Party in my head and you're invited · 4:53pm January 25th
Two years ago, I wrote Catch Us If You Can and entered it into Bicyclette’s inaugural M/M shipping contest, and when the results came out, I was met with some of the kindest things anybody has ever said about my writing. The quote that sticks out to me the most is this breath-catching claim from Bike themselves:
i did not expect to also get the best romance story i have yet to read on this website.
Two years later, Bike honoured me by asking if I could help judge the third edition of the M/M shipping contest, which was an incredible amount of fun. And the winning entry gave me the distinct, full-circle pleasure of experiencing what Bike experienced two years ago.
Please read Reward Prefers Risk.
Look.
I can be a cynical reader. I can’t control it. There is a part of my brain that begins sounding an alarm at the slightest hint of danger (or lack thereof) that a story I’m enjoying is going to let me down in the end. I call it “story anxiety”. It happens with professionally published works as badly as with amateur fanfiction, even though it is constantly proven wrong by stories that I end up loving all the way through. Go back and read it again, it whispers. You just missed why it sucks, because you’re Bad At Reading.
And that’s why reading Reward Prefers Risk was such a unique experience, because that part of my brain didn’t switch on for even a second. I was carried from start to finish like I was a baby.
That’s all. I make no promises on any future writing, because I have nothing planned and I can’t be trusted with those sorts of promises anyways. But judging with Bike, Vivi, and Otter, and seeing the caliber of stories that are still coming out on fimfiction to this day, I feel uniquely inspired to buckle down and write out a long-ish story that I’ve had sitting in the freezer since 2019. It's probably still good, right? Nothing ever goes bad in the freezer.
We’ll see.
More importantly, I wanted to say that I love this community, and all of the people in it, to absolute pieces, and I'm convinced that I will continue to pop my head in here every once in a while to see what you crazy kooks are up to until the day I die. And this particular kook AltruistArtist was up to some great stuff, and I wanted to share it to those who may have missed it. If you’re following me, you should follow them. That’s just science.
Happy 2024,
M-
You remain the best bird, Miller.
Also before even looking at the story itself, wow what a good title. That would grab my eye out in the wild in a heartbeat.
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It is definitely a smart choice to not call it Hlight Foresetten Plight, but Superfans know that that's the real title :<
Good to hear from you Rao. You are a treasured voice and soul both.
Seeing this in my feed today took me completely by surprise, but what a lovely surprise it is. You already wrote such an incredibly kind review of Reward Prefers Risk as a part of the contest results and I could not have asked for more. Thank you so much for sharing it here, and thank you for brightening my day, Miller!
I’m genuinely glad to have been the crazy kook to provide this full-circle experience for you, haha. That is such a cool feeling. And I’m especially glad to know you’ve been inspired to return to work on a past writing project! (And no, nothing ever goes bad in the freezer. Definitely not). I don’t know if my story can claim any credit for that, but all the same I always hold the hope that the things I create can inspire others to create as well. I know how amazing it feels to experience art that makes you want to make art and I’ll always do my best to foster that. I share the feeling of having a lot of love and appreciation for this community and after reading on here for so many years, it’s a wonderful thing to now be sharing my own writing and seeing how much it’s made people feel.
And lastly, don’t think Catch Us If You Can hasn’t been at the top of my reading list since this contest connected me with it! I have been chomping at the bit to get in there and give it a heap of comments, especially after your wonderful words for my story. (My time is maddeningly limited these days since I inadvisably chose the busiest point in my academic career to start genuinely engaging with this community — but ponies get me through. No one should attempt this, and If anything brings me to crazy kook status, it’s that I did
).
If I had to save one in an aviary, it would be you, Miller! You’re definitely the Mockingjay! :)
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So this hopefully isn't a premonition for you, but my most prolific writing period definitely came during my most rigorous academic period. Graduating and forging a path out in the dreaded Real World has taken most of my writing spunk away. But I have gotten back to it here and there.
I will reach into the freezer, at the very least, and see what I find.
Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your studies!
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Why aren't you saving the entire aviary, Monokeras? Are you trying to break my entire heart?
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Because you’re alone in the aviary? :p
A Miller chirping in one's hand is worth two in the hush.