The Risks

FINAL NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I have absolutely no words, but I'm going to try to say some things anyway.

I don't even know how to explain how huge of a deal it is to me that I've finished this story. Some of you may know this, but I started working on this when I was fifteen years old (I'm twenty six now if that tells you anything lol). I didn't start posting it online until a couple years ago, when I put it on here. And let me tell you, that was the scariest shit ever. It was so scary, that I actually panicked and deleted it at first. But, finally, I got brave enough to leave it on here, and eventually, people started reading it, voting on it, and commenting on it.

And I just have to say, I never could have finished this story without you all.

I'd written solely for myself for so long, and that's great and all, but it never really gave me much drive to finish it. But when I knew that there were people out there who loved the story, loved the characters, who wanted to know what happened next... that's what gave me the motivation to keep writing at it and see it through.

So thank you. Thank you all so damn much for helping me get this thing done. Thank you for your kind words, the validation you have given me, your patience while I struggled to turn thoughts into chapters. As cheesy as it may sound, thank you all for going on this journey with me. I can never explain to you how much it means to me.

(I wrote all that right after I'd typed out the last few sentences for this story, so I was feeling a little emotional and sentimental. Lol)

Anyway, I struggled for a while with how to end this story. How to bring together and finish up so many years of work into a few paragraphs? I knew that after all Claire had been through -from starting as someone who refused to let anyone in, who was terrified of love- that it needed to end with her being surrounded by the ones she loved most, and her knowing that she was loved, and loving in return. I'm always going to be my own worst critic, but I hope it was a satisfying ending for everyone involved.

So... where do we go from here? Well, I'll probably do a rewrite for this story (because the work will never actually be done for it, there will always be something I'll want to change, dialogue I'll want to tweak, new scenes I've thought of). I'll probably eventually post the rewritten version on another platform. We'll see. I'll keep you updated.

Other than that, I plan on working on Worth the Reward (a retelling of this story through Parker's perspective) and another little something that I've been meaning to work on for several years now. Follow me on here and/or on Instagram (link in bio) to keep in touch and stay updated! Also, (and better yet, honestly) you can follow me on TikTok as _emjayrey_ where I'll be posting... random writing shit. Lol

Also, I never get tired of talking about this story or these characters, so if there are any questions –about anything- please feel free to ask.

Okay, that's all, I think.

Again, thank you so much for being here.

Love,

M.J. Rey