Hello! Let's see, where to start...

My name is Steph, best known as Stephaniiie (or StephaniiieJo if someone has stolen my penname). My fanfic account did pretty well (if I do say so myself ;)) a couple of years ago as did my original stories on Inkpop (The Hard Way to Learn a Lesson and Yo Yo). I loved reviews and comments and made some great friends in both communities.

However, just as I began to withdraw from writing fanfictions and focus on writing my original stories in order to fulfil my dream of becoming a writer, Inkpop was closed down, much to my utter disappointment. Despite missing the incredible comments and friendships I never posted these stories anywhere else because I did not find a website I liked and trusted as much as Inkpop (especially being from the UK).

On top of that, I got a boyfriend in real life, went to Uni, moved 300 miles away, got a hamster... etc, etc and writing took a backseat. Only, I allowed writing to take so much of a backseat for so long that, in fact, it ended up in the rarely-opened boot (trunk to you folks in the USA). As a result, although I wished so much that I could reconnect with my beloved characters and writing friends, my writing ability seemed to have dropped into the abyss never to be found again and I didn't write a single word for a year and a half. I cannot tell you how painful it is when you have to think about future careers and all you want to be is a writer - but you cannot write. It's like a future broadway star losing their voice; a sportsman losing a vital limb; or an artist losing their soul. When you lose all that's keeping you doing what you love - in my case, inspiration - it's like a part of you is missing.

But everyday I still read each review that came into my inbox - although the number became fewer everyday - and each of these peoples' kind words would add a little spark of hope that one day I would step back into my writer's shoes, work through the blisters as I wore them in again and become the writer I was. Today is not that day - far from it - but today IS the day I have dug my writer's shoes out again and squeezed my feet back into them. I know that my writing won't be what it used to be, but I hope that by writing a little everyday I will slowly get better and get back to who I used to be; only better.

I am going to be reposting my original story Yo Yo on here chapter by chapter in the hope that someone out there still thinks of it and wonders what would have become of Callie, Jesse, Aaron, Hattie and all the rest. I hope that that someone DOES exist and I hope that they (you?) are reading this now. If you are, thank you for words of support in the past that have brought me back here, to the online writing community, and please PLEASE read Yo Yo and PRETTY PLEASE leave a little comment to say if you like it (I cannot stress enough how much this would mean)! Constructive criticism is always going to be welcome here because I know my writing, my characters, will not be perfect and I will do virtually anything to make them so!

I apologise for this extremely long and boring explanation of my extended absence and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading it. If you have a moment to spare I would love it if you would spare the moment on my beloved story!

Any PMs are more than welcome and I promise I shall reply!

Thanks again to anyone who is reading this, I eagerly await any response!

-Steph