Like a few of you, I've struggled to get my posts to show up in the comments on Two Writing Teachers this year. Who knows if it's because of the Wordpress filter or the filter my school runs? (For some reason, my school filter blocks about half of the Wordpress sites, so I'm sorry if I couldn't read yours.)
Folks have been great about fishing my posts out of the spam filter, but it's still a bit discouraging. A few times, I even considered letting my Slice stay hidden. Would it really change anything? I'm still out here writing every day, and some days there aren't many comments any way. Why does it bother me if my links are posted on the site or not?
Part of it is that I love how supportive the community is. It's amazing to be surrounded by so many kind, compassionate folks. It's also the idea of an audience. Don't we all want to be seen? To be known? I don't mean that I want to be famous. Heck, I don't even like opening birthday gifts that much because I don't like everyone watching me and scrutinizing my reactions.
But, I still stand a little bit taller when someone takes a few moments to leave a comment or borrow a format that I tried. It feels good to share and have someone share something in return. Isn't that what community is about? Has there been a particular comment that made you feel truly seen this month? I bet there is.
*The Weebly blog assigns the publish date according to when the draft was started. I waited until today to publish, but I started the Slice a bit early. We have a 15 hour drive today, and I didn't want to miss a day.