At the end of a long and carefully thought-out comment in another blog, Iolanthe said, “It is always a little distressing when another reader looks down their nose at stories or categories that I prize, but oh well. We're not all in the same place; we don't all have the same tastes.”

As usual, Iolanthe has caused me to think.

Occasionally, I will read a Random Solo that turns out to be from several years ago. After reading, I will go to add a kudos -- and find that I’ve already voted. It’s only then that I realize I’ve read the story before. Then I will read the comments and see that I left a comment. Often my remarks are quite different than what I would leave at this point in my life.

So – not only are people different in their individual tastes, but a person may have different tastes based on where she happens to be at the moment they’re reading a story.

When one of my boys was about four -- and thought no one was listening -- he sang a song to himself to put himself to sleep. “Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not.”

In the future, I’ll try to remember – when I get a bad comment on one of my stories – that the comment is only one person’s opinion. And only the opinion of that person in that one mindset.

Jill