Hey guys!

I just posted up a new story featuring Sehun entitled "Respect", and in a matter of hours, it got about 70 subscribers and 22 upvotes. I was floored, I think that's the fastest I've ever gained upvotes. Thanks so much for the great turn-out! Also, I was just randomly checking my profile since I was thinking of ways to upgrade the way it looks and I weirdly noticed that I have 999 friends on AFF. I know I don't talk to every single one of these people, sometimes I just hit "add all friends" whenever I get requests. Nevertheless, I just want to take up the space on this blog post to express my appreciation once again because every single one of those 999 friends and 6000+ subscribers is an actual, living, breathing, three-dimensional human being with a story, a life, a personality, likes and dislikes. And thinking about how actual, real people are actually reading my stuff is such a great feeling that is as humbling as it is flattering. So if you're reading, I just want to let you know how thankful I am for your support! I know I say this a lot and it's probably getting old, but I don't want to forget that this whole fic-writing gig is essentially about sharing my talent with people who have similar interests and spreading the Kpop love. 

It's weird, when I think about mid 2010 and early 2011, back when I first started putting my fics up to read. At first, my mentality was all about writing to get my thoughts out and just write cute little fics featuring my favorite Kpop idols. But people started actually reading my stuff and they liked it. Pretty soon, it wasn't just about writing down whatever came to my head, it was about making the fic-writing experience something fun for everyone involved, including my faithful readers and friends on the Internet. For the most part, I try to maintain a sense of balance between writing to impress people and writing to share the stories in my head and tell people a little something about myself and the way I approach life and view the world. I was a little worried at first, concerned that people might not want to hear what I have to say, but I find that people have been a lot more tolerant and accepting than I had expected. And when I share my thoughts in the form of story, people are a lot more receptive to it. So that part definitely makes me happy. My attitude about writing has definitely shfited because of my experience writing for a real audience. It's made think a lot about solidarity and the responsibility of artists. Lots of people think that art is about running off somewhere, away from the rest of humanity and indulging in one's own thoughts and artwork. I guess it's a little bit true that to be a good artist you have to be true to yourself. But no one is meant to live alone, we're all put on this earth to coexist with each other. Art is a matter of using whatever instrument we choose to enrich the community we live in. And my instrument just happens to be words. And my community is the Kpop fandom, and enriching that community means contributing a series of stories to uplift people's spirits, provide a bit of entertainment, and to communicate some of the verities that I've come to know. I hope that when people read my stories, original or fanfiction, that they learn a bit about me, about how I view the world, and about the truths that I've learned.

Anyway, I'm only partly active for now. I know I've apologized time and time again in several other blog posts, but I honestly can't get over feeling guilty for making so many people wait. Real life has been taking me out of the writing game for a while because my job and college will start up again pretty soon. But rest assured that I'll be okay and I haven't forgotten about this site. Thanks again for your enthusiasm, patience, and love!

-thecafewriter