On December 8th of 2006 I "activated my profile" here on Active Rain. 
On December 13th I wrote my first (really bad) post.
On December 14th I posted and commented! Ok, I did cheat and commented on a co-workers post. I still had stage fright.
On December 17th I stepped out of my comfort zone and found a post I could relate to written by Jay McGillicuddy. Jay replied to my comment and thanked me for stopping by. I thought to myself, what a nice guy!
Then I stumbled onto Rich Jacobson's post, "Profile Pictures on ActiveRain" - When the Most Obvious is the Most Overlooked and ended up in the middle of a lively converstation, I was begining to have enjoy it here!
I began to make the rounds, meet the some of the(10K?) members, comment on posts I could relate to, post some more and then...
I posted about something I knew, photography and taking your listing photos. It didn't get a feature, but it did pretty good on ratings and comments.
Then I asked the AR group what they thought about me doing a child saftey series, you were all for it. It was dark and dreary, but you all followed it. I tried to give you web links and hints to keep you kids safe at home, online and about your town.
On January 27th, I did it! My first Featured Post! It was a part 2 of sorts, Listing Photos ~ More Hints.
I was so excited! Someone, one of our Moderators thought my post was good enough to Feature! Thank you!
Around the same time I discovered LOCALISM. It was still fairly new then, all of us were learning the benefits of posting to the new site. I had found my perfect forum as I am involved in so many local events in the Daytona Beach area.
We had tornado's near by our area the morning of February 2, the national news was telling people Daytona Beach was also hit. I posted to Localism maps showing where the tornados actually did hit and emergancy numbers and websites for people to try to find their loved ones who were missing.
Then on February 17th I posted a Localism post that got featured in the Rain about Mickey Jones at a Daytona 500 event, A Feel Good Story From Last Nights Coca Cola Speed Experience. I followed that with 2 more features, one of them is still one of my favorites, Why Your ActiveRain Blogs Should Be Your Own Thoughts, however it is quite the wall of words.
The more support I got from you guys the more I blogged. I began to tell you about our Annual Bikes and Blues with Mickey Jones event to benefit St. Jude and all of you were there for me. You all were awsome!
Heck, someone even featured my post about Buddy my beta fish that sits on my desk here at the office. That post was part of a group, No Writers Block Allowed, "started as a challenge from Chris Elizabeth Griffith to Sarah Cooper just to prove you CAN WRITE about ANYTHING."
Over the summer I wrote more to Localism showing folks our local wildlife from photos I have taken or telling tourists about my favorite places to go and even won a contest in doing so!
I've slowed down a bit on posting and commenting, but you'll soon learn why.. There is a good reason behind it all.
I do love it here on the Rain... I've learned so much in such a short time (and all free too!)
Thanks for the Ride Active Rain! You Rock!
Lysa Napolitano, Call Coordinator ~ Century 21 Sundance
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I've learned a lot here in AR as well... There is sooo much good stuff available it is hard to soak it all in!