This is Us [ Elijah Mikaelson ] 2

Series Update!

I apologize for the chapter notification when it's not a chapter! I'm not the biggest fan of these in stories, but I felt that I needed to post one since I have a lot of new readers for Forget Me Not and This is Us, and many of them aren't followers so they may not get my announcements.

I hit a really hard spot around this time last year. I had just finished writing the third draft of my book (the one based off this fic), was doing editing, getting Beta reader feedback. I was doing cover design and interior formatting. I was getting ready to publish for Feb/March of last year but then...well, I got depressed and stressed out and I started reading a lot more and to be quite honest... Writing To the Moon and Back just felt like a chore. I didn't even want to look at it, even though I had like 9 chapters written. I didn't even want to look at my original book that I had spent a year working on.... and it sucked and I felt so sad.

I had so many ideas and I had the plot for the third book all planned out, and it was going to be angsty and heavy but so so good. It was going to feature Finn and Freya and Dahlia! I had SOOOOO much planned and I was so excited to write it and go into book 4 which was going to be a wrap up book about Penny turning into a vampire and learning how to cope with that and her training and getting used to everything on top of the whole family dynamic, and time skips that would eventually lead into a sequel featuring Robin, Elijah and Penny's foster/adoptive daughter and Kol. 

Unfortunately, I think I got burnt out of Elijah and Penelope. From spending 2 years writing this fic, and the original book series inspired by this fic, I think I just got burnt out. I was feeling inspiration or muse for them anymore despite all my ideas for book 3 and 4, for Kols fic, for Klaus and Rose's fic. I even had ideas and plans for a fic for Rebekah! I had so many plans and ideas that I was once excited about and all that excitement and inspiration was gone. 

I tried to keep writing and pushing through the words to finish chapter 10 because I knew all of you were so excited.... but honestly the lack inspiration started months before I finished posting This is Us... and I thought working on my book would help - it didn't. It only made it worse. I made a mistake in not taking a break from the fic and coming back later... I kept pushing and kept trying to write so i can get to a good point in the fic to start posting but it never came. I looked at chapter 10, in its half-finished state every day and I just couldn't do it anymore. I struggled to type a few sentences, and soon I kept turning my attention to books. I read some dark romances, some historical ones... some that just maybe would help me with my inspiration. I tried reading Elijah fics but couldn't keep interested in any of them... 

Then I got really sick in March and I put on my comfort movie, which is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (idk why but I always watch that movie when I'm sick. It's on repeat lol). And then I remembered my old fic I wrote back in high school, and the second rewrite of that...and the third rewrite, and I remembered all the ideas I had for that so I started reading HP fanfics again, rereading some of my old favorites, trying to find new ones and nothing was scratching the itch. I decided to re-read the series for the first time in years as a seasoned adult, and I forgot how much I loved the books... and it only got me wanting to find more fics but I couldn't find any that scratched the itch but as I kept reading I was building my fic in my head... and then May of last year I finally bit the bullet and started writing Never Let Me Go, and I realized that I wasn't having writers block. 

I wasn't originally going to discontinue the series, but as I kept writing Never Let Me Go (even a Sirius fic project on the side) I realized that I just had no more inspiration for the Forget Me Not Series. I even went back and reread everything I had written from the beginning and...nothing. It wasn't writers block making it hard, I was just finished telling Elijah and Penelope's story. Even though there was so much more I wanted to tell, I realized that maybe that was the story I needed to tell.

I told myself I wasn't going to end This is Us on a big cliffhanger like I did Forget Me Not. I wanted it to have it's own ending because I didn't know when I'll be done with the third book (since it was going to be longer than the others) and I didn't want everyone to be left waiting too long. 

I'm happy with how This is Us ended.... even though I know everyone wants to see Elijah and Penny as parents, and baby Leo.... unfortunately, I can't continue writing this series :/ Their story is finished and they have their happy ending. 

I may in the future post the handful of chapters I do have with a disclaimer that it's incomplete and will probably remain that way...however, as of right now I'm not. I like how This is Us has ended. I'm not sure if I'll post my original work version of this fic up since it ends on a sort of cliffhanger, but one day I might.

I'm really, truly, from the bottom of my heart so sorry to everyone who has been waiting for the third book to come out. I kept getting questions in the comments of the thank you message, questions on my board, and unfortunately, people have been commenting on my current fic (Never Let Me Go) on when I'll be posting the third book (please don't do this. it is very rude and I had to delete the comments and will delete any future comments like it). Again, I also hate when there's an update post made in a fic and you think it's an update when it's not... some new readers who have been asking in various places, don't follow me and haven't checked my updates on my board.. so I felt that maybe this post is necessary.

Thank you, to every single reader! Honestly, it makes me happy that you all have enjoyed these fics so much and you love their story (or maybe you're just here for the smut). But thank you all so, so, SO much! It truly means a lot to me! Maybe one day I'll have the inspiration again to continue, and if I do you'll know...but until then... Elijah and Penny's story is complete. They have their Happily Ever After :)