3/15/17

Hey, guys. It's been a while.

For those who want the simple answer, I guess this is my "resignation". I feel that I need to explain myself, though. This all started around two or three years ago. I would beg my friend at odd hours of the night to give me prompts about our favorite characters, and I would write short stories about them. Over time, the few hundred word just-for-fun stories became longer, deeper stories containing plot. She convinced me to get an account, even giving me my username. Thanks, mapletreedragons.

All I can say is thank you. THank you to my seventh grade English teacher for not teaching by the book and inspiring my reading and writing. Thank you to my best friend for giving me the boost to start this. THank you to you all. What started as maybe thirty to sixty views a day turned into a few thousand. It was mind boggling, reading your comments and seeing all these visitors—these people—from across the world. All for me, just some kid who put words down on a website. Despite only sharing my ownership of this account with my friend who helped me start this, you all gave me a great confidence boost through middle school. There's a lot of regrets that I and we all have in those dreaded three years. This is not one of them. I had teachers and parents on this site praising me for my grammar and phrasing; I had critique from anonymous users that helped make my stories real. For once in my life, I felt like I was doing something with a talent.

The past year has been one of the best in my life. My freshman year in high school has been the absolute peak for me. I feel that though I gained a good deal of confidence this year, this site had laid a steady foundation for that.

With that being said, I want to end this account with closure.

I know this explanation has no structure. It's one excuse after another and I'm sure this is where a lot of authors stop. They look back on their early work and see that it's just not good at all. That seems like it would compel you to write more, but it deterred me. I saw how much I improved, and thanks to a thought my friend put in my head, I thought I could easily begin a novel. I've written several thousand words for this site, and feel that when I write these stories about people that are already claimed and fantasizes about, I can be putting my effort towards something bigger. Whether I write this novel I have planned in my head is another story entirely.

This is getting long now. I apologize, especially for those who put time into reading this. I feel I'll always have a note on my phone full of ideas for stories I wish to write on this site, but whenever I try to continue these ideas it comes out bland and flat and unrealistic, like the latter few of my stories I’ve updated. You guys deserve better. I don't want to ruin whatever I have left of this experience. Just know that if you're an author on this site, it's great experience, and something not to be ashamed of doing. It is a priceless opportunity to increase your writing skill while entertaining those who enjoy the same passions, and the praise—and critique—makes you feel like you’re a professional, even if it’s a few hundred words posted online.

All I can say is thank you. Thank you to everyone who has read a story of mine, favorited or followed my work, or taken the time to comment. Thank you for keeping me going. Thank you to this site. Thank you for everything.

So long, my fellow readers and writers. Goodbye, my dudes.

~palmtreedragons