#keeping strong

Keeping Strong August 8, 2008 - July 12th 2019

I can't believe its already been almost 2 years since I finished this fic. When I first started writing it, I was a sixteen year old girl who had just learned one of her dear friends was pregnant, and this story bloomed from her hardships and struggles.

Almost 11 years old, this story saw me through a lot of life, and it has always been near and dear to my heart. Would I go back and change things or write it differently if I had the chance? The "grown-up" writer in me would say yes. But the idea I had when I first put pen to paper couldn't be erased, and I'm glad I was able to portray not only my teenage heart, but also the adult-way of taking care of such a sensitive subject.

If you'd like to read Sango and Miroku's journey - of friendship, hardship, love, and loss - this fic can be found on both AO3 and FFN.

It’s officially done.

After over a decade, this story has finally reached its completion. It amazes me that not only was I able to finish it, but it has traveled across such a huge portion of my life. I started this fic as a novice writer, a sheltered high school kid, and a girl looking for an outlet from reality. It has survived my high school years, a divorce, a break up, dropping out of college and starting again, a four-year hiatus, friendships that have ended and friendships that began, a new job, a new house, and traveling the world. It feels amazing to know I was able to bring this story to its destined ending after such a long time.

Special thanks to @iliveondaydreams for beta-ing; helping me to achieve my dream of reviving this fic, rewriting its entirety, and helping it reach its conclusion. My gratitude is far greater than words can express. And a lovely shout-out to @hinezumi for being so kind as to give it the little extra push it needed to reach its end. You are such a rockstar. 

And of course, as always, an endearing thank you to all my readers & followers who have stuck with this story for more than a decade, picked it up along the way, or just fell in love with it a short time ago. All the reviews, favorites, and alerts have helped inspire me to keep this story alive and to finish it in its entirety. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. 

As this adventure ends, I do hope to see you all in my other stories & future works. Till next time! 

KougaAyameOTP (Guest) reviewed Yesterday’s Promise: Ayame doesn’t have a grating voice - Kagome has one that makes me cringe. So by you describing Ayame like that and having her alone in  your stories means you don’t like her. I hate Kagome and Rin (at any age). 

KougaAyame OTP (Guest) reviewed Keeping Strong: Now I know why I didn’t save this story to be alerted when you update - Kouga is with some female who ISN’T Ayame. I am so tired of finding stories where they are not paired or she ends up being second choice. *shakes head* The above is not my ID on here. They are my OTP and I hate Kouga being with any female who isn’t Ayame. Deal with it. Kouga/Ayame is CANNON.

..

So, to all of my followers who haven’t read either of the stories mentioned above, let me do a quick break down for you. Keeping Strong is a story about Sango, a pregnant teenager, who is taken under the wing of Miroku, a soon-to-be college student. This story is literally about MirSan and InuKag. Kouga is only mentioned and doesn’t actually make an appearance. Ayame works at her grandfather’s restaurant, and is sort of a boss to Sango. And Yesterday’s Promise is a story about Kikyou reliving past memories with Inuyasha when she finds his picture in the Wedding Announcement section of a newspaper. Ayame serves her coffee at a cafe. Kouga is never mentioned. 

When I receive reviews like this, the first thing I want to do is explain to the reader my choice regarding certain characters they like, but unfortunately in many of these cases, the reviewers are too scared to use their real ID names so I can’t reply back. In this instance, I can tell this particular person is immature and probably a teenager who is still understanding the world. 

Let’s get one thing straight: Writers are not here to please everyone. Each person has a different taste or interest that will not suit everyone. And that’s okay! We are allowed to be different. That’s what makes this world so beautiful and unique. If we all liked the same things, we’d have a pretty boring world, you know? 

So, next time as a reader you wish a writer had written a certain pairing, reach out to them! Don’t leave these lame reviews on their stories, because honestly, it’ll probably get ignored. If this person had reached out to me and said, “Hey, I like your writing, but I love Kouga/Ayame. Any chance you’ll be writing for them?” they would’ve received the response from me, saying, “Yes! As a matter of fact, I have a couple stories that are Kouga/Ayame-centric that I have in the works, but are just not yet ready to post. So make sure to follow me, or I’ll let you know when they’re posted! :)” 

Now, see? Isn’t that a much more pleasant exchange? Please, reviewers, let your writers know how much you mean to them. Let them know that they matter, and that their stories matter. Because the more of these kind of reviews we receive, the less we want to write. 

To be fair, this is the first summer I’ve been off of school in years, and the first summer I didn’t have to worry about going back to school. So I kind of... splurged..

Including a birthday surprise party for my mom, a graduation party for me, a trip to Tennessee, a trip to Texas, a trip to New Orleans, several baseball games, several concerts, and several nights out on the town. 

Do I have any regrets? Absolutely not. 

However, now that the summer is drawing to a close and I’ve gotten my first taste of freedom out of my system, I’ve decided to buckle down and get my life together. 

Meaning: working out at the gym every chance I can, getting settled into a new job, and saving money up so I can buy my own place. 

On the bright side, this means writing will probably occupy my time more (if Netflix doesn’t). 

As long as my brain cooperates. 

And I cranked out another scene for Keeping Strong tonight. So that’s good I guess...

Yeah... This rant was pretty pointless. But I felt I needed to post something. 

Toodles. 

Considering I started this fic back in 2008, it kind of feels surreal. It’s almost 9 years old. 

Forgive me, love?

On the bright side, once she works her magic through my mess of a chapter, Keeping Strong will get an update ;)