I’ve mentioned it before but it’s still wild to me.
April 2022 I decide to give One Piece a shot - Specifically because I’m quite certain I will NOT like it - but I want to watch the first season at least so I can write it off properly.
September 2022 I have folders of art and whilst scrolling Pinterest in the vague hope I can find something to scratch my itch, I come across a “Reader” fic linked back to a site called Wattpad.
I have, previously, heard of neither of these things.
October 2022 I have read a dozen reader fics and am deeply delighted by their framework. The mix of old school CYOA novels mashes up with a more Visual Novel Insert Your Name vibe that is just amazing. There’s less choice, but the limitations are irrelevant, the premise delights me.
I cannot, however, find the Exact Story I desire. So I decide to try my hand at writing something.
November 2022 I re-write what I have already written of Family Ties to shift from first person to second. The way it lights up my brain is perfect.
December 2022 I write Some Direction from start to finish within the month. I break 9k words in a single day of writing.
Between comments and chatter I end up on godsdamned TUMBLR of all places January 2023. I find a discord for x readers by pure dumb luck and decide to try. I am nervous as fuck because I don’t like consolidated crowds, even digital ones, and I had just started really transitioning.
I find a supportive queer-friendly international space, become besties with @lyndsyh24 via Wattpad, meet @swampstew in the discord and connect her to a feral commenter I enjoy on Wattpad xD through Swamp I meet a ton of people on tumblr, like the divine miss @icy-spicy
July 2023 I host an event for my birthday and spend the entire month writing x readers for various characters, expanding my knowledge and inadvertently educating people on kink in the process.
It’s been three years, and one month.
The amount of things that have happened are uncountable. The number of people I’ve met, the friends I’ve made, the things I’ve learned for weal or woe - the friends I have lost as time and interests and views drifted us apart - I can barely quantify it.
More than one person has thanked me for making a safe space. For making a welcoming space where they could learn about things and ask about things without judgement.
More than one person has asserted I’ve changed their life for the better.
…
If I do nothing else of value, I will still have done so much. And while it often feels like it’s never enough, like it will never matter, it still does.
Even if it only gets someone through one more day. Even if it only gives someone a moment of peace. Even if things ultimately don’t work out for whatever reason.
I’ve done well.
Sixteen year old me would pray to God to take me in my sleep, because I had no value or worth, and I was convinced I never would.
44 year old me is self-shipping, writing what I want, making friends, and having a net positive impact on the world around me. It wasn’t just One Piece and the subsequent community, but it is kind of wild how the intent to write off an anime turned into all of this.
















