I can't count the amount of people who messaged me in the years since I was able to write. They liked my other stories.
But it was Free Trader Mary's Dream that people kept coming back to.
When I started writing again, I even had one message me and say "I was really glad that you are back. I forgive you for not uploading new material for years
But not seeing Free Trader Mary's Dream being back is still a wound.
The old Fozzie would have told them that I felt the wound too.
Not the older, sadder, wiser Fozzie.
I sat, put my fingers over the keys, and I actually prayed to my muse.
That might sound like hyperbole.
It's not.
My prayer was: "I've told this story so many times in my head. Please, if you are still here, let me get it through my brain, into my fingers, and onto the computer screen. I've told the story to myself so many times. It's time for others to hear it."
And I typed. There would not be editors. There would not be pre-readers. No authorial self-doubt could creep in.
One more time.
Then I started typing.
and continued typing.
I kept going back to sentences, to paragraphs. I would edit my voice.
But I couldn't mute that voice.
Twice I was on the verge of getting up and walking away to clear my head.
But I was afraid.
Afraid the voice telling the story would walk away, and I'd be stuck again.
And finally, I reached a stopping point.
I thought about waiting till I had more chapters ready, like Rogue's Rules (which is also in the queue. Thanks for the comments on that one). For the first time in years, I have ideas on how to write the rest of the story, just not run it endlessly through my brain.
But I think we've all waited too long for Alex, Mary, Melissa, to appear on our screens.
So, it's in the submission queue. I hope within the next four-six hours, you will have the first new content for Free Trader Mary's Dream in SIX LONG YEARS.
I pray you like it. I worry that you'll hate it.
But the voice is not silenced. May it continue.
In short, yes, this story is continuing. Thank you to everyone who left it on their watch list all these years. I pray now the wait was worth it.
Fozzie
edit: There is one issue with the current chapter 17, a very important message to Alex is not in there. I've put in for the repost. What's one more hurdle at this point. :)