Ahem.
Thank you for reading this story! No, this isn't a snarky self-referential sign-off like the last chapter. This is well and truly the end. Really, more of an afterward.
This is PeacefulCatastrophe! You can also call me PeaceCat, since it's less of a mouthful.
I started writing this story after about a month or two of planning, and although I always knew what the ending was going to be, I had absolutely no idea how tough (but rewarding) the journey was going to be when I first started writing a little less than a year ago!
Time sure flies, huh. I mostly wanted to try this out since the pandemic was here and lockdown was running me down, so thank you to everyone who was around for the journey! I am glad I was able to give you something to do during these difficult times. Whether you laughed or cried or merely filled out a tiny part of your day, thank you so much for spending a little time with my characters and story. I truly mean it when I say that it was an honor writing for you all this time!
(And if you are somebody reading this far into the future, way past the pandemic, thank you for joining us from the future! Tell me in the comments below if we have made it to Mars yet.)
Speaking of the future, my plans! I'll be honest with you all, I don't know. I was in a bit of a crossroads in my life at the time, so I was able to find the time to write every day, but I think not having the time to properly edit and rework chapters was kinda rough. There are definitely chapters that I would have reworked if I had had more time, and the overarching story could probably be better tuned, but I never minded it back when I was on the daily grind for chapters. Now that the story is at an end, I figured I should reflect back on it and see if it was worth it.
I think it was. I have always been a writer, ever since I was a kid, but I had been struggling with terrible writer's block for the longest of times. Just getting in there and writing a thousand to two thousand words every day helped me get out of that rut and helped me develop the endurance and self-discipline necessary to take my writing to the next level.
But now that I have those, I think I should pace my writing a little better. I want to give myself enough time to edit things that don't work, to plot out arcs that I hadn't planned out before starting the story, and to make sure I can give the reader a great reading experience!
I will post an update to this series as a preview to the next story, whenever I am ready to start posting it. I know it will be a stand alone story, because I think I want this world to rest for a bit, but I know this new story will be even better than this one, because I have learned a lot from the experience of writing Etudie!
This does mean that I will be freezing my patreon payments, at least for the month of April. That should be enough time for people to figure out if they want to support the next story! (If you want to tip me for the story after finish it, you can just subscribe for a moment and then cancel your subscription immediately. That'll let me know it was sent as a tip!)
That reminds me. I could not have gotten through all of this without my wonderful patrons! It wasn't like I could stop my other work and focus on writing full time, but it was enough to bring me back to the computer to keep writing every day. I didn't want to disappoint these wonderful people who were willing to support me!
To 'immortalize' these wonderful people, here is a full list:
Jabari Lambert, Raymond James, rmb123, Orion Mitchell, Alan Kwok, Hamish Peers, Sebastian Berobo, Luis Rubio, guipe, Ironwolf, Axel Törnqvist, Endre Myrvang, Kolade I, Mr. Bigglesworth, Rentaro Black, X Blade, Ensos2, Cameron Bacon, Yenin, Bobo Booobobo, K G, GuRu24, AscReign, Charlie H, I Dewa Bagus, Justin Gray, Kendelle Trotter, NaudhizSowilo, The Human, thkiw, Tzucaza ., plasmo, Joseph Burris, kris ross, Ethan Bell, Kite7, Cody, Máté Somodi, Hittonblast, Nathan Gofort, Timy Binker.
Thank you all so much for your support and (monetary) motivation!
And thank you to everybody else for joining me on this journey. Your comments, your hearts, your likes and your stones, all of them meant a lot to me! No matter where you are reading this, please do leave a comment and a review!
Stay tuned for the next story!
Thank You and Goodbye.
Your Scribe,
Peaceful Catastrophe