OOC - My First Year/Happy New Year

For me today is January 1st. And January 1st marks my entire first year here on Ongoing Worlds... and I can't explain how excited I am to finally have that achievement. Coming onto this site I had no prior, decent knowledge of roleplaying and I was very hesitant to even make an account, never mind join someone's game. At that point didn't take any of this very seriously. I thought it was just some small place I write little stories that bounce around in my head, nothing serious or important to me. Boy, was I wrong.

After just a few months I'd been able to talk to people, branch out of my comfort zone in writing, and see what all OW had to offer. I'll never understand how I didn't get what all of this really was. I know now that it's the most freeing and entertaining thing I've ever committed to doing and I really need to give you guys a round of applause for that. Having a platform to express and create so much where I can't as often in real life is surreal. That's the best way to describe all of this. And let's not forget how many incredible people I've met, and even how many I haven't worked with yet. I know that's a lot of you. You might not think this post relates to you at all, but it does. You help make OngoingWorlds what it is. Anyway...

Winteroak was the first person to interact with me.
Largehobbit is who I talk to the most.
Esimed, WritingBug, Nim, SilverCloud, and Avenuewriter are just a few that are a blast to work with.

Heck, all of you are.

Okay, okay, I'll admit I've become a little attached emotionally. Leave me alone.

And I honestly can't thank you enough for how welcoming and open this site and your games are. The various different genres and storylines let me dabble in pretty much everything which is great seeing as no single genre really fits me like a crown. But personally this has been a learning experience as I've grown more and more each day, specifically in how every game I joined teaches me to anchor myself more and not bounce around and get bored like I used to do, and how invested I become in those games. There's periods where all I think about are games like Maelstrom or Bare Blood, and much, much more too because you've helped me immerse myself and get involved.

I've had my ups and downs, my lack of posting, but I try to keep it interesting, diverse, and consistent. I admit I'm not the perfect writer, something I only realized after being so headstrong and prideful when first joining. I thought what I wrote was almost sacred, in a sense, because I thought it was simply top notch and flawless.

It was not. It was So. Very. Flawed.

But I hope you enjoy it a little more now.
I've gotten so much better and I still don't hold my work that high. It was actually repulsive thinking back on that now. My eyes were opened and quite thankfully so.

For the last time, I really want to thank all of you for the environment you have built, not just here on the Community Platform, but on OW in general. Because without this, I'm not sure I'd ever have found my true passion for writing or found my voice at all. Embraced my ability to create something beautiful, something ugly, and something in between. Take my personal problems and morph them into some twisted yet glorious plot piece or character (fun fact, all of my characters represent something about me somewhere within the mix :D)

This site brings me so much joy I actually reccomend it to my friends who take a liking to writing as well. And I took something huge away from all this; if in your editing and writing you are more stressed and unhappy, take a break. If you don't enjoy something even in the slightest, is there a point in doing it? Have some fun! Creative writing shouldn't feel like a chore or like you have a deadline.

But you're all very understanding of things like being too busy or not feeling up to it, and some of you were even willing to take the reins. Being kind to someone you have never met because they are in a tough situation. I respect how much you've all done for me whether it was things previously mentioned or listening to my constant rambling and idea proposals.
(Sidenote, I'm pretty sure Hob's humor and openness has kept me afloat. Also for creating Maelstrom which ended up being a game and new genre to me I would pour my heart and soul into. You're the real MVP.)

I just want to thank you, the members of OW for giving me a second home. A home and a family I'm proud to be a part of. Here's to another year and hopefully many more with all of you. Cheers!

... and if you read this whole cheese-fest, here's a cookie from the caribou. You deserve it.