Six months

Today marks the six-month anniversary of my becoming Section Leader (SL) in Diana Gabaldon's section of the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum. It's also six months, more or less, since I started this blog. I am, needless to say, delighted with the way both of these things have worked out. <g> So this seems like a good opportunity to look back.

When I started Outlandish Observations, I was initially just looking for a way to learn about blogging, since I'd never done it before. I figured that no one other than my friends on LOL or Compuserve would read my blog or have any reason to notice it at all. Boy, was I wrong about that! <g> This blog has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations, and I am so grateful to those of you who drop by here to read and comment.

One of the things I wanted to do from the very beginning with this blog -- indeed, my primary reason for creating it in the first place -- was to provide a resource for the latest news and information about the OUTLANDER books, a place where fans who don't frequent the larger sites, like Compuserve or LOL, can come to find up-to-date information on what's going on. And because I'm on Compuserve every day, I'm in an excellent position to hear Diana's reaction to the latest rumors or speculations -- whether that's the possibility of an OUTLANDER movie, or the release date for AN ECHO IN THE BONE, or whatever -- and pass that information on to you right away.

It really was totally by coincidence -- believe it or not -- that I was offered the position of Section Leader on Compuserve only two weeks after I first had the idea for this blog. I've described my reaction to that elsewhere, so I won't repeat it here, except to say that I was stunned, and delighted, and it took a while to recover from the shock. But I'm very comfortable in the role by now, and still having a lot of fun with it.

When I became SL on Compuserve, I made a very deliberate decision to try to make the forum a more welcoming place for newbies. From the many comments I've received in the months since, I think I've accomplished that. I am so pleased by how many new members have decided to "take the plunge" and start posting in Diana's section of the Compuserve forum. It's a little intimidating to post there at first (believe me, I remember the feeling very well!), but I'm delighted to see how much more active Diana's section has been lately. It does make it more of a challenge for me to read and keep up with all of the posts <g> -- but really, I don't mind a bit! And I would encourage those of you who haven't yet visited the forum to come and check it out for yourselves.