Black, Blue and Secret 29

[genlisae]

I'm going to start with the secret, because it is making me a bit uncomfortable.

Thank you secret maker. I mean that. I am honoured to be included with skellington7d and simtopi ... and feeling completely out of place :D

I am not sure of anything ground breaking I have ever done and it took me years to learn how to do my own thing and a few more years after that to actually do it, but I still don't do it by myself. I have help and I have had the support and encouragement of some amazing simmers along the way.

Going way back, my interest in using The Sims to illustrate a story was sparked by legacies. Three too be exact and I still owe docnerd, profbutters, and orikes13 thanks for showing me that legacies didn't have to be just day-to-day commentary on what happened in your game. They could have a story too. That got me looking for stories outside the legacy circles.

When I first decided I was going to tell an original story with The Sims, kittykat2010, wanderingjasper, dollyriot, and century_eyes  were a mountain of encouragement and support. Later, as I got a little more sure of myself and felt more comfortable "putting myself out there" eshuff, gfitz, remisims, aledstrange and simtopi became huge sources of inspiration. I am not sure any of them know how many hours, days even, I have spent pouring through their stories (and in remi's case her gorgeous CC recolours as well) analyzing images and plot elements, character development and even phrasing with one question in mind "How did they do that?"

The support and encouragement just keeps coming though. Everyone that has ever left a comment; like ritaxis (whom I didn't even find through the sims community, ritaxis found me I think through the_slash_pile ). ritaxis has this wonderful ability to ask the right question or make the right comment to get me thinking in new ways. simlili always fun to talk (way too much ♥) with and never hesitating to point out my missed words, typos and spelling errors. kizzy_sims, shadow_herald, chillyzgrrlsims kate412, karinmedq  ... this list could get long. If your story is on my reading list and/or you have commented, even once, good or bad, you helped!

Then there are the tutorials about posing and overlays I have read through time and time again ( still go back and re-read them regularly). The CC creators who make everything pretty and showed me how to make my own pretties when I couldn't find something that worked already out there. The posebox and hack makers; especially the posebox and hack makers!

So many people have contributed in so many ways and I feel like I am only just scratcing the surface of where I want to be because just when I was starting to get to the point where I thought I was getting things figured out, finding my groove, along came this newcomer to The Sims scene. I don't think I have exchanged a single word with skellington7d  yet, but an impact has been made. The bar was raised so to speak, and as with all things I love doing there is a small part of me that is determined to do them well. Not for the recognition but for the satisfaction of one day being able to say "Yeah, I can." skellington7d , I haven't even read your story yet, merely scanned images, but the influence you have had on mine is huge.

There are two more people I have to mention here, amochan8878 and debbycus.

debbycus calls it  "proofreading" I call it "fixing". The files we send back and forth sometimes get very colourful with my purple questions and her blue answers, corrections, commentary and suggestions. I have also asked for her input on how a scene should play out (Okay, really I whined that I was having issues with it and essentially threw a hissyfit of frustration with myself) and the feedback ... I can't even tell you. It just made sense! In a matter of a the few hours it took for emails to be exchanged, something I had been struggling with for weeks was resolved. Times like that and when she will leave a blue note beside what I have written questioning the actions of one of the characters I get the feeling that she knows the cast, their motivations, where they are coming from and maybe even where they are going as well if not better than I do. She's also managing to slowly but surely drill basic grammar and punctuation into my head, something several English teachers tried desperately to do and yet failed miserably. I cannot thank her enough.

amochan8878. Where do I start. Amo listens, laughs at me (always a good thing to do!) is patient when I am stressing over stupid things that just aren't working, offers suggestions, feedback and the perspective of how things look for those who aren't in my head. Can pull me out of being stuck in my own head just by chatting quicker than anyone else I know! She knows how much I really do stress over details and, about a week ago,  talked me out of canceling Pleasantries all together. One of these days I fully expect her to tell me to STFU and stop whining already, it isn't as bad as I think it is. She will of course be right, she always is, and I will love her all the more for doing it.

I have definitely had help! I also know there are a ton of people I have missed mentioning.

So, yes, thank you secret maker. I am flattered and honoured and incredibly humbled that you think highly enough of what I do to include me in that secret, but to be like me? You don't want to do that. Glance back over what I have just written, there are a lot of names there. If you have to be like anyone, be like them. If you need something to aspire to, let them be your example. All of them. They are wonderful, amazing, inspirational people I am very glad to have had the chance to talk with and work with and learn from. Be like them, because somewhere along the way you will find you and that is who you should be like.

♥

Okay, now on to what I am currently stressing way too much over! LOL This one is really simple.

Black, or blue ?

Personally, I prefer the black version and I know at least one other person who does as well, but (there is ALWAYS a but) I have it in my head for some reason it should be blue.

I don't know why, I don't know where it came from. It is just there and stuck and will not go away!

Help? :(