Okay so I've gotten this question from many readers over the past few days and figured that I would answer it here for those of you that care to look for an answer.
Yes, I removed my stories and my profile from FictionPress, yes there is an actual reason for this abrupt departure.
You see I'm an adult. I was raised in a time where it was polite to say thank you when someone gave you something or did something for you. I was taught that I wasn't entitled to anything that I didn't earn whether it was something of monetary value or as abstract as respect it didn't matter, if I didn't earn it, I shouldn't expect to get it.
For over a year now, I have been giving my readers something and asking for nothing in return, heck I've even thanked them for taking the time to read my stories. There are a few that took the time to thank me for posting my work or even went so far as to tell me how much they enjoyed the stories which always makes my day. Recently there have been less and less of those types of comments and more and more of the entitled rants that seem to be the trademark of recent generations that think they are somehow deserving of everything for nothing.
I get that the internet has put everything at everyone's fingertips and it's easy to believe that the content that appears on your screen just magically pops up there for your sole benefit but really that's not how it works. There is an actual person out there that spends their time to create these things that you take for granted because they are free and readily available. There are people, like me, that have busy lives but enjoy the creative process of crafting a well told story and admittedly, it's nice when other people read and enjoy those stories but in the end they are mine to share or not to share if I so choose. No one is entitled to free access to my work.
I recently pulled a couple of my finished stories to try my luck at getting them published. The first is still out there looking for a home but just last week I signed a contract to publish Loving Sarajevo. I was so excited that someone thought something I wrote was good enough to publish that I shared it with my readers thinking they would be happy for me but apparently that is not the case.
I received far more PM's telling me how disappointed people were that I had removed what had apparently been many people's favorite stories. Imagine my surprise at this since I had never received a review or a PM from any of the people that were complaining about the removal of the stories until they PMed me to complain. My very favorite was from one person (I won't name names because I'm not that sort of person) that simply said, "I am so disappointed. I stopped reading this in the middle because I needed to study for mid terms and when I came back it was removed. Now I have to pay to read the rest of it? So unfair!"
Well let me clue you into something here, something I learned long ago, LIFE IS NOT FAIR! A much better way to express your disappointment would have been along the lines of this person who expressed much the same sentiment but in a totally different way (and of course on a different site). "Is that why it's been hidden...? *cries* I was in the middle of reading it! Oh, well... gonna go and buy it; congrats!!" (I sent her a copy by the way because if you notice she said congrats and wow was that nice to hear or what?)
So anyway, this is why I removed my stories from FictionPress and will never post anything there again. If you still want to read my stories feel free to come on over to AFF, of course you have to be over 18 which I find isn't that big of a deal since my stuff is mostly for a mature audience anyway. Here's the link to my list of stories: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296958003
In closing, thanks to those of you that read my stories, I still appreciate the fact that you're reading and enjoying them. Of course letting me know occasionally helps but it's not required.
CL
