In which the author writes a note of unnecessary length and wording to say sorry and announce that she is not, in fact, dead
The Apology
My dear readers, it has been so long since my last update—years in fact—and I cannot apologize enough for it. When I first began working on this story it was a joint project with one of my best friends. We were in our final year of high school and could not be more excited to work together and write for a fandom we both loved. We outlined several chapters, developed the plot, and created new characters to introduce.
Unfortunately, as most people know, things changed after we graduated. We attended separate colleges in different cities, and it was hard to keep in touch when we no longer spoke to each other every day. We became busy with our classes and jobs. We made new friends and dedicated our time to other goals. Ultimately, we stopped speaking altogether.
Now, this wasn't the only reason I failed to post updates. During all of this, I felt my interest in this fandom fade. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was all I cared about. I fell into the franchise later than others because I did not—and for the most part still don't—like the movies. I never connected to Luke and Leia in the original trilogy, and I hated the prequels (almost as much as I hate the sequels). If it wasn't for my brother forcing me to watch the animated series, I would've never fallen in love with the world and its characters. I loved the Anakin from the series, and I loved Ahsoka and the clones even more. When the show was canceled, I was heartbroken. The end of season six was such a disappointment, and never knowing how the story continued made it hard to write.
Despite this being an AU, I work hard to write fanfiction that folds into the preexisting world. I want readers to feel like the story they are reading is a part of the canon, and I hope that they can imagine the events taking place. I know this work was posted long after the show ended, but we worked on it for some time before sharing it with all of you. Without a continued storyline, and without Megan, I felt no sense of direction. Megan was always the more imaginative one and without her, I just didn't know what to do or write next. The show was gone, my friend was gone, and my passion faded.
This by no means excuses the fact that I left all of you wondering what happened. I am sorry for disappearing and I cannot be more disappointed in myself for letting my readers down. You probably do not need to know my whole life story, and I am not going to be arrogant enough and assume you care, but I hope you can understand.
Where I Am Currently
Moving on from unloading on you, I am posting today to let you know that I am not dead! Moreover, I am ready to get back to work. For some of you, too much time has passed, and you may no longer be interested. If this is true for you, no hard feelings. Honestly, I'm grateful you gave it any attention at all. I am a realist, so I don't expect all of you to fall back in with me, but I will say it is my biggest hope that you do. Despite not posting, I did come back to my notes on and off throughout the years, and I still have some semblance of a timeline put together.
That being said, I do not plan to upload new content immediately. If this bothers you, again, I'm sorry. With so much time in between then and now, it should be no surprise that my writing has changed. Not only that but to be quite frank, a lot of what I wrote makes me blush in embarrassment. Looking back, I can tell now that my writing was super underdeveloped and lacking. There are many issues such as poor description, poor dialogue, frequent changes in verb tense, etc. First and foremost, I am working to correct those past mistakes and give you a better story.
There are going to be a lot of changes. I hate to do this to you, but if you stick around, I am asking you to please go back and read the re-written chapters when they are posted. It's a shitty thing to ask, but while the direction I am taking is similar to what it once was, it is by no means the same. If you need to, think of this as a recap or a brand-new story posted for the first time. It's been years. I'm sure everyone needs a refresher, myself included.
A week after I publish this author's note I plan on removing all but the first (and maybe the second) chapter(s). If you'd rather I keep the old chapters up until they are rewritten, please leave a comment and I will reconsider.
The Plan Going Forward
I should have the first re-written chapter up soon. For the sake of my sanity, I cannot promise a regular schedule for updating. In the past, I promised once a week. Now I understand that I shouldn't give myself such extreme deadlines and should instead write when inspired and take the time to proofread and rework sections when needed. Not to mention, my betas are either in school and working crazy hours or working and focusing on their mental health. Please, do not push me for an update.
Because this is now more of a work in progress, I am open to feedback and suggestions. I much prefer detailed comments rather than one-liners and "great job!" every chapter. If you think a character is OOC and something should be changed, let me know. If I am loaded with typos and bad grammar, let me know. If there is a scene you want or cheesy dialogue, let me know. I will try my best to make this something you can be a part of. I won't accept everything, but if it falls in line with what I envision, I will make it work.
This is essentially the end of my author's note.
The (Real) End of This Unnecessarily Long Note
To be honest, everyone can skip this part. There are just a few things I want to say to some specific people.
To VanillaChip101, this is 100 days too late, but I wanted to say thank you for your comment. It was just what I needed to come back to this. I played around with the idea for a long time, and seeing your comment in my inbox not only motivated me to post this note but also to come back and finish this story. I knew I never took it down, but I had no idea anyone was still reading it. I doubt you had any idea that your simple comment could bring me back, but it did, and I cannot thank you enough.
To Megan, we haven't spoken in a long time, but I continue to be inspired by what we created. I hope what I write is just as you imagined when we sat together back in high school. Even if you are no longer a part of it, I will not remove you as an author and will continue to credit you. This story is as much yours as it is mine. I wish you well, and I hope you are proud of what comes from our silly idea.
TL;DR
Go back and read it. You can skip The Apology and The (Real) End of This Unnecessarily Long Note, but the rest is kind of important. At least go read the bolded bits.
