From Me to All of You: Thank You

To paraphrase the late, great Rod Serling, today's post is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction... but that doesn't make you any less my wonderful patrons. Today, I'm here to get a little personal, to reflect upon this past year, and to look ahead a bit at what comes next.

Though before I get gushy, let's talk about something a lot less fun. In February 2024, I lost my first Patreon page after some boneheaded errors on my end, but these were mistakes that I learned from and vowed never to repeat again, and I worked my way back to getting a new page. Even with knowing that I still had a potential path forward, it's little exaggeration to say that this might have been just about the second worst period of my life (try as it might, it can't quite beat finding my dad dead after swinging by his place to grab some lunch and the year of insanity that followed that), and as a guy who's fought a lot of anxiety and depression over the years, that's no laughing matter. Nevertheless, I worked hard, I learned my lessons, and after a couple months of uncertainty and worry, I found my way back to Patreon.

However, even though I was back, the worries still remained; after a fuckup of the magnitude I'd made, would anyone actually be interested in coming back to my Patreon? Was I just kidding myself with the thought that people might be interested in supporting me so they could hear more of my ramblings and see some additional content? If being away was anxiety-inducing, coming back was almost as hard, and I didn't know what to expect.

By all metrics, you've all proved me wrong. Over the past year, my page has grown more than I think I'd ever expected, and your enthusiasm has buoyed me as I stretched into a number of projects. It has been something of a lifelong dream to actually be able to make a living as a writer (a difficult proposition in general, made no easier by it being a lonely, maddening profession at the best of times), and after nearly two decades of trying, you, my wonderful patrons have gotten me closer than ever to making this dream a reality. Though the words feel inadequate for a sentiment like this, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Thank you for your faith in me, for your constant support, often keeping me going when I'm dealing with that good, old-fashioned imposter syndrome that comes as a side effect of my generation.

Thank you for, well, for being you, keeping the good vibes going and keeping this page as fun as it is to maintain.

Thank you for making this a wonderful, wild year, and I have every intention on making this the first of many.

So, what does the next year hold? Well, obviously we're going to continue on Spring Break Memories and Senior Year Memories, more Patreon Exclusives and ebooks, but beyond that, I've been toying with rolling out some new patron perks, new ways to try to entice more folk to join us in this neck of the woods, and even some new story ideas I've been debating, so, as ever, I'm keeping busy. Quite possibly too busy, but hey, it keeps life from being boring, and these days, I think we can all use a little fantasy to disappear into.

Once again, thank you all for sticking around here, and I look forward to providing you with more quality smut in the future. As ever, be good to yourselves, and to everyone else.

-aimingtomisbehave33