Lurk no more...

[strangetomato]

Did you know that today is Delurking Day out there in the blogosphere?

 

That's right. So, let this be an invitation to anyone who'd like to introduce themselves and say hi. You know I'd love to hear from you. No pressure, of course, but you may as well delurk on Delurking Day, right? Come one, come all. Get a conversation started. I'm all ears.

This was a great day for me. I made some real progress on the next update, and there was RL good news all over the place. I was asked to interview for a job that had over 50 applicants and was pleasantly surprised to be offered another job that will stretch my experience significantly. I was also asked to be a bridesmaid in my "brother"s wedding this summer (actually a cousin, but we grew up together like siblings). I'd fully expect to win the lottery too, but I don't actually ever buy tickets.

Now, I should go out there and delurk too, shouldn't I?

Comments

Delurking

[emisj.livejournal.com]

I'm de-lurking, ok. Here goes...

Hi. I love SHWC, it's possibly the best sim story I've read. Don't ever quit, k thanks. ^^

[dgjamie.livejournal.com]

Well if we're delurking and all. Hi, I've been working on catching up on Strangetown here we come for a little bit now, when I have free time, which I severely lack these days which would be why I haven't quite caught up yet, but definitely enjoying it so far, you make me want to go and play my own strangetown again which has actually been untouched since my last reinstall, and I just want to say keep up the good work.

[angy182.livejournal.com]

hi :) I'm Angela! I'm sorry I'm too shy to comment you, but I read everything you post :( I am Italian and English is my favourite subject at school, but I can't stop being afraid, I don't want to write wrong :| anyway, I wanted to say to ya that you're great! :D if you allow me to, I'll always comment, I only need to know :D

btw, I'm happy that your day has been great! :) I've just gone back home from the hospital and I'm still a bit tired, but my day's been quite okay, too.

[naughtydolphin.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm more late to the party than a lurker!

[showercapfrog.livejournal.com]

I *swear* I left a comment earlier today, but apparently I didn't.

Congrats on real life stuff! Hopefully it will be fun bridesmaiding instead of crazy amounts of responsibility (and helping the bride pee a la madame ugly) bridesmaiding. And the job is always good too!

And I'm glad you got ideas flowing again - it's often easier once the trickle starts to keep it going nicely.

Delurking

[(Anonymous)]

I officially delurk myself, which I havn't done before since i don't have a livejournal account.

But to get an idea of who I am : I'm 17 year old guy from England and a massive fan of Strangetown Here we come. The writing of it is great and especially with the JRO scenes, I love them.

[nessa-seragon.livejournal.com]

I'm only a sometimes lurker. I also didn't see this until a day later. Anyways, *waves* hi! Congrats on your great day! I hope your week continues on in this fashion.

[hannahspring.livejournal.com]

Right, I don't think I'm lurking but I thought I'd drop you a line or two. Uhm, I've actually had this thing on my mind: I LOVE SHWC! I hope to read more great adventures of your characters. You just write this story very well.

And I've always wanted to ask: have you ever thought of publishing it? I mean, really - I think that Amazon (?) prints a even small number of copies for those who are interested in publishing their books. And I'd be the first in line to get it!

[indigo-lore.livejournal.com]

Wow you have a lot of lurkers. Another one here, been hanging round so long I can't even remember when I first found SHWC. Love the story :D

This had good timing, I've been trying to delurk at as many places as possible lately. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up and comment more often!

[nimi4.livejournal.com]

I'm a lurker at heart! But I'm really trying to comment on stories lately. I even created this account.

Right now I've been really busy with schoolwork and stuff. Just yesterday I found out that I had to give a presentation AND learn for a exam. Both were ~today~. Waah! But they both went well though :)
I really would comment more, but you know, I haven't got much to say, or someone else has said it already.

But I did want to let you know that I really like all the random stuff you post. A chapter may only come out every once in a while, but it doesn't matter at all. The chatter and peeks in your game and other things, are very entertaining! It's like listening to a friend gabbing about their process. (Like someone once said before in a comment! Very true.)

It really helps the journal to remain alive and kicking! It's very easy for a story to slip into silence because of lack of updates. Because everyone always also has other priorities! I know I find it very hard to update and it usually ends up to be once a month.
You, on the other hand, have very frequent posts so people keep checking!
SHWC won't ever slip into the quiet realms of silence :D

[franwi.livejournal.com]

:)

[drx4000.livejournal.com]

...Delurking...is....so.....hard.....it..hurts...

[traciandrus.livejournal.com]

Ok Delurking because you asked nicely!
I was recommended to read your story several months ago. I got ADDICTED! I think I read it all thro within 1 week. You have a wonderful imagination, and I loved everything about the story.
My only one wish, that they would get out of college! LMAO

I want to see some babies! lol Tho Ripp would probably die.

*goes back to lurking*

Delurking

[oojijay.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say hey - I've been reading S,HWC for ages now and it's awesome =)
Also, congrats on having such a good day!

[salome-the-cat.livejournal.com]

Hi Strange Tomato!
Well, it's not 12th anymore, but we live in different timezones and I didn't see your post yesterday. Anyway, it's better late than never, right?
I've been following your story since... well, since you posted Merry Christmas from Strangetown chapter (December 23rd, 2007, had to check your archive for the correct date). I needed to go back then and read all from the beginning of course - that was about a week of every night reading. I keep on checking your journal since then. Am I the worst lurker here?

Your story is more than any sims story ever written. All of the sims are alive, they have such strong and different personalities. The way they talk and appear on your screenshots makes the reader believe they're real people with all their complex inner life.

Also, had to say this. Strangetown is my favorite neighborhood from the moment The Sims 2 was released. Alas, all of the original citizens passed away years ago in my game. I didn't ever reset Strangetown - I love them and their grand-grandkids too much for it. So, that was another reason why I love your story so much. I love looking at them living another lives in your game - and lives, pictured so perfectly!

Thank you. You're the best!

[(Anonymous)]

*Coughs* Well, fine then...I guess I'll delurk ;)
Been reading this for awhile now - I think I started back last March. And anyway, I really love it. The "big plots" are a lot of fun (the aliens, and especially all the stuff with Nervous Subject), but what I really, really love are your character studies and simple scenes. You have such a gift for taking seemingly mundane and ordinary scenes and really showing the deep and profound connections between people. Seriously. Beautiful, beautiful job.
So don't stop writing! Please! This story and your characters are SO wonderful!

[ilovekeithurban.livejournal.com]

I'll join the bandwagon and delurk :)

i check your site pretty much every day for updates (woo I sound like a stalker). anyway, i LOVE your stuff :)

[omgzdani.livejournal.com]

Hi! I've been a fan of Strangetown HWC since around last Spring. It's safe to say it's one of my favorite sims stories out there. Your characters are truly brought to life in the story, and I'm totally envious of your writing skills. Just wanted to take advantage of delurking myself (if that really is a verb) seeing as I've been meaning to for sometime but not only am I a creeper but a procrastinator as well. =)
-Dani

[karisma-black.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Courtney and I've been a lurker on here for quite a while now. I can't quite remember if I've ever even commented...

Really, I lurk because of the massive quantity of people reading this. People always make such great comments or suggestions or observations and I always feel as if I'd just be another random comment. I prefer to write a comment when it really means something as opposed to commenting for the sake of commenting. I'm a writer myself, and while I once tried the genre of Sim-writing, I find that I fail far too often at posing them the way I want to. I get too impatient with the pictures and just want the story to continue without the effort to take the pictures. I could explain all the details to all sorts of characters in my game, stories that speed through my head when I'm playing, but I just gave up on the picture-taking part.

I applaud you on how successful this has become. I happen to really appreciate your writing and the fact that people continue reading even when you've got a little bit of writer's block. Having a fanbase has to be an incredibly uplifting thing! I'm a writer myself (although sadly not involving Sims anymore) but I tend to keep my writing to myself, not because I'm afraid of sharing, but because every time I try to share something I've written, no one reads it. I tell my friends, people insist they will, that they need something to read, and then I offer up my writing and everyone just finds things to do other than read my writing. So my writing LJ, secondary_muse, goes relatively unused. Stopped updating it because, sadly, no one really reads it.

I also have to say... I stole Ophelia's name for a character. While the name Ophelia in itself is not really "yours", per se... I use the nickname "Phi" for a character of mine on a text-based roleplaying environment called a MUSH. My Phi has her own wiki-page for the MUSH:

http://heroesmush.wikidot.com/Ophelia

That's about all I have to say. Oh, and I'm a day late because yesterday I spent six or seven hours driving back from my parent's house to my dorm at college and got very little sleep. So I didn't really do my normal things, such as checking blogs I keep up with.

[purpleseas.livejournal.com]

Hi! I love the story. You really have a way with characterization, especially with the male characters and the way they interact with each other. I'm a woman who writes mostly about male characters myself, so I like seeing other women do it well, and other people in general who can write outside of their own experiences and points of view without being judgmental or lapsing into stereotypes.

Besides making me appreciate Strangetown more, you've inspired me break out the SimPE and put at least two Ripp clones in all my custom neighborhoods. I love his nose and feel compelled to breed the hell out of it at every opportunity, yet I also like to have a townie Romance Sim version of him running around freely, so I just make two. Family "Ripp" is happily married and currently alien-pollinated, and Romance "Ripp" gets heartfarts from just about everyone downtown, even in the previous neighborhood where he was turned into a smelly, surly zombie. :D

[a-gates.livejournal.com]

Hi. Well my name is Stephanie and I live in Vegas. I'm a college student, I have my A.A. in English (2 year degree) I love, absolutely love your SHWC, it's my fav sim story ever. I also love Jayne, oh Jayne <3 I love her so much I put in her in two of my hoods. I think you are doing a magnifescent job and hope you keep writing!

[chibi-kachi.livejournal.com]

Hi! ^^ I believe I've commented a few times (I do love your story and characterizations so much) but I think its really cool there is a delurking day... and there's a picture for it!

[(Anonymous)]

Late Delurking, yay!

I caught up on your story some time ago but have failed to comment because a) I'm a natural lurker and b) I don't have an lj account so it seemed weird. Needless to say, you and your story are awesome.

I've really been wanting to share this anecdote and Delurking Day seems to have given me the courage! I was doing a crossword puzzle sometime ago and a 4 letter word had the clue: J-O connection. I immediately screamed RIPP! in my head (luckily not out loud as I was on break at my new job). Unfortunately the writer of the crossword puzzle was lame and the answer was KLMN, but at least it made my night!

Can't wait for whenever you feel like posting some more SHWC!

Delurking

[(Anonymous)]

Hi,
I have been reading this over a year now and it's one of the few good stories of sims community. It's maybe even my favourite. *peeks out from her lurking closet and goes quickly back inside*

[simsnowcherry.livejournal.com]

I'm late to the party, but I'll delurk anyway. I found your story this fall, and have been hooked ever since. I love your story. While I enjoy reading many kinds of sim stories, from commentary legacies to carefully planned stories like yours(? I don't know how much you plan this, but it seems like you really do put a lot of effort and thoughts on this), I think your story really stoods out from the crowd. The way you write your characters is amazing, I just love it. You make them very "real" with strong personalities and all little details, and they all interest me in one way or another. I can't really name just one favourite character, but I like Jill, Buck and JRO probably the most. Your story has start to felt kind of "canon" to me - I've never played much with the Maxis neighbourhoods, and I doubt I never can, because your storylines have struck so strongly into my mind that it's hard for me to make my own...:D(Though I love Ripp so much that I have extracted him and have him in my custom neighbourhood as townie, lol.)
Keep up the good work, you're awesome! And I can't wait what happens next and especially can't wait to see JRO finally graduate! :D