Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

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StealthyWolf
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by StealthyWolf »

For a short stint towards the end of 2022 and the start of 2023 I wrote in a journal to document my feelings, vent, and process a lot of emotions I was going through in what was probably the lowest point in my life. On December 5th, 2022, towards the end of my entry for the day, I wrote this as a sort of afterthought for the day:

I wanted to do some Katawa talk but a fan-fiction caught my eye so might just read that. It’s a story revolving around a character from some April fools joke way back when. Don’t know the details yet but her name is Saki and she doesn’t have a long life-expectancy so there's that. Be back later!
...
Started reading a pseudo Route following Saki and its really good so far, I’d love to finish it in one go like a normal route, but its noon and I need sleep, plus its been six hours already and I just got to Act three.

The next day I made notes of wanting to really try my hand at being creative again. I do not think this was a coincidence. Learning To Fly is the story and work that helped me start writing again and for that I'll forever be grateful to this story, and you, EBJ. I honestly don't know where I'd be right now if it wasn't for that. Definitely in a whole different place in my life. And should the day ever come that I take the necessary steps and become a published author I will be able to trace it back to this as one of the biggest reasons I ever got to that point.

One week later I caught up to what was posted at the time, and that's with 4 days of not being able to ready anything mixed in there. This story had me engrossed from the first chapter and never let me go from the beginning to the end. I'll leave comments about larger parts of the story for later, when I do a proper re-read (I'm still gonna give you the extra-long comment that I usually make for stories here after all), so for now I'll focus on the final chapter and how I feel right now. Which is, to say, emotional. It was just a few years ago when I was at a point in my life where I rarely, if ever, cried at a piece of media. Now here I am tearing up over a happy ending. That would've been unimaginable back then. That is to say, this story has had a major impact on me, and now, being here to see its conclusion, it's... well, it's a lot.

I love the way the entire chapter has this bittersweet, and melancholic sort of background vibe to it. Very fitting for a graduation as that's how it was for me. You're happy to be at that end of the journey, where you're past all the hard parts and all the stress is starting to be a fading memory, but then you have to face the coming future that's arriving all too quickly. Mitsuru and Chisato's situation is an immediate and heart-wrenching reminder of that. The future is coming and will be here with us before we know it. Something I'm sure Hisao will be coming back to time and time again from this point on.

On top of that, graduation's a day filled with... ahem... uncertainty. You're saying goodbye to a lot of people. Possibly forever. Sometimes you work it out to meet up again, like with Lilly and Hanako, but with others it's not always so clear. And on top of that, you're leaving a building and location behind that you'll likely never call "home" or your "second home" again. Worse still for Yamaku students who actually live on campus. Its all just so... sad. but in a way that's hard to handle because it's also supposed to be a really happy and hopeful time. Luckily it isn't the only thing weighing in. In the case of this story, there's Saki's answer to Hisao's proposal. The entire sequence and exchanges related to it were super sweet and enjoyable to read. I love the levels of energy it brought back in to this chapter where needed. It was a nice, revitalizing refresher amongst all the bittersweet-ness everywhere else. A reminder that this isn't just an end, it's a beginning too.

And then there's that ending line... so much tied into 10 short words. It sort of encapsulates everything that is both this chapter and the story in general. There's happiness in it, with sadness lingering just behind, a reminder of the inevitable ending that's to come, but also a promise that the present is worth fighting for. And I feel like I could keep going with that. There's just... so much. It's such a beautiful line for this story.

To wrap up this comment, I once again am promising a long comment somewhere down the line to talk in more depth about this story. I really liked it and that comment is long, long overdue. Moreover, Thanks for an amazing journey EBJ. Thanks for talking to me over the past 9 months and sharing your story with me, as well as listening to some of mine. Thanks for the late night talks, and the pictures, and the discussions. Thanks for writing Learning To Fly. Thanks for helping me get my creative spark back. Thanks for being you. And congratulations for reaching this journey's end! I'll definitely be here for the epilogue!

I have no regrets with the time I spent with this story. It'll be a part of me forever.

My Writing:
Uncertainty (A post Emi-Good Ending Story)
Saying Goodbye to Tomorrow (A Mai Morikawa Pseudo Route)
My Shorts and One-shots

PastaPete
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by PastaPete »

As yet another on the long list of people who registered just to comment on this story, I want to congratulate you on finally reaching the end of this journey EBJ, and sincerely thank you for letting all of us follow along with it.

If memory serves I first started following LtF sometime around 2016, when I was looking for fanfics to scratch the lingering itch Katawa Shoujo had given me after finishing it. I don't really know what else to say other than I wish I was eloquent enough to fully convey just how much Saki, your Hisao and the paces you've put then through has impacted me. I don't think any other story I've read or even experienced in any medium has extracted more tears from my eyes, joyful or otherwise. While Saki is obviously the star of the show (as she should be), it takes two to tango, and your take on Hisao is one hell of a dancer, at least metaphorically. Their relationship feels so real, because you've given them both the depth, agency and capacity for growth that actual real people would have. That makes the overarching story and its themes hit even harder. If only I knew just how completely it would end up engrossing me, I'd certainly have reserved more of my brain's very limited space to sear the memory of that first read-through in my mind. It's kind of funny to think about, but I was a senior in high school when I first started reading this, and now when it's reached the ending I'm an adult (physically, at least :lol: ). I've basically lived the part of life that Hisao and Saki will get to spend together in the time this story was written, and am around the age where they'll have to go through with the inevitable end of their relationship. It really puts things into perspective.

While the story alone is already an absolute treat, I believe that one of the things that really elevated this work is the story outside of the story that we've gotten to see unfold over this past decade. Yours, specifically. Piecing together the fragments of your life that you've shared through status updates and chapter prefaces, it's clear you've been through some shit, to put it lightly. Yet despite all of it, you've continued to persevere in both your life and this story. I can see why you relate so strongly with Saki. There's been roadblocks that have stopped you, but no matter what you've ended up plowing forwards through them rather than turning back or remaining stagnant. (Admiral Farragut would be proud ;)) The fact that you've stuck with and finally crossed the finish line with LtF after everything is the ultimate proof. You're an absolute warrior, I hope you know that. IMO the best stories are ones where the author has left a piece of themself in it, and you've very clearly done so with this.

So once again, thank you for everything. I'm really looking forward/dreading the epilogue chapters, whenever they may come.
Gratefully,
PastaPete

Crying_Ghost-200
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Crying_Ghost-200 »

As it seems to be tradition, I registered to comment on this thread.

I discovered KS around 2018/2019 from that (in?)famous artwork of Emi on physical therapy. For some reason, there was a sort of running gag on anime games in some Facebook groups i was in. So, I gave it a try.
Like many, I wasn't ready for that. The beauty of what was done with this game is beyond anything i could imagine.
I started engaging more with the comunity, and so I landed on the April Fools "routes", and then, in mid-2023, on Learning to Fly. I got to the then last chapter, and have been following it closely since then. NGL, I almost shitted myself when I saw the (Completed) on the title :lol: .

I would give anything to play KS for the first time again, that feeling of wonder and amazement is unreplaceable.
This story made me feel that again. What you've done is absolutely incredible, a truly beautiful piece of Art, worthy of a story as wonderful as Katawa Shoujo (so much so that I sometimes forget it is not on the game :mrgreen: ).
Thanks Euro. Thank you for all this years of commitment and passion. I doubt anyone who was here, waiting for the chapters, looking at every update and enjoying every word and artwork, and everyone who comes by it in the future, will ever forget it. I'll carry this story in my heart, forever. Thank you.

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Retornodelogay
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Retornodelogay »

What an ending. I can't imagine how hard it must've been to put an end to such an incredible piece of literature, but here we are. I really don't have enough words to praise this fanfic, because I've started selling it to my friends as "KS is a gateway drug to LtF", and it's genuinely one of my favourite pieces of fiction out there. I loved your perspective on death, the empowerment the idea of suicide can bring, the impact of degenerative conditions, the painful tension between uncertainty and certainty that they bring, and above else I've admired your beautiful and sincere portrayal of it all.

Thank you again for writing this. I sincerely hope things look up for you and that this isn't your last work-and if so that you let us now, whether it's KS related or not.

Currently writing Love is a Choice, an Emi/Rin post-Yamaku story (the gay kind of story)

They/Them and Ehlers/Danlos

thebloodredhunter
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by thebloodredhunter »

this was a amazing story and really hit me i wont ever forget this and if you ever decide to something again ill definetely be there i truly wish you the very best

Wetworth
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Wetworth »

WHOOOO EVERYBODY GET IN HERE

I know there is so much joy and pride in these forums right now!

But... I'm gonna start from the beginning, so it'll be a few days before I can actually read it lol

CONGRATULATIONS 🥳🎊🎉

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scott1and
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by scott1and »

Spare for a few comment before you finished, I hadn't checked in on this forum in years. Literal years. But I always wanted to jump into this story and I'm truly glad that I did. It got me hyped waiting for the final chapter and it was amazing. I hope you're taking care of yourself!

Thank you for all the words you poured out of your brain!

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Mahorfeus
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Mahorfeus »

I don't post here often anymore, but I just had to offer my heartfelt congratulations, EBJ! It's wild to think that both KS's release and the start of this fanfic were over ten years ago, but holy hell, you actually completed it. I know you went through a lot over that decade, especially recently, and I hope things look up for you from here on out.

The ending is about as bittersweet as expected, which is perfect considering the story's themes. I feel like you left it off at the right place.

"A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love." -Stendhal
SilentM
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by SilentM »

Longtime lurker, I guess I'll also join in making an account to congratulate you.

About two years ago I went through some awful stuff that wrecked my mental health. I replayed KS for the first time since it came out, and then I started binging literally every fanfic.

These stories have helped put a smile on my face when I needed one most. Thank you.

N1cHoNo
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by N1cHoNo »

I was very happy and sad when I read this work, I'm not afraid of this word, one of the greatest I've ever read. I used to develop games on RenPy, even my diploma project was about VN. Maybe someday I'll finish it, because the story there is certainly not a competitor to this one, but it should also touch the soul. I am incredibly happy when I read this. but my loneliness burns me out from the inside, thank you for letting me feel alive .... I haven't completed CatsPaw, or whatever this mod is called, but I'm sure this story should be in a separate version of the game. Katawa Shoujo - Learning to Fly, I think it should be like this. I don't know if I have the courage to do it, but I would really like to immortalize it in the game, or release it in print in my native language. Just in case, I'll attach my card, this account will be only for the Saki Enomoto Route, I swear on my honor not to spend this money on anything else, though there will still be a few problems to contact the original KS developers. But I'll try to get their approval, maybe something will come of it here, for now I'll just slowly saw this route and adapt it to my language. Thank you for these incredible emotions, it was a good time.

Teuchi_77
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Teuchi_77 »

I made an account solely to comment on this because holy shit.

I'm a KS newbie. Finished the base game only early last year. Found out about this fanfic only last week.

I don't think I've read a more emotionally resonant and painful (in a good way) story in my life. Like there's so much to even think about. You took the beautiful setting and stories of the original Katawa Shoujo, a game that was already incredibly well-written, and added to it in a perfect way.

This fic felt so... Complete. Even more so than some of the canon routes. Obviously it was because you had the advantage of being able to write as much as you wanted instead of needing to make game assets for everything, but I loved how you included people barely touched on in the original like Hisao's parents or his friends outside of Iwanako.

Unlike everyone here I was not around since the beginning. I've only been a part of this for a week after it already ended. Hell, I didn't know who Saki was until I found about this fic. And I'm sure people who'd been reading this for years have far more of an attachment than I ever could, but I loved reading this. It hurts, it is the epitome of bittersweet, because as heart-wrenching as the other routes could be, for all of them you could imagine Hisao and the other girl living happily together. Ideally growing old together. Hisao was always the one there who could go at any second.

Yet here, the tables are turned on Hisao. His condition, while definitely putting his life at risk, is not terminal. Saki's is. And I know these two will have the happiest 10 years of their life from now. They'll live their best lives together.

But it's going to end. This isn't a fairy tale where someone comes in with a magic cure or some sort of solution. This relationship won't last. And leaving it open ended really adds to the beauty to it because, we as the audience can draw our own conclusion. We can imagine how it'd end on our own. Maybe through some medical miracle Saki lives longer than she thought. Maybe Hisao does find happiness afterwards. Just imagining everything makes my heart ache.

And EBJ, thank you for writing this, and sticking to it. Throughout all the ups and downs of your life, you continued to take a stab at this, continued to post updates no matter how long it took. You're an inspiration to all of us fledgling writers because we can feel the effort you took to write this story. It feels so genuine and raw. So emotional and poignant.

In my heart of hearts I wish this was adapted into the game as DLC, because Saki deserves it. The way you wrote not just her, but Hisao, Chisato, Noriko, Maeda, the Takamuras, hell even Iwanako, makes me prefer this route to all the others by a landslide. Perhaps it's not fair given the difference in medium, but regardless. I love this world and it's characters. I think this is my gateway into KS fanfic. So yeah, 10000/10, I loved every second of it, even if it made me bawl my eyes out.

MrGooggles
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by MrGooggles »

Holy damn. Its over. Saddest moment of my life seeing the word "Completed" after the title. My heart jumped out of my chest. 10/10 EBJ, 10 out of motherfucvin 10.

ArtemisCain
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by ArtemisCain »

Wonderful ending. Happy to have read it all over the years, but sad that we've finally reached the end. LtF is by far my version of Hisao's story and is what always kept me coming back.

Well done on seeing through to the end.

Monsto
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Monsto »

Thank you for everything.

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Eurobeatjester
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Re: Learning To Fly - A Saki pseudo-route (Completed)

Post by Eurobeatjester »

Thank you all so much for the kind words. They mean a lot to me, and I really needed to hear them.

I wish I could say things are in a good place for me right now, but sadly, they aren't. About two weeks before I posted the finale, things got really bad at the escape room. In the few years through the pandemic when I didn't work for her, the boss became a raging control freak, and she didn't have a single employee over the age of twenty. The rooms were in horrible condition, which is why she hired me. I got that place fixed up to fantastic condition in less than a week. I had some medical issues I was getting treated for when she suddenly demanded that I was supposed to now work the front desk instead of being maintenance. She told me I had to cut my hair – I had a Duck Dynasty level beard that I took four years to grow and I absolutely love it, along with hair down to the base of my shoulder blades – and I refused. She fired me on the spot.

Then about a week after I posted the finale and working my gig job, I ended up breaking a front tooth. I had a crown on it from an injury about ten years ago, and it cracked underneath the gumline when I accidentally clinked it with my thermos. After a dentist appointment, I was informed that the tooth would need to be pulled since it couldn't be saved. About two weeks later (roughly two weeks ago from the time of this posting) I had the tooth removed and the healing is slower than expected. It's going to cost me almost $3k for a bridge or $5k for an implant once it fully heals in six to nine months. I'm 90% sure I'll probably go down to Mexico to get it done since I'll have to pay completely out of pocket for it.

The worst part about it is that, since I was working a customer facing job, I wanted to wear a mask to hide the fact I was missing one of my front teeth; to do this I had to trim my beard anyway and I'm still dealing with massive dysmorphia from losing both my beard and tooth. It's getting better, but if I'm being honest, I haven't been in a good headspace lately with everything that's happened. I'm learning how to talk without one of those two teeth, and after another few weeks I might be able to get a fake tooth for the space. Until then though...I'm not whole.

Maybe that's why I pushed out the finale when I did – so much was falling apart in my personal and professional life that I wanted to make sure I got one damned thing finished.

I think I'll be okay. I'm not right now, but I will be.

Anyway! To address some of the things from the final chapter and the story as a whole.

First, I tried really hard to write the graduation ceremony. I really did. After the fourth attempt I realized that I'd have to write the speeches, or describe how a high school graduation happens in Japan for something ultimately not important to the plot at all. Winding it down was the focus of the chapter.

I also debated having just the LtF characters in the finale but decided I wanted to have a brief conversation with the main cast to see how they were handling graduation, and to somewhat explore what I thought would happen with them assuming Hisao was not in their routes. The following is my own headcanon:

-Shizune and Misha have no real difference except Misha keeps her drills. Without the depression of seeing Shizune end up with Hisao, I don't think she would end up making such a drastic physical change.

-Emi would still be a ball of energy, and I ship her mom and Nurse pretty hard, so I threw something in there.

-Rin has consistently been the hardest of the main cast to write for me. Hisao pushes her into the art exhibition, but without him, I think Emi or Sae could have done the same thing, especially if you stretch out the time involved from where her route ends to the actual graduation.

-As far as Hanako goes, I would argue she ends up better off in Lilly's route than her own, and near the end of Lilly's route (which happens before Tanabata) she gains the confidence to see more of the country. Given that LtF goes all the way to graduation, I can see her gaining some confidence by the end of the year, just not as quickly as she did with Hisao in her life.

-Lilly is an interesting one, because in her own route, she leaves fairly early in her bad end. However, she's in Shizune's route at a point long after she would have left, throwing a wrench in the timeline. I personally believe that Lilly would have fought much harder and stayed in Japan until graduation if Hisao was not involved in her and Hanako's life. Lilly feels that Hanako is in good hands in her own/Hanako's route, so she's more comfortable with doing so. If you've played Lilly's route then you have some idea what they're talking about with Akira, but Hisao doesn't know that and the girls have no real need to elaborate or explain to someone new to the situation. Hisao is eavesdropping.

Apologies if the following is a bit rambly as I write this out.

A few other things about the story – over the last few weeks, I've been going over every chapter and formatting them to be either a digital copy e-book, or actual books. I've looked at some one-off/small run publishers online, but LtF is so long at 300k+ words that it's impossible to fit into one single book, especially once you add pictures(the new backgrounds, all of the art I've commissioned or has been made for the route, or made myself with Koikatsu).

The entire story would have to be split into three separate volumes, with Act 1 and 2 together in the first book (labeled Prologue and Book 1 respectively). Act 3 would be the second book, with Act 4 being the third and final. The cost per volume comes out to about $20USD per book, so the total set with all the pictures included and in color would be just shy of $60.

I'll definitely be ordering a copy of this for myself – if anyone else is interested in such a thing, let me know and I'm sure we can figure something out.

Regardless, there were a lot of SPaG errors in the earlier chapters especially, and I ended up fixing a lot of things during that editing pass. I'll be replacing the chapters here and on fanfiction.net with the errors fixed, since so many people said they wanted to do a reread once it was completed.

It's been really strange to finish this project. I'm glad I got it done, but there's a part of me that feels really melancholy. There were a lot of complicated emotions the first few days, and then life took me for a ride again.

I got inspired after seeing Lindsay Sterling in concert, and I knew I wanted to write a story about a violinist before I wanted to write about Saki specifically. When I saw the April Fool's post, I knew instantly that I wanted to write about Saki and the struggles she would face as a musician because of her disability. I didn't want to keep her in the art club because I felt it would be too similar to Rin's route, and it would be a good chance to explore some more facets of Yamaku that don't get touched on in the main game. I ended up loving writing her as she developed through the course of the story, and I'm really proud of how she turned out.

I had never heard of Your Lie In April until I was years into writing this, and once I learned what the synopsis was, I steered clear of it. I didn't want that story influencing my own because I tend to write in the style of whatever I'm reading. I can look back and tell when I was reading GRRM(suck it, I got my novel done before you finished Winds of Winter), Michael Crichton, or Larry Niven, etc. Now that LtF is done, I look forward to enjoying it.

One of the things I'm most proud of though are people saying that they really liked my take on Hisao. I put a lot of myself into him. I had my diving injury twenty five years ago to the day that I'm posting this (October 3rd) and when the incident happened, well...I could have handled it much better than I did. I thought my faith and my friends/family would be all that I needed, so I turned down any type of therapy that wasn't physical. I was young and didn't realize how important it is to heal the mind along with the body, and it's one of those things that really, really fucked me up years later and even to this day. Writing Hisao has been incredibly cathartic because now that I'm older, I have more empathy and life experience to look back on that time in my life with serious introspection on the person I've ended up becoming the last eleven years. I have more lenses to see things through than I did back then, and they've been pretty eye opening. The game itself and writing this route has sort of served as a mental do-over for that period of my life.

My therapist actually ended up reading part of this story when I was trying to explain my thoughts on suicide and the right to die with dignity. Hi, V!

Learning To Fly ended up changing a lot from what I envisioned initially.

To begin with, each route has a second girl the first is friends with or paired up with. Misha/Shizune, Rin/Emi, and Lilly/Hanako. Regardless of who you get, the other girl is a major factor in that route because you need a few more people to bounce conversations and growth off of, rather than it being only Hisao and whatever girl he's pursuing. I wanted Saki to have a friend like this, and in 2013 when I started writing this, it was very popular to have Rika and Saki be a pair. Rika is a second year student and I didn't want to make things difficult on myself by adding that in as a complication. Thus, after seeing artwork from wheee, I decided to make Chisato and Noriko to fill the roles of Saki's existing friend group. Chisato is my favorite character to write for, hands down. I think it's because you can do a lot more with a supporting cast than you can do with the focus characters and let them develop in their own ways. I didn't anticipate the cast growing as large as it did. To my count, there are seventeen OC's in this fic (I'm including Maeda in this) and I hope I was able to juggle them all effectively.

I'm not quite sure when I decided the details on what happened with Kayoko. I don't have my old notes anymore (use Google Docs to write your stories, people!) but I wanted that to be the secret Saki was hiding that the April Fool's post mentioned. I vaguely remember that Noriko would be the one most affected by the truth of Kayoko's death and would transfer out of the school with no closure of the issue for Hisao and Saki. Ultimately, that happened with Maeda instead. It sucks, but once you graduate high school, you're not going to be maintaining 90% of the friendships you cultivated or even see those people again, and any attempt at reconciliation involving Maeda would have felt trite and forced.

Looking back, it was probably about halfway through Act 2 when I figured out where I wanted to go with it. There's a few Chekhov guns in those early chapters. I had initially planned for something bad to happen; Chisato would have either been unable to get to her pump, or she would get a bad batch of insulin. She was a Type 1 diabetic because I was dating a Type 1 diabetic at the time and I had to learn how to handle emergency situations with her that thankfully never came up. It felt too incidental so I scrapped the idea and instead focused on the Kayoko thread, while still giving Chisato an emotional gut punch.

I had to do a lot of research for this story. I got my hands on every medical document I could regarding ataxia, its treatment, and the therapies associated with it. Saki's depiction of it is mostly accurate, but there's some creative liberties thrown in. I believe I settled on SCA-6 because it attacks the extremities more slowly, but at the time of writing there were only a handful of identified cases and none of them were from Asiatic people. If I set in stone or revealed it for what it was, then suddenly I have to write about how Saki was the first Japanese person to have this disease, and it would just spiral into missing the forest for the trees. The same thing happens with Hisao in the original game – his arrhythmia is more of a plot point to progress the story and not much is gone into about his treatment.

It's accurate enough for a show like House or Greg's Anatomy.

The time skip between Acts 3 and 4 was so I could use the literary trick of Hisao and Saki's relationship developing offscreen, so to speak. It was easier to write them as a couple that had been together for a few months instead of everything that went into it, and it also was easier to show how Saki and Hisao's conditions would have progressed. To my knowledge, I don't think there's another fanfic or route besides Lilly's where Hisao ends up getting a pacemaker, but I could be wrong on that.

Finally, all of the character names were from the novel Battle Royale, one of my favorite books. I just switched the first and last names of some characters.

Again, I cannot thank all of you enough for all the support, critique, proofreading, and sharing of this story over the last eleven years. It's crazy to think that I started writing this at the tail end of my twenties and now I turn forty in less than two months. I found lifelong friends through this community, found love and lost it, and gained a confidence in my creative abilities I never thought I could have. I've had to move ten times in the past eleven years so it's been hard to feel like I'm putting down roots, but I can say I kept the desk I've been writing with. I bought a desk at a thrift store as one of my first purchases when I moved to my new city, and that desk has been with me every move. The first and last words of LtF were written on it, and I'm never going to give this thing up.

I do know for sure I'm not done writing by any means. Whether it's the epilogue, another fanfic, or something original, I don't know. But I do know that I can cross out “write a novel” off of the bucket list. I can also look back at the original opening post with the benefit of hindsight, something I am equally grateful for.

If my brain droppings have had an effect on you over the years, or inspired you to write your own, I'm truly happy to hear that.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, to each and every one of you.

Stuff I'm currently writing: Learning To Fly: A Saki Enomoto Pseudo Route
Two Turtledoves - A Lilly/Hisao Christmas Oneshot
Blank Mage wrote:
Eurobeatjester wrote:I doubt my ability to write convincing lesbian erotica
believe in yourself
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