The final chapter of Letters presents more questions that answers. I think I’ll just leave it at that.

In Chapter Seven, somehow thirteen year old me manages to cover five whole months of Ellanora and Oliver feuding without mentioning anything relevant--that is until Ellanora discovers the shocking truth about Rydel (and by shocking I mean a half eaten Cheeto could have seen it coming).

In Chapter Six, things finally happen! Ellanora suddenly becomes the queen of pettiness at the not-Halloween dance and then blames all the fallout that ensues on everyone but herself. Harriet returns in this chapter though, which I'm counting as a small win. 

In Chapter Five, I was fully convinced we would get a scene at the not-Halloween dance, but instead, it is a completely non-sensical filler chapter. Interestingly, this detour leads to a conversation about portraying heavy emotions in your fiction and learning to care for yourself mentally as a writer. So, that's nice. 

In Chapter Four, Oliver proves himself to be a real garbage human by leading Ellanora on about the Halloween dance and then asking Rydel instead. Ellanora continues to pine over him though he has been shown to have approximately zero redeeming qualities. While shopping for the dance at a consignment shop, Ellanora is shown some kindness by the punk cashier, Harriet. 

In Chapter Three, Ellanora the insufferable drama queen encourages Oliver to ask out Rydel and then subsequently gets upset when he follows her advice. Thirteen-year-old me manages to cover an entire day in the span of six pages while still presenting absolutely no important information (which is almost impressive). 

In Chapter Two, Ellanora is reeling from instant crush her best friend Oliver develops on the new girl next door, Rydel, because she has (ambiguously) always liked him too. The group spends like three pages talking about going roller skating. Ellanora writes down all of her romantic woes in letters addressed to her dead dad which she hides in the woods for some reason. 

This episode kicks off a new season of My Writing Sucks! This time around, I read a YA romance I wrote when I was thirteen called Letters. Get ready for an abundance of adverbs, every cliche imaginable, and more teen melodrama than should be legal.

In Chapter Twenty-Two, Kree finally breaks her ties with the royal family and defeats Orchid in some kind of an emotional climax. Back in Canopy, Kree and Jamison share * a moment* in the trees, and the story ends on an incredibly cliff hanger that will forever be unresolved. I read an updated version of the ending I wrote in college and get really freaking emotional over how much Kree of Canopy and this podcast means to me.

In Chapter Twenty-One, things go from zero to murder real fast at Lily’s ball. I’m not going to offer any other explanation than that. I talk about how to write an effective and satisfying conclusion to your story (i.e. doing the precise opposite of what fourteen year old me does in this chapter).