Before I begin with what is sure to be a long, emotional, and slightly-crazy blog post, I feel like I should tell you all that merely CREATING this word document—just hitting Command + O—was enough to make me start bawling. THRONE OF GLASS doesn’t release until tomorrow, but in some ways, today’s post was the one I’ve been daydreaming about writing for years and years.

Because it has been YEARS, hasn’t it? Ten years since those initial chapters of THRONE OF GLASS were posted on FictionPress. And though some of you found the story well after 2002, it’s still been four years since I removed TOG from FictionPress. That is a long, long time. And yet you stayed. And here we are.

April 2nd, 2002. That was the day I posted the first few chapters of THRONE OF GLASS on FictionPress. And I had no idea—absolutely none—that publishing those first chapters would forever change my life. I had no idea that hitting that “publish” button would be the start of an incredible, incredible journey. I had no idea what kind of people would come into my life, and how wonderful those people would be.

I just wanted to write a story. I wanted to write the story that was in my heart and soul, and have someone—ANYONE—read it. But FictionPress was (and still is) a huge site (god, back then, I think it was still just the “original stories” section of Fanfiction.net), and I would have been happy to have ONE person read it.

(Okay, I actually had to stop writing here, because I started crying so hard that I wound up triggering a massive headache.)

(…It’s been 5 minutes, and I’m still crying so hard that I can’t write. Good grief, this post is way harder to write than I thought it’d be.)

(Okay. Tears under control again. Back to the post.)

But way, way more than one person read TOG. More and more of you as the years passed and I kept adding chapter after chapter, drafting what would later become Books 1, 3, and 4 of the series (there’s a brand-new book 2 now! And books 5 and 6 have yet to be written!). You were from countries I’d only dreamed of going to; you were young and old; you had lives so completely opposite from mine that we might as well have been living on different planets. And yet you somehow found FictionPress—and found THRONE OF GLASS.

Once those initial reactions started coming in, once I started hearing "write more!", it was like (for lack of a better analogy/cliché) unleashing a dam—a dam I’d never known I had inside of me. I wrote whenever I could, however I could. I wrote during classes, I wrote late at night, I wrote nonstop over vacations through high school and college. I wrote because there was this story burning inside of me, burning so brightly and violently that NOT writing it was never an option. But more than that, I wrote that story because of YOU.

I wrote because of every single one of your reviews, or emails, or messages in that old Yahoo Group. I wrote because, for the first time in my life, I had a place where I belonged—a place that nothing and no one could take away from me. When I was sad, when I was upset, when I was lost, no matter what might have happened in my life, I always had FictionPress. I always had you.

And that has meant EVERYTHING to me.

It’s why I have never been able to stop thanking you—and why I will never stop thanking you. The six years that TOG was on FictionPress were…indescribable. FictionPress became one of the cornerstones of my identity. Your reactions to the story made me consider being published—made me start dreaming about the far-off day when TOG might be on a shelf. You made me believe in myself...and believe that my dream of being a published author was one worth pursuing.

When I took TOG off FP in October 2008 to pursue that very dream, I was terrified. Absolutely TERRIFIED that it would be the end. That you would move on with your lives, that you would forget, and that this thing—this amazing, wonderful thing that had become THE foundation of my life—would vanish as if it had never happened.

But four years later, you’re still here. In those four years, your love for this story, your unfailing enthusiasm and support, was the rock I clung to when things seemed darkest. If I got a rejection, if I got a bit of bad news, I would open up the folder where I’ve kept your letters—each and every one of them—and read them. I’d read them until I remembered what I loved about this story, until I remembered that it was a story worth telling. Until I remembered what I loved most about writing: that it brought so many amazing people into my life.

In short, the reason why I didn’t give up, the reason why THRONE OF GLASS will be out on shelves tomorrow is because of YOU. When I look at the book, I don’t just see ten years of hard work. I also see physical proof of what you have meant to me—I see all of your letters and artwork, I see all of the stories you told me about how TOG impacted you. I see all of us crossing the finish line together.

I wish that I could thank you all individually. I wish that there was some gift I could give each and every one of you, some way to show just how deeply my gratitude runs. But there is nothing I could give that would properly convey those feelings, nothing that can ever repay the tremendous debt I owe you.

All I have to offer you is encouragement. I know a lot of you are writers—that you've been pursuing the same dream I’ve been chasing for so many years, or that you’re mustering the courage to start writing, or querying, or just sharing your work for the first time with someone else.

So my advice is pretty simple—and it’s something I actually learned from you:

   Don’t Give Up.   

No matter what, don’t give up.

There will never be a shortage of people telling you that you CAN’T do it. Don’t listen to them. Don’t let anyone take your writing away from you; don’t let anyone ever crush the joy out of it. Keep writing through everything. Write through your sorrow and pain and fear. Write for yourself—write what you love. Even if you think your idea is stupid, or that people won’t care—just keep writing.

I’ve been there. I’ve had moments when this seemed utterly hopeless, like it was the most ridiculous and unattainable dream. I’ve cried until I had no tears left, because I wanted this SO badly that it hurt, and it seemed like it would never happen. I know how long and intimidating this road is.

But I’ve walked this road, too. I followed it down twists and turns and pitfalls; I followed it blindly, not knowing where I’d wind up, but knowing that someday, someday I would get there, come hell or high water. And I can tell you that every step—even the missteps—was worth it, even if it didn't seem like it at the time.

So don’t give up. Ever.


And, because I like to link everything back to music…This is the only other gift I can give to you: a song.

In moments of despair, in moments when tomorrow’s publication date seemed like it would NEVER come, I’d listen to this song (…and another song, but I’ll talk about that song tomorrow) and I’d remember. Remember everyone at FictionPress, remember my dream, remember my own strength. I’d crank up the speakers and sing the lyrics at the top of my lungs, I’d chant them in my head, I’d lie awake in bed and whisper them again and again. And maybe—no matter where you are on the road, no matter what your dream might be—maybe you’ll hear this song and take into your heart the way I did (um, just ignore the photos in the video).