Feedback

I don't get a lot of feedback on the Mass Effect fanfic I write, although I do get occasional kudos (which on Archive of Our Own is similar to a "like"). I very rarely get feedback on my podcast, although recently a couple of friends told me that they were enjoying it. Very occasionally, I hear from a stranger, although that feedback has been (so far) all positive. Some writers get tons of feedback on their stories. In part, because some of them share the life problems they are having (I'm not saying this is bad), and in part, because there are some fantastic stories out there. However, it just occurred to me that what could be happening with those who consume my art is what happens with my pets: they become very independent. I don't raise lovey pets. I raise healthy, independent pets. Perhaps my listeners and readers are similarly independent. It could also be that since the story is quite long (126,000 words) and the podcast has a bunch of episodes (140), people are just consuming it without feeling the need to comment. We're going to be releasing the first three chapters of our D&D story in a couple of days. I'm interested to see what kind of feedback we'll get (since it isn't exclusively mine).

Winning at Diplomacy

In other news, I am dealing with someone from the sick Peace Corps volunteers group that I help found (but no longer really do anything with). She isn't a bad person, but she is very emotional, seems to love being the center of attention, and micromanages everything. She and I fight like cats and dogs. Anyway, at the beginning of last month, she told me that she was going to be leaving the group, as she has run out of ideas (also, it is actually killing her, since she is very ill). I volunteered to handle contacting the membership to find people who are interested in running the group (since I am way too sick). She said she had to contact a few people and would get back to me. Three weeks later, she sends me and the tech guy an email about making updates to the website, handling Facebook, and all the new work she has taken on for the group. The tech guy and I agreed that changes should probably wait until after we have new management, so that the new people in charge can decide how they want things done. We got no response. I talked about it with a few people and got some helpful ideas. Two days ago, this woman sent us another email, adding in another person, who will be working on updates to the website, with no acknowledgement whatsoever of the previous emails she had received from me and the tech guy about waiting.

Now, I don't really deal with this kind of thing well. I don't like to have people waste my time. At all. So, I decided to confront her, since I don't care if she gets pissed off and refuses to ever speak to me again. I used every ounce of diplomacy I have to write a clear and honest email that pointed out that she was being inconsistent and communicating poorly. I worked really hard to indicate that my desire for her to step down is only related to not wanting her to die (she's been in the hospital several times after doing too much for the group), and not that I just wanted to push her out. I worked so hard... and it worked! At least, she sent me an email saying that I was right, apologized, and said that she would contact the membership on Friday to say that she is stepping down. I really expected (like last time) for her to blame me for everything. So, we'll see what happens next. I'm hoping that someone will take over the group, as I fully expect that the Peace Corps will do their best to screw over volunteers as much as they can. Without someone to shout to the press about it, I think that more volunteers will suffer. However, I can't be the one in charge. So, we'll see.