Me, Myself and I

To those of you who have yet to get lost in the void

Hey there!

It's been a while...

So... remember how I said that I wasn't about to do a hiatus because I know how much those can suck?

Yeah... that was... more of an omen than anything honestly.

As you might have noticed I have yet to update in a very long time. I could spend an enormous amount of time explaining why and how and all that jazz, but it simply circles around 2 things: I got way too much work and had some major writer's block.

Basically, I was stuck in the same chapter since August... of 2020. Yeah, when I say major writer's block, I most certainly mean it. These last few years have been tough and weird and complicated in every possible way. Adding to the fact that I was getting to do work that I actually did like most of the time, and you get yourself writer's block.

Furthermore, there was another important enough factor that didn't help my writer's block, and... that is Wattpad itself. I'm not even one of its oldest users. I'm actually fairly in the middle, since I started using it about 6 years ago.

My main problem with the site/app is how commercialized it has become. Back when I started using the app, only verified writers had ads on their books and those only appeared a very few times while reading their stories. When they did, it explicitly said that it was a way to "help the writer". Sure, they weren't exactly fun, but I figured that if it helped the writer in question there wasn't anything really wrong with it. There was a multitude of books you could read in which ads didn't appear. Basically, Wattpad was wonderful and it was fun and for everyone.

Nowadays, you get an ad every three chapters and you're not even able to read most of the books that you previously loved to read. For example, I have a reading list on my account that has two books that I've read previously, which I love dearly, that now I can't read because they're now paid stories. And one of them was even one of my biggest inspirations to write my own original story. Sure it isn't that pricey, but for a website that started as a way for people to share and read other original or so stories in a way everyone could do so, it is a massive change from the original concept.

And all this has left me feeling... dettached from Wattpad. I don't like nor agree with the path the website is taking and don't feel fully comfortable with having my story in it.

(PS: If you've ever found an ad while reading this story, please let me know.)

However, I do mean to end this story. Of course, I do. The chapter I was stuck in finally got done and I already wrote a few others. Plus I've got it all planned out, so that's some help, I think.

I'll try to keep up with the schedule of publishing a chapter every 3 weeks and we'll see how it all goes. Also, I'll start to publish the story on other websites, namely AO3 and possibly other websites that you all might recommend since I don't personally know of that many. That way, not only will other people be able to read my story, but it'll be in places where I feel more comfortable having it on. Whenever I have all those things sorted out, I'll update you all with the correct links.

However, I can't say when I'll publish them. Just know I will eventually.

Adding to all this, the situation in which I started writing and went on writing this book were all... less than stellar. I wrote most of the first few chapters on my phone, hence why there are those weird asterisks and such throughout most chapters. Not ideal, would not recommend it.

Then I started writing on my computer on a Word document so I could later print it all or something if I pleased. The problems occurred once I would try to copy them onto Wattpad or send the text itself to some friends who help me with the story. But, my computer decided to go haywire and it would often omit or join words and sentences which made the publishing progress much worse.

Now, once you add all this into consideration, I hope you can understand why I stopped publishing chapters so suddenly.

In the end, like I said in the title of this author's note, to those of you who have yet to get lost in the void... I thank you. And to those of you who have embarked on this train wreck of a journey with the rest of us while I was fixing other stuff, I welcome you with open arms. Hope you're enjoying the ride.

Now for the bigger question: when is the next chapter coming?

Honestly, I really can't tell you when exactly, but I can tell you other information that you might enjoy.

The story itself will reach 60 chapters and then there will be a special one serving as an epilogue. I will also do my best to spot the errors that appear throughout all the chapters. Not re-writing them. As I think I've said before, this is all but a tryout, a test if you will, to see if I can indeed write a story. And this entire book shows my progress, which I think is important in this particular case.

AND as a thank you for reading this author's note and not completely skipping it (like I personally do in most stories here), I've decided to give you all some sort of gift. As I'm sure some of you do as well, I like to draw. And ever since I started writing this story I've done some drawings through the years. Of the characters that is. My style has since changed a little, but I wouldn't say they're totally horrendous. I'm no professional artist, but I'm not terrible.

However and adding to that, one of my closest friends who also reads the chapters in advance before I write something extremely stupid is a legit artist and has also done a few sketches of the characters.

In other words...

And as always, if you have anything you would like to ask, you can message me on my Wattpad account or email me to theoneandonlyowlface@gmail.com and I'll see you in the next one.

Owl Face out!

"TH-TH-TH-THAT'S ALL FOLKS!"