PLEASE READ THIS (especially my readers):

I literally have no words. Fran called me at 7 AM this morning and I never expected her to break the news of Guts getting featured. I didn't even react properly 'cause I just came out of the bathroom when I saw my phone ringing and I thought there was some emergency but then, oh my God, she told me I was featured! At 7 AM in the morning!

I don't know if it's because she called so early in the morning, but my reaction to the situation wasn't as explosive as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm super, super, ridiculously happy and I couldn't ask for a better gift for Christmas. But do you know that whole deal about pursuing happiness? That we search happiness in all these material, useless things when in actuality, we find true happiness in the people around us and in loving ourselves? It's not as extremely serious as that, but I'm having that same feeling right now. I realized that having that gold star next to my story title isn't EVERYTHING. It's just a token, a treat that I earned, like a thumbs up from a teacher or a professor showing your paper as an example in her PowerPoint presentation or something.

I realized that what really gave me happiness from all this is you guys. I remember getting so hyped up from having 5 subscribers when I posted the foreword to this story last year on June 14, 2012, when I felt so overwhelmed having 30-50 subscribers on my 20-something chapter. I thought that was a lot back then - how do you think I'm feeling now that I have more than a thousand?

Every vote, comment, subscription - it's all from you guys. You put me up there. And I can't thank you enough. We all share this gold star, because you guys were there for me. You read what I write and you guys were there with me, watching me grow as a writer. It doesn't matter if you were there from the start or you just subscribed 5 seconds ago - what matters is that you even bothered clicking on this story.

What really made me happy was the congratulatory messages and the PM's I received from readers, telling me they're proud of me and that they're happy I was up there finally. You guys were right beside me throughout this journey and I'm so thankful and so overwhelmed by your love and support. The fact that you guys were waiting for this as much as I was is a treat in itself. 

Just the fact that I brought people to tears, laughter, and anger with this story is enough. This whole story gave me a family that honestly outshines any gold star in the world. Thank you so much!