The English Year

1 hour ago, Arran said:

This story began eight years ago in Aug, 2012. The author posted 34 chapters over a span of four years, then abruptly and mysteriously stopped posting more than three years ago and I thought, “Well, another good story cheated of an ending.” Now after well over seven years into the story chapter 35 appears without so much as a reason for the lengthy hiatus. When the story was being posted rather regularly it was without a doubt my favorite and I looked forward to each and every post. Then suddenly nothing. To me, loyal readers deserve more than that. Now I am reluctant to read chapter 35 and continue The English Year because to do it justice, which the story deserves, I would have to reread everything before reading chapter 35, and I’m not sure that I want to do that given that this could very well happen again.

This is why I think that a story, particularly a story as good as this one, should be completed before posting.

I welcome a comment from the author.

I definitely want to take the time to respond to this comment as thoroughly as possible, as I’m sure you’re not the first or last person to feel this way about my story or any ongoing story. 
 

Here’s the reality. Writing and posting here don’t pay my bills. When I took a hiatus from writing, it was because life got in the way and certain needs had to be met. If this were my full time undertaking, things would be different. I love writing and I love getting to share this story, and believe me stepping away for an extended period was probably tougher on me than it was on you as a reader. 
 

Keeping up with a story takes a great deal of time even in the best circumstances. Hours spent writing, then editing, and the waiting and interacting. It’s not always a simple procedure. I understand that reading and following along with a story is time consuming as well, and I don’t take anyone who’s spent the time reading my work for granted. 
 

I’ll end with this. Following an ongoing story has its risks and its rewards. Sometimes authors need breaks- novels take years and years to complete and some authors put works down for many years before going back to them. With an ongoing story, you don’t get that luxury without disappointing people. On the other hand, readers have access to the writers as the story is taking shape. Your comments and suggestions make their way into the narrative. Even though this is largely autobiographical (I won’t even touch on the emotional toll if telling this story because that was my decision to share), the way it’s told is shaped by interaction with everyone on this site. 
 

In short, if you’d like to wait until the story is ‘complete’, I don’t blame you. If you want to continue to follow along, I appreciate you. I can’t promise a long hiatus won’t happen again, but it is my intention to finish this story at some point in the future. Thanks for the comments!

6 hours ago, Jwolf said:

I definitely want to take the time to respond to this comment as thoroughly as possible, as I’m sure you’re not the first or last person to feel this way about my story or any ongoing story. 
 

Here’s the reality. Writing and posting here don’t pay my bills. When I took a hiatus from writing, it was because life got in the way and certain needs had to be met. If this were my full time undertaking, things would be different. I love writing and I love getting to share this story, and believe me stepping away for an extended period was probably tougher on me than it was on you as a reader. 
 

Keeping up with a story takes a great deal of time even in the best circumstances. Hours spent writing, then editing, and the waiting and interacting. It’s not always a simple procedure. I understand that reading and following along with a story is time consuming as well, and I don’t take anyone who’s spent the time reading my work for granted. 
 

I’ll end with this. Following an ongoing story has its risks and its rewards. Sometimes authors need breaks- novels take years and years to complete and some authors put works down for many years before going back to them. With an ongoing story, you don’t get that luxury without disappointing people. On the other hand, readers have access to the writers as the story is taking shape. Your comments and suggestions make their way into the narrative. Even though this is largely autobiographical (I won’t even touch on the emotional toll if telling this story because that was my decision to share), the way it’s told is shaped by interaction with everyone on this site. 
 

In short, if you’d like to wait until the story is ‘complete’, I don’t blame you. If you want to continue to follow along, I appreciate you. I can’t promise a long hiatus won’t happen again, but it is my intention to finish this story at some point in the future. Thanks for the comments!

I thank you for the kind and thoughtful response and explaining it from your perspective, Jwolf. I really didn’t mean to sound harsh in my comment; I just like the story so much and was saddened to think that it didn’t look like it would be completed. Obviously my comment upset you and for that I’m sorry. I’m happy to hear that it will continue to completion. If the story was put on hold, I didn’t notice it. I will be more careful about that in the future. Still, because of the long hiatus I will reread the The English Year from the beginning before reading the latest chapter and any that follow because I think the story deserves it. Again, my apology. I applaud your effort at creating such a great and provoking story. Obviously you do love writing to produce a story of this caliber. Thanks for the effort.

2 hours ago, Ozymandias said:

I can understand why you had to take a break from the weekly time and effort necessary to produce a new chapter.  What I can not understand is how you could simply abandon your readers, who after 34 chapters obviously had some personal investment in the story and deserved better from you.  In lieu of chapter 35,  could you not have published something like the explanation you just provided?  I think your readers would have been supportive and wished you well and waited for the story to resume (well, I guess waiting faithfully for three years is a bit much to expect).

I understand how you feel, and I apologize that you felt abandoned by me on this site. I did return a few times in the last couple of years to express my plans to pick the story up as soon as I could- I was careful not to give timelines or definitive promises that I wasn't sure I could keep. I also put the story on a temporary hold. As I said, there are times that life gets in the way of our hobbies, no matter how intent we are on keeping up with those things.In this case, that also included my inability to return and give more detailed explanations as to why I was gone.

I disagree with you that anyone is owed explanations or updates. In life, we all choose what portions of our personal lives to share and not to share and my desire to share this specific portion of my past isn't an automatic gateway into my current or more recent situations.

As you mentioned, readers do have a personal investment in the story- that isn't lost on me and I've always been very appreciative of the support. As I still am. My involvement with this story goes beyond personal, as I lived these things and relive them every time I begin writing again. The events of the last few years may warrant their own story in the future, but for now I choose not to share those and hope my explanation and decision to come back and dive back into this story is sufficient. As stated, I understand the hesitation to jump back into a story that isn't finished yet, but such is the nature of this medium of writing and publishing. 

2 hours ago, 62Sooner said:

Hey Jonathan, I hope 2021 is off to a good start for you.  I noticed the status on The English Year has changed to “Temporary on Hold”.  Has something happened?  Do you have an idea when you might resume?  Take care, John.

Not sure why it was changed, TBH. I’m actually working on finishing up the next chapter hopefully soon. Work has been crazy through the holidays, but should settle soon. Thanks for the well wishes 🙂

Hey Jonathan, I hope you're doing well and work is becoming a bit more manegeable as the holidays are now behind us and covid seems to be taming for a bit. Reading several other stories on the site while you've been away, I check often to see if you've posted another chapter. Not sure why, there's just something about this story that is embracing - maybe, in part, because it's your autobiography I'm not really sure. I do know the talent you have is an amazing one for writing and you often share emotion that I've not felt with other stories on this site. All that to say, I do hope things in your life calm down a bit and you're able to share more of The English Year with us all. Until then, I wish you all the best my friend! Chris.