smile.  I hope I've made you laugh.  I hope I've been able to help lift some of your spirits when you've felt down and blue.  And I hope maybe I've inspired and encouraged others, too.

      I just want all of you to know I'm not perfect...if you haven't figured that out by now.  But I will pledge to continue trying to do my best for you; the people of Gather; to make this experience we're all sharing one of the very best we can have.  With all the support you've given me, it's the least I can do in returning the favor for all of you!  So, what do you think?  Have I been doing a decent enough job so far?

      Okay, enough of all of that.  It's a special day today...Let's party!!!