You know... thinking it over, I'm completely baffled that the Claris Project has achieved any sort of acceptance or notoriety. This isn't about my lack of skill as a writer, so don't anyone start rolling your eyes and thinking 'Oh GOD not THIS again', but rather that it's just so self-indulgent. Now, naturally, writers are going to write about what they like. But Claris is really a mish-mash of just about EVERYTHING I like best thrown together--essentially, an attempt to actually tie all those things together. Those things being: angels, RPGs, the apocalypse theme, pretty people with long hair, gender-bending, and so on and so on. While I am taking out some of the more ridiculously stupid parts of the first half, and while I do think the second half is much 'tighter' in terms of plotting, it's still just crazy that anyone is deriving enjoyment from this but me. Not that I'm not immensely grateful and pleased that people find it entertaining--I mean, that is one of the reasons why I'm writing it, and I do WANT it to be entertaining. I just never fully realized until now, as I'm going back over it, how it's such a boiling pot of All My Favorite Things.