I found the site last May (2011) and was instantly pulled in by the first story I read, Heather Rose Brown's story, Shoes. Those who have not read Shoes an the other part to that story, Brianna's big brother, should. It brought tears to my eyes.

I followed that up with The reluctant girlfriend by Melanie Brown, a wonderful story that really caused a lot of my addiction to this site. Then came the Epic of Biking wonder kid, Gaby Bond From Maddy Bell. I was up late, like 12:30 (and I had to be up at 2:45am at that time to get ready for work) reading this. I found myself taking breaks on the road to read "just one more chapter"

Since then I have tried to follow as much as I can, from Little Katie, to Andrea DiMaggio and a gang of others. Sorry Angharad, I've only scanned through many of the Bike stories. I read the more recent ones, but not the other 1600. I have some saved as a favorite, so I can go back and finish them. Others I find when someone asks "What was the title of this???" Oddly enough, that's how I found the Odyssey stories of Jennifer Sue. I found Becoming Robin and it became another one I couldn't put down. I think this site is what killed my last smart phone, just from me having to recharge my battery every couple of hours.

There are a lot of violent stories and while I know violence is a part of life, it takes a lot out of me to write it. I will read a lot of them, but sometimes I'm so pissed off, I can't comment, for fear I'll go off on a rant. But a lot of these stories is what gave me the drive to start writing here myself. I have written elsewhere and it failed because of the others on those sites would tear apart the writing. But here I've gotten a lot of good ideas from readers and those who comment, and I love that. I know I'm bad with tried, tired, then, than, and a bunch of other words. I thank Djkauf for finding my mistakes so I can feel good about the finished product.

As I think someone stated before, it's not just the writers here though, it's the readers. I was one once too. Then I got an account so I could leave kudo's for those wickedly awesome stories (I think my first kudo was on shoes. I had to go back and find it so I could give it.)

As I look at the account page, I find that I'll be a member for one year in two weeks, as of 5-21-2012, and honestly, I'm glad I am a member.

Never before have I seen a community of writers band together like this. One person has problems and you all are there to help. Sure, there's personality conflicts and people who may not like a story, but for the most part, everyone seems to look out for everyone. I know I get worried if I see a day pass by and no responses on any story, not just mine, from Stanman63, or from Bailey (or even a story too, lets face it, I think Bailey has the most current stories still ongoing right now), Dorthy Colleen or even Andera Dimaggio.

Well, once again thanks to those that write, but a bigger thanks to those that read.

Raff01