Well, I'm of the opinion that your writing is and always has been outstanding. And that people are their worst critics--but I'm glad you had fun. You're right, that's the important part. It doesn't matter if everyone's writing is impeccable if they aren't enjoying themselves.

I just had the most random urge to throw peanut butter at you. Ah well, I'm probably the most random person you'll ever meet.  

Oh lordy, same! My writing was so short and left so much to be desired. Makes me cringe every timw I go back.

Sorry, but I hate "I'm so random XD" stuff. I did it back in 2013-2014, and they are the cringiest memories of my life. Just a warning.

"My favorite letter of the alphabet is potato!!" I wish I could have gone back and thrown a bucket of ice water over the head of past me. Random does not equal hilarity, it equals pitying glances by others while they watch me make a fool of myself.

Oh, dear, I don't want to think about old RPs. I practically made every character either be a mary sue or based off myself. I'm not even sure how you guys were able to deal with me, considering most of the time I just messed up the plot.

But yeah, it was a whole lot of fun, some of them. I really enjoyed them!

Oh boy, I started looking back at some old RPs I was in and my writing was a disaster. Awkward dialogue. Forced jokes. Trite metaphors. INFODUMPS. It was horrific. I think the best thing about writing and art is also what is the most frustrating. If you keep at it, all you can do is improve, but there will always be new problems that present themselves. It's impossible to be perfect, or to be "good enough", and as the raging perfectionist that I am... it's a source of never-ending frustration.

My old RP charries were even worse than the writing. The characters were always girls, around 12, with long blonde/red hair and freckles and big blue eyes. Their personalities were worse, one of two archetypes: either feisty, hotheaded, and impulsive; or shy, reserved, and intelligent. My idea of a character flaw was clumsiness.

My mom once got annoyed at me when I was about nine, after reading a story I had written. "Why are all your characters blonde and white?" she asked. "Why don't you write about yourself? Why don't you write about Vietnamese girls?"

I, of course, was deeply offended. I think it was because the books I read at the time were all about these kinds of characters. So I wrote about them because I, without realizing it, believed that's what books were. I think that the best thing I've ever done for my writing is becoming aware that I can and should write people and not characters, if that makes any sense at all.

A parody character sheet! This was ALWAYS my character.

Name: MarySue McTotallynotaselfinsert

Age: 13, always 13.

Appearance: Platinum blonde hair, pale skin, green eyes. (SHOUT OUT TO ALL 9000 CHARACTERS OF MINE WHO LOOKED LIKE THIS FROM 2014-2016, you will NOT be missed!)

Personality: Smart and cold and hostile and eDgY (because I could apparently only write one (1) type of character)

Backstory: Angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst,  angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, she's sooo special, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, angst, cats and the ocean.

Powers: Water and ice, maybe telekinesis. What's that? Water and telekinesis have nothing to do with each other? Well, younger me was OBSESSED!

(BTW: I've taken a vow to never rp another character with telekinesis, and I'm so sorry to all the rps I've sidelined because of my Mary Sues.) 

Pets: cat. cat? cat! cat; cāt

I wasn't in that many, but I did at least try to make my characters believable and diverse. If I remember right I think one of them was an old man with a gandalf beard in a flying wheelchair? Yeah, I don't know.

They were all male, though, because I have no idea how to write female characters, and the only time I ever did so was when I was really young and wrote a ridiculous story about a Russian girl uncovering a conspiracy with this bizzare frog wizard, all the while having no prior knowledge about Russia, or where it even is, for that matter. That was actually one of the first things I ever wrote and it still haunts me to this day... (it was so unbelievably absurd, I might post a synopsis of it on here later.)

Oh yeah, that's another thing. I don't think my problem was cookie cutter characters, it was that sometimes I got real world information just flat out incorrect. Like, I was reading some old stuff on here and there were MULTIPLE instances of me stating that the Aztec Empire was in the Amazon, when it was actually in Mexico. Like, why didn't I take the two extra seconds to fact check myself? But I digress. In the words of Edna Mode, "I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now."

Oh gosh, I have the same problem with my writing. All my characters are so ¨I´m not like other girls¨y and cliche it makes me want to scream. 

Oh, I was reading old writing from when I was in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Oh my Gandalf, it was just.... I was a very weird kid. Hopefully my writing has improved. Hopefully.