Dear Followers

Friends Under the Rain by Leonid Afremov

Most of you I like, some of you I admire, a few of you I find suspicious. I might even fancy three of you, have a crush on two, and be hopelessly in love with… But I shall not give any names.

I follow most of you because I genuinely like your prose, verses, paintings, or good sense. I follow some of you because I like who you seem to be. I also follow a few for no other reason that I love your Gravatar.

Whether you follow me because you like my posts, or my hat, or me, or just because I’ve followed you first,

Whether you press like after reading my posts or you don’t,

Whether you comment on most of my posts, or on a few, or on none at all,

Whether I know you by your first name and you know me by my first name or I don’t know your name and you don’t know mine,

Whether I’ve named one of my stories after you, or sent you a poetical email, or a song about a poet, or told you I liked your writing much and sent some imaginary troubadours under your window to sing you serenades and you thought I was flirting with you and kicked me out of your peculiar blog,

Whether you sent me a 50-word story, or a compliment, or asked for an inconspicuous way to leave me a message and I, romantic fool that I am, dared to hope you wanted to talk about waltzing butterflies and white rose petals, and it turned out you only wanted to point out a grammatical miss take I’ve made in a one-month-old post, I just wanted to say that…

We might not know each other well enough to call ourselves friends,

But we have stopped being strangers when we began to read each other’s blogs.

We are snowflakes in the same snowstorm, droplets of water in same ocean, leaves on the same tree, clouds on the same sky, colors in the same rainbow, mischievous atoms on the same giddy planet…

There’s something going on between us. Can you feel it too?

(Republished to celebrate getting Freshly Pressed!)

197 thoughts on “Dear Followers

  1. Emm, I checked your blog after i saw a comment you’d posted on someone’s blog asking her to write a story about a boy with a hat, an elephant & many other stuff….. i *follow*ed you first because you donate $1 to charity.. and i love your “50-words story theme” too.

        1. Aussie moonbeam! That’s one of the sweetest phrases I have ever read.

          I’ve decided to make a character in my story called Alarna Grayrose. She will be an adventurer who had grown up in a dense forest. If my story will become famous, will you sue me and ask for compensations?

          1. Strangely enough, I don’t believe in suing people for a compliment! That sounds positively wonderful – and is undoubtedly something I would love to read. (Although I do think Alarna Rose has a nicer ring to it 😉 )…

            Anyway, just for that, here’s something for you from my windowsill http://wp.me/p2nmHs-5n 🙂

  2. I followed you because of the $1 you donate to charity, I comment because I genuinely loved your posts… and I’m also here for the invisible gift, they’re the best.

  3. In one word, yes. Oh wait, that was four words and two punctuation marks [8>([ I’m not sure which one of us followed who first or why, I’m just glad our virtual paths crossed.

      1. That has a ring of truth to my feeble mind, Ms Ginger. On almost all of the blogs that I follow I see your beautifully smiling face either in a likes section or a blogs I follow section. Are you stalking me? LOL (or would it be the other way around?) 🙂

        1. Coco is stalking people Kip, no doubt about it. She stalked me too, from the beginning. She saw me small and innocent. She picks vulnerable targets, I’m told.

          1. LOL I once saw a comedic graphic that totally sums up my thoughts on being stalked by beautiful (in all senses of the word) women. It said “Are you stalking me? ‘Cause, if you are, that would be just great!” 🙂

  4. You’re really fishing for compliments now aren’t you!
    Fine, fine.. I follow you for the thoughts you put so excellently into words, for the 50 words in which you tell a story and most of all for your hat 🙂

    1. Everyone knows you are telling a lie. Look how you are blushing! The pink of courtesy.

      You only follow me because I once told you to write some stories about hats and umbrellas and white elephants!

      You don’t like my stories half as much as I like yours!

    1. Coco, curious to know why you say that? Isn’t he already a writer? A blog writer that is. And copywriter. Why a copywriter? (My curiousity stems from me having written copy for many years now).

      1. Because he is such an excellent and brilliant writer in my opinion. This is pure copy writing skills, the way he drew us in instantly….and kept us reading to the last line of the post. But mostly it is a ‘funny’, since Vincent usually posts comments on my posts starting with “If coco were a….” 🙂

  5. After this post you have a million of troubadours singing you serenades under your window. Since it’s suppose to be a pleasant gift, tell us when you want them to stop!… and we’ll send a dozen of evil poppies.
    And if that’s not enough, we’ll bring Shakespeare back from dead and send him too you as well!

    What a lovely post! It needs a wall & a frame! I’d just eliminate that intimidating finger pointed right at me… It’s like one of those paintings where the portrayed person seems to be staring at you all the time…

    You see, this is why your blog is pure vacationing!

    1. I heartily accept the troubadours and the evil poppies, but I will have none of Shakespeare. I’ve heard he was a bad-tempered fellow!

      The other finger-pointing painting I could find was ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’. I could have not posted that. 😦

      ‘You see, this is why your blog is pure vacationing!’ The best compliment this blog has ever received! I’d hug you if you’d let me.

  6. oh yea! 🙂 i like this one!!!YOU HAVE THAT SAME ISSUE ALSO!jolly! Well now i know i’m not an entirely singular soul in this macrocosm. 😉

  7. This made me smile. Thanks much for stopping by my blog. I really like what you have going on here. Your come off as confident and brilliant through your posts. Well done!!!

  8. I like you because you are a truly unique and creative writer. Something about you draws readers in. Could be your hat, but whatever it is, you have me as a huge fan of your writing!

  9. Someone wrote recently a stroy about ’50 shades of grey’ and turned a millioner, you wrote ‘A 50 words story a day’ and thought you did not… wrong you are even richer in your soul and our eyes. Keep writing as we like your story.. I am looking to see one of my paintings decorating one of your future stories. Life is not about where you were unlucky or dropout from but where you leading to. Love your route Doron

  10. hello Vincent…
    I rather worry we have a likelihood
    of becoming familiar…
    does this possibility please you?
    or perhaps…give you a tantalizing spurt of dread…

    (I am under the impression this is how one offers friendship…)

  11. Dang, you are good at this craft called writing, except in your case it’s not a skill but a gift. Love this post. Had me smiling at the very end. You ARE a cutie ~

    🙂

  12. 1000 followers is an amazing achievement! Does that mean you’ve given $1000 dollars to charity? Somewhere some lucky people are receiving your indirect acts of kindness. It never occurred to me to ask which charity/charities you donate to.

  13. Congrats on the 1,000 followers. Love your 50 word stories. Short is good ;-). The skill of creating a piece which is complete within such brevity is a very delightful one.

  14. You’re an awesome man, with a hat!

    I follow you because I find your writing captivating. I don’t read much blogs, I mostly only follow blogs that are of use to me or when I can learn something from this person. But your blog has all of that, plus your writings are just so god damn interesting.

    Greetings from Amsterdam and congratulations on 1000 followers!

    Regards,

    Daan

      1. Lately, college has made me almost want to almost kill myself… I’m still writing, it’s just I haven’t had the time to post stuff on here. But since I’m on break I’ll make up for lost time.

  15. I still like this post :). Somehow I managed to remember the first version & notice the subtle changes…

    Is there really anyone who doesn’t know your name? It’s right there, in front of everybody’s noses!

    (Congratulations on the great amount of followers! You really deserved each & every one of them.)

      1. *Fortunately Julie can run faster without her hat, so she smiles, crying “Eye for eye, hat for hat!”, and starts the journey which she knows will surprise her at it’s end. She looses the boy out of sight and stops to look around. Deep breathe, eyes wide open, she stands motionless and clueless. She tries to listen but hears no sound. That’s when…*

        1. *Her hat flies over her head. She rushes after it and catches it before it hits the ground. Sighing relieved, she puts it back on her head, tilting it to one side to appear coy. That’s when the hatted boy creeps behind her and picks her up in his arms and carries her away. He runs with her straight to the deck of a ship that departs right away and sails on distant seas until it is hit by a tempest. The ship is sinking… The hatted boy does not know how to swim… A great misfortune is about to occur..*

          Will Julie swim to him? Will she throw her hand around his neck and keep him afloat? Will she save him? That is the question…

          1. She turns her head to see the endless sea. Her heart pounds in fear. She turns back to him and sees him sorry but peaceful. That calm gives her courage. She puts her hands on his and whispers an order, “Nu pierde din vedere ochii mei”.

            Their hats get blown by the wind and the ship sinks deeper. She nods. They jump.

  16. I read your blog and “like” if it intrigues me or makes me laugh. I do love your 50 word stories… especially since I think I’d find writing only 50 words a daunting task & you make it seem so effortless, yet entertaining. 😀

  17. Now I hate you because reading this made ​​me smile for a reason unknown to me and when it happens – it’s rare – I feel silly. :p

    By the way, it’s a lovely post!

      1. Haha! You know my point! 😉 You’re funny! I can tell that you have haters because of what you wrote in your blog, am I right? Don’t listen to people.. Keep writing your heart out! You have talent on that. 😀

    1. I am so happy that you’ve read this post Anna!

      *Takes hat off and stares at the frosty sky thinking of…*

      Are things going well with your novel?

      I really want to read it.

  18. Beautiful post, and words, I guess i cannot add anytihing to what you have written, I like your stories, your short ones, because I’m a bit lazy…:), and you do seems to me someone who’s true, that’s beautiful, love also the paintings you choose to illustrate some of your postings, love the romantism in your writing, I guess it is a few of the reasons I like to read you.

  19. Reading your 50 word stories made me think what fun Samuel Beckett would have had were he alive and writing today. This would probably have been his first effort:
    –“I feel ill at ease with all this air about me, lost before the confusion of innumerable prospects.”
    Or perhaps
    –“All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
    Keep up the good work!

  20. I lose minutes and hours to your romance…happily. As far as I can tell, romance or romance-of-once is bringing out the best in your writing, with all those “imaginary troubadours” and “waltzing butterflies.” It is special to find writers of today who can tackle the subject without cliche…who twist the words in unexpected ways. I hope the love and loss in your Mr. Colors is being set down in the pages.

  21. Congratulations on getting Freshly pressed! I have recently started following you and I am new to this world of bloggery. I have enjoyed yours very much so far. Keep it up! Could do with taking some time to write my own instead of getting lost in blogs like yours!

    xx

  22. so much love flying around this comments section, are we still in wordpressland – or have we entered a higher state of being?

  23. I have 2 blogs, a poetry blog where I follow anyone who comes to visit and likes any of my poems or any featured poem (http://poemsbyak.wordpress.com/). I also have a general blog for my serious followers and from this blog, I only follow blogs that I find interesting and deserve my limited time for reading. Yours is one of those blogs, congralations! Also, I don’t clutter up my primary blog (writeonce) with arbitrary posts. These are posts that I research and work out and put a lot of time in for a good read. So thanks for checking me out!

  24. Thanks for visiting my blog.

    It’s awesome that you connect this way. I’m impressed by you and your writing and your hat!

    I don’t follow that many blogs, but this one I like!

  25. Hello Vincent,
    Thanks for youe ‘like’ of my painting…just discovered it…you write beautifully..will drop in from time to time for refreshment and inspiration
    Patrick

  26. this has been a delight wandering through the energy you create…
    I do Believe you will be that famous writer….
    and I will enjoy your thoughts you spin into insightful words…
    Take Care….You Matter….
    )0(
    ladyblue

  27. I’m so glad I came across your blog (I know not how).
    I admire you for giving me reason to admire your words – beautiful words and beautiful sentiments.
    A peck on the cheek for you, Vincent.

    And oh! I tip MY hat to YOU!

  28. U write with such fluidity and ease…I have started following you because you are so absolutely different from anyone I have read before!

  29. Yes, I can feel it. We are not friends,we don’t know anything of each other. But we’re creating links through the worldwide web.
    Never let anyone say these links are virtual, it is not. Digital of course, but not virtual a all.

    Thanks for this beautiful post, boy with a hat. I love your style.

  30. I don’t know quite how I bumped into your blog, but page after page is full of beauty, or fun, wit or depth. This post was wonderfully said. The blog world is a surreal community, but it also has reality in its connections. Well done.

  31. I’m a long time finding this but it is worth the time and effort. Seems sometimes blogging takes a bad rap, but I have found many new “friends.” You have written of this experience beautifully.

  32. wow. I think your statement is so real and truth! You write most time Things my heart think so but my mind never could see…
    Your stories and poems let me believe, that there are still some people in our world with too much feelings and not only computer-controlled robots without feelings

  33. You know, ever since we had the little interaction, you seem much more approachable to me. I used to be a silent reader because your popularity kinda scared me off 😀

    This post is, like many others of yours, beautiful. Do you still feel like that about your followers? I assume that a lot has changed during the last couple of years and wonder if it changed anything about your relationship with them/us.

    I feel similar about mine. My favourite part about blogging is being open and authentic, slowly getting to know each other and, in some cases, eventually meet in some part of the world (the furthest was in Manila – maybe someday in Bucharest? 🙂 ). Have you met any bloggers/followers before?

    And I feel a bit stupid for asking, but I don’t get the ‘invisible gift’ joke – would you enlighten me?

    1. Do I look daunting?! I sure hope not! I do feel the same about my followers, and yet at the same time I am aware of the changes that time invariably weaves into everything. For example, I remember connecting in a special way with several people who stopped blogging – blogging requires a certain effort which other social networks do not, and it’s often the first social site people drop when they don’t have as much free time as they used to.

      Fortunately, several of those connections have endured… Getting to know other bloggers is a treat, especially when you realize that you are on the same frequency with someone who is a few oceans and continents away, whether or not you think the same way or share the same views about the world. I have actually not met as many bloggers in person as I would have liked, firstly because they are scattered over the world and secondly because I have hardly travelled so far – not that many people come to Romania. 🙂

      The invisible gift is, well, an invisible gift… I suppose I wanted to poke fun at the ‘business blogs’ which urge people to “Sign up to get a free ebook/product/etc”.

      Oh, and every invisible gift is unique… Yours can be anything you like. It can be an enchanted camera which, when you press the shutter button, captures not the person or the object you are pointing it at, but your own expression as you look at it…

      1. I’ve been looking forward to reading your reply – thank you for being so elaborate! 🙂

        haha you don’t look daunting at all, but popular people have always intimidated me and I felt like I couldn’t keep up with all the fun and coquettish people in the comment section 😛

        So were you able to stay in touch with those who stopped blogging? That would be wonderful.

        I’m sure there would be enough people who’d love to explore Romania if you’d only write more about your country! Some countries are easily to overlook but actually real gems – I was blown away by Manila which I wouldn’t have visited weren’t it for the blogger. I hope you get to meet more bloggers in the future 🙂

        oh, I see! I kinda expected something like that, but some comments confused me a bit. I love the invisible gift you thought of for me, but the result would be horrific and hilarious at the same time – I don’t know about you, but my highly concentrated facial expression isn’t very photogenic.. 😛

  34. Strangely i come up to your blog because keyword “boy with a blog” yes. i was looking for blog manage by a guy or boy because i felt every blogger is women or girl and i dont like reading their stuff.

    Mostly a guy blog writing about tech and gadget, i need something different and more personal like life journey and manage to found several but then i found you. Read you bio and your post its different. I never meet someone who is encourage by just writing in english. May i suggest you a book writer?

    Its from my favorite author http://www.katedicamillo.com/ she wrote children book, but i guess her writing style kind a similiar with you. A children book with your point of view about a boy from romania who tought him self to write english seem a good premise and the book called ” a boy with a hat”

  35. Thanks Vince for sharing your thoughts with all of us. As for me, I started out networking over 12 years ago and… slowly I developed a translating career. You are Romanian and write in English, have you ever thought about translating, too?

    1. I’m not particularly drawn to translation, though it probably is an interesting process of shall we say ‘co-creation?’ I may become more interested in it over time, though.

      1. Wonderful thought, Vince. Translating is also creating. As professor Lawrence Venuti says, “translation changes everything”. You are constructing a bridge between cultures, when you translate.

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