Commenting Back

So I've received a few PM's lately about my commenting back policy, which I want to address to my readers and make a couple things very clear to those who seem to question why I go about commenting back to my readers in such a way.

First of all, if you comment me privately i will ALWAYS comment back; even if it is just to say thank you after a "good story" message. I feel that readers who comment have the right to be commented back to and ignoring private messages sends the wrong vibe in my mind. Not everyone may agree, and those who have widely loved stories with more comments and messages than I do just may not have the time to do anything about it, but I will always comment back to the readers who private message me.

Secondly, and as far as public comments go, sometimes not everyone gets a comment back and I do feel bad about that. Although I do usually lump multiple comments into one message, I try to reply to everyone who comments on my stories. Not to have a higher comment count, since honestly I'd continue writing even if only 3 people read the stories or poems, but because I would like to have writers I talk to comment back to me.

Pay it forward, writers. It's nice to know your writer, favorite or not, still enjoys talking to their readers. And things like that start at this level. It's hard to learn this kind of stuff AFTER you get published (should that be your goal).