Alrighty. I'm going to see if this eligible (again) for submission so fingers crossed that it is (editorial notes with an update as to whether or not it is will be shown below). There's a lot that I want to say so brace yourselves for a long monologue.

I seriously hope that this new "submission form" works out as well as I hope it will. Because last year's Wattys were a MESS. I don't know if you guys knew this or saw anyone talking about it but there were a lot of stories that made it through the first round that didn't even meet the criteria. I can't even remember what the criteria was because I have the Wattys 2018 completely erased from memory but all I know is that it was a god awful mess and it pissed a lot of people off. So hopefully this form clears out the garbage that shouldn't even be there and actually showcases the real talented stories (I'm not saying the stories were garbage. They just never met the criteria which made a lot of people upset because they, like myself, have been entering for years and felt very overlooked).

I know I finished this story quite some time ago. Almost a year I think and it still hasn't found its footing as fast as I want it to. With the Wattys I'm hoping this story will finally find the audience I've been wanting to reach out to. I find in literature these days there aren't a lot of f/f representation (but if there are books out there, recommend them to me! No matter what the genre is) so I wanted to write something to contribute to the lack of rep out there. It would mean the world to me if I made it to the winner's circle and my story finally found the audience and readers it's been looking for.

Also you may be wondering why Harry Potter? Harry Potter is my entire childhood. I was 9 when I read my first Harry Potter book. I'm 28 now so for me it's almost 20 years of the wizarding world being an influence on my life. The books and movies were how my friends and I bonded. My 5th grade teacher read the first three books to us everyday at the end of the school day. She'd do this really good impression of Hagrid's voice and always had some kind of merch up around the classroom. My class even took a trip to the movie theater to see The Philosopher's Stone and I remember everyone cheered when the movie started and when the credits rolled. It was was such a magical experience for me at the time and it still is to this very day. I'm even collecting the 20th anniversary Ravenclaw edition books and my mother is like "do you really need them? You have the series already" yes but I mean it's RAVENCLAW. The superior house. My house. The covers are stunning and the bonus material inside is very interesting. I'm getting every one when it comes out so suck on that mom! (I'm kidding. Love you ma). 

It's the love of the series I wanted to share and bestow onto Nora. Mind you I don't have as much merch as she does but we both love the books so that's all that really matters. It's a memory of when our childhood times were easier and we could dream more, so I really wanted to pour a lot of who I am into Nora. There's some of me in Laney too (the sarcasm, the dry sense of humor) but not as much as Nora. She's basically me but much cuter and with blonde hair. Laney is my....darker side I guess you can call it. The one that loves zombies and gore and music that's anything punk, punk rock, rock and roll or just straight indie. Both characters are definitely sides to me that I wanted to show in the story and I think I did myself justice.

I said this before too but Nora and Laney are my babies. I had the pleasure of watching Laney go from being a sarcastic closeted Harry Potter fan who hated society standards yet secretly followed what everyone else thought to not giving a single shit. Nora helped her open up and that's the beauty of Nora; even though she's been bullied for most of her life, she never really did let it bother her. She kept on doing what she loved most and that is a big part of the message I wanted to convey to readers. No matter what anyone tells you, you do you. Do what makes you happy and don't let anyone try and take that happiness away from you. You like writing fanfiction? Write away! You enjoy cooking up weird combinations of food and eating it? Go for it! We all get our happiness from something in life, whether it's a book or a tv show, if it's the only bit of happiness you ever get then you hold onto it for as long as you can. Don't let anyone try and take it away from you.

Another dream of mine (this one is kind of lame) I have for this story is a Netflix movie 😂 I know, I know. It sounds stupid. But isn't it every author's dream to see their story come to life on the small or big screen? Seeing all my babies being personified by actual actors/actresses would be absolutely amazing. Just give me time to edit the story to make it near perfection and it's a Netflix original.

Speaking of editing, making this a physical, published book is the ultimate goal. Imagine how good it would smell! But above everything else, a hard copy of my story would make my 9 year old self cry with joy. Being a published author is the ultimate goal after all but for now, just being able to finish a complete book on a writing site is an accomplishment all in itself. But being a real, paperback or hard cover type of author would be the icing on the cake.

Also I want to take a quick second to thank one of my oldest and closest friends for falling in love with this story just as much as I did. Katie is a gem. She really is. She drew Nora and Laney together not once but TWICE and she yells at me through our text messages if something happened in the story that surprised her or made her laugh or cry. She's my #1 fan as much as I am hers and I want to thank her for all the support that she gave this book. The first ever hard copy is going to right to her first and foremost.

And to all the readers that read this but are silent readers, I appreciate you. But don't be scared to drop a comment or two. It's motivating and really lets the writer know you're enjoying their work! And for the people who just finished this for the first time, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have writing it and I seriously hope everyone got something out of this. Whether it was a laugh or a cry or you learned a lesson or two, there's something in this for everyone.

That reminds me! All the songs at the beginning of every chapter? Go listen to them! They're the songs I listened to while writing the particular chapter that they're mentioned in. I cleaned up the playlist a bit on my iTunes (I call it the PWTP soundtrack) so some of the songs that are on here may not be on the soundtrack that I made. I'm always adding and listening new music so if I hear something that reminds me of this story, I'll add it to the list. I find that writing is so much more fun when you do it with music and when you make a cute playlist for your characters.

Also I just wanted to point out how atrocious the cover is 😂 if anyone wants to make a much better cover than the one I made, feel free to do so. This one was just a temporary cover until I made something much nicer but I never got around to it. It works for now but I'm in the mood for something more attractive to the eye. Something that draws people in and gets them interested in what the story is all about.

To be honest I would've finished this story much sooner but 1) I got lazy. It happens. I lose interest in a story and I might continue it or I trash it. I nearly trashed this one until my friend threatened to drop kick me if I didn't finish writing it. 2) I had two chapters written when the drafts disappeared on me one day. I was so mad that I was about to delete the entire thing when I thought about how I could rewrite those chapters and make it better. So I did. Then the rest of the story came into fruition. Right now I'm currently editing the whole thing on my laptop until it's in tip top shape before sending it off to some publishers to see what they think. It's taking a while plus I haven't touched in quite some time but you know what they say about perfection. It can't be rushed. So I want to have it completely edited by September and sent off to the magical land of the publishers. If it gets declined then I'm not giving up. Did JK Rowling give up? No. She kept going until a publishing company accepted her manuscript. I bet all the ones that said no felt real stupid when the books skyrocketed to fame.

I know I don't have a huge following like a lot of the popular authors on here. They get reads just as easily as rain gets your clothes wet but they weren't always like that. They were small like me once upon a time. I'm hoping one day I'll get to their level of fame (for lack of a better term) so that I can reach out to more people and write the stories that people want to read about. I haven't gotten a solid idea yet but I really want to write about someone that's deaf/hard of hearing like I am and the struggles that they go through everyday. That would be a future project but knowing me and the million ideas I have in my head, I'll probably start that tomorrow and put it on hiatus a week later. That's what happens to me sometimes. I write so much and then I burn out my brain. It's exhausting, writing. Don't ever overexert yourself. Pace yourself when you write. My goal is 500 words a day depending on whether or not I'm having fun with the content I'm writing about. But 500-1000 words a day is a good goal to have if you're starting off a fresh story.

So to wrap it all up, I want to think you for tolerating this monologue and I hope to god that this story is eligible for the Wattys 2019 otherwise I won't be pleased one bit. I'll probably have an editor's note at the bottom once I find out whether or not I can enter so be on the lookout for that. Praying to God that I can enter!