Goodbye... sort of.

 

Greetings dedicated reader(s),

I started this blog five years ago because I got into the habit of painstakingly documenting my Sims' lives way back in my TS2 days and simply had to continue the tradition with TS4. I hardly know how to play without taking copious amounts of screenshots at this point! I've abandoned and returned to this blog more times than I can count, but it's always felt like more of an insular thing than something where I've actively sought out engagement, and after a certain point it gets lonely telling stories to yourself. That's why I'm finally bidding this platform farewell - for real this time. I'm grateful to the more story-minded approach I've adopted in the past couple years for keeping my creative juices flowing, but it also takes a lot out of me, which is why I've disappeared so many times. I also don't think it's super approachable for others in today's bite-sized world. It was important for me to finish Escape from Windenburg according to my original vision, but now that I have I'm fully moving over to Tumblr, where you can find me @charmingmushroom.

I've been lurking the Simblr community for years but was always too self-conscious to join in. I'm not sure what possessed me to finally do it, but I've been posting there for a few months now, and it's been an incredibly positive experience so far. It's especially emboldened me to try out some new methods of editing and storytelling that I had always dismissed as beyond my skill level in the past, and I think it's resulted in some of my best, most creative work yet while also giving me a break from relying so heavily on writing alone (though, of course, as long-winded as I am, I'll never give that aspect up entirely). I have a new story over there called Helena Zhao Is Dead, which can be read from the beginning here (and don't forget to check out the extras and world-building stuff here)!

I was getting burned out on my legacy, so I started a new save with new Sims as a way to break out of the familiar (as well as keep playing while I try to catch up on my perpetual legacy backlog). Of course, I've already thought of a way I can tie it back into my legacy in the end, but right now I'm having fun doing a different story entirely, and I think the eventual crossover will be really fun and refreshing when I finally get there! Don't worry, there will still be plenty more Rowan in the meantime as she's already got a big family of her own in-game that I can't wait to share. Anyway, if you've read this far and if you've actually been keeping up with this blog in any sense over the past several years, I sincerely thank you and hope you'll follow me on this new adventure.

Happy Simming!

Shannon, @charmingmushroom