Why, of all things, a She-Ra fanfic?

It's time for an all new mission from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers. I've got all my gear ready and I am ready to dive in. This latest mission is a doozy, and I might not come back alive. But I'm going to try. The fate of the universe is hanging in the balance. Well... maybe that's a slight exaggeration. Anyways, so the topic this week is quite something else:

Why? No, really. WHY?

Yup. That's all folks.



So here's the thing, I sometimes make jokes about the vagueness of some of these topics, but in all reality it is the vague topics that always seem like the most fun. Though I think what I have to say this week might be pretty dull, if not really long. My action figure doppelganger will not be travelling to any deserted islands with dreamy Bow and I won't be showing any pictures of a nearly nude Madelyne Pryor. Instead I'm going to answer a question that was asked of me by a friend.

If you've taken just the slightest of glimpses at this blog, chances are you know I have an affinity for She-Ra. I've never made it a secret that I am beyond obsessed with She-Ra and her friends and all the trials and tribulations they went through from the old cartoon and mini-comics. I am always bringing She-Ra up in some form or fashion on here and in my non-Internet life. You know you are dorky in the saddest way possible when you bring up She-Ra in a serious manner during a meeting for work.

Anyways, back to my friend and the question I was asked. We were talking about our hobbies and I had mentioned that I was nearly done with my She-Ra fanfic. And for the life of her she could not understand why I was so hell bent on posting a chapter every weekend about a property I certainly had no hand in creating. "Why don't you just post your own stories?" She asked.

The reality is that had it not been for the She-Ra fanfic I write, I probably would have never started Diary of a Dorkette. Follow me for just a little bit. A long long time ago I dabbled with blogging to varying degrees of sadness. I had a tech savvy friend whip me up something that was cute and full of charm. I was all about detailing my tragic dating life and other various issues, some of which were dorky. Sex and the City was at its height of popularity and I was consumed with sharing all the nitty gritty details of my love life. Never a good idea.

Long story short, I got involved in a relationship that ended terribly. (Never ever under any circumstances get a background check on someone. If you have to resort to such extremes, chances are they are not dating material.) So I screwed up big time, the relationship was doomed, and I being the emotionally hot mess Italian girl I am, had a melt down. Huge melt down. And I blogged about it for a week in one of those really sad and scary ways. It was good reading material for other people, but looking back at it now I can't even believe how desperate and sad I was. In fact I feel so silly for even having to mention it, but it will all make sense! I hope.

So I deleted the site and swore off blogging for good. I also quit all those social networking sites and everything. I just felt like nothing good could come out of connecting with people on the Internet. I got older though, and found myself wanting to reach out and talk with other people. Instead of hashing out messy details of my personal life, I found myself interested in talking to people who shared my same dorky collecting sensibilities.

Enter a little line called Masters of the Universe Classics. I was hooked from the get-go for obvious reasons and immediately began updating and rewriting a She-Ra/He-Man fanfic in my trusty beat up fanfic notebook. I was having the time of my life because I was immersing myself in the kind of story that I would want to read. So at some point Mattycollector created a forum for fans to converge and talk toys. I was intrigued.

I had always been scared to join a forum because based on the forums that I had stalked, I was terrified! I mean I could never understand why certain dorky folk would type out such mean things to other dorky folk. Forum culture just seemed like all the negative aspects of high school rolled into one big nightmare. I wanted no part of it!

But since the Mattycollector forum was new, I felt like it would sort of make sense to jump on board from the beginning. And though it took some getting used to, I found myself connecting with people that I never would have gotten the chance to talk to in real life. Add to the fact that we were also talking She-Ra and all the related POP characters... well I was in heaven! I had never talked with other people about the awesomeness that was She-Ra. It was truly an amazing experience. And the more I talked, the more I wanted to share with others my He-Man/She-Ra fanfic.

So one day a forum member posted her own fanfic. I had not even realized that we could do something like that and that people would actually read it and provide their thoughts. I wanted to do that too! But I almost didn't. I was too scared and far too nervous to share my writing with anyone. I was wanting to avoid any complications or negativity at all costs.

It was thanks to my forum friend Mantenna14 though who urged me to go ahead and post it. He was so kind and one of the first people I became friends with online that made me feel like I was a part of something and that my voice would matter. So after editing some of my story down, I posted the first chapter of what would later be called Adora's Search for Honor. It was far from anything spectacularly written, but it was from my heart. It was my love letter to She-Ra and her universe, a universe I love visiting.

Anyways, that is what I did. Every now and then I would post a new chapter in the She-Ra forum section on Mattycollector and I would get feedback on the story with what sounded good and what sounded not-so-good. It was a nice process. Until my friend Mantenna14 suddenly left the forums. I was so sad to hear that he was leaving and I hated it because who else was going to read my lousy She-Ra fanfic? But before he left he told me that he hoped I would continue writing my story and maybe even start my own blog to continue the story and connect with all new people away from the forum.

I debated doing that very thing. After all, did the world need yet another blog? And would I even want to jump back in? I have loved to write since I was little, but sharing my thoughts and rambles with other people was daunting. Not to mention tacky when you included my original foray into the world of blogging.

Always a glutton for punishment, I did it anyway. I started Diary of a Dorkette. It was strange at first because I wanted to write about the things I had written about before. However I focused on a plan and a way to make this a fun place to visit. And before long I was all set to share my She-Ra fanfic: Adora's Search for Honor. Without Mantenna14 telling me those kind words, I probably never would have done any of this. And that is crazy to think, because without that, I never would have connected with so many wonderful people! I enjoy so much being able to write and share it with you all while also talking or reading about the things that you are all doing too, it is just such a great experience. I've gotten to know some fantastic people that are all so talented and cool. I can't imagine not having that experience. Instead I'd be sitting alone in my archival room talking to my toys.

I'm really thankful for Mantenna14. And yes, I know that Mantenna14 is not his real name, but I'm also not about to post his real name on here! I do hope though that he has had the chance to stumble upon this blog. (I don't know if he has or not.) I'll probably never meet him in person, but his encouragement helped me do this.

Which is why I continue to post the She-Ra fanfic on Saturdays! (Eventually I do bring things back to the original point.) I know the story isn't the most well written piece and I know it is slightly sad that I am dedicating a lot of time to something as simple as fan fiction, but I have to finish this story. I so want to honor and celebrate She-Ra and her friends. Not a day goes by that I do not think of these characters. They talk to me and I talk to them. With the story coming to an end, it is getting to the part that I have so been longing to tell! From the moment I wrote things down I had this image in my mind, and I hope I am able to capture it on here and share it for those who read it. And if you don't read it, that is fine too. Because at the end of the day I am just some dorkette that loves toys and collecting and sharing in all that with anyone who will listen.

So that's the why of why I continue to post my She-Ra fanfic. Here are some other folks and their 'why' topics:

Yelinna is awesome and has two things to ask why about. The first one is wonderful and the second one is even more wonderful! (I tried leaving a comment, but I'm not sure it worked.)

If you follow Kal and his Cave of Cool, than you will know why.

The gargantuan of why-ness is asked by Newt.

Daniel wonders about why there is so much hate for Jar-Jar. I have to sort of agree.

Why did TJ miss out on something really cool? Find out here.

Chris asks the hard hitting questions we've all been thinking of, like why reboot Spider-Man so soon?

Read over what Claymation Werewolf has to say about the whys and why-nots.

BubbaShelby is busy cracking the greatest toy mystery, possibly, ever!

Unlike my bad case of the ex, The Trash Man wonders why he fell out of love with things that meant the world to him.

Rich wonders why the villains can't ever follow through already.

Pop Rewind wants to know why Sonic is getting us to cope with stuff all the time.

And Brian is having one helluva a Hallmark moment!

For more why topics, be sure to check out Cool and Collected to see what other people come up with! And since I know I was a bit long in the mouth with this post, I figured sharing some She-Ra photos I've taken (and one I clearly did not) wouldn't be such a bad thing: