I feel like this post is kind of overdue, but I've been putting off writing it because this is basically like one of those speeches that people make at weddings. Or funerals. Or like when Rory Gilmore graduated from Chiltern and what no of course I didn't get misty-eyed when I watched that episode shut up.
[this bit's okay. let's hope I don't mess up Nate's tag]
This is a thank you letter to @Nate and YWS in general. Probably everyone else who I would specifically tag are long gone, or go by different usernames now so I wouldn't even know who to tag. But you probably know who you are.
[this is the sappy avoid-eye-contact part]
I joined YWS in 2007. I was hopelessly rude and awkward, and my writing was a sprawling mess of egotistical purple prose. Now in 2015, I'm still awkward and I do still love a pretty metaphor. But by and large, I'm a massive improvement from the person and writer that I was eight years ago, and while some of that came about through, well, living, so much of that also came about through being on YWS. The community here, the writing forums, the chat, the blogs. Interacting with so many different people, learning about other people's lives and the stories they had to tell. It's not an exaggeration to say that YWS shaped me and changed me for the better.
[don't worry, this is the conclusion, it's almost over]
When I joined the site, I had a few vague, half-formed ideas about finishing a novel one day and maybe doing something in publishing. Now I'm Consultant Editor at a literary agency, and a freelance ghostwriter. I have business cards and everything. There are books I've read and edited that are getting published - and it's amazing. And I owe so much of that to YWS.
[this is the part where I make jokes to hide my emotions because I'm too cool for feelings]
So thanks for all the fish. Kids, stay in school, eat your vegetables, and mind the Critique Sandwich.
The Critique Sandwich is still a thing, right? I'm not that out of touch, right?
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