I read a question on a FB forum that made me stop and think the other day. The question was, why did you start writing LitRPG?

My answer was simple. It was because I gave up. I walked away from writing.

I've been writing for almost two decades at that point. I'd taken hundreds of writing classes, I'd written several books, and self-published five books (all YA Fantasy), but I was making pennies. I felt guilty about how much of my family's hard earned money I was throwing away to publish my books. Everyone who reads my stuff talked about how much they loved it, so why couldn't I sell it? Maybe I just wasn't cut out for being an author. The anxiety and depression got so bad, I couldn't even stomach sitting in front of my computer screen anymore.

It was February at the time, and I'd already paid admission for the LTUE Conference. So that I didn’t waste the money, I went anyway. Every class I sat in felt like a joke, since I wasn't going to be using that skill anymore. That fact opened a hole in my heart so wide, I couldn't breathe. I grieved so much for the desire to write that I almost cried sitting there in the middle of crowd.

But then I talked with Kevin J Anderson. We went to a coffee shop just down the street and I poured my guts out to him for an hour. (Seriously, he's like the adopted uncle I always wanted.) We talked about the struggles of publishing, the expectations of family members, and a lot of other things. And about our love of writing. He calmed me down enough to handle attending the rest of the conference.

Stolen story; please report.

The next day, I met Jay Boyce (Jaybird in RR) and heard her story about being on RoyalRoad. I'd been reading serialized stuff for a decade at the point, I just didn't know it was an option for American authors.

I went home and started thinking about everything. I decided I wanted to keep writing. And I wanted to write what I loved, even if Amazon didn't have a place for it (at the time). I didn't need perfection, I didn't have to follow the trends.

I just wanted to be me.

So I wrote what I loved. And after a while, I took a gamble and did one of the scariest things in my life. I posted it on RR. I was shocked when other people loved it too. It gave me the courage to keep going. The courage to be the writer that I wanted to be, and make real the beloved characters I saw in my head. I can't express how much I loved introducing all of you to them.

My every day adventure continued. After I posted Mists of RR, I wanted to actually hold it in my hands. After some twists and turns, I met the people from Podium Audio. They were amazing to work with, so considerate to all of my thoughts and suggestions. And the first time I heard narrator Laurie Catherine Winkel talk in Jyn's voice, I screamed with excitement. lol

None of that would have been possible without you, my readers. Thank you all that you did. Thank you for supporting me, and for continuing to support me. It really does mean the world to me.