by Michelle Thompson (Seahurst)

Part 2

The night was a complete success. We had women from Florida, New York, Ohio, Utah, California, Washington, Alabama...and the list goes on! It was an absolute thrill to be able to meet and talk to so many women who feel the same as I do about The L Word, l-word.com, and fan fiction. How much fun it was to see them smiling, their enthusiasm bubbling over for fan fiction...love stories... funny stories... every different kind of stories. Because, you know, it has gone way beyond being just about The L Word now. This is about the love of reading a good story, no matter who the characters are. Lets’s face it, there are a lot of us who may have started out with an outline of who Bette and Tina, or Shane, or Alice and Dana are on the show, but have molded them into totally different characters in our own stories. Different jobs, different locations, some with children, some without..some have Tina giving birth, some have Bette...and some have Bette with someone else totally, as well as Tina. Some have Bette never cheating, and Tina does...and some have them meeting and falling in love at different times in their lives, i.e. highschool, college, and so on. Some have Dana and Alice not getting together (although not very many, cause they are just so cute together.) Some have Helena being the perfect partner for Bette. Some have main characters dying, or being killed...and one even had Shane and Tina together, with Tina being the dom...yikes!!!! But, the common thread in all of these is a story... someone sitting in front of their computer, somewhere in the world, feeling so strongly about how they envisioned these women, that they decided to share that vision with us in a story. And, I want to personally thank each and every one of you!

Before I move on to Saturday, I would like to also personally thank BetteandTinaForever, for being so nice and walking me back to my hotel after the party. The reason I mention this is because after all the walking we did earlier in the day, my feet and hips were sore, so I knew I would need to get a taxi for the ten block ride back to my hotel. B&TF left with me, and agreed to share a taxi. However, once again we couldn’t find one, so we started walking! This very nice woman, started talking to me about fan fiction, and all the wonderful plot twists she still has in store for Bette and Tina, and ended up distracting me so much, that before I knew it, we were standing in front of my hotel! I was so sure I wouldn’t be able to walk one block, let alone ten, yet I did, and did it with enthusiasm because of the wonderful conversation. B&TF also knew tbsaver, so it was very comforting to talk with someone about an amazing woman, who I still miss very much. Thank you S...you were very kind.

Saturday was also beautiful! The sun was shining again, not a drop of rain in sight! I enjoyed a great breakfast with B&TF, vfullart and her partner, and bntfan. Then, we jumped into a taxi...that’s right, we found one, but only after vfullart used her trusty cell phone to call a taxi company after we realized we were walking, AGAIN! I am afraid to say that at this point, while we were standing on top of yet another hill, these women got to know the real me...yeah, I feel sorry for them too! LOL

Anyway, our taxi whipped us off to Golden Gate Park, where we met up with JWET and her partner, fergz1 and her partner, and down low. And, wouldn’t you know it, as we were getting ready to leave we ran into the same two women from The Café, who worked on The L Word! What a small world! They were playing tourists just as we were. What fun to be able to talk with them again! We then went off to have lunch, and they continued with their explorations. Yep, saying it again...ggggorgeous!!! (Must visit Brazil!)

Now on to lunch! This was one of my favorite parts, not only because it was a large group of us (we were joined by albeez, BlueSF, and giasony), but because we were meeting up with one of my absolute favorite fan fiction writers... Shakennotstirred. Her story The Chase, as well as Umbrella are two of my all time favorites. Sitting next to this very talented woman, and chatting about fan fiction and the show, both during lunch and after, as we were walking down The Height, was truly a gift to me...although, now that I think about it, I may have monopolized her time. And, if I did, I hope the rest of the group will forgive me...(sheepishly) I just love the way she tells a story.

It was hard saying good bye to all these wonderful women... even though we had only known each other for 24 hours, I felt a true connection with each one. And now that I have met them, the next time I read one of their stories, or read a comment they have left, it will have just a little more meaning, because I will be able to call up my wonderful memories from that weekend.

Thank you JWET, and everyone else involved with organizing this weekend. It was a blast...it was a treat... was like having our own little gay pride weekend, fan fiction style!! See you all at the next one!!

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