La Vie en Rose

la vie | farewell letter

a b o u t

On the days leading to April 1, 2016, I made people believe I was leaving Wattpad because I could no longer stand the hate and negativity in the community. It was my April Fools' prank, and this served as my explanation as to why I'd chosen to do so.

* * * * *

To all the readers and friends I'm leaving behind...

I'll miss you all. 

Joke. I'm not really leaving.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS'!

Okay. Before you rage for playing such a cruel joke on all of you, I hope you read the rest of this "letter" first.

I'd been on Wattpad for over five years now, my @kierra97days included. I think it's safe to say that it's where my writing found a way to grow and improve into what it is now. While I know that I've still got a long way to go, I'd like to think I really have become better over the years.

I wasn't lying when I said I think this is where my stories found their home, and I know I'm not just speaking for myself. There are thousands of authors on this site who found their home on Wattpad. There are thousands who see Wattpad as a place for them to grow and improve. There are thousands who really, really just want to write and have fun doing what they love.

That's why it pains me whenever I see hate being spread around in the community.

I'd seen my friends get flooded with hate messages that don't make sense. It's one thing for a writer to be criticized for his or her writing--it's another thing altogether for people to throw insults that are hardly even logical to make sense. This, of course, mostly applies to the Wattpad-Ask.fm community, where someone can hide behind the safety of being anonymous in order to send hate to someone, but those people still come from Wattpad, more or less, and it's something that generally pisses me off every single time.

Ernest Hemingway once said that "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed." Think of every word you read from a story as a drop of the writer's blood, because that's what it feels like for us. We smear our blood on paper for the world to see our wounds and scars and thoughts and feelings. Writers feel vulnerable enough as it is, and having people throw pathetic insults their way has the ability to take away the magic that writing offers them.

It's generally a popularity thing. Every time I see hate messages, they're almost always related to popularity: Either a popular author gets bashed for (literally) simply being popular, or an undiscovered author gets bashed for talking to a popular one. This is especially true for rising authors who get attacked for steadily gaining more followers with insults that honestly don't make sense at all. (Please. "Popularity" is so overrated. But that's another post for another day.) 

I get that you can't please everyone. Honestly. I don't let hate bother me all that much because I generally just go "lol" when I see another illogical insult thrown my way. Someone once sent me a passive-agressive question asking "Do you drive?" To which I'd answered no, then they followed up with "But you write characters who can drive. You should learn." And I'm like ???????? 

And there are plenty other messages that are worse and way, way, way more illogical than this that are lying around here and there in a lot of other people's inboxes.

It's petty and immature and completely unnecessary, and maybe I shouldn't even bother writing this whole note about it, but here's what I really think. 

To all the people who think "Lol it's normal for some people to get hate," well--it's not. I mean, it's "normal" in the sense that a lot of people have to put up with it, but it's not supposed to be normal in the first place. It's like saying "Lol it's normal for some people to get murdered."

I know there really nothing we can do about it if there are people who are immature enough to engage in this kind of thing, so really, I just want to reiterate the need for positivity in this website, so I challenge you guys to really go out of your way to spread the positive vibes around! Post comments on people's works, especially those who are undiscovered. Report those who comment offensive stuff. Look out for the people who may be struggling with haters hounding on them.

Honestly, let's all be our own fucking ray of sunshine and rule this world. ;) ;) ;) 

I'm sorry for the whole prank thing. (I just thought that if I'm going to prank you guys, I might as well go all out.) However, immediately after posting the announcement and seeing you guys react, I felt so so so so so overwhelmed with guilt. Honestly, I don't know why, but I expected more "OMG YOU CAN'T DO THIS WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE" messages (see what I mean about me expecting the worst from Wattpad nowadays?) than all the supportive, positive comments you've all sent me.

For 2 days I'd only had this thought in my mind: "I'm going to burn in hell for this."

I wish I can respond to all of your supportive messages, but honestly, thank you all so, so, so much! You guys are the sweetest. And wisest. I didn't expect you guys to be so understanding about me "leaving." You made me feel so loved (and so scared of going to hell).

I've listed your usernames down (hopefully, I didn't miss on anyone) and I'm planning to dedicate chapters to you each. (It might take some time because there are honestly so many of you guys.) (I'm such a lucky bitch.) (I love you all.)

Please know that I am deathly sorry for doing this to all of you but Happy April Fool's!

sam xo 

P. S. I might have another prank coming up soon.