The Uneventful Life of Harvey Mackler

a f t e r w o r d

Honestly, first of all, I just want to say thank you to all of you.

The Uneventful Life of Harvey Mackler started four years ago as a Wattpad cover. A random low quality image I found on the awful Wattpad 'Covers' app of all things, with an equally random low quality combination of words stuck upon it.

*more cringe-y covers available for your viewing pleasure in my book 'the Reminiscing of a Cover Addict'

It's crazy to think this is what started the whole journey. That Harvey went from a loner girl sitting on a bench staring at the sky, to a girl with four brothers, a girl who was one of the guys, a girl who became Finn's coach, friend, lover. It all started here.

Of course, the journey was never a straight one. When I first published TULOHM, I barely managed to update once every 2-3 months before I completely disappeared for 2 years.

I remember back in April 2020, I was deliberating deleting TULOHM altogether. The old chapters were chaotic, had no flow and were riddled with typos (the first two issues still partly apply now, but at least grammatically, it's readable). Honestly, the book had no plot and I couldn't see a way of redeeming it.

I can only thank the kind, curious comments from one of my followers asking when I planned to update again because she liked the book for making me reconsider my decision to permanently delete TULOHM. It baffled me that someone didn't hate TULOHM as much as I did. So I tried rereading TULOHM again to try to see it from their point of view. And that's what made all the difference.

Every throwaway phrase I penned all those years ago became a seed, waiting to give root to a whole new story to be explored. Soon the barren land that was the original draft became a young orchard, full of saplings waiting for the right conditions to grow.

And over these last months, grown it has. Revisiting TULOHM with fresh eyes (and a better, more mature worldview) finally gave me the inspiration I needed to finish drafting out the book and start writing again. TULOHM went from barren ground to a dense lush forest where every side character felt like a person with their own feelings and story to tell should they be given the chance.

Or at least, that's how it's felt to me. I've honestly grown attached to Harvey and the gang over this summer, and I feel like I'm really going to miss them. I hope it's felt like that to you all as well.

Thanks so much again for reading. Thank you also for making it through this extremely cringe-worthy afterword that I wrote way back on 24th July because wow, aren't I a presumptuous human being?

And without meaning to sound insensitive to anyone who has been negatively impacted during this time period, I really should also give thanks to COVID-19 and the lockdown for giving me the time and opportunity to sit down and finish writing this story in peace.

I hope to see you all again in my future projects. Ciao.

♕ Carmen ♕

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W H A T + N O W ?

I'm thinking of publishing a 'bits & bobs' chapter. Or perhaps two. They'll contain more background info about things going behind the scenes in TULOHM. It would include things like:

- random facts about TULOHM and the writing process
- a full 'Midnight Murder' rulebook
- a possible sneak peak into Hollis's blackmail book
- house plans and how I imagined Finn and Harvey's area to roughly look like
- Q & A: your not-so-burning questions answered
- anything else you guys might be interested in :)

Please do respond if you think any of these sound interesting to you, unless I'll probably not follow though with this. I live to please after all.

Alright, this was rather lengthy, wasn't it? It's finally goodbye from me now, for real this time. It's also time for the fish to rest too: ><{{{(×>

(Okay, okay, it's a joke. The emoticon fish is still fine ><{{{(•>)

Carmen ♥︎

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THE
UNEVENTFUL
LIFE OF
HARVEY MACKLER

Feb 22, 2016 - Sep 22, 2020
C O M P L E T E

©elysiani2020