If I Could Cuddle My Dogs All Day I Would

Hii!! I'd love to know about your plans for the acotar 6 release! Will you be doing anything special to make a moment of it? And will you be posting your reactions as you read, or waiting until you've finished and had a moment to digest it all?

I don't have any official plans yet! I'll probably just read at home and yell at anyone who will listen to me in discord. I'm also AWFUL about spoilers and will be reading them because I just can't help myself!

Also, getting margaritas with @amandapearls!

The problem is that people only see the finished commission and create a narrative around it, without knowing everything that happened behind the scenes. Then those assumptions get repeated as fact.

Not everything is public, and not everything should have to be. Real friendships don't exist for the internet's approval.

One thing I'd ask is for people to use a little common sense and remember that not everything is about ships or "us vs. them." Sometimes it's simply about making connections, supporting artists, and building friendships.

Unfortunately, in communities this large, there will always be people who take advantage of others with big hearts. And there will also be people who are just as quick to turn situations into fandom discourse without taking the time to learn the full story, ask questions, or seek clarification. Instead, they jump to conclusions based on preconceived ideas about an entire group.

I try my best not to put all Elriels in one box because I know some who are genuinely kind people. Several have even expressed frustration with the behavior coming from parts of their own side and have chosen to distance themselves from the more toxic corners of the fandom since I joined in 2021. Every side has people like that. Every large community does. This isn't unique to ACOTAR, and it certainly isn't unique to one ship. The loudest voices are rarely representative of everyone, and I think we'd all be better off remembering that.

hi anon, thank you for taking the time to write this.

This situation blindsided a lot of people. I and many others had no clue about any of the scamming until four days ago when it was mentioned for the first time publicly after two commissioners stepped up to pay an artist scammed by Katie.

And my hearts breaks for the artists and commissioners who were affected by her actions. When the news broke and people started talking more about what was going on behind the scenes, I genuinely felt so bad for those who were taken advantage of. They put their trust, time, energy, and money in someone they thought was a friend, and were left out to dry.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for the parties involved, some of who were terrified of the news going public. Users have stated online that they knew of Katie scamming people in private but were scared of being seen as unprofessional, hard to work with, or having their reputation and livelihood tarnished by a user who had a large following, so they kept quiet instead. That is something that weighs heavy on your mind, especially when you have no idea who they are even going to target next.

"Not everything is public, and not everything should have to be. Real friendships don't exist for the internet's approval."

I couldn't agree more. The things that I have learned have made me gain so much respect for those who did the best they could in a bad situation. They respected the artist's wishes to not make the drama public and quietly paid hundreds of dollars out of their own pocket to try and set things right.

And I agree that this never should have been a "shipping" issue to begin with. As you mentioned, it's bound to happen in a fandom as big as ACOTAR, that people hop onto a situation and make post after post, bashing and generalizing communities, without any real care for those who were affected.

However, I'm choosing to not pay much mind to those individuals. At the end of the day, you can lay out all the facts and someone is still going to think and say what they want. But as you said, the loudest voices don't represent everyone and that's something I find peace in.

I'm proud of those who banded together to get artists the money they are owed, reach out to commissioners who were scammed, and are still actively trying to show support for those affected by Katie's actions. Because no matter what anyone thinks, that is what matters most in this situation.

I think Nestastits is a nice girl who is valid in her anger but has been manipulated. That is a fact I choose to believe. She was manipulated.

If she came back after taking a break, her Gwynriel mutuals would still welcome her with open arms. I don't believe anyone wishes her any ill. Are we all frustrated and angry? Yes for many reasons.

I wish she heard from some people, personally for me I have nothing further to explain and we don't know each other, but you can't expect people not to react when the same group of people that have harmed her mutuals/community in some ways are excused of all their wrongdoing because one person triggered it. It wasn't about the Katie situation anymore, it was about settling personal scores and some of those people would've discarded her after using her in the long run. I don't wish that on anyone.

The only reason some of you didn't know that is because people made assumptions without having the full story.

We know exactly who took care of the artists, those people may not want credit but I’m not letting anyone else who didn’t spent a single cent take credit for it either. Artist were paid before any post was made. No one’s post prompted payment, it happened BEFORE.

I have no issue with people sharing their own experiences with someone who treated them like shit. Guess what? She treated a lot of us the same way. That's exactly why many of us cut ties with her over a year ago.

𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓅𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝒷𝓎 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉..

✨ Art by: etherealart008

✨ Commissioned by: @miseryreads

air all grievances I have about any and everyone to tumblr. Because elriels deserve to know why I'm mad.

make survivor style videos explaining why I felt the need to block someone

Everyone has free will. Period. Unless you’re Ella Enchanted or something and under a spell of obedience (and even she has LOTS of free will,) we all make all our own choices and those choices have consequences. What free will does not give us is the gift of foresight. We cannot see the future. We cannot know what the consequences of our choices will be, we make them with the best information we have and then we see what happens.

Fate is not a removal of our choices. It is not a prison or a pair of handcuffs or a slave master. Fate is the force that CAN see the future. Fate sees the path *we have chosen* to walk. Fate knows where that path leads, and it puts things for us on that path to help us. Sometimes it’s gifts like a lucky chance or an unexpected benefit. Sometimes it’s lessons that teach us something we are going to need later. But the choice of the path is always ours. The consequences are always ours too.

An author *is* Fate to their characters. And free will too. The act of writing is choosing the path, knowing where the path will lead, and putting interesting and valuable things on that path - for the characters and for the readers to find.

Choices made in anger, resentment, or fear are NOT free will. That is you being controlled. Either by the forces of emotions you have not mastered, or by other people who can use those emotions to manipulate you. This is the path of the Jedi. To master one’s emotions, not so that you don’t feel any. But so that they don’t control your free will and you can’t be manipulated with them.

When you have any character who is dealing with big emotions they haven’t processed or healed, you have someone who is making or will make some very bad choices. Fate knows this. Fate will still put things and people and experiences in their path, dark as that path may be, that will help nudge them towards the light. In some stories this may be a fated mate. Fate knows the future. Fate knows what you will need. Fate will keep offering it to you until you see that you need it (a story with a happy ending,) or you die (a tragedy.)

I don't regret extending my empathy for someone who I witnessed get publicly bullied multiple times, because that's who I am. I extend empathy to others while their intentions is their own.

And because I don't wish it upon anyone. I know what that feels like from firsthand experience in the past 5+ years. I always tried to have my friends' back and supported people who were treated unfairly and cruelly, because it can fuck you up if you didn't have a support system. Because let's not forget people receive death threats in this community and there are people that find absolute joy in harming others. And by saying that, it does not absolve Katie of what she did, I have defended countless of Gwynriels and Eluciens and other people. I don't need to make a list.

What I will not do, not now or ever, is excuse someone who screwed over co-commissioners (my friends included) and artists by not paying or treating them unfairly based on what has been shared (because I was not in spaces where those issues took place or addressed). I will never forgive her for it. As someone who has been commissioning for a long time and has wonderful friendships with artists, my stance is known so I don't even need to say this. Again, we all had different experiences with the same person and we were not aware of the issues other people have picked up on (not until it was brought up just a day ago).

Instead of supporting the commissioners who were affected by this, what I'm seeing is blame. "Guilty by association" is not a fair verdict to throw around when some of those commissioners covered the costs of someone who screwed them over. Those commissioners spent time and money wanting to give something beautiful to the community. It's human to give someone the benefit of the doubt or hope they'll do better so are you going to blame people for showing an ounce of decency and humanity? Again, it depends on your experience with that person. The topic is shifting into harassment and blame rather than focusing on how we protect those artists and commissioners and that is unfair to me.

I have nothing further to say or would rather protect my peace because everything that needed to be said and done has been accomplished.

To add:

If you have a personal score to settle with someone, if you had a bad experience with someone, you have every right to speak about your experience, but I am not your scapegoat in your angry rampage. Especially if you have not interacted with me, don't know me personally or what my own experience was or my level of interaction with other people. I don't owe you an explanation for that.

Gwyn looks absolutely majestic as Freya!

Art by @junepage and commissioned by @booknerd87

Link to post

"I CAN HEAR YOUR HEART BEATING THROUGH THE STONE, CAN YOU HEAR MINE?"

"MOST BEAUTIFUL FEMALE HE'D EVER SEEN"

FOR NOTHING??? Oh pleaseee make it make sense