Hello everyone! 🖤,

It doesn't feel like a year has gone by already, and yet at the same time it does? It's always been interesting (to me at least) how time does that...making you feel as though no time has passed at all and yet in that same breath feeling as though everything had changed.

The past couple years, truthfully, have been difficult and dark. for various reasons, and during that time it was made even harder since I felt utterly and completely alone. I'm not really sure why, but after a three year hiatus of writing, I suddenly had the thought 'I want to start writing again' . it wasn't that I ever lost the passion or love for it, but it simply wasn't something I was able to focus on, with everything that was going on in my personal life, I had to do everything within my strength to simply keep my head above water.

and now, though most of the problems haven't left my side and some had worsened, the writing has allowed me an outlet for the festering thought and emotions that had no place to go. so, I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful that I found this site, A large part of even bringing me here has to go to Scarlet_Sky, after I found her 'Straight to Hell' series on AO3 and from there found AFF.

For a good while when I first started on her, I was much too anxious to interact much with others. illogical fears convincing me not to...but somewhere along the way others reached out to me and from there I dared to do the same, whether it was simply leaving comments on stories or taking a step further to send friend requests. and I’m so grateful to everyone I’ve spoken to on here since then.

Of course, like many authors on here, there has been doubts...on whether my stories were good enough and those same thoughts of calling it quits have plagued me more then I’d like to admit. I do wish that it was more active, and I know silent readers are a problem...however, because of that it's made me even more grateful for those few that do comment on stories, especially the ones that do so every update.

They never fail to bring a smile to my face and allow my normally heavy heart to feel light for a while.

and it's also helped talking with some others, that at the end of the day we should write because we love to do so. and not for anyone else's approval, and to not let it affect me as much as it admittedly does. (LuHaNsDoll helped me out a lot with this, and I'm so grateful for her🖤)

In the past year, it's been such a dark and scary time for everyone. Covid and lockdowns...being isolated from the rest of the world. Except for the small reprieves, whether it was writing or simply reading other author's stories. the same helped me as I lost two pets in the span of a few months this year (one of them being heartbreaking unexpected.) and so on.

It might just be 'fanfiction' but, it's something I’m glad to have in my life, for however long it lasts. Through the good and bad, writing has always been my swansong and I hope I can continue to bring more stories to life this year.

Thank you to everyone that has encouraged and supported me, I'm so truly grateful and I look forward to continuing this journey🖤

-- Andrea (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)