If you're of a certain age, remember that scene from Saved By the Bell. Yes, THAT SCENE.
I'm so excited.
I'm so excited.
I'm so.. scared.
First of all, oh my god, I was a teenager when that came out, and that clip will be 30 years old next year. That sound you hear is my attempt to be hip turning into a hip replacement.
But seriously, age joke aside. That's how I feel when I look at my stats.
60,000 Downloads for Free Trader Mary's Dream (or will be later today)
1,000 Votes for FTMD.
100,000 Downloads across all my stories.
(Insert record scratch noise, WHHAAAAATTTT?? Sound effect, Looney Tunes double take, etcetera)
Folks, I said a while back that 10K views of FTMD in a week was cause for me to question all of your collective sanity. That was five months and FIFTY THOUSAND DOWNLOADS AGO OF FTMD.
There are no words.
Except two.
THANK. YOU.
Thank you to Bob, my loyal and long-suffering pre-reader, who kept me going with positive feedback when I was banging my head against the theoretical wall trying to get the words to flow. Sometimes, it was very close to banging my head against a LITERAL wall.. none of this metaphysical stuff.
Thank you to all my readers for their feedback (good and bad).
Criticism makes me want to be a better writer. Praise makes me want to write more. Both are the lifeblood of any author, and especially are the beating heart of authors who struggle with self-doubt.
Thank you to the authors of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. For inspiring me, for challenging me, and guiding me.
And Thank you to Alex, Mary, Melissa (amongst others from FTMD), Arin (I promise, I'll stop spelling your name Arun one of these centuries), all the folks you haven't met yet in the Rogue's Rules universe but that I've thought of, Steve and Kaitlyn (First Times), Mike and Dana (It's My Party), James and Veronica (Midnite and Nightwatch), Tony , Andrea and little Dara (You Knew) and of course Matt and Antonia (One on One). Thank you for allowing me to be the conduit to tell your stories to the people here. If the story's suck, it's because of my lack of skill at translating their stories to the printed word.
For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you know the health issues I've faced. That I continue to face. Right now, I'm writing this at 1:30 AM because one of the side effects of all the health issues is I have reverse circadian rhythm (which means that I'm more active in the middle of the night than the middle of the day. Trust me, it plays merry hell with trying to get ANYTHING done, except writing, I guess).
What does the future hold?
More FTMD
More RR
When I can, One on One chapters.
I want to promise you guys and gals the moon, the stars, and the world.
Instead, I'll say this.
Thank you.
I'll keep it going as long as I can.