What started as a simple pleasure became the token of my every gesture...

I owe a lot of who I am to fanfiction.

Maybe it's a strange statement to make, even pathetic to some, but it's nonetheless true. Fanfiction gave me a chance to explore my style of writing and introduced me as well as my stories to some of the most enthusiastic, generous readers on the net. Overall my experience with fanfiction has been supportive and gratifying. The genuine interest and loyal following I've received for my stories over the years has been a privilege and experience that I wouldn't trade for anything.

As I said, I owe a lot of who I am to fanfiction but - if I ever become a published author - I'll owe that to the people who read, reviewed, messaged and emailed the confidence and encouragement that inspired me to create my own characters and worlds to share with others.

Someday I hope to write something worth sharing with all of you. I know any success I have will begin with those who knew my writing at its start and believed in me until the very end.

To address those who have read my stories and wondered why I haven't continued:

A number of health concerns and personal misfortunes over the last few years have left me with serious problems to address in order to maintain control of my life. While privately struggling and trying to regain my sense of stability and well-being, the passion and pleasure I felt from writing fan fiction has regrettably been missing amidst all the realities of being an adult who needs to support herself as well as friends and family.

I hope those who have read thus far understand why my health and life can't come second to writing fan fiction and apologize I haven't been able to continue or conclude. While coping with my tragedies, my focus and priorities have shifted to taking care of myself and soul-searching for what mark on the world I want my life to leave. It would grieve me to think I never wrote more than fan fiction.

When I do have the time, energy or joy necessary for writing, I've been investing that into a novel I hope to publish. As proud as I am of my fan fiction, anything I write will never be recognized as my own work. It will always be characters and worlds I I borrowed from authors I admire; always a hobby, never a profession. It's important to me that - someday - I be able to tell and publish stories I created myself and remembered for them. It's thrilling, it's exhausting, it's time-consuming but I'm genuinely proud of what I've accomplished when I'm capable of writing and it gives me hope and strength I desperately need.

Most importantly, I want to thank those of you who went out of your way to write and see if I was alright or wish me luck with my novel. More often than not the only people who contact me do so to harass/guilt me into finishing stories while expressing a hope I never get published because I abandoned my fan fictions. I'm not sure if certain readers don't appreciate that nobody gets paid to write fan fiction and I - personally - used to spend a week composing a chapter for people will read in less than an hour,. Hearing from those who understand how fan fiction is a hobby, it doesn't pay the bills and don't put their desire to be entertained before somebody's personal life reminds me some readers do appreciate what an effort fan fiction authors make to telling stories that don't belong to them.

Your graciousness and maturity means more than you know. I would like to believe anybody who was truly a fan of my writing would wish me luck creating my own worlds and characters rather than those belonging to Harry Potter or Twilight. I genuinely want to believe my enthusiasm for fan fiction will return so I can wrap up and give an ending for the polite, patient fans who waited.