Hello Readers,

Before I begin, I want to sincerely thank those who gave my story a chance and read "Into The Moonlight." I didn't think I could write so much in the past two months, and in truth, it was mainly due to the support from fellow authors in the writathon cheer thread, the ones I've met in the COTEH community, and finally, you readers who took time out of your busy days to read each chapter. Maybe because this is my first story, and with all the support I received in developing it. I've grown attached, and that's why it's so much harder to come to terms with what it is.

It's been a shaky journey, to say the least. Over the two months, I've been juggling work and job hunting while trying to deliver chapters each day. I've learned a lot, and sometimes, I've often wondered if the quality of the story was good enough. After seeking feedback from other authors, it became clear that my story could have been more engaging, and the plot fell short. That's just the reality of what it is.

I think I did pretty well, considering I had no experience with writing. I just saw the Writathon announcement and decided to "all in" like I was at a poker table with a pair in my hands. Funny enough, even though most wouldn't consider this novel a success I think it turned out great as my first entry into writing.

For me, I didn't intend for it to be a business. It was more of a hobby, but I never realized how much time writing actually took out of my day. I thought that I could have a Patreon at the start, but I decided to remove it because I realized that the quality of my writing wasn't something I was okay with making money off of. However, it did make me realize that I would need to put in more work to deliver an entertaining story that would bring you joy.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

So, now that Arc 1 of "Into The Moonlight" is completed, I have also decided to finish the novel here. Originally, I did plan for a second arc, and it's not like I wrote myself into a corner. It's just that the start isn't captivating enough for RR, and I have made too many mistakes that rewriting would just throw me into an endless cycle. That said, I have compiled a list of things to work on and will strive to improve on them.

Below are some examples:

* World-building

* Structure

* Dialogue

If you notice, in the early chapters, I had little world-building because I just opened Google Docs with a blank document and started throwing out words. Later, more was added, but I had no structure and no clue what I was doing. Despite this, I pushed through and just prayed that everything fell nicely together. I don't even want to think about the dialogue because I didn't realize how bad it was until the end, but alas, it is what it is.

I'll leave it at that for now, but there is some good news. I have decided to start working on a new story that I will refine over time and keep hidden for now. If you're curious, this time, the story will follow Tucker and his life as a "Watchmen" before he arrived at Cronia. Eventually, I'll bring it to light, but it'll be under wraps for now.

How long will this take? Well, my engineering brain tells me that a rough estimate is a month or two for me to polish and edit my work. Maybe I'll start a Patreon again with some chapters in a backlog because I want to take a more professional approach now. Who knows, maybe down the line, you'll see my next story and be like, "I remember this author."

Anyway, thanks for reading this far! I know it's been a bit of a rant, but I just wanted to get this off my chest.

I hope my novel was entertaining for you until the end.

All the best,

SimplyLeo