Don't get me wrong, I loved fanficcing. But it started to hurt my writing skills more than it helped - and it had improved my skills incredibly, but I was starting to get lazy. And to have a slight "Hmm, ten million pages ought to be enough for a good story... let's throw in random activities to take up time" attitude... I guess the big thing was I was actually starting to believe what my readers said about me, and that gave me a swollen head, so I stepped away from it and started the hard work of making something up from scratch. Not that there aren't times I'm tempted to backslide; but I can fight off that aspect of my muse. She's pretty insistant at other times, but it seems that 70 hour work weeks keep her quiet.
I do not agree that anything that keeps you writing is good. I could write a really lame story right now no problem; my goal is to keep writing better stuff, and that's hard, especially when you have no time. But I still understand the sentiments.
Near the end of the second one. Have enjoyed the references to LOTR. I like the expression "RL," as it seems to refer to life on FR or RL. Hoping to avoid becoming as confused about it as some of the characters...
I skip over the details of Dread's "hunts," though. But mostly I am thoroughly and completely enjoying the books. Probably wouldn't have read them without your recommendation, so thank you.