Life, the Universe and Everything.

[The Collector]

I should apologize.

I've been away, school and all that stuff. I have had no time to up anything sent to KI. I can hope theres another guy working on it, I can't. If I ever get the time through school-work to do so, I will. I have...9 pages of World History stuff to put into Cornell notes.

Then nextly this is the last time you'll ever see me! Everything is going to be scrapped. All projects will be put on permanent hold...maybe deleted. I may put together an "Incompleted Works of the Collector" and keep it somewhere, but probably not.

This is goodbye. In natural selection species with survivable traits live on. I do not have the surviviable traits to survive in the HW fiction forums...so I do not live on. My potential here is exhausted, and I give up. I just am not meant to write, never will be. Bye all, keep writing and stuff!

:P

This thread is gonna be moved isn't it?

Doesn't matter. My message has come through.

[Alpha_Monkey]

u know...u could just hang around for old times sake...u dont have to write...u could help the upcoming writers, teach them a few things...

But what the hell, we ain't gonna stop ya...good luck with things:(

[ionfish]

Collector, you're a dolt. :p

I remember when you first started spamming the boards and pissed everyone with your incessant posting. Hell, I was pissed too. But I've also seen you stay slogging away on your stories, making up for inexperience with sheer determination, no matter how few people responded.

You're part of what this place is now, and this place wants you to stay. :)

As for your imbecilic "natural selection" arguments... well, humans are social animals. We're not individuals, isolated from the rest of our kind; if we were, this forum wouldn't exist. Just because there are more popular writers doesn't mean they're better, or that you can't be appreciated too. You've won awards here, for god's sake, which is more than I've ever done.

Don't give up. If you do, of course you'll never be a great writer. EXPERIENCE IS EVERYTHING.

And I wanted you to post a story for the competition... god knows we've got few enough so far (none, to be exact). :(

[The Reflection]

Dark Discovery - 1 (http://www.strategyplanet.com/homeworld/rbarchive/fiction/DarkDiscover1.htm) 2 (http://www.strategyplanet.com/homeworld/rbarchive/fiction/DarkDiscover2.htm)

Before you go, click on those links.

Take a look at all of the replies you got. You must have recieved two or three dozen. Even I replied.
And read your afterword again.
Yes, you said yourself that you might not be able to reach Read status. But you also said that was not the only point. It was a chance to be original, to contribute something to the community.

Even then, I saw promise in your work. Maybe your prose wasn't Shakespearen, but then again, few people have that kind of talent. However, you were endlessly enthusiastic, full of energy, and the willingness to try something new. Months later, you proved it again by doing Stradatech: The Journey of Minds. I don't think anyone thought of doing a whole story from the Beast's point of view. Yet you did it.
That's about where I was maybe two years before Outside. Back then, my writing was not very good. It probably showed promise, but it was nowhere near where it is today. Similarly, with time you can improve, even if you feel that you are not "good enough" today.

Part of the problem might be this - you are improving, but so is everyone else. The bar is being constantly raised. I think back to last October when I first came here, and the stories were nothing like they were today. Now we have many broad, sweeping epics that have better characterization, diction, and more originality. It's like chasing the end of a rainbow - the closer you get, the farther away it is.
But that shouldn't discourage you. I mean, if you were in AP Calculus II your senior year and you got a 78%, should you be overly worried? The fact that you're in that class at all means you're gifted already. Should you be worried if you scored 46th in the National Spelling Bee? No, you should be proud you made it that far at all!

What I'm saying is, you've managed to become part of the community. We all respect you and your opinions. The fact that you are known in a forum with such good writers means that you are worth something. You yourself are a good writer. You should be proud.

I'm not going to stop you from leaving. What am I going to do, ban you? :) But I do urge you to reconsider. And if you do leave, but change your mind, I am sure we'll welcome you back.

Finally, whatever you decide, do keep writing (and reading). You will grow, even if you think growth is impossible. And you may one day find yourself with many followers of your own.

[-V-]

Indeed, Collector, you are part of this community, even though you may not post any new works, you should hang around hear, like me, the only works i have posted are locked behind closed doors in the Secret TMAT lab, unavialable to the public, anyhoo it dosen't matter if you don't do anything, you are PART of the community (not to mention all the peeps on the HW:C board read every work you ever posted there and can recite it by heart), and like reflection said, we can't make you stay, but it sure would be nice if you did...

[SephirCloud]

Keep writing! You can't leave!!! Don't say you're a bad writer, because you aren't! You're works are good, and if you look at the replies you got, everyone else seems to think so too!

Please stay at the RB, it'd be a shame to lose an author of your caliber.

btw, I hate Cornell notes, they're so boring... I'm taking World History next year. :/

[Aquarius]

Don't leave..

[Helix /DB/]

"I just am not meant to write, never will be. "

Oh boy...

Never let school get in the way of your education!

Leave if you will... We can't stop you. But never let Them enslave your mind like this! LIVE!!!

[The Collector]

I'm already in World History. They cram Cornell notes into me in World History...and English...and Chemistry...

I have nine pages of Chinese history to turn into Cornell. Fug, its due tomorrow!

In any case, if I did want to stay, Real Life, my good friend is keeping me stuck in front of a desk in front of a book slaving away on a evil something called school-work.

As of now I'm not feeling too well. As of now my time is effectively divided between brooding grim thoughts in my mind, suffering at school while reinforcing the wall between me and life, and picking a new lifestyle for myself.

As of now no goals have been met. I think the next reason why I have decided to throw in the towel is that I've lost all my files. All the "storage project" stuff has been lost. Its all gone...it would take a long time to re-assemble.

Maybe theres a part of me that wants to stay. If I do change my mind, what does that make me? Someone with no resolution? Whee!

Its intriguing that people actually replied? Very much so...projected for maybe 2-3 people. I'm actually touched that people care. My life is messed up. I'm too cynical...too negative, too unhappy, the concotion that makes for unhappy writers. Its affected my writing, as can be told by the Four Variants of the DDS Project.

Stress is ruining my mind. I have 12 projects that could be completed some day. Of these only 2 have ever been completed, and a few have seen the light of day, the others wait for the "Some day" which may never happen. My life is just...in disarray. I have to re-assert priorities as necessary. Self-esteem is at a all time low, and I can't ask people to just post drivel in my topics to patronize me...that'd just make me even sicker.

In any case, school is consuming all processing power. I'm trying to slowly unwind my cruddy attitude of life by playing Infantry. After killing enough little avatars of people with blue dashes I may return. Or I might just get addicted to Infantry and I really wont return.

Stradetch was never completed. I have realized that...I may just give away the endings for all the stuff, or for those optimists, we'll get there in due time;we'll get to point c, and pass point b too.

:P

That and I just realized yesterday this board was up. Now that I know for sure that this board is here to stay the chance of me staying increases.

[blackjack]

You've started only 12 projects?

C, I have, at current count... 42 short stories, 6 novellas, and a novel in the works. I have finished, in my career, 4 shorts and one novella. Over a period of two years.

AS for priorities, I know what you mean, but if you like writing then you don't find time - you make it. Life can be hectic and depressing and just plain bizarre, but if you're a writer at heart - and I know you are - then you'll always be pulled back to it, and you'll regret leaving a community of writers who accepted and (dare I say) helped you.

School is tough yes - if you want to take a break from writing for a while I suggest you do so and come back to it when you have time again. But don't leave "for good"... you'd be sorely missed by all of us here in the Lounge. :( :)

Stayyyy... pleeeeeeeeeease?

[ceejayoz]

Collector, you're a valuable and important part of these boards. I've enjoyed your fiction, the fiction forum would be lacking without your input.

I understand if you have to take time off because of school and stuff. But don't EVER think that your writing isn't good enough, that no one likes it. Lots of famous poets, authors, artists, etc. wouldn't be famous if they had given in to their self-doubt.

Please don't go :)

[Maverick_3058]

Writing should be leisurely; and what is "good" in an expressive art form is always subjective(well, excepting people who are incapable of using punctuation or the caps lock key as they should be used...:p )and arbitrary to the observer and their own perceptions. I should know, I originally found the boards because of Fiction, and even though what story concepts I've made up have never been wrought upon a page, I've found that just through letting them stand causes change in incorporating new ideas and evolving into a more lively story than originally thought.
Patience is key, a damned good story is a damned good story in mine eyes, whether it took an hour or a century to make.

[crobato]

What are you taking Chinese history for? Anyway, if you got questions about thing on Asian history, send me a message. I've been making some studies on Chinese history myself.

[The Collector]

No, its a section on Chinese history in World History.