The Diary of Firefly's Lake

Turns out, I was just ready to work on Hate You, Hate Me. It flowed really well, just like last year. I finished the chapter and sent it to Audry. She was able to read it that night. So, everything really worked out. I'm not sure when the chapter will be edited, so I don't know when it will be up. But I am really excited and proud of myself, because I started out this chapter with very little confidence.

I am kind of hoping to get some of my readers back. This will be the first totally new chapter since 2005, and it should send out an alert on Fanfiction.net to people, who subscribed to the story, when it goes up. I used to have plenty of people interested in the story, but I don't know how many of them would still be. It would be nice to get some new people reading as well, but I also feel like it's weird to try to convince people to get invested in a story that only gets updated once or twice a year. Is that really fair? If people know that, would they find it hard to connect at all?

Well, after getting writing done earlier in the week, I kind of took it easy. I did want my extra day to be special, but all I ended up with were extra frustrations. Oh, well... that happens. I did enjoy getting my order from Pacifica. It's so nice to find an affordable vegan company. I can order whatever I want from them and not have to worry. I'm already considering buying a third perfume from them soon. I love the two scents I bought so far.

Oh, and I absolutely must share that Mallory started using DeviantArt. She used to draw so many beautiful pictures for my old fanfiction. I especially want to share her picture of my character, Water. It is one of my favorites. Now, she does a lot of photography, which is also very lovely. But I do hope she'll add in more drawings as well!

I'm actually in a good mood today. I feel energized and excited. I wonder how long that will last. Haha.

So, I decided not to dress up this year. It's something I've been considering for awhile. And it isn't because I think I'm too old for Halloween. That's just silly. It's because last year, a guy rang the doorbell, and I answered it, thinking he was a kid. He didn't try to kidnap me or anything. He just tricked me into coming to the door, so he could grill me about voting. Not cool. Halloween is the only time I answered the door when I wasn't expecting someone, but he totally ruined it. Now, I know that it probably just sounds stupid to react this way, but I'm a person with extreme Social Anxiety. I can't handle this.

But after thinking about how Halloween was the only holiday I still enjoyed, I knew I had to do something special. Sims 2 photoshoots! YaY! So, maybe, I've now taken a "step backwards" into more introverted behaviour, but whatever. I'm just me, guys. I can't help it.

Anyways, my original idea - which I'm still planning to do - was to take pictures of Miss Masquerade characters wearing masks. But I was thinking about how I failed to finish a new Hate You, Hate Me chapter for Audry's birthday. And also, how I've always been jealous of authors, who have awesome banners for their fanfics. Well, I am jealous no more.

While I was making Draco and Hermione and their families, I also took some pictures just for fun. So, here's a little story for Draco/Hermione fans... or people, who can appreciate Harry Potter silliness. (But it's mostly just for Audry.)

( Take a look? (Beware the silliness!) )

Today is a special day. Six years ago today, I posted chapter 11 of  Hate You, Hate Me as a birthday present to my friend, Sam. I was writing out of pain more than as a present, though. The intensity switch in my life has always been stuck on high, but in this case... well, it was barely more than a month later that I left school forever. Hopefully, that will give you an idea of the pain that was building.

There were two things that happened as a direct result of posting chapter 11. The story is long and unpleasant, but if you've read Miss Masquerade, you could say that chapter 11 was my perfume bottle. It shattered my life into a million pieces. And for years, I blamed it for ruining my life. Just like Sapphira and Chanel No. 5.

But there was something else that happened as a result of posting chapter 11, and it's something I wouldn't trade for the world, that was already breaking apart. Chapter 11 is how I met one of my dearest friends, Audry. For most of my best friends, I can relate back to the point where it all started. There's always a story. The day Mallory came over to ask what I was doing at lunch. The day I approached Christen, who was writing, and we both went home to tell our Moms that we met a fellow writer. Even the song contest that I answered for Vivi. :P

Audry read Hate You, Hate Me and left me a review stating that she was still sobbing from reading. And I was filled with joy! My writing had made someone cry! My writing was powerful enough to do something like that. I was ecstatic. I ran into the kitchen to tell my Mom.

Later, I wrote an email to my reviewer:

"Wow... you are the first person that I have made cry! Don't take this wrong, but I am overjoyed. I have had a dream to make someone cry like I have while reading stories. I thank you so much for reading and reviewing, and if you want some secrets or samples or anything, just ask! "

And received a reply:

"Wow, I can't believe nobody else cried! I was bawling and my mum was all worried about me and I told her not to worry, I was only deteriorating. I can't WAIT for the next chapters. I do wonder if you are going to write any more stories in the near future? Love the story mucho mucho, Audry F."

And six years later, Audry is one of what I like to call Best of Best. She's my wonderful Pooh Bear, and I am her Piglet. We've shared some intensely painful times, but we've come through. Today, after many years of work on rewriting HYHM, I finished chapter 11 for our anniversary! <3 I love you soooo much, Audry!

I also finally decided to write out a song for Lahela, after years of trying to find one. I was wearing Firefly's Locket, and it came to me so easily. The rewritten chapter may not be up for awhile, but you can get a sneak peek into it by reading Lahela's Song. I also posted another song for another story recently, Eyes at Night.
 
And that's it for now. Writing is looking up... hopefully. Now, I think I'll watch an episode of Felicity before bed to feel close to Audry even though we are so far away. <3

I actually wrote some fanfiction yesterday. Rewrote the rest of HYHM Chapter 10 that I started in Februray. It was a combination of influences. I wanted to cheer up Audry, and Emily had been disappointed in my lack of fanfiction writing recently. I'm sure she would have rathered a chapter of Lily and the Coral Orb... but that would be a lot more effort. ^_^; Besides, Audry loves HYHM. It's how we met. <3

I'm still working on the medicine thing. And I hit a little sad spot since Emily's been gone because I already miss her. I hope she's having a great time with her other friend, though. ^_^ And I know I'm recovering in general because I've written twice in the last 7 days. Things are getting better. Slowly.

Degrassi-wise... I'm not crazy about this set of episodes so far. I'm not all that fond of Alli lately, and I really dislike anything that gives K.C. and Jenna more screen time. Ick. And I'm not crazy about Sav/Holly J. either. Didn't Sav just call Anya the "love of his life" when he finally stood up to his parents? Why isn't he fighting to get her back? Anyways, I find Conner and his online girl-friend the most interesting thing so far in these episodes. Yes, seriously. I want them to meet.

I am very excited for the second set of episodes for this week, though. I can't wait to finally have some Adam-centric episodes. That might be part of what's got me down about the current set. I'm just looking forward to Adam's story so much more. I totally love the Adam-Eli-Clare trio concept. <3 YaY, Misfits!