Afterwords

I'm not very good at expressing myself. I never like talking about myself. When I chat with people I will, unconsciously, avoid any mention of who I am, where I live, what I do, what I like, what I am. When someone, even someone I'd consider a friend, asks me for some harmless personal information—"Where do you live?" "What sort of music do you like?"—I will only answer reluctantly. It made it difficult to make friends, it made small talk feel even more inconsequential. I find it harder to connect to people.

Writing stories is one of the ways I could express myself. I've always considered stories as a piece of the writer. It's a way we communicate and connect to someone who isn't ourselves. By reading a story we got to know the world and characters in it, sure, but we also got to know the person who wrote it. And if we see a piece of ourselves in the story, then we know that we're not alone.

So by writing stories I was yelling out all the things I wanted to say but couldn't. I write stories when I feel lonely, and sometimes it fills that gap, but more often than not it made me feel even more lonely afterwards. Because no one reads my story. Hardly anyone I know reads at all. I didn't mind this when I first start out writing, but it became more and more stark as I got older.

No one reads my bullshit.

Whatever.

I'm going to keep writing anyway. Because I'll get better at it, at bullshitting, at selling my bullshit. And one day someone will read them and they'll find in them something that makes them feel less alone.

Well if you're reading this, then you've downloaded this book. Since I put this in the afterword it either means you've read some the stories, or you skipped all the way to the end. That's fine. Either way, I assume you care. And I'm flattered you consider reading any of this at all.

Thanks, whoever you are. And I hope reading this make you feel less alone than I am.