It seems there is some discussion about commenting by readers and such going on, and without dipping my toes into the general fray, I thought it was an opportune moment for me to state my own policy when it comes to comments. (This is in no way meant as a judgment on the current hoopla, it's just on my mind at the moment. These are MY policies and I don't extend them to anyone else):

1) Don't feel like you need to comment on anything I write. I love love love getting comments of course, but I am a lame commenter at best with other people's work so I apply the golden rule here. And I always think of published authors out there, of all the books I've read and adored in my life, and the fact that I've never once in my life written a letter of thanks or praise to any published author. And then I feel damn lucky that some of y'all talk to me when you like my shit.

2) I am crap at answering comments. I used to be zealous about this but I totally burned myself out trying to answer comments on some longer WIPs (we'll save that discussion for another post) and at the time I posted a "flail" entry saying "Will you all forgive me if I suck and don't answer each of you every time?" and the prevailing sentiment was "Yes of course" so I gave up on answering each and every comment. That being said, the other thing that makes me crap at this is that I so often disappear from LJ for months at a time and I feel incredibly stupid answering people's comments literally YEARS after they're made. So I have long lists of comments I will never ever answer.

3) But I'm trying to do better! I'm getting back into the habit of answering comments and I will do my bestest to keep up from here on out. But in case I fall into the land of crappy comment-answering again, here's my general word of thanks: I literally would not write so much or so cheerfully if it weren't for the wonderful words of many of you, encouraging me to continue. So thank you muchly.