2,192A Note from Jude's daughter, Mari:
Thank You!
A Worldwide Cyber Hug And Sincere Thanks to ALL of You!
I won't say it's the end, because I don't think "This Never Happened" will ever end, unless FanFicNetwork goes off the worldwide web, and even then, I think many of our avid readers will still have it saved, so you see, I don't think it will end.
I think 20 years from now someone will find TNH and will be reading it and enjoying it with new eyes. And that truly makes me happy.
Where do I begin…(well, pull up your chair and fix yourself a drink while I chat with you for a few minutes)…
My Name is Mari and Jude was my Mom…I loved her more than time could tell. She loved, and I mean loved to write, she had a unique way of expressing herself and I truly believe she had a natural gift. When she wrote, she lived the story. I cannot tell you how many hours, how many long hours we would talk and talk about stories that took up residence in her head, and I say stories because she had written many, however. TNH is/was her first Plum story.
I had never read the Plum Series; I discovered Steph and Ranger through Mom. We had another Fandom before, a soap opera couple; it turned out to be a disappointment for us so she found, quite by accident, a Yahoo site about JE's stories (books), and she spent many hours telling me about them. As time went by, we (Mom) became a Babe! So naturally, I became a Babe. We had no time for Joe so we spent no time with/on him. In Mom's words he was 'persona non grata', so, of course, he was the same for me. I just could not wrap my brain around a woman putting up with Joe's "antics" and still be with him, so, we were Babes through and through.
Oh, I did buy the books, however, they did not even make it home. I ordered the series from Amazon and on the way home I left them in a restaurant, on purpose. Well actually, I left them on top of the trashcan, still in the package, so I hope a Cupcake fan found and enjoyed them. I think it was right about when book 12 came out and Mom and I were truly into our cups, LOL, yep we drank about 5 gallons of hot chocolate (separately) crying over the fact that Ranger will never be appreciated in JE's world, so what's a person to do when you finally realize that Carlos/Ranger will never be fully appreciated in JE's world. Yes, lovely readers, you create your own Carlos and Stephanie world, so hence TNH was born.
What a birth it was…I was there from the conception, no cigarettes were involved, LOL, but the brainstorming was nothing short of cleverness at its finest. Mom had a most interesting brain, a most creative thought process; when she was into it, there was no one better. I thought she was sheer brilliance. I weep for all the readers that will never experience more of her Babe stories, I was truly looking forward to them, however, life had other ideas. But it warms my heart to know that we will always have "This Never Happened" and "This Never Happened II."
Mom read many Babe FFs on the net both from FFNet and from Yahoo sites and she shared most of them with me. I said most of them because I am not an angst reader. I do not read stories where Steph is abused, and I don't particularly like stories where Ranger and the MerryMen are abused unnecessarily either, so she would tidy them up if she thought I would like the story, or if the angst was low level, like Steph going back to Joe, she would warn me in advance.
I fell in love with many, many stories this way, and she would even tell me who some of the writers were and I soon knew some of their names even though I had never been on the sites. Why tell you all this, you might ask? It's not just reminiscing; I just want to share my mindset with you, that's all. Like I said, I fell in love with many stories and I just hated waiting for updates, some that never came. Needless to say, I was not a happy reader. Writing is hard work. I realize this. Life is short and some things are not worth angsting about.
In January 2013, I deleted all the unfinished stories I had saved. If the author ever finishes the story I will recopy and reread the story again, until that time I have moved on.
After Mom passed in 2009, I had this profound sadness that the readers truly would not get a conclusion to TNH. As a reader I felt the pain even more so because I knew that there were many readers that made friends with Mom that would talk with her and some even helped her talk out knots in the story when I was not around (hey, a girl had to go shopping sometimes, LOL).
With my abhorrence for unfinished stories I truly wanted a conclusion to this story. However, there was a big fork in the road. I. Can't. Write. My head was full of where the story was to go, full of all the ideas, but I had no way of putting it on paper that would make sense. Now I know some of you are saying "But you are writing right now." Seriously, this is not writing, it's just me rambling. If you look close enough you will see all the grammatical and punctuation errors. I'm not bragging, trust me, I just know my limitations.
Mom and I talked the story through to conclusion; I knew what she wanted, however, I do not have the talent for details. I do not have the imagination of a writer. I am a good listener and keeper of details; I have a vivid imagination and can add to any story if encouraged, but I cannot put my thoughts on the page and make it palatable for anyone to follow. None of us wants to read a badly written story. I could not do that. Yes, I could have written a several-page Epilogue, but that would not have been honoring "This Never Happened," and I felt the story, if it was allowed to be finished, should be honored…it deserved to be done well, not half way just to call it complete. I would have rather left it where it ended. I never thought the story would be finished, it was never my intent to finish it because "I am not a writer," however, I was hopeful. It's been said a dream is a wish your heart makes. Oh how my heart made that wish.
After Mom passed, I somehow, through her emails, stumbled onto one of her Yahoo Plum sites, I think I actually got the hook up from a Shelly Fredman site that Mom opened. So I joined the site and was able to talk with a lot of Mom's friends on the site and they helped me through a difficult time. It's nice to talk with people that appreciate and respect a loved one, especially people that were strangers. I know it sounds weird, but it's true.
A few of the ladies on the site befriended me and one lady especially reached out to me and truly became like a second Mom to me; she truly talked me off the ledge several times. She became a true friend, she was not nosy or prying, she just cared. Three years later she is still a true friend. You hear so many negative things about the Internet, but I can honestly tell you this: You find what you look for on the net. If you look for bad, I am sure you will find it, however, there are truly wonderful people on the net that are real and genuine. You just need to be fortunate enough to make such a connection in a safe environment and I was one of the lucky ones. I made that connection.
The ladies on this Yahoo Babe site all had in common a love of Ranger and Steph, and their struggle in hoping to seeing JE expand on these characters in her books; we hated them just being fillers, especially Ranger. They/we bonded, no pretense, no ulterior motives, just the love of two characters and I think I can honestly say, lots of lasting friendships were born on this site. Some of these ladies meet up each year and party for a weekend in different cities. I've seen them pray, cry and empathize with other members, me included, that are having a difficult time or lifesaving moment; they share many of the ups and downs of their lives with each other and get support and prayers when they are needed.
Such a friendship happened for me with one lady I met on the site. She is known as 'bgrgrmpy'. I guess there was something that she felt I needed and she emailed me off the site and we started talking to each other. Believe me when I say she was an angel sent from above to listen to me, and she did listen in all things. She was interested in me and my family, no ulterior motive; she wanted to know how I was doing, how I was feeling, what I was thinking, not just about Steph and Ranger. I truly appreciated that and even though I did not know it at the time I truly needed it. Her name is Bonnie, and she truly is an angel sent from above and the reason why "This Never Happened II"…Happened in the end.
Bonnie and I talked a lot and she helped me through sicknesses both with myself and my kids, and eventually she "hooked" me up with two of the best writers and women I have had the privilege of knowing, whom many of you know from the FanFic world and now TNH II.
Their names are Writes4Fun_81 aka Allie and Jago-ji aka Tanna.
In the beginning, Bonnie and I just talked like mother and daughter; she was there for me, helped me when I cried and just listened.
She started forwarding little inspirational things that others would share with her and I looked forward to them. To this day, every day I know that I can open my email and there would be at least one mail from Bonnie; they make me smile every day and I know, today, all is right with the world.
One day Bonnie sent me a card in an email as part of her daily mailings to me. It was titled: Follow Your Dreams! (posted on TNH's Flickr page)
I have no idea where the picture came from or I would give credit to its creator, all I know is that it spoke to me.
She sent it at a time I was truly turning over something in my head, but thought it was a stupid idea. It was definitely risky.
It truly was a silly idea as I said before, I could not write to save my life, however, I had a head full of information and I had this thought that "if I could only write I could finish "This Never Happened," but I can't write, what to do? I had an idea of how to finish the story despite my handicap, however, I did not know anyone I could approach with such a ridiculous idea. I mean we all have busy lives, right? Who would listen to the idea that I had, and who would take up such a load? I started thinking of the idea, but had so many internal questions I talked myself out of it before I got started. How to approach someone, who to approach, what would they say, would they laugh at me, what about all the time they would need to put in, am I asking too much, am I being unrealistic? See all the negatives I put in my way before I even got started?
The picture Bonnie sent me basically told me to "Follow my dream." To be courageous and try and voice your dream, throw it out there and see what happens. The dream was ridiculous, time consuming, scary, and probably impossible to achieve. However, I took a chance and I told Bonnie my thoughts/dream.
Surprisingly she did not laugh at me, she actually thought it was a good idea and she started telling me about different writers on the site that I could approach. Those writers that "had a writing style similar to Mom." I read some of their work and I felt they were good, however, I was looking for a certain something that I did not feel, I could not put into words what feeling I was looking for, but I thought I would know it when I found it.
One morning I woke up and there were three emails from Bonnie alerting me to a "story." The story was called "Free At Last" by Writes4Fun_81. The story was still a work in progress; I usually don't read WIPs because I don't know how dedicated the writer is and I hate to get into a story only to have it abandoned in the middle and go into archives.
Bonnie told me that this is not going to happen with this story, she told me that the writer was dedicated to finishing the story and she pointed out that the writer was in the Army and knows about Army matters. Well needless to say, I was happy about that. So I started reading the story and I was hooked. It truly is a wonderful story, maybe you can take the time to read it sometime on FanFiction Net.
Well, I followed Writes4Fun and her story for a while and when I got the courage, I approached her about "This Never Happened." It turns out she was a reader of the story, and loved it. She heard what happened to Mom.
Talk about a shock! She was interested in helping me, but wanted to finish her story first.
Well, I'll be darned, that was easy, and I did not even have an "Easy Button." I had a person willing to help me, a person I did not know from Adam, just a writer on the net whose story I liked. She was willing to help ME finish Mom's story and did not laugh me off the net when I asked for her help, imagine that, and they say only bad people are on the net. Like I said, you find what you are looking for. If you are patient and have a friend like Bonnie, the good comes to you.
Eventually "Free At Last" was finished and the writer contacted me about getting started on TNH. Which because of FanFic rules and regulations we decided to name "This Never Happened II." She is a wife and mother with young kids and let me know that she does not write smut, she does not write things her daughter could not read. I respected that as a mother of small children also, however, we had a problem, Houston, seriously the first 40 Chapters of TNH are smut, LOL, and I knew there would be more, so, yes you guessed it in one, we had a problem because I knew there would be more whoopee in the story.
One step forward, one leg stuck. Once again I told Bonnie about my success and my problem. Writes4Fun almost immediately wrote a very long chapter picking up where Mom left off as if the story never stopped! To say I was impressed was an understatement; she did so good on the first try. What she wrote was so long we divided it into four chapters which became Chapters 85, 86, 87 and 88 of "This Never Happened II."
As usual, life interrupted and these chapters sat for a few months just waiting. I had a problem finding another writer… yes, you know what kind. LOL.
Forward in time…one morning another email from Bonnie. "You really need to read this story, the writer is a good writer and you will love her work, and she writes smut" … well, with incentives like this I had to go take a look. I mean good smut is hard to find.
The story was called "The Recliner" and the Author was "Jago-ji". I started reading the story and liked what I was reading. What impressed me with both these writers was their attention to details, the story had a little angst, well angsty for me, LOL, but I kept on reading to get a feel for the writer. I was beyond impressed with her. Did I mention that not only did she write smut, but she knew and wrote Spanish? So like before, I contacted her, told her my plight and asked for her help. Jago-ji started reading TNH even though in the middle of writing her own story and was honored to be asked to help finish TNH. Well guess what, like Writes4Fun, she told me she would be willing to help me when she finished with her story, if Writes4Fun would not feel like she was stepping on her toes. She impressed me with her kindness and respectability of Writes4fun already being on the 'project.' Seriously, what are the odds of perfect strangers helping out someone they don't know from Adam.
"The Recliner" finished, life happened, and then we got started. I really wanted writers who were committed as I did not want to start the story only to have the readers waiting for chapters. I thought that would be cruel after all this time. I explained my concerns to the writers and believe it or not they agreed with me, and we thought it would be in our best interest to have a few chapters "in the can" so that we do not keep the readers waiting. We kicked around posting time and frequency and thought it best to "regularly" post weekly, on a specific day, Wednesday (hump day), to give you, the readers, something to look forward to.
Once the schedule was agreed upon we got to work, well they got to work, secured our chapters, sent out an Invitation and "This Never Happened Part II" was launched April 1, 2012 three years to the date it began, and we did not look back.
Imagine my surprise at the response. Over the past three years, I heard from the Yahoo sites that people were constantly asking about the continuation of the story as many did not know that Mom had passed, so I was truly happy when people, readers like you, responded positively to our offering.
Part II of This Never Happened was all about you, the reader; without you we would not have had a reason to continue, it's because of you. The writers and I want to thank each and every one of you…we have readers from all parts of the Earth.
We don't know your names, however, here is a list of where all you readers are from. Every week we love checking on you to see how you are doing. There have been times when some country did not show and we wondered where you were and if you were all right, and if you are still with us. We don't know you personally, but we do see and appreciate each and every one of you. Your reviews range from funny to amazing to beautiful…sometimes even angry at these fictional characters we all love.
So here you are, readers…look at all of you:
Anonymous Proxy
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Columbia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Revar
Denmark
Dominican Revar
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Grenada
Guam
Holy See (Vatican City State)
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Isle Of Man
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lao Peoples Democratic Revar
Lebanon
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Mexico
Morocco
New Zealand
Netherlands
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Republic Of Korea
Romania
Russia Federation
Serbia and Montenegro
Singapore
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Vietnam
Over 75 countries, and each month over 12,000 of you visit our site to read and look for updates.
With our whole hearts we appreciate and value each and every one of you. For those of you that left feedback, we thank you very much for telling us whether you liked what we offered or not.
We appreciated and listened to you, we got to know some of you by name that left reviews, and when we did not see you one week we worried if you were all right, and then you posted and we were glad to see you again.
With all my heart, I send my humble and heartfelt thank you.
Without the continued interest in "This Never Happened," TNH II would never have been born.
And of course, the writers Allie and Tanna.
We 4 friends live in 4 different states and 2 different time zones from the West and East Coast.
Rewrites, OI! Yes there were many...the patience and hard work of these writers shines in every word as proven over and over by the reviews from you the reader...
Attention to details, Yes, there might be a few that we missed, but there were not many. Tanna even took the time and went back and re-read, in the middle of writing, the first 84 Chapters and found a few typos and corrected them, is that dedication or what? Going beyond the extra mile to make it right for our readers. The time, sacrifice, that Tanna and Allie took were beyond belief, there is no way to ever thank our two writers. None. But, I still try by saying a simple "Thank You with all my heart."
The story may be at an end now, but it will always be here for you and hopefully, for new readers to enjoy.
So with a heavy heart, I end this part of my bittersweet journey.
It was a long hard battle, but thanks to great writers we can put a joyous HEA on This Never Happened.
Stay kind, stay sweet. I will forever think of friends made from 75 countries, and from time to time I will think of you every time I think of TNH.
With love and sincerity, Mari! (aka Blue Orchid)